Ol' Dirty Basement: True Crime and Vintage Movie Reviews
Join Dave, Matt and Zap every week as they cover a true crime or compelling story as well as Vintage Cinema and Album Review where they break down some of the best movies and music from the past.
Ol' Dirty Basement: True Crime and Vintage Movie Reviews
The Enigmatic Legend of Mel's Hole
"Send us a Fan Mail Text Message"
Did you know there’s a hole that supposedly defies the laws of physics? Join us as we unravel the enigma of Mel's Hole, a mysterious pit in Washington State that captured the world's imagination during Mel Waters' 1997 appearance on Art Bell's Coast to Coast AM. With tales of bottomless depths and bizarre occurrences, this episode will keep you on the edge of your seat as we recount Mel's incredible attempts to measure its depth and the strange phenomena associated with it.
From the Mariana Trench to the Kola Superdeep Borehole, we compare Mel’s Hole to some of the most extraordinary natural and man-made chasms on Earth. Could it be a portal to another dimension, or is there a scientific explanation? We dive into classic sci-fi themes and the eerie, extreme environments these deep holes create, evoking a sense of wonder and curiosity. Listen as we reminisce about the golden era of paranormal radio and Coast to Coast AM, sparking nostalgia for late-night tales of the unknown.
Discover the strange incidents that surrounded Mel's Hole, from a neighbor's dog returning miraculously alive after being lowered into the pit, to Mel's land being seized by the government. Each chapter pulls you deeper into the mystery, with black beams of light and restricted access adding to the enigma. Stay tuned for our recommendations on similar spine-chilling stories and follow us on social media to keep up with more captivating content. Don't miss this thrilling episode as we piece together the puzzle of Mel's Hole.
Sounds:https://freesound.org/people/frodeims/sounds/666222/ Door opening
https://freesound.org/people/Sami_Hiltunen/sounds/527187/ Eerie intro music
https://freesound.org/people/jack126guy/sounds/361346/ Slot machine
https://freesound.org/people/Zott820/sounds/209578/ Cash register
https://freesound.org/people/Exchanger/sounds/415504/ Fun Facts Jingle
Thanks to The Tsunami Experiment for the theme music!!
Check them out here
SUPPORT US AT https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984311/supporters/new
MERCH STORE https://ol-dirty-basement.creator-spring.com
Find us at the following
Thanks for tuning in to the old dirty basement on today's episode. I'm surprised in these two guys. Are you intrigued?
Speaker 2:Very much so yeah, I feel compelled.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, we hope you, as a listener, are compelled and intrigued. And don't forget to leave us a five-star rating on Spotify, on Apple, leave us a written review and sit back, relax and enjoy a basement blindside.
Speaker 3:This is the old, dirty basement home to debauchery, madness, murder and mayhem. A terror-filled train ride deep into the depths of the devil's den with a little bit of humor, history and copious consciousness. I'm your announcer, shallow Throat. Your hosts are Dave, matt and Zap.
Speaker 4:I love you, matthew McConaughey, all right all right, all right, hey this is Dave, matt and Zap, and welcome to the Old Dirty Basement where every week we cover a true crime murder or compelling story, so sit back relax and comprehend. Hello, hello everyone, and welcome to a special edition of Old Dirty Basement. I think this is the first time we're doing this on this show, so could you please walk us through what's going on here, Dave?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, this one's going to be called, like a basement blindside. So I was talking to you guys and I told the Zab and Matt about this, about doing an episode where you two have no idea what I'm going to talk about here. You do not know the topic, you do not know anything and we anything, and we're gonna go through this story and get your reaction as we go.
Speaker 4:Basically so, no prep work on your guys's end or anything like that. Maybe you know the story, maybe you don't so basement blindside.
Speaker 1:He's been buying. What do you?
Speaker 2:think that we'll see high school yeah, yeah, it's like a pop quiz, yeah, basically yeah, enlighten us, dave. What, uh, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1:this. So let me start this off with what are your guys' feelings on late night talk radio. Do you listen to any of that? Have you ever listened to that Stuff that would come on midnight?
Speaker 2:There was a phase. I was definitely in a phase, especially when I was in. For damn sure, when I was in college, that was the biggest phase. I would work late and my drive home I was listening to talk radio. I was listening to AM 580. And I was listening to whomever was on there, like Michael Savage Christ. There was a dude, I can't remember his name, but he talked a lot about other world stuff. Oh, they were like do, do, do. What was that shit? Space shit, yeah, yeah, I remember that. I think he's been on a couple of episodes of Ancient Aliens, some History Channel shit, again, alien stuff, you name it.
Speaker 4:Was that on 580? Correct, yes.
