1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck. 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: Jerry's over there. This is short stuff. Getty up now, 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: I've and the time of our lives. That's pretty good. 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:19,319 Speaker 1: I can't even sing that without thinking of the great 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: Simpsons jokes. Same here the halftime of Our Life with 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: Dolly Parton and Snoopy. Oh that's right, yeah, so the 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: good one. So we're talking about Dirty Dancing and specifically 8 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: uh Mountain Lake outside of Blacksburg, Virginia, where that was 9 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: the location of Kellerman's lodge. Mountain Lake Lodge doubled as 10 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 1: Kellerman's for the eighty seven classic film Dirty Dancing. It 11 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: did um and that lake actually was a character in 12 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: the film because they practiced. In a little bit of foreshadowing, 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: Johnny Castle and Baby practice their dance move where he 14 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: lifts her up over his head, which is basically the 15 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: thing that brings the whole house down in the movie. 16 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: It's like the climax of the movie is this dance 17 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: move and they practice it in the lake. That's right, 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: quick shout out. Jennifer Gray is still around in great 19 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: She was in that TV show that I've binged, red Oaks. 20 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: That is so fantastic that our buddy John Hodgman is 21 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: and she's she plays the mom and she's wonderful. That's great. 22 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: I gotta check that show out. Patrick Swayzy has leftist R. 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: I P Yeah, he was wonderful man. Hell of a dancer, 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: great fighter. It's pretty good actor, great singer, She's like 25 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: the wind. Okay, I thought it was a good so 26 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: I get chills every time I hear it. Still, well, 27 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: I say, I know this is a short stuff, but 28 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: I'll rank it as dancer, fighter, actor, singer in order 29 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: of his best you know, his talents. I won't do 30 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: spute that order. But it's just a spectrum of greatness. Okay. 31 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: I loved him in He's great, So that's what I say. 32 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: So the actual name of that lake, like you said, 33 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: is Mountain Lake. Um. And the actual name of the 34 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: resort that's that was supposedly Kellerman's resort, which I think 35 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: it was supposed to be in like the Poconos, wasn't 36 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: it not Virginia? But um there's the resort is actually 37 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: in reality called Mountain Lake Lodge. And the people who 38 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: own Mountain Lake Lodge and the people who are investors 39 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: in Mountain Lake Lodge. They're not very happy about things 40 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: these days because Mountain Lake keeps draining, and it keeps draining, 41 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: and what was once a lodge and a resort that 42 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: was based on fun and the sun on this lake 43 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: in Virginia is now turning to things like archery and 44 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,519 Speaker 1: horseback rides and telling guests exactly why the lake is 45 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: about at thirty five pc of its normal capacity. Yeah. 46 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: If you just google dirty dan Sing Lake today or 47 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: gazebo or boardwalk and you will see that that gazebo 48 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: and doc boardwalk um or then in the middle of 49 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: the field. Yeah, it's really creepy. Yeah, it's very weird. 50 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,799 Speaker 1: And we're gonna tell you why right now. Uh. Mountain 51 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,519 Speaker 1: Lake is one of two only two natural lakes in Virginia. 52 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: Georgia has zero. They have to in the southern Appalachian Mountains. 53 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: And over the years, and we're talking every few hundred years, 54 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: this lake empties and fills back up again naturally. Yeah, 55 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: which is kind of weird. And over the course of 56 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: the six thousand years that this lake has been around, 57 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: which I just find that so fascinating, don't you that 58 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: a lake has only been around for six thousand years. Yeah, yeah, 59 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: I love that. But anyway, the six thousand years it's 60 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: been around, it's actually empty three different times, chuck like 61 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: completely emptied. Yeah. So there's two guys that figure heavily 62 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: and sort of why the uh Mountain Lake is like 63 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: it is. There's this one guy, what's his named Chester 64 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: Watts Chester Skip Watts Skip is derivative of Chester obviously, 65 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: so he's a geologist and he knows a lot about it. 66 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: And there's this other guy, John Collie c A. W. L. E. 67 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: Y that wrote his doctoral thesis on Mountain Lake in 68 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: and they have explained that Mountain Lake has holes that 69 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: has little holes on the bottom, a lot of them 70 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,559 Speaker 1: that continually drain this water out. And they've done die test. 71 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 1: I think Watts did the die test and found that 72 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: this water is coming out about a mile from here 73 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: and it's been doing this for six thousand years. They 74 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: literally got to the bottom of it. So, um, that's it. 75 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,160 Speaker 1: I mean, that's the mystery holes. But the thing is 76 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: is the people over at Mountain Lake Lodge want to 77 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: know why is it getting worse? Like why would this 78 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: if if these holes have been here for all six 79 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: thousand years. First of all, why didn't we start to 80 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: notice this until like two thousand two? And secondly, like, 81 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: why isn't it filling back up? Why does it just 82 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: keep going down and down and down? And so how 83 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: I think was it Cowley who explained it as a 84 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 1: water budget. Yeah, he said, if you think of it 85 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: like a bank account, you got you got money coming in, 86 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: you've got money coming out. You want more money coming in, 87 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: so that bank account gets bigger. And it's the same 88 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: with this lake. You have inflow and outflow, and at 89 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: various times throughout the history of this lake, there's been 90 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,359 Speaker 1: more outflow than inflow, right, And so there was a 91 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 1: drought that actually started in the nineties, um that that 92 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: led to this this lower inflow and which meant that 93 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: there was more outflow, which explains it partially, but it 94 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: doesn't fully explain it. We'll get real really, like reveal 95 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: what's going on with this mystery? After these messages just 96 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: up starts so much. Okay, chuck. So there was a drought, 97 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: which means that there's more water going out than this's 98 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: coming in. That's great because the drought ended. But the 99 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: people at Mountain Lake Lodge said, well, the drought ended everybody, 100 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: and this lake is still not filling up. What is 101 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: the deal? They actually were so upset about this they 102 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: paid Jerry Seinfeld to come get on the phone and 103 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: ask what the deal was about it. That was a 104 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: lot of money too, but it got everyone's attention. So 105 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: he said, there's a few reasons. Uh, he said, it's 106 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: not just one thing. You can't say it's even these 107 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: two things. It's sort of Multifaceted's three, it's only three. 