Somewhere in the wilds of Washington State is a bizarre geographic anomaly that locals believe may well be a gateway into another dimension. While the legend of the Devil’s Hole allegedly goes back for decades…if not centuries…the public at large did not become aware of the phenomenon until 1997, when legendary radio host and paranormal enthusiast, Art Bell, invited a man named Mel Waters to be interviewed on his globally syndicated radio program Coast to Coast AM.
Ellensburg, located in eastern Washington, and its surrounding valleys and Manastash Ridge are beautiful in any season. Some believe what lies beneath is a deep, dark hole with supernatural powers.
For decades residents from the Manastash Ridge region have talked about one of the most unusual aspects of the sprawling landscape that haloed their hometown. Hidden nearby, on a densely forested parcel of private property, was a seemingly bottomless well that was surrounded by an aura of mystery and danger.
This unfathomably deep pit was said to be about 9-feet in diameter and was shored up with hand placed bricks to a depth of nearly 15-feet until it gave way to earthen walls. The hole had been known to locals for generations — and to Native Americans before them — and had been used as an unofficial dumping ground for everything from defunct refrigerators to old tires and television tubes to livestock and pet carcasses.
A man named Red Elk is one of the only people alive known to have ever seen the mysterious hole. A Native American Shaman, or medicine man, Red Elk said his dad first showed him the hole in 1961.
"He said 'This is an endless hole,'" Red Elk said.
Red Elk's been back many times and said strange things happen every time he goes near it.
"People get it confused with what I call the devil's hole," he said.
According to Red Elk, the hole was well known to the indigenous peoples, as well as local and federal authorities, and was believed to be an unbelievable 24 and 28-miles deep.
The medicine man also speculated that pit served as a tunnel which connected to Mt. Rainier and that it might be associated with both UFOs and vile, quasi-reptilian entities that allegedly dwell deep within the bowls of the Earth known as “reptoids.” A Washington native by the name of Jay Nickell also claimed to have stumbled across the Devil’s Hole while exploring the region as a teen.
Other folks who stumbled across the site notice an eerie sensation that would wash over them when they neared the pit. They also noted that birds and other crearures seemed to give the allegedly “evil” hole a wide berth and that the rim of the pit was lined with the bones of small animals. Over the years visitors would come and go, but none of them would make a mark quite as deep as the next owner of the property…a man named Mel Waters.
Waters, who claims he and his wife bought the property sometime in 1993, discovered the hole soon afterwards and — much like all those who came before him — used it as a convenient (if environmentally unfriendly) rubbish bin.
It wouldn’t be long, however, before he became irresistably drawn to this strange hollow. In particular Waters became fascinated by the its’ inexplicable ability to “devour” all that was thrown within.
"I brought the dogs with me." Waters said on the show. "They wouldn't go anywhere near the damn thing."
Waters said the hole had a three-foot stone wall around it. It seemed bottomless to him, so he used an old shark fisherman's trick -- sending thousands of feet of fishing line down.
"What I did, was I sent down a roll of lifesavers," he said. "So when it hit water the lifesavers would dissolve."
But the lifesavers came back up whole -- no water -- so how deep was this hole? Waters said he believed it descended miles into the earth and he heard strange stories about its powers.
"One guy claims that he threw his departed canine down into the hole," he said. "He swears the dog actually came back to him."
In the winter of 1997, Waters sent a FAX to a man who was, at the time, the preeminent disseminator of paranormal information, radio presenter and Coast to Coast AM founder, Art Bell. Bell became intrigued by Waters and his “never ending hole” and on February 21st, 1997, Waters was invited to speak on Bell’s hugely popular late night program.
Bell and Waters discussed some of the more the scintillating secrets — though not the precise and clandestine location — of the Devil’s Hole and it soon became apparent that millions of listeners were enthralled by Waters and his unusual tale. Within a few short hours this weird cavity graduated from local legend to legitimate paranormal phenomenon. The story proved so popular that Waters again spoke to Bell just three nights later.
Within months of appearing on Coast to Coast, Waters and the Devil’s Hole — which would soon be re-dubbed “Mel’s Hole” by Bell’s enormous fan base — would gain a significant amount of notoriety. Waters claimed that he was beset by a series of odd events not long after he went public with his information regarding the hole.
The first strange incident occurred while Waters was on his own property en route to the Devil’s Hole. Waters planned to continue his research when he was suddenly stopped by a pair of men identifying themselves as “government agents.” These agents — one in plain clothes and two in military regalia — informed him that there had been a plane crash nearby and that the area had been cordoned off.
The plainclothes further stated that no one but military personnel would be allowed into the restricted area. Waters then noticed men wearing yellow hazard suits milling around behind the trio that were blocking his path. Waters, angered at being denied access to his own property, demanded that they let him pass and that’s when these so-called agents got down to brass tacks. According to Waters the agents proceed to inform him that if he did not follow their instructions he would be falsely accused and arrested for concealing a meth lab on his land. It is presumable that the evidence of this lab would have been manufactured if necessary.
Red Elk claims the government has a secret base there.
"An underground base, a very small, underground base," he said.
That's how Red Elk explains the white boxes covering the area on some satellite images.
He also said he's seen "alien activity" in the area.
"A huge space craft, one, will appear and hover over the hole," he said.
That's what he said happens during Summer Solstice, when space men load and unload things at the hole before flying away.
In the years that have followed Waters revelations concerning the first Devil’s Hole, there have been sporadic expeditions into the woods around Manastash Ridge, but no one has ever managed to find the mystical pit… and Waters himself seems just as enigmatic.
Some say that the government filled the hole in when they were finished using it for whatever arcane purposes they had, others suggest that a shed like structure has been erected over the site to hide it from prying eyes. There are also some who feel that aliens protect the space with a sort of “cloaking device” and still others who are, understandably, convinced that the darn thing never existed in the first place and that Waters, for reasons known only to him, made the whole thing up.
Believers in the existence of the Devil’s Hole have posted satellite images from Google Earth, which indicate that the area where the 9-foot pit in should be was “covered up” with white blocks.
Skeptics counter by saying that the satellite photos have been altered to protect the military’s training facilities. They also add that there is no official record of Waters ever living, voting or owning property in the region. In fact, there seems to be little evidence that a man named Mel Waters ever existed.
Of course, if Waters’ admittedly bizarre tales are true and there actually is a top secret geographic anomaly of apparent military significance located in the proximity of the Yakima Firing Range and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, then it goes without saying that military officials would go to great lengths to conceal what actually exists in the expanse, even to the point of doctoring photos and erasing identity, registration and tax records.
Ellensburg Public Library Historian Milton Wagy said the story became a sensation after Waters went on the radio.
He said the phone rang off the hook with all kinds of stories about the hole -- some explainable -- some not.
He's still trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the library's file on Mel's Hole.
"Well it just disappeared, which lends itself to the mysteriousness of Mel's Hole," Wagy said. "Did Mel take it? Did it just kind of rise out of the locked file cabinet."You never know there might be a hole out there."
Now the question who, is anyone can find Mel's Hole and prove its existence?
mickeyyarber.blogspot.com/2012/02/mystery-of-mels-hole.html ;)good story but is it just that a story?