Speaker 1:Was his name Art Bell by chance. Might have been Art Bell? Okay, yeah, so this story tonight is revolving around Art Bell and a show called Coast to Coast. Am Correct?
Speaker 2:That's what it was. It never came on. There it is.
Speaker 1:So have either of you heard of Mel's Hole Whoa?
Speaker 2:Now let's get this out of the way because it's going to be a little juvenile maybe. Is that the diner with Flo and Alice and Vera?
Speaker 1:No, no, but yeah, I knew we were going to go there.
Speaker 4:Chili Con Carney.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so no, mel's Hole is just an unbelievable story I came across that started on this coast-to-coast amp back in 1997.
Speaker 2:Okay, going way back. So you guys, neither of you know this story then?
Speaker 1:No, but I would have been listening at that time. Okay, so our story begins on February 21st 1997. So that would have been around the time you're listening. You think you would have called me 100%, that's 100%.
Speaker 2:That's my junior year of college. I would have been probably driving home from giant.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is the first time that Mel Waters appeared on Art Bell's show, the renowned host of the paranormal theme radio show Coast to Coast Am. Now, just to put it in perspective, Mel had initially sent a fax detailing a mysterious hole on his property, which Art had read on the air previously. So it's not like this guy called in or anything like that. Actually he sent the fax and then Art Bell, the host, reached out to him with a phone call.
Speaker 4:He's like I want to hear more. What was it like a sinkhole type thing or just a hole in his yard?
Speaker 1:Well, we'll get to that.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was just he wrote this and he read the fax on air Like he had callers calling in about it and actually people calling in saying they were Mel, and he set up a special hotline for Mel to call. But in reverse he ended up, I think, calling the number at the top of the fax. So for some of our listeners I hope you're old enough to know what a fax was. At this time in 1997, they had an email, so I'm sure he could have emailed. But a fax is basically like a copy. It was like a phone line. You put it in this machine and it would print out on the other end. But he had sent a fax to Art Bell. He read this on air and basically what it was.
Speaker 1:Mel claimed to have discovered an inexplicable, seemingly bottomless hole in his rural property in Washington State. According to Mel, the hole possessed unique and bewildering properties that set it apart from any natural or man-made phenomenon. Mel described the hole as being a 9 foot 9 inch in diameter. Attempts to measure its depth using fishing line and weights proved futile, as Mel never reached the bottom, even after extending over 80,000 feet of weighted fishing line 80,000?.
Speaker 2:Yes, not 8,000, but 80,000. 80,000. Wow Into the ab000.
Speaker 1:Yes, not 8,000, but 80,000. 80. Wow, into the abyss. Okay. Additionally, no echo ever returned from the hole. Define natural acoustic behavior. So that's pretty insane. Sure. So basically he would say you'd yell into this hole, you wouldn't hear anything. Yeah, it was. Anything goes in makes no noise.
Speaker 2:It was just insane. Sounds like a wormhole or a black hole in the ground.
Speaker 1:And just to give you a perspective of how many people are listening to this, when this guy calls in, at its peak Coast to Coast AM had nearly 10 million listeners. So in 1997, there's no podcast, there's no satellite radio or anything like that.
Speaker 4:So people, yeah, like either like night shift workers, like Zap said coming home from work late, or guys he's going to say sweet sound coming down on the night shift. That's right. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1:So the reports that now, like you know, as of a few years ago, there's like two and a half million listeners to the same show. Now there's a different host, but there's so many other options when it comes to listening and this stuff. So, but at the time, if you had a supernatural or you know something story like this, this is a place you would go with it or this is where it would come out. So a few notes from the call. He owned the property at this point, mel did for about four years. It was about a three-foot retaining stone wall around this hole.
Speaker 4:Did he put that there?
Speaker 1:It was there it was there when he had the property for about four years. The walls inside were stone for about 15 feet down. When you put a flashlight into it you could see down. You know a little bit past that and it was dirt.
Speaker 4:And you said the wall was there. When he bought the house. There was that three feet wall around, but the hole wasn't there, it was just a wall.
Speaker 1:No, the hole was there.
Speaker 4:There was a three foot retaining wall around it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was all there when he moved and he's only been there for four years, him and his wife.
Speaker 2:He bought the property with this magical hole in it, right.
Speaker 1:The magical hole was already there, right, but he didn't really know it was magical, he didn't really know what was up with it. But we'll get to some of the stuff that he found out Okay.
Speaker 4:Might have been something from like the night era.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll find out. I guess Like a torture there. For as long as he can remember, going back to the previous owners and that was over 30 years back. So, talking to them, they were like, yeah, it's been here and all the neighbors which was about 20 people in the area that were aware of the hole and, uh, actually used it.
Speaker 4:So did anybody call it a well at any point where they threw all their shit?
