I remember reading about this Mel's hole stuff and how things were coming out of the hole and lights, noises and dogs that were dead. Anyone got any info. on this? [Emoticons]

Edit: uh...no, sorry...

Here's one of the many stories floating around the web about Mel's Hole.


The Mystery of Mel's Hole by Jody Forrest
12-07-2005


There’s a weird story that’s been going around on the Internet for a few years now, of Mel’s Hole, an 8 mile (or more) deep chasm in the ground outside of Ellensburg, Wash. Since the story began its garnered around it shades of Stephen King’s Pet Semetary, Spielberg’s Close Encounters, and even Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones.

The tale began on Art Bell’s nationally syndicated “Coast to Coast” radio program on February 21, 1997 when Art’s guest that evening was Washington state resident Mel Waters, who told a fantastic story of a large hole on his property which for generations had been used as an unofficial community dump. One day Mel, an ex-shark fisherman, wondered just how deep it was and rigged up a line and weights over the center of the hole and began winching down a 5,000 yard spool of shark line and went through 80,000 yards of line (16 spools!) without hitting bottom.

A neighbor of Mel’s claims to have thrown the body of his dead canine down the hole and a few days later the animal returned home, none the worse for wear. Other puzzling aspects of the hole are said to be ancient retaining walls of worked stone placed the first 30 feet down the sides, and a large number of dead cow and animal bones around the periphery. A local Indian named Red Elk was featured on MTV’s “Urban Legends” segment and claimed to have visited the site many times as a youngster, when he was told it was a “gateway to the underworld.”

Some geologists think, if its there, its must be an exceptionally deep lava vent tube, though all insist that a fishing line, however strong, would melt long before the reported depth of eight miles.

Mel insists his story is true. Skeptics aren’t so sure. So where does the search for Mel’s Hole stand now?

For all the reports of people who claim to have seen the hole or experienced mysterious goings-on, no one seems to agree on its exact location. A number of researchers and reporters have combed the hills around Mel’s former ranch and have come up empty-handed every time. Even Red Elk now speaks ominously that the underground “lizard people” don’t want the location discovered. In my own estimate, I’d file this one under “Urban Legend.”

SOURCE

OK, so this is where Skeletor is supposedly hide himself? Fine...

I'm sorry but the title of this post makes me snicker......hehe

Nope never heard of it. Sounds spooky tough.

Never heard of this. Weird?

Hmm... I live in Washington, maybe I'll check it out.

Wasn't that Castle Grayskull?

Interesting story this Mel's Hole, but one that is much too fantastic-sounding for me to even begin to take seriously.

why doesn't someone look it up on google earth?

Very interesting! I had not heard of this, and it seemed implausible...until I did some research. Apparently, based on witness statements and neighbors, something is there and being actively investigated.

The Seattle Museum of the Mysteries is announcing 1/06 it will resume
searches in the Spring of 2006 due to new information.
The Seattle Museum of the Mysteries is a federally recognized non-profit 501c3.

They also bring up the issue of illegal cow dumping in the hole. They may have had Mad Cow.

source

Also check out melshole.com for thousands of forum posters in the area and new updates.

Excellent idea.

I will have a look but can you be more specific on the location?

Here's another link.

Link

Mel's hole is DEEP, Mel's hole is DARK, Mels' hole is Scary and can bring back dead dogs...... .......does anyone know if Mel is even still alive?

I remember listining to the original Mel's Hole episode on Coast To Coast AM back in 97. I downloaded that audio and the follow up shows which are actuelly rather creepy. Turns out from the audio that Mel's property became overrun with government men who threatened him to stay away from his property. The hole scenario escalates into strange events. One of the final and creepiest parts of the Mel's hole saga is when Mel is talking about he has found another hole in Arizona and he and some collegues send a live sheep down the hole and bring it back up to find it dead and something alive inside the sheep which Mel described as a "tumor seal". I'll see if I can bring up the audio from the radio show if anyone is interested.

Double Post......of DOOM!

Astro that would be awesome if you could do that. I am very interested in hearing it!

Me too - my wife's name is Mel...

This is very interesting as I've never heard of this before!

Good find!

I laughed like a little school girl when i read the title.

Turns out I don't have the original show , but I do have the next two full shows. I am not quite sure how to upload the audio though. Any ideas how I can do this because I have no clue

It would suck so bad if you tripped and fell down that thing.

Melshole.com, eh? That hasn't been exploited one iota has it?

The whole Mel's Hole thing just got more and more outlandish as Mel preported each new story, while trying to top the previous chapter during Art Bell's radio broadcasts. By the end, the yarn contained indian legends, reserection of dead animals, alien beings being pulled out, black anti-light, parallel universes, government conspiracies, time warps and other things that just sounded like gibberish. If you happen to be in the Seattle Washington area, stop by the Museum of the Paranormal and ask about one of the many "expeditions" they've gone on to find Mel's Hole. It's very entertaining.

