Mel's Hole – Bottomless Mystery

The idea of a bottomless pit is absurd. Logically, we know that all holes must have a bottom. Whether that bottom sits in the crust or mantle, there's no way for a hole to go through the entire planet.

If something like a bottomless pit did exist, it would not only be a scientific wonder, but also a fantastic opportunity for humans to pour trash into it. There's definitely no harm in chucking all of your used items into the deep dark of the Earth.

That's exactly what Me Waters did when he bought a property in the Manastash Ridge area west of Ellensburg, Washington, USA. Well, he didn't exactly start off knowing that it was a bottomless pit. Mel thought it was a well. So he did the only logical thing and dumped all of his trash in there.

The Neighborhood Dump

This is not Mel's Hole, it's a tribute

According to Mel, the well had been a popular dumping ground since before his time. The previous owner used it, along with all the neighbors. Trash, old appliances, used tires, and anything else they could think of, went into Mel's hole, as it became known.

As it turns out, Mel's hole was quite wide. His hole measured nearly 10 feet (3.05 m) across. That's big enough to fit a dead cow, and that's exactly where all the area's dead cows went. Into Mel's hole.

Local lore indicates that the hole had been in use as a dump for decades, and not once had anything deposited into the hole been seen again. There was no bottom, or so it would seem.

Mel's Hole Gets Famous – Coast to Coast AM

Art Bell was more than a radio host, he was the catalyst for the modern fascination with the paranormal. At the height of his career, he reached around 10 million listeners a week with his show, Coast to Coast AM. Broadcasting from 1988 until his retirement in 2003. Art was known for his credulity, and taking calls on open lines.

The story of Mel's magnificent hole didn't come from a phone call, though. On 22 February 1997, Art received a fax from a man calling himself Mel Waters. He detailed his experiences and experiments with his hole, and Art was fascinated. Try to keep your mind out of the gutter.

Mel, who had been a fisherman, tied a one pound weight to the end of some fishing line he had lying around. He had three reels of 20 pound (9.07 kg) line at his disposal, and lowered it into the hole. The line maxed out at 1500 yards (1,371.6 m), and still no bottom.

He proceeded to buy all the fishing line that he could get his hands on, and lowered it all down the hole. After 80,000 feet (24.38 kilometers) of line went into the hole and still he felt no bottom, he decided to ask Art Bell for help.

Mel detailed everything he knew about the hole in that first fax. Birds refused to sit on the hole's stone retaining wall. Dogs wouldn't come within 100 feet (30.48 m) of it.

Further strangeness occurred when Mel tossed a TV and a fridge in his hole. For our younger readers, this wasn't one of the flat screens of today. No, this TV was a heavy, thick CRT television that would make a very audible blast when it burst. There was no crash at the presumed end of their fall. He tried calling after the objects, and to his surprise there was no echo, either.

Once, Mel lowered a bucket of ice into the hole. When he raised it back up, he found that the ice was hot to the touch, but hadn't melted. He also discovered that the ice was now flammable.

Mel also claimed that he lowered a live sheep into the hole. The sheep protested for a while before falling silent. He pulled it out only to find that it had been cooked alive. Adding to the yuck factor was the moving lump under the sheep's skin.

Mel cut it open, to find a live baby seal with human eyes inside. The seal leapt back into the hole, but was seen by local shepherds several times. They apparently felt that it radiated “good vibes”.

Mel Waters on The Line

I'm back!

Art Bell had a nose for a story. He phoned Mel that same night, and the call was broadcast live on Coast to Coast AM. They went over everything in the fax, and Mel added some more of the mythology of his hole.

One legend held that a hunter's dog died. The legend omits whether the hunter killed the dog himself. What does a hunter do with his suddenly dead dog? Chuck it in Mel's hole, of course.

The dog was allegedly seen days later, running around. His owner called to him, but the dog refused to heed his call. Probably because he had killed it in the first place, either that or it wasn't the same dog.

Another neighbor told Mel that he was strolling around the hole at night when a “blacker than black” beam shot up out of Mel's hole.

He mentioned taking his radio to the pit, and instead of playing his favorite program, he heard strange voices and broadcasts from the past. This happened regardless of the station he tried to set it to.

All told, the call was standard fare for Art Bell's Coast to Coast. Mel would have gone down as another kook, if it hadn't been for his call two days later.

Secret Military Takeover

This is the government's hole now

Waters called in on 24 February to report that the military had seized his land just two days after he appeared on the show. The soldiers threatened Mel and refused to allow him near his own hole.

Mel reported that he saw heavy machinery being brought in by the military, but he could never get close enough to see what they were up to.

The military offered Mel $250,000 a month to lease the land, and for him to disappear. He was undecided at the time of the call.

Art Bell wouldn't hear from Mel again for the next three years. Finally, in 2000, he reached out to Art, and they scheduled a follow-up call.

Mel – Former Hole Aficionado, Current Wombat Hero

Please Mel, don't put me in your hole

The day of their scheduled call came and went with no word from Mel. He finally called in on 24 April 2000.

During this call, he told Art Bell that he had been living near Perth, Australia, helping to save the wombats and “experimenting” with medicinal plants. He returned to the US to help his nephew move.

On the day of his scheduled interview with Art, Mel was involved in an altercation on a bus. He was detained, questioned, and shipped off to Tacoma, Washington. That's where Mel lost some time.

He woke up 12 days later in a San Francisco alleyway. Mel was missing all of his back molars, his wallet, keys, and belt buckle. His arms showed signs of IV drips being inserted, to which he attributed his memory loss.

Another shock came when he found out that his lease had been revoked for improper use of the land. Which, considering that he had been dumping trash into a “well” for years, might just have been because he contaminated the water table.

Mel Waters would call in several more times until 2002. His story kept growing and would eventually involve a second hole in Northern Nevada. This hole also had magical effects on everything brought near it.

Conclusion

Obviously, everything Mel Waters claimed was impossible. The story barely needs debunking. Like a hole of the size described by Mel, it quickly collapses in on itself under the weight of its own nonsense.

There are those who hold tightly to their belief in Mel and his wondrous hole. But, just because people believe in a thing, doesn't make it true.

Searches for Mel Waters in the local registry came up with no evidence of someone by that name ever living in the Ellensburg area or owning land there.

That's about it for Mel Waters and his mystery hole.