Speaker 1:well, exactly we're going to get to that so previous owners and neighbors have been dumping trash for decades at this hole but it never fills up. Dumping trash for decades at this hole but it never fills up. Hmm, refrigerators, tube TVs et cetera In this hole never made a sound. You drop a tube TV. There's a cathode ray tube in there.
Speaker 1:You should hear like an implosion, explosion, nothing, he said. They had a refrigerator, him and a buddy got a neighbor, got it up, slid it and dropped it down the middle of the hole Gone. Even a neighbor that said they threw a dead cow down in there.
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh Like a black hole, like something goes in and comes out, like another atmosphere, some other dimension.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so initially he dropped 1,500 yards or 4,500 feet of fishing line that he pulled back then to see if maybe he hit water. After using an old fishing trick, he sent down a roll. That same roll again, with some lifesavers on the end.
Speaker 4:Because he had a one-pound weight on the end. So he sent it down with the lifesavers, thinking if they hit water they're going to dissolve the candy like lifesavers candy or like a lifesaver.
Speaker 2:Like a no, like the candy. Okay, yeah, it was an old fishing trick, not a life jacket.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was thinking some of the round, okay, lifesaver candy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he would use that trick when he would fish for shark. I guess he would like send it out and use the tide, I guess, to help take the line out. So he would put those lifesavers in a balloon that would keep it buoyant, like buoyancy up, and then it would take it out further as they would get wet, I guess they'd melt and then the bait would drop. So that's something he learned and that's what he used to kind of prove oh wait, it's not hitting water because he pulled it back up. So 4,500 feet, 1,500 yards, you know, you're what is it 5,200?
Speaker 3:It's like a mile. Yeah, so he's way down there.
Speaker 1:So after that he started adding more and more line to this. He's like if I'm not hitting now, so he just. He went and bought 5 000 foot spools of line and kept adding to it, adding to it till he hit the 80 000 mark, and that's roughly 15 miles he said he called into this uh talk show.
Speaker 4:Did he call any? Was there any like authorities or the fire department? Did he call any um, like the, the township, anything like that?
Speaker 1:well, at this point he he had sent a fax over to to this radio show host and was basically asking for, like you know, what do you think I should do here? Like this is what I'm doing now I'm trying to measure it and, uh, try to figure out what's going on here. Now, these stories about the cow going in there and the trash the neighbors, kind of, were telling us some stuff about the hole. But he's only been there for about four years. He's been using it since, since he moved there. He just thought it was just a really deep hole. He didn't really think much of it but after a while he was like well, if these people are dumping, I'm dumping.
Speaker 1:Why are we not seeing anything? And how deep is this hole? So he wanted to measure it. So to give you an idea, like I said, 80,000 feet is roughly 15 miles. The deepest point on Earth that we know about is nearly 36 000 feet in the western pacific ocean, that's, in the mariana trench. So that came up again just to give you an idea of depth the deepest man-made hole that we have on earth. You want to guess where it's at?
Speaker 2:I've I've got no idea.
Speaker 1:You're saying man-made hole yeah, deepest man who's dug the deepest california?
Speaker 2:no, no, it's either the nazi or the russians it's the r yeah so I remember this too.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm into the old sci-fi stuff. So I remember the Russians were trying to do something like get into the Earth's core or go to the other side, but I think they were looking for heat or just to get wherever they could get, find out whatever they could get. And they got so far and they couldn't go any further. They're like they, they're, they're hitting like the metal, the, the heat, the core, that, or just real shitty rocks that's obviously going to break apart a shittily made russian drill bit so just trying to drill, drill, drill, hitting stuff like keep drilling, uh, nothing's happening how deep was the russian hole?
Speaker 1:so that that one's called the cola super deep borehole. That was 40 000 feet okay, that day.
Speaker 2:Seven and a half miles, yep seven and a000.
Speaker 1:Now they stopped doing that back in like 94, because they ran out of money and I guess they were just. But, like you said, they made a lot of cool discoveries from that. They found fossils of microscopic plankton that were found nearly four miles down. So these are like early organisms and stuff.
Speaker 4:So that's only four miles to the. How many? Seven and a half.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, they went seven and a half, but four miles in they found plankton. The Earth's core, to give you an idea, is about 1,802 miles below the Earth's surface and they said if you were to fall into that hole, the Kola super deep borehole, it would take you three and a half to four minutes to fall all the way through, if you could. I think it's only nine inches in diameter, but just to give you an idea, baby Jessica, right, exactly, wow. And talking about temperatures, you were saying about the heat. The temperature was like 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Speaker 4:So you couldn't live down there. There was like no humans hanging out.
Speaker 2:You're cooking children down there.