Sounds like a large pile of fresh manure to me...

I once explored a mel's hole, not sure it's the same hole you're talking about

Erm... I live right next to Seattle, and I haven't heard anything about that.

It seems that it is now called "The Seattle Museum of Mysteries"

http://www.seattlechatclub.org/

Hahaha! Now I understand why you guys laughed! Mel's hole...yeah...what a name!

any one got any more info on the nevada hole, because i googled it and not much comes up.

Im not going to lie, i saw this topic and it sounded like the dirtiest thing i've ever heard.
Good luck with melshole,dont fall in too deep.

That's beacuse it's booked on Art Bell's show later this week...give it some time....that is if Mr. Bell isn't abducted by aliens before then.....AGAIN!!!

He'll get abducted by intra-earth beings this time around. Brought down underground through the dark and dreary bottomless hole!

Only if our luck holds up, .

Then someone else can do a show about why Art Bell CAN'T do a show beacuse he was abducted and thrown down Art's Hole....I smell an award-winner coming-on.

You need to get out more.

Here's what I think of Mel and his hole.

Mel is a nutcase, but he's not entirely nutty.

I grew up around that area, and as a local, here's what I remember about "holes"

1. There IS a hole in the area (although not on Manashtash Ridge) called Chinaman's Hole. It's an old mineshaft, and on private property now. Mel claimed that all the locals knew about "Mel's Hole" and used to dump stuff into it. As a local, this is the only hole I know of that most locals were aware of and it was a favorite place for kids (primarily boys) to go and chuck stuff into. This is NOT Mel's hole, but it IS the only "hole" the locals are familiar with. Chinaman's hole might be where Mel got the idea that all the locals knew about the hole. (cuz NO locals old or young know of a hole on Manashtash Ridge)

2. For the last 10 years, people have been tromping all over Manashtash Ridge looking for Mel's hole. No one has found it. One of the theories is that Mel's Hole is a Lava Tube. Although, Manashtash Ridge is at the foothills of the Cascades, it's still 98% unlikely that this specific location would even have lavatubes, you'd need to go much further south to find that anomaly.

3. What Manashtash Ridge DOES have are a few fault line caverns and caves... and they were completely undiscovered until Mel's Hole seekers found them and brought professional Cave Climbers into the area to check them out, these caves were the first to be discovered in the area, where technically there should not have been any. They're very cool, you can see pictures on the Web. So, Mel's Hole seekers DID find some holes, but NOT Mel's Hole.

4. We know Mel's real name is not Mel. He is presumed to be alive and well in Nevada now and in his 80's. Mel is nutty and kooky, but his buddy Red Elk is a full fledged fruitcake.

Here's my theory. Mel DID live in the Manashtash area (popular with campers, hikers, and wildly popular with extreme 4x4 fans, survivalists and ranchers--ignore No Tresspassing signs in Manashtash and you'll probably be picking buckshot out of your hiney for months.). Mel probably remembers hearing stories about a "hole" (see: chinaman's hole) he also probably found one of these previously unknown fault line caverns on his property and his imagination took him from there, combining the story of Chinaman's hole and whatever cave/cavern he found on his property. Add into the mix, that some of the shadier Manashtash-ians are known for their moonshining (and more recently pot crops) and it's not outside of the realm of possibility that Mel was a moonshiner, which lends itself to the idea that he was really good at making up stories. hahah

I really think he came up with something that was a combination of a real local landmark hole, real physical features on his own property and then embellished it into a wildly fantastic tale that went too far.

My American father was born in Ellensburg, Washington State. And I attended university at the college there. My sciences was geology. I have lived about 20 miles from Mel's Hole. And my thought is that this story does not hold water.

The geology of the Kittitas Valley is bassalt lava flows. With uprising ridges running east-west. The valley had litterally hundreds of lava flows millions of years ago. This being the kind of fluid lava you see flowing out of Hawaiian volcanos. Except the flows came from cracks in the ground and not from volcanic mountains. So each lava flow leaves a layer of lava. With the next flow leaving a layer on top of the previous flow. If you ever drive thru the Yakima River canyon, you see the dozens of lava layers exposed by the erosion of the river.

Since these are horizontial lava flows and a vertical hole, any hole in the ground would be filled by the next lava flow. The only lava tube near by is about 50 miles away and is a horizontial tube of some 600 feet. And with the deformation caused by tectonic pressure on the 3 ridges south of Ellensburg, the folding of the flows would cut off any kind of deep hole.