108 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,599 Speaker 1: So you've got the drought, which did not help. You've 109 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: got um when Mountain Lake Lodge was built, a conference 110 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: center above the lake, and to comply with building this thing, 111 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: they had to construct stormwater management basins. And they said, 112 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: you know what will probably happen is I don't know 113 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: if they said that, but what they assumed. I guess 114 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: what happened was that water would still get to the 115 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: lake as groundwater. But they found out that wasn't happening. 116 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: It was going to a creek. Yeah, is that what 117 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: you say? You call it a creek. It's a creek. Boy, 118 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: you just threw me off. Some people say creek though, 119 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: right sure. I think you know country country folk who 120 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: say warsh exactly. So um, that was kind of a 121 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: big surprise that that water wasn't going where they thought 122 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: it would because it's I guess these things are fairly 123 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: close to the lake, and since it's above it, they 124 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: just assumed to trickle down. So that's a big problem, right, 125 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: And so the geologists are saying, well, I guess one 126 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: thing you could do is plug the holes if you want, 127 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: and then hopefully uh rainfall will kind of raise the levels. 128 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: But you want to plug these holes one at a time, 129 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: and Mountain Lake Live said too late, and they plugged 130 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: them all at once, and he stared to scared the 131 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: Jesus out of the geologists. Well, and the reason they 132 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: did this was because they knew that one of the 133 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: other facets of why it was draining was the sediment cycle. 134 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: And it's just like something gets stuck in your sink, drain, 135 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: it's gonna drain slower. And at various times throughout the 136 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: history of this lake there might be things either stuck 137 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: in or not stuck in. So it just happened that 138 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 1: after dirty dancing that was not much stuck and so 139 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: it was draining out a lot quicker than it normally 140 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: might have. Yeah, Jennifer Gray was like, thank god, Patrick 141 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: Swayzy wasn't alive to see this shameful thing. So how 142 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: did they plug these holes? M While at first and 143 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: the first apparently they were aware, I don't know if 144 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: they lost memory of it or thought it was an 145 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: anomaly or thought it would just go away. But in 146 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: the first half of the twentie entry, at some point 147 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: the Mountain Lake Lodge used mattresses to stuff into the holes. 148 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: How big are these I tried to find it. I 149 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: I don't know. Um, I'm not sure how big they are, 150 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: but from what I understand, there's more there than they thought. 151 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: So one few mattresses isn't going to help. But also, 152 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: like what poor bell Hop did they send down there 153 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: to drag a mattress down to the bottom of a 154 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: lake and try to stuff it in a hole, because 155 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,079 Speaker 1: you know, you know, that's who did it, of course, 156 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: So that was it. That was their first attempt, um, 157 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: and the second attempt was much more technologically advanced. They 158 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: stuffed dirt and clay into it. Yeah dirt, Uh clay? 159 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 1: Is that what what the bent tonight is? Yeah, it's 160 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: like expanding clay. Yeah, that makes sense. They should have 161 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: got some of that foam stuff that you spray in mouseholes. 162 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: They basically just sped up the great stuff. They basically 163 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: just sped up the sentiment cycle. But they they overdid 164 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,839 Speaker 1: it because the lake said nature will find a way 165 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: and just started popping new holes. Yeah, it's crazy. This 166 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: reminds me of the Exploding Lakes episode way back when. 167 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: But yeah, the water level never got to full pond 168 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: or for a full pool is what you can call it. 169 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: That full pool, and they there is water there. There's 170 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:23,719 Speaker 1: more than there was in two thousand eight. Like if 171 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: you look at pictures from two thousand and eight, that's 172 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: when it was literally a field. Uh there's a little 173 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: bit of water, but you can't canue or anything. You 174 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: can't swim. It's kind of sad, to be honest, to 175 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,440 Speaker 1: look at it. But there's something to be said for 176 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: archery and horseback riding. Sure, yeah, especially orchery. Archery on horseback. 177 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, you get some you can level up 178 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: if you do that stuff. Yeah, they comp your room 179 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: for the night. But what said that, You know what, 180 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: they could redirect water from another local watershed just gravity 181 00:10:57,480 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: feed it down in there. He said that would probably 182 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: do it. But you've got to be really careful because 183 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: like we've seen, like the domino effect when you start 184 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: messing with nature like that. But he said that would 185 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: probably work if they want to explore that. I don't 186 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: know if they are or not, but we'll see. I 187 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: don't know. The Mountain Lake Lodge board clearly does not 188 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: bow before nature. It does not know. Well, that's it. 189 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: I guess we'll have to revisit this in a few 190 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: years to see what happens to Mountain Lake. Hopefully it'll 191 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: come back, not just for Mountain Lake Lodge, but for 192 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: the culture as a whole, the culture that loves dirty dancing. 193 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: That's right. Uh, that means everybody that short stuff is out. 194 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radios 195 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,079 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more podcasts For my Heart Radio, 196 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 197 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.