Speaker 1:Right, it's hot. So what do you think so far? Are you guys intrigued by the story?
Speaker 2:I'm taken back to the by the story. I'm taken back to the. I'm taken back to from a nostalgic aspect again. I remember listening to coast to coast am a lot like a lot and it was a lot of this type stuff, shit, dude, every night it was something like this, something man, this, this story like captivated this audience I'm captivated now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I just don't understand how they're the three, the three foot retaining wall, like no authorities.
Speaker 1:There wasn't anything posted there, it wasn't covered up it was covered it was there was a metal lid and and a lock that they would put on just for safety reasons yeah people falling in the hole, but this was on like private property. How wide is this hole again?
Speaker 2:nine feet nine inches. Nine feet nine inches. So at any point did it strike anyone's idea to go down there like spelunker their way down there?
Speaker 1:Well, they talked about doing that. It was just that there were some weird things that were going on that we'll get into here that.
Speaker 4:I don't know if anybody would really want to Nine feet in diameter.
Speaker 1:Like a cross.
Speaker 4:Nine foot, holy shit.
Speaker 1:Nine feet nine inches, so you definitely could send a person down.
Speaker 4:That's a very large hole.
Speaker 1:And it's funny you said that, Zach, because a lot of the callers to Art Bell's show were volunteering. Yeah, shit, jack, I'll go in, put me in a metal cage, sure, and send me down, just in case. Who knows what's down there? They're trying to think.
Speaker 4:Give me a flashlight, extra batteries. Can a mountain dew? This is kind of like a like a stranger things.
Speaker 1:It is like like the uh, the upside down, the upside down, exactly one of the strange one of the callers said uh, if you give me a cage and an up button, so in other words you're gonna send me down, hit, you know, an emergency up button. So strange things occurred around this hole, as noted on the call, wildlife and pets also exhibited extraordinary behaviors around the hole. Mel noted that dogs would refuse to go anywhere near it Because they don't want to fall down a fucking bottomless hole yeah.
Speaker 4:That's just like.
Speaker 2:They're smarter than us.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's how they survive for so long they're like that's a big hole, I'm not falling in, Right.
Speaker 1:They would show signs, fear barking and cowering in its vicinity. Birds wouldn't sit on the ridge of the stone wall Because they don't want to fall in either. And back to what you were asking, matt, there was a metal lid on top that would be locked to keep trespassers from throwing stuff in a hole or falling in it themselves. Now this is where it gets a little weird. Mel recounted how a neighbor's dog had once been lowered into the hole after it passed away. Miraculously, sometime later, the dog was found alive and in perfect health.
Speaker 4:That sounds like Pet Sematary, I know displaying no signs of its previous condition.
Speaker 1:This event led to speculation that the hole had regenerative or even time-ordering properties. The man was a hunter and said he and others had seen the dog on several occasions with the same collar. They knew it was the same dog. Some say that they saw the dog with another hunter in the area. The dog would not respond to any of their calls. The dog act like I don't know you, I'm not coming right you know, but this was a couple different individuals that reported seeing this dog. So far intrigued.
Speaker 4:Still, I remain intrigued like a hot tub time hole hot tub time machine.
Speaker 1:So finally, in the initial coast to coast call, the story took a darker turn. On the next fax to art bell, mel claimed that armed military personnel quickly intervened, seizing his land. They allegedly offered him a substantial sum for the property and advised him to leave the country. Further investigations revealed an unusual governed government interest in the whole Area. Residents noticed increased military activity and the erection of barriers around the region. He said erection.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, despite these efforts, the mystery of Mel's hole continued to draw attention and speculation. Mel himself vanished for extended periods, resurfacing intermittently to provide additional details and affirm his experiences. Here's a few points from the facts and the call. Arch said in off-air calls that Mel seemed very stressed. So was he just a good actor? Because this is not on air. This is them two talking private. Sure, just back and forth Right.
Speaker 1:He mentioned. He was told neighbors saw a black light coming out of the area of the hole, reaching up into the sky. Now he described this as just like. I mean it's nighttime, but this is like a black beam going from that area up into the sky. The access road was blocked off after he returned from a trip to Costco in nearby Yakima.
Speaker 4:Yakima.
Speaker 1:Nearby Yakima. You know those mounts on cars like ski racks and all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yakima that's named after that Okay, okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So he was at Costco, came back, the access road was blocked. He's like what's going on? This is Mel's property. Now they're blocking off. They said there was a plane crash and there was yellow gear there. That's the words that he used. I'm assuming he means heavy equipment in the area. They told him they could easily find a drug lab on his property. Mel was a homeopathic doctor, so he had herbal medications he was working on. They were kind of threatening him like look, if you don't get out of here and leave and stop giving us a hard time, we can find a drug lab here on the property.