Yes, there are strange lights on the ridges. Connected to the University of Washington telescopic observatory and the people living in the area. (and there are more people living on the ridges than you would think - And if you think the lights are strange, the people who live there sometimes are even stranger) Along with the off-road 4x4 truckers driving over the ridge.

But if you ever look for Mel's Hole - do make sure that you check out the waterfall just off the Manastash Ridge road, not that many miles south-west of Ellensburg.

Birmingham,

Cool! Another local! I might actually know your dad! haha. Anyway, you're exactly right. Although, you might be very intererested to know that the folks from the Seattle Paranormal Museum (kooky, but decent folks who are relatively objective) have scouted the entire area where "Mel's Hole" is suppose to be. They did know that they would not find any lava tubes in that area, but they did find some very cool previously unknown fault line caves, one over 40' feet deep up on the Ridge. Last I heard, some geologists were checking it out. The Geo's were surprised to find out that there were ANY caves in Kittitas, mostly there are a few basalt rock shelters, but not real caves until the Seattle Paranormal Museum found them--or rather to be fair, the folks that discovered the caves were in contact with the Museum, but probably don't have any real connection to them--I believe the folks that found them were actually just curious locals.

I've done a lot of 4x4'ing on Manashtash (with friends, truthfully "wheeling" isn't really my gig), and still one of my favorite areas out there is Moon Rocks and Funny Rocks. Totally cool landscape... have you ever been out there? Also, ever seen the tree in E-burg with the Whale bone embedded in it? It's on 4th street.

That's the dirtiest thing you've ever heard?

I say dirtier things to Ethyl on lamost a dialy basis

Either get out more or get more.

I believe Mel's hole is a hoax after listening to his appearance on Art Bell. Everytime Art mentions bringing people to go look at it, Mel changes the subject or says its his hole and he doesn't want people there. Art told him if what he was saying was real, he would have the deepest hole in the world and could make millions off it and Art had a guy who was willing to go down in the hole with a camera, then Mel didn't want that. Mel has no picture of this hole, then he drew soo much attention from Art's show that some time later he writes to Art about how the "Military" block off his property and all this mumbo jumbo, he probably said that so much wont investigate him and his alledge hole.

He never took pictures of this hole, never had an reliable witness of this hole, he stutters on many of his questions that was asked. This guy is a phoney to me.

Know the whale bone in a tree very well. My father was born on Water Street near by. But died some 10 years ago. As far as me, I only spend part of the year in the region now. Having dual residency.

It is very concievable that there could be caves in the area. Though I would concider the ones in the Kittitas Valley more like deep rock shelters. And not what most people would think of as caves (then when you have a shortage of real caves - we'll take what we can get).

Now north of Ellensburg you have the Liberty Historical Area, famed for the gold mining that is still going on. But those holes in the ground are a whole lot different that Mel was discribing. Man made and fairly recient within the past 130 years. And dug horizantally into the hillsides.

My family owned the home that was directly behind the Govenors Mansion.. it was an old brick place with a touret and the black chestnut tree from hell. haha. I left the E-burg area some 25 years ago.

I love the Liberty area! I've stumbled on a number of old abandoned mines up there, but I'm generally careful to only peek in since there's no telling how stable those places are, and more likely than not, they aren't safe. I also used to love to hunt for the Ellensburg Blue Agates, unfortunately, almost all the best hunting for agates is on private land now. I haven't found any Blues in years.

I think Mel is/was kooky, amusing, an imaginative story teller, and he spun a tale that was really fun to think about. Beyond that, there is no Mel's Hole. haha. I remember hearing the live original broadcast in 1997 and because of my connection to the area, it gave me a good laugh.

And I'm waiting....

Why doesn't Mel own a camera?

Ummm, cuz it's really hard to take a picture of something that doesn't exist? Just a guess. And Mel says the government siezed his property and sealed it off 10 years ago. Nevermind that I've never seen any sealed off government property up on the Ridge. haha. There's a University experimental tree farm up there with No Tresspassing Signs... and the plot thickens. NOT.

You never know, they could've sealed it with concrete covered it with dirt and planted trees over it...

Not that I believe in this story, I'm just throwing out an explanation...

I don't believe the story either--I mean come on, an 80K ft deep hole? That's like 16 miles!... but that's one of the more popular theories as to why no one can find it. You have take into consideration that this specific area is VERY close to the Yakima Firing Range (I believe there's a global communications center there as well) and there are military manuvers all around the area. Yakima is also a favorite watching ground for Ufologist... the area is known for it's "mysterious Yakima lights" (see, military lights in my humble opinion) It adds to the mystery, but I really don't think there's anything mysterious on Manashtash Ridge other than the crazy survivalists and nutty 4x4'ers. haha

Good lord, this thread is still open? I thought we all agree it was just a glorified urban legend...