MICHIGAN CITY, IND. - Four years after a little boy was sucked into a hole in a massive sand dune and trapped for hours before being rescued, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore staff say they plan to reopen the beach area in front of Mount Baldy.
A park spokesman said that while the beach in northern Indiana will reopen to visitors, the sprawling sand dune itself will remain off-limits because research has shown that more holes could open, according to the Associated Press.
Nathan Woessner, a 6-year-old boy from Sterling, Ill., was playing with a friend on Mount Baldy on July 12, 2013, when he stepped into one of the deeper holes and was quickly covered with sand, disappearing from sight.
There was a frantic search to save him. His family, bystanders and rescue workers dug for three hours before he was found at the bottom of a tube-like cavity deep in the dune. He spent two weeks in the hospital, according to media reports. He's since made a full recovery.
Mount Baldy, the beach in front of it, and trails nearby were closed after the incident.
Researchers have since determined that those mysterious holes in the dunes are caused by trees that have been buried by sand and have left hollow tubes behind as they decayed.
Those studying the phenomenon have said it may have implications for other sections of Lake Michigan that have large blowouts or migrating dune areas, including the popular Silver Lake State Park in West Michigan.
But the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which oversees state parks along the lakeshore, has said holes in the Silver Lake dunes near Mears are not something to worry about.
Ron Olson, the DNR's chief of parks and recreation, told MLive and The Grand Rapids Press in 2016 that Silver Lake was mentioned in the Mount Baldy research because it is what's known as a migrating dune - which over the decades has shifted to cover trees - and because some holes in the dunes have been found there. But park staff say they can't recall any reports of people falling into large holes or being injured there.
"I don't think it's a prototypical example," Olson said of the park where rolling dunes have become a hotspot for off-road vehicle lovers. "Do sinkholes happen? Yeah. It's a natural area. But they are not really something to worry about. It hasn't created any problems."