Speaker 2:Wink, wink.
Speaker 1:Exactly, according to Mel at this point. He was paid, offered and paid $250,000 a month to lease his land. Basically, turn around, get out of here and leave us here. He relocated to Australia and ended up running a wombat rescue while he was there I love little wombats. At this time he was in communication with Art back and forth and Art did say he received communications from Mel while he was in Australia that originated there. So I don't know how he was able to tell that, but he knew that's where he really is when he was telling him sure. So that's a that's pretty crazy to think that he came back and this is a couple days after the initial phone call and all of a sudden there's like now. He called him armed military personnel. He didn't say government, although I think it probably would have been government, sure, or on his property and won't let him access the property.
Speaker 4:So that's a little weird do you guys remember a movie, the gate I remember the name, but I don't know the movie.
Speaker 1:Same, I remember the name I don't remember it's exactly like we were talking.
Speaker 4:There was like a hole in the ground, but it was the gate to hell. Yeah, it was. It was the gate to hell, it was hell's gate huh, that's pretty wild hell's kitchen I mean I I don't want to get on my phone, but I could I trust you yeah it was. It was called the.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do remember the cover of it because it was like claws coming out of the ground.
Speaker 4:Yeah, out of the ground and like the Gate.
Speaker 2:So the fax is still used widely. I can tell you it's used predominantly by the IRS.
Speaker 1:I remember you saying that for security.
Speaker 2:It's still. Despite its archaic nature, it's one of the most secure ways, Like you're not going to hack into a fax line because it's. It is in its simplest definition. It is an analog transmission of data, and their people don't hack phone lines right, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:I remember that came up on like a previous podcast. Yeah, now I know you guys and and most people at this point of the story are like this is very far-fetched and I think it's bullshit and you know I don't really believe it and whatever and I get that.
Speaker 4:You're still. You're still like putting the plate together. We didn't even get into like the meat the meat?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly, are you sure?
Speaker 4:because it's meaty already it is it's meaty, but I think I still think there's. You know you didn't get the full steak serving.
Speaker 2:Look man, you had me at an erection in Mel's hole, exactly. I'm just getting the beef tips, I'm not getting the full, just the tip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just getting the tip right now. So years later I think it was about two years later after moving to Australia and all that and collecting that money and leaving this property, he contacted Art Bell again with yet another revelation I found the other end of the hole Down there. No, well, not down there, but a second similar hole reportedly discovered near Nevada. So supposedly these people reached out to him and were like hey, we've heard about your hole in. Washington and we have something very similar here.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait, wait. People reached out to Mel, or people reached out to Art, to Mel. How I thought nobody knew where Mel was. No, he was in Australia. I know that Art knew that. I thought Mel wanted to keep that a secret.
Speaker 1:No, he didn't want to keep it a secret.
Speaker 2:He talked about it on air. Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:In that second phone call email. I don't really know how it went down, but this hole was associated with equally strange occurrences, from inexplicable healings to time distortions. These new claims further fueled the enigma and solidified Mel's hole as a centerpiece of modern paranormal lore. So yeah, this was in Nevada and I think it was on native Indian land or something like that.
Speaker 4:Oh, I didn't throw that in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, actually that's where Mel's hole the original one in in Washington as well was in was in that area. So he was checking around too to see hey, is this anything to do with?
Speaker 2:you know, there were holes like that in Machu Picchu in uh to knock the land. Uh, a bunch of places in Mexico are like. Again, this is from watching ancient aliens. There's a couple of places down there that are that speak to this.
Speaker 3:Full of holes.
Speaker 2:People, while people would go to these I don't know altars, for lack of a better word, so they built stone monuments around these holes and they would stand there for a bit, or they'd smoke peyote or whatever the hell they do, and then they would disappear. Yeah, these people would disappear, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I mean this story, like I said, is so far-fetched but the listeners were eating it up.
Speaker 4:Disappear into these holes or just disappear from the face of the earth. They go like from the face of the earth.
Speaker 2:Just gone.
Speaker 1:That's wild. So, despite the compelling testimony, scientific communities remained skeptical. No shock there, no shock Critics testimony scientific communities remain skeptical. No shock there, no shock. Critics argued the lack of empirical evidence and the seemingly fantastical elements of mel's accounts. Now his stories just kept being weirder and weirder and weirder. It was just like off the wall stuff. However, the sheer consistency and detail of his stories kept public interest alive. When he'd call in, they would try to stump him on stuff or get him to like mess up and he just would not like everything tied together, like he would not get his facts wrongs or stuff that he talked about before, which was uh for our listeners. They were just like it's unreal was he a college educated man?
Speaker 4:was this a smart? Yeah, was he a psych major or anything?
Speaker 2:but he didn't really say anything. He was a smart man, but I know what love is yeah he did say he was in the military at one point.
Speaker 1:You know his wife worked at a local college but they were going through a separation during all this.
Speaker 4:Your mom goes to college. Yeah, napoleon.
Speaker 1:Yep. But this kept public interest alive, encouraging amateur investigators and enthusiasts to seek the truth behind the claims. To this day, the mystery of Mel's hole endures. While some dismiss the story as an elaborate hoax, others remain convinced of its authenticity. Whatever the case may be, the calls between Mel Waters and Art Bell have cemented themselves as a fascinating chapter in the annals of paranormal storytelling, highlighting the intersection of folklore, mystery and human curiosity.
Speaker 1:In the midst of this growing mystery, several search parties formed to locate Mel's Hole. Despite the vague direction and the government's reported efforts to conceal the location, groups of determined individuals and amateur sleuths ventured into the rural expanse of Ellensburg, so that's the area of Washington where he was at. Some claim to have found evidence of the hole, while others return with eerie stories of encountering armed guards and unmarked vehicles patrolling the area. Throughout the years, several individuals came forward to back up Mel's claims. Locals reported seeing strange military activity and hearing odd noises near the property. Some even claimed to have witnessed objects and light beams emanating from the hole, like we talked about earlier, lending more credibility to Mel's extraordinary tales.
Speaker 1:Various theories have been proposed to explain the phenomena surrounding Mel's hole. Some researchers suggest it might be a natural geological formation like a sinkhole or volcanic vent, with atypical properties due to local mineral deposits or geothermal activity. Others hypothesize that it could be man-made structure from an ancient civilization or a remnant of a secret government experiments. Now there is a military base, I think, nearby Conspiracy theorists frequently argue that the hole is a portal to another dimension.
Speaker 2:I'd be on that team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a time travel gateway or an entrance to a subterranean world inhabited by unknown entities. These theories are fueled by the reported UFO sightings and strange lights suggesting a connection to extraterrestrial technology or beings. No clear answers have been found and the mystery of Mel's hole remains unsolved. What is certain, however, is the profound impact it had on those who encountered it and the enduring questions it raises. Was Mel's hole a naturally occurring anomaly or a product of something more sinister?
Speaker 4:ET.
Speaker 1:That question lingers, urging us to keep searching for the truth hidden deep within the darkness of the unexplored abyss. So that second hole that he found down in Nevada yeah, I didn't even get into that story because I wanted to focus more on the actual Mel's hole.
Speaker 2:Mel's second hole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but if you go online and you look up art bell, coast to coast, mel's hole, there's like six calls and I think it's the fifth and sixth call deal with that hole in Nevada and that story is way off the wall, like I didn't even want to get into it. On this, because I want to talk mostly about Mel's hole, sure, because this is the one where people still go out. They have search parties, there's online maps, there's all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 4:So you said, mel had two holes.
Speaker 2:Well, Mel's holes are better than one.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it's like Mel.
Speaker 1:yeah, that's right, okay, the initial, the original mel's hole was in washington.
Speaker 3:Yes, the one that we were talking about right that he was contacted because of the similar anomaly in nevada and, like zap said there's these holes, I guess all over there yeah you guys don't think it was like just like a sinkhole type thing or like how in like yellowstone now they have like those natural occurring like holes that just open up geysers.
Speaker 4:the the geysers are also there. There's like tons of like stuff on that land that that's not a girls' earth, that's a geyser.
Speaker 2:A geyser, yes, right.
Speaker 1:Well, here's some things just to close it out and then we can discuss. I want to hear your guys' thoughts on everything. So the original hole was said to be nine miles west of Ellensburg, washington, in an ridge. There was a truck stop nearby and some truckers told Mel they delivered large amounts of fiber optic equipment to a warehouse very near that property that contained Mel's hole. Now this is all after the takeover. Radios nearby now this is from you know other people in the area radios nearby broadcasting what seemed to be old content from previous decades, including a baseball game from 1967.
Speaker 1:So these people get nearby the hole with a radio and start picking up like old music, all things, like weird stuff like that. It's wild. A local man and this is something that mel revealed on a later call uh, he's like. Oh, I forgot to tell you about this one. He said a local man was throwing used tires down the hole instead of paying disposal fees, and I mean he was doing this for a long, long time, like throwing these tires down on top of dumping, yeah, on top of everything else, but there's like a fee for the tire disposal instead of paying disposal fees.
Speaker 4:And I mean he was doing this for a long, long time, like throwing these tires down. So no dumping.
Speaker 1:Yeah, on top of everything else, but there's like a fee for the tire disposal. Guys Like screw it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to throw these tires down there.
Speaker 1:But this hole would just never fill up.
Speaker 2:In High Spire. We would just bury them or we'd throw them in the river.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 4:Or back behind a stand boss.
Speaker 1:So back to two things here that, like people, listeners were like you know what, like this is like really far fetched. But here are two things that would maybe reel them back in, and these are things that Art reported on the air. So it was reported that a camera crew was sent out and did indeed find evidence of a military presence in that area.
Speaker 2:After this is after the fact or prior to.
Speaker 1:This is after he called about um. You know, hey, there was military personnel and these people found evidence of a military presence in that area. This was reported back to Arbel after the second call.
Speaker 2:So this was before the government went in there and said you need to shut the fuck up and get out of the country.
Speaker 1:No, no, this is after that.
Speaker 2:Well then, of course they're going to find a military presence.
Speaker 4:It was right by a military base, though, is what I think he was saying, right.
Speaker 1:But not that close, like the military is miles and miles away. Okay. But when they went out, I guess they saw a couple of things that were like, okay, maybe this guy's not bullshitting.
Speaker 2:There are military, so they are confirming that indeed, the government did come in and took a peek. Eminent domain is John.
Speaker 1:And what they kept saying. Saying is like a military or uniformed. I mean there were a couple times where they said it's more than likely government, but they wouldn't come out and say government, they just kept saying milit, like, uh, uniformed individuals stuff like government agency much like we talked about an et like who are they? What are they?
Speaker 4:yeah, who are these people?
Speaker 1:you know, I mean atf right and here here's another one that this is what really got atf. Well, that's the thing. If they were going to try again for drugs or whatever, yeah, there was.
Speaker 4:There's some sort of uh guns in there.
Speaker 1:So this is the one that got everybody into a tizzy and I don't know, and maybe zap, you're maybe online back then. Matt, I don't know about you, I wasn't. There was a microsoft site called terror server and this is pre-google earth, so terror server was basically like satellite images for the public domain.
Speaker 4:Okay, Like Google Maps.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4:Think Google Earth, Google Earth okay.
Speaker 1:On this Terra server. Mel's former property was blacked out. Now that you could say, oh, somebody went in or you know he knew that and based a story on that and all that. But that Terra server website went active like I think it was, eight months after his initial call.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So why was that area whited out or blacked out and what was going on there? So that had people going, oh my God, like how would he know that there's got to be something here? You know, yeah. And then the thing with the neighbors like there were times that he'd call in and art was like can we talk to a neighbor, can we do this or that? After that second call there was military personnel. They gave him hush money, get out of here. And they even said he said I'm gonna go to the press with this and they were like go ahead, they're not gonna believe you anyhow, right, but maybe the neighbors didn't talk because some sort of gag order. So if there's a, a government in the area, they're like, hey, we're doing stuff up, but we found something. You got to keep quiet, don't talk to anybody, don't talk to media.
Speaker 2:It's like when the bad guys from ET show up and they set up a medical shop right outside of Elliot's house.
Speaker 1:Right yeah.
Speaker 2:A lot of payoff.
Speaker 1:Like we talked about a little bit, is that maybe it was a lava tube. So I guess these lava because there is volcanic activity in that area for sure, and uh, those lava tubes can go down pretty far. So there might have been an actual hole on this guy's property, but a lot of this other stuff was embellished or maybe it was an old mine shaft there was no.
Speaker 2:15 miles seems kind of far for a money right, but maybe he was bullshitting on that.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, right maybe the spartans dug it.
Speaker 4:He could Maybe, and then it would kick people in it.
Speaker 1:Back to that. There was a neighbor that had told Mel years ago and this was an elderly neighbor that there were like stones arranged out around that hole, kind of like a stone hedge type thing. So now people that looked into it, there was no record of an actual Mel Waters in or around the surrounding area of Ellensburg. So no record of anybody with that name or around that age.
Speaker 4:It's something he could make up too, to call in the radio show you don't want people to know, Right, I mean we do that here on a podcast. Some people, they don't want their names out there. Yeah, right, I mean you can figure it out.
Speaker 2:My real name is Howard.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's some people that like our show, that we don't call them their real name. Yeah, they don't want it out on the air, so it could have been that.
Speaker 1:And the government will find you. If that's what it was, it was government.
Speaker 4:It's not that hard.
Speaker 2:They're listening to us right now, exactly, yeah, but there's stuff that they don't agree with.
Speaker 4:So they're like let me keep it up. There's one person actually in charge of listening to our podcast. I don't like what they're talking about right now, so we're going to keep an eye on them.
Speaker 1:We'll shut them down. That's correct.
Speaker 4:That is true.
