The Legend of Mel's Hole

Art Bell hosted a nightly AM radio talk show, which eventually became Coast to Coast AM, syndicated on hundreds of radio stations across the United States. On February 21, 1997, he had a guest who identified himself as Mel Waters. Mel told Art Bell and several million listeners that he lived near Ellensburg and that there was a bottomless hole on his property.

Before Mel had purchased the property, many people would use this hole as a dumping ground for garbage, old appliances, dead animals and even the occasional car. Needless to say this hole was large and deep enough that even years of dumping trash never caused it to overflow. It was nine and a half feet wide and had a rock retaining the wall around it with a metal cover. Mel mentioned that rumors spread around by locals would claim to see a black beam of light shine out of the hole when opened. He also said that a hunter had thrown his dead dog into the hole, only for Mel to see it alive in the woods a few days later. Living animals and birds however, stayed away from the hole.

According to Mel, When he removed the cover, he noted that the hole was smooth-sided down as far as he could see. The hole was so deep that he could not see the bottom when he shined a flashlight down it. When Mel dropped things into the hole, he never heard any of them hit the bottom.

Trying to ascertain the hole's depth, Mel lowered a weight (a roll of life-savers) on a fishing line and saw that it was deeper than the spool on his fishing pole. So he got more wire – a full eighty thousand feet more, or over fifteen miles. He claimed to have unfurled it all (weighted, of course) into the hole without ever hitting bottom.

While noting the oddities about the hole itself, Mel had noticed something in the dirt around the hole. An old World War II-era German handgun. The gun, beyond explanation, did not make any sound when fired, and when it was placed near a radio, the radio would began receiving broadcasts from the past (so said Mel). He also found a red paper envelope; which inside, contained several Roosevelt dimes with a date of 1943 and a B mint-mark. Mel said the dimes were somehow invisible to cameras closer than fifteen feet away; meaning, pictures could only be taken at a distance beyond which it could be clearly seen without a powerful camera lens.

Days after the initial broadcast, Mel called Art Bell again. He said that after the interview aired he had been away from home, but when he returned he found a roadblock across his driveway. Soldiers guarded the barricade and turned him away with warnings of a plane crash in the hills above. Mel told Bell he would be leasing his property and moving to Australia, where he was going to grow medicinal plants and start a wombat preserve.

Three years later in April of 2000, Mel called on Coast to Coast AM once more. He reported that after 1997, his property was leased to an unnamed party for $3 million a year, in perpetuity. Part of this deal with the stranger included Mel agreeing to stay in Australia. But Mel broke the agreement when he would return to visit the united states in 1999. Unfortunately, this turned out to be more than just a trip home – it was a trip to who-knows-where: According to Mel, he was taken off a bus near Olympia and put into custody. He woke up twelve days later in San Francisco.

He found an IV scar and a surgical tape on his arm, suggesting he had been drugged. His rear molar teeth had been removed, as were his wallet and his belt buckle. Someone suggested that the government had embedded a device in his other teeth that allowed them to track him when he returned to the united states.

The missing belt buckle was made with three of the 1943 dimes he had found in the red envelope. Other listeners who called into the show pointed out that the Roosevelt dime was not cast until 1946 and that there was no mint in the united states with a B mint-mark. Looking for an explanation, some suggested that the dimes and German pistol from the hole came from an alternate reality in which the Nazis won World War II, Roosevelt had died before 1943 and a mint opened in Berlin to create the new dime. Of course it beggars belief that the Nazi's would go to create a Dime of their former enemy?

Since the broadcast we had no longer heard from Mel, or where he even lives to this day. Several groups of people have tried to find Mel's Hole, managing to narrow the search area down to Manastash Ridge, near Ellensburg. There are various reasons as to why Manastash is the logical location of the hole but of note, is that it was once a mining community. There are several mine shafts and natural lava tubes in the area, and some are quite deep, though none go down fifteen miles.

Recently an expedition including Philip Lipson and Charlette LaFerve of Seattle's museum of mysteries searched the fabled hole. Their guide was Native American shaman by the name of Red Elk. In their words:

“We'd heard that individuals had looked for Mel's hole but after brief attempts gave up. We ourselves didn't start looking for the hole until 2001, when Red Elk related to us that his father had shown him the hole over 40 years ago and he could take us to the general location. He took us to a yellow gate on Manastash ridge and said this was the area that had been blocked off soon after Mel Waters related his story on the radio.

Since then, we have heard reports from dirt bikers of a hole on the ridge in the same general area, but they consider a hole a nuisance and spot to be avoided. We've searched the ride half a dozen times over the past years, visiting the nearby Manastash ridge observatory, finding empty shacks, rescuing owls, and even locating a mining shaft that we believe many may have mistaken for Mel's Hole. We've heard stories of a 'Goat Man', of civil war slaves hiding out in a canyon, even of recent “moon-shining” and people still panning for gold. Indeed, geologically, Ellensburg is on the edge of an anciet oceanic plate and a rare agate called 'Ellensburg blue' is only found along a 25-mile stretch in ellensburg. With the gold digging, agate mining, 'moonshining,' and other activities in the area, it's no wonder locals do not give out their secrets. It's likely the handful of locals who do know of the hole know it as a dump site and are not likely to divulge its location.

The ridge has property owned by the department of natural resources and the lumber industry, so private property is dispersed among the acres in a very unmarked territory. With the exception of the houses near Manastash road, there is no electricity in the area, making it very much a survivalist area and indeed harder to locate the area of the hole.

We can't of course, verify the paranormal qualities attributed to mel's hole, but we do think it exists and may very well be a volcanic vent hole. Indeed, two cave systems and four fault lines have since been found on the ridge.”

-Charlette LaFevre and Philip Lipson of seattle's museum of the mysteries.

In the years since the broadcasted story of Mel's mysterious return, the subject has generated thousands of discourses on many websites and blogs, this one included. Red Elk, himself claims to have visited the location many times in his life, as early as 1961. In 2002, an expedition lead by Red Elk consisting of 30 people led in failure as Red Elk was unable to find the hole. He says to this day that it is likely that the US government owns the land around the hole. A top secret base now built there, where alien activity takes place... Some people claim to have met Mel and seen the hole. Someone identifying himself as his nephew have been able to show that they know the Manastash Ridge area and its people quite well and have provided many tantalizing clues in the search for the hole.

Still, no one has offered proof of Mel's story to reporters or law-enforcement officials. Local government officials state that no person by the name of Mel Waters owned any property in Ellensburg. State department Geologist Jack Powell, also debates that the size and depth of the hole claimed by Mel would have been a geological impossibility: collapsing into itself from the heat and pressure caused by the surrounding strata. Additionally, there are no dimes or pictures of the dimes, and no one can seem to find the German pistol. If this was a hoax, perhaps it got too “deep” for Mel. Because no one has been able to contact him personally. He has apparently found another hole to hide in.

If you have interest in listening to the original broadcasts from the Mel Water's interview, you can find them here at the link provided: https://melshole.org/

Another Website has archived as much information about the legend here: http://hideousmonster.com/melshole.html

On a related note, there is another story involving Mel Waters and the Devil's Hole of Nevada. Which includes a sheep sacrifice experiment and an otherworldly creature emerging from its corpse. Perhaps another time, this story, too; will be told.