Interesting story, Mark! I never realized that Hurley was such a recluse. I used to love his posts on here, but I was still lurking when he stopped posting.

Hurley's compilation vids were wonderful! I remember that he never "sold" the clip tapes, he accepted "donations", to get around selling copyrighted material.

Are there any other stories that you can tell us about him?

Norman

My recent video is a partial answer to this question. It can still be viewed for free on UMD.net from my profile.

I started making videos just because I wanted something very specific, like so many others. I was mostly interested in dramatic quicksand scenes, preferably with a side of bondage.

I started sharing my bondage and mud videos on-line when the Internet made that possible, and they became very popular. However, I had years of frustration because very few people commented or sent e-mail. Out of thousands of downloads, I might get 2 comments. I took my stuff down and put it back up, just to take it down, again.

When it came to my attention that I could sell my videos (at first on VHS tape, then CD's and DVDs, and finally as downloads), I decided if people didn't want to comment, they could pay. I would accept a check as a thank you.

I did produce damsels in mud content for a while, but I got tired of trying to coordinate with models, and paying them the lion's share of my profits. I still shoot an occasional video of a pretty lady in the mud, but it has to be someone who really wants to do it. I've got a couple of sexy friends who like to get messy if we can align our schedules with some decent weather and a low tide.

At this point, I often think of retiring. I feel like I've done everything I can do in a simple swamp clip. I suppose I'll still shoot when I'm inspired, but that may not be as often.

Check out my "Making a Mud Movie" Movie, if you have 16 minutes to spare and you're not afraid to see me, mostly naked and covered in mud. It will only be available to non-premium members for a few more days, so don't dally.

Is Heather still shooting with you? Heather's awesome.

Heather relocated to the western part of the U.S. It was very sad to see her go, and, yes, she was awesome.

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I was born a fetishist (mud and quicksand) and it has always been so.

When one is female, the question of whether you'll do your thing on camera always comes up. A woman gets attention from producers -- and people who have mudpits -- and everybody else -- while male fans are largely ignored, which, to be honest, is really unfair.

Being female got me companions and mudpits and yes, friendships with producers.

My first video was done in 2004 ("Nessie, Quicksand Girl"), with pieces available as downloads here) for no reason really except that I had struck up a friendship with the owner of Studio588 and I just wondered if I could write, act, and direct my own full-length video and really pull it off! Two years later I returned to Studio 588 to do "Adventures in Quicksandland" with Fred 588, which he produced.

I did not get truly serious with producing until I had a job loss. I did clips but not really full scenes. But the job market tanked and I knew the fetish market and the fetish guys...and I had locations and I'm pretty good with computers...so I taught myself to edit.

Reduced to a part-time day job, I went at the business of mudpitting for money just as hard as I could.

I can't say I made enough to live on but it was a pretty high amount if you think of it as an hourly wage. It's a LOT better than a lot of regular jobs. It's total creative freedom!

I hired four models total. Kat Surth and Kitten Face have scenes here. The other two are on www.clubmpv.com. My period of production were the years 2011-2012.

I'm retired now.

I retired because I took a full-time, high-wage, but very demanding job, the kind of employment that blatantly tells you to your face that you have no life -- you exist to serve the corporation. This left no time at all for video and I hung up the camera, hitting the mudpits that summer only for myself.

It ended after almost two years, right about a year ago now...when I had a major medical incident that interfered with their preferred workload of 60 hours a week. Rather than wait for me to recover, the manager threw a hissy fit (sure that I was faking?) and ended my contract.

By then I was 54. But there was one last producer to show up and film me...

http://www.vice.com/video/quicksand-fetish-105

I call this "Nessie's Last Video". How lucky is that? I don't think I could possibly have ended my "quicksand career" any better. (I was limping a little on the walk, but it went well.)

That was a year ago. I suppose I still could get models, but to be honest, I am really tired after I go mudpitting alone now and I choose to do things that are less strenuous for my living.

No 60-hour weeks either. I live the part-time lifestyle at no more than 30 -- and I'm happy with it. There is no substitute for being able to have time for what you really want to be doing with your life.

Some of that still includes mudpitting, but now it is only for me.

Nessie

Wow - well done Nessie! That's fantastic!