Speaker 1:What was amazing to me is that this story went on. I think 97 was the first call and 2002 was the last call that he made, but we are 22 years later and there's still stories about it. There's YouTube videos about it. There's people that go out, search parties and stuff, and really, if they wanted to, if it let's just say there was actually something there, you know, and they wanted to disappear.
Speaker 2:Though they can make it disappear shit yeah you know what I mean so where the internet gets scrubbed all the time. Right, you know, you need to know that. If you don't like, the internet gets scrubbed daily, daily. So what are your thoughts on it? Gets scrubbed daily, daily. So what are your thoughts on it? I say it's entirely possible. I would believe as much as that. It's a lava tube, given its location I mean washington you had mount. What is it? What was it?
Speaker 4:right here.
Speaker 2:Yeah that mount rainier that blew up active volcano. Yeah, there you go. I mean, so that's entirely possible. I would just as much as I would say sure, maybe it's a black hole, a wormhole, something that takes you to some other distant place yeah, I mean that's, I'm kind of open-minded about stuff like that.
Speaker 1:I would never say never. I mean, obviously, on the surface you look at it it seems like this is probably made up, but maybe some of it's true, maybe some, but maybe it's totally all true, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I think current civilization needs to wrap its head around the idea that you know, we don't know everything yeah there's a lot of shit we don't know about, so keep an open mind. What do?
Speaker 1:you think, matt?
Speaker 4:I, I agree, like there's stuff that we don't really know about. Something like this it sounds like it could have been a, a sinkhole or a a funnel for the volcanoes in that area, something that. But then I think, as something goes on, like they had it covered up, as, as lore goes on, as people make up their own stories, it turns into whatever your imagination could be yeah, I mean I I think no matter what it was an intriguing story.
Speaker 1:If the guy was uh just making a story up, it was a great story, I'm sure for years like people did dump stuff down there just to get rid of stuff, cause everybody has like.
Speaker 4:I would get rid of half my garage in there right now If I could, if I could find this hole. I feel both intrigued and compelled.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, like I said, if you go on online you can find the phone calls. There was one, like I said that I totally left out, they got crazy. Said that I totally left out, they got crazy. That second hole, I mean it got a really really far fetched. I mean not that this other stuff wasn't kind of far-fetched, but uh, I I thought it was a very good, you know very good story. When I actually a a gentleman approached me about it, said you should do a podcast on this, I'm like, well, I don't know how much is there to actually do like a full podcast right but I thought it'd be something cool to talk about for this kind of like surprise episode.
Speaker 1:Sure surprise and just bring it up.
Speaker 4:I do believe in multiple universes, like I think that we've been here on Earth for so long that you can't really have a complete timeline of what went on, but I can see in, like us rotating around different parts of this universe and it could be something like that, um, to be that open and that easy to find. Maybe not, yeah, but I I still think there's something in that. Yeah, it's still a great story. I find it. It's cool awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, would you guys be interested in doing this again?
Speaker 4:maybe one of you guys come out yeah, I dug it because, yeah, we really knew, I knew nothing. I knew nothing about this Mel's hole, mel's hole, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, listeners, we hope you enjoyed it. If you did, let us know about it. Let us know if you like this here. Another one down the road is something like a little change of pace. It would ease up some of our workloads. Each one, two of us take a break. The other one researches, like zap usually has to do for for most of the podcast, um, you know, but it gives you guys a you know, two of us a break and we come in and just kind of sit back and listen. So I hope you guys enjoyed it. You guys got anything else?
Speaker 2:no, I will take this opportunity to thank you for the break. It was relaxing and wonderful and enjoyable, and such a great compelling story yeah yeah, yes, compelling was cool.
Speaker 4:It was fun to hear. It's completely different for us because we usually come in with you know papers and prepared, and this was just something to listen to and enjoy. Actually, I enjoyed it, it was like I was listening to the podcast but it was like Dave's podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you, I liked it. I'm going to dig into this one for real.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely check it out. Yeah, I'm going to take a gander and I urge you listeners to go out and listen to those other parts. Like I said, it would have just been so much to get into on the podcast tonight, but there's definitely some stuff in there that you'll probably enjoy, if you enjoyed this. So, yeah, don't forget to find us on Facebook and Instagram, at Old Dirty Basement, on TikTok, at Old Dirty Basement Podcast, and I guess that's it for now. So at old dirty basement podcast, and I guess that's it for now.
Speaker 4:So we'll get you where. On the flip side, if we don't see you sooner, we'll see you later.
Speaker 2:Peace.
Speaker 4:Thanks for hanging out in the old, dirty basement. If you dig our theme music, like we do check out the tsunami experiment, find them on Facebook. Their music is available streaming on Spotify