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Mel's Hole is an urban legend about an alleged geographic
anomaly that a man named Mel Waters claimed to have discovered on
his land near Ellensburg, Washington. This man
claimed that he lived in or near Manastash Ridge, Washington, about nine
miles due west of Ellensburg, though later investigation revealed
that no such person is listed as a resident. According to him, the
hole has paranormal properties, including an infinite depth and the
ability to restore dead animals to life.[1][2]
The first references to the hole were made in a series of
interviews with Waters, made by Art Bell on the American radio show Coast to Coast
AM. Waters initially appeared on Coast to Coast AM on February
21, 1997. He subsequently appeared on February 24, 1997, April 2000
and January 29, 2002. His most recent appearance on the show was on
December 20, 2002.
Description
While speaking on Coast to Coast AM, Waters related several
stories about the hole and its properties. Among these stories was
the claim that he had discovered that it was in excess of 15 miles
(24 kilometers) deep, a figure he is said to have reached after
spooling out 18 reels of 20 lb test fishing line, tied end on end,
into the hole. Waters claims that he attached a "triangular,
one-pound, standard lead fishing weight" to the end of the fishing
line. (Note, it has been speculated that the fishing weight plus
the weight of 18 spools of ~5000-foot monofilament fishing line
might well exceed the tensile strength of the line, but in
fact each such roll weighs ~1/2 lb, so the total weight of 18 reels
of line plus fishing lead would be only ~9 lb.)
Waters also alluded to the hole as having a property to
resurrect dead animals, this claim arising from a story about an
acquaintance who said he threw his dead dog's body into the hole
and re-encountered his dog, alive, hunting with someone else, some
time later. He also speculated that the hole and its properties
might be tied to certain cosmological events, including unspecified
alignments of the moon.[3]
On the September 18, 2008 edition of Coast to Coast AM, Guest Red Elk, an Inter-Tribal
Medicine Man recounted the time he visited Mel's hole with his
father. He recounted the hole as "around 9 ft. around and somewhere
between 24–28 miles deep" and said that it was a blow hole for Mount Rainier.[4]
Location
The exact location of the hole was never revealed by Waters. One
person has theorized that it is located in a region which has been
removed from publicly available satellite images due to the
presence of nearby Yakima Training Center. Several
people claim to have been able to find it.[1][5]
Prior to the tenth anniversary of Mel's first appearance on
Coast to Coast AM, the moderator of the Mel's Hole website posted
that the search for the hole had reached a dead end, and that it
would likely never be proven to exist unless Mel came forward with
evidence in support of it as a real location.[6]
Mel
Waters
In 1997 a nearby Tri-Cities newspaper, the "Tri City Herald",
reported that Waters was not listed in the Kittitas County telephone directory or the
register of taxpayers, and that authorities in Ellensburg were
unable to find any evidence that he was a resident, thus calling
into question whether he existed.[5]
"Aspects of Mel's
Hole" Art Exhibit
An art exhibition, "Aspects of Mel's Hole: Artists Respond to a
Paranormal Land Event Occurring in Radiospace," curated by LA
Weekly art critic Doug Harvey, was presented at the Grand Central
Art Center in Santa Ana, California in 2008. The show featured
works by 41 artists and collectives, many created specifically for
the exhibition, including works by Marnie Weber, Jim Shaw, Jeffrey Vallance, Georganne Deen, Paul Laffoley, The Firesign Theater, Gary Panter, The Center for Land Use Interpretation,
James Hayward and Craig Stecyk. The GCAC published a
hardbound 146-page catalog in conjunction with the exhibit,
containing contributions from all the artists, plus essays by
Harvey, psychoanalyst Judy Spence, science author Margaret
Wertheim, Hannah Miller, Brian Tucker, Christine Wertheim and
the Reverend Ethan Acres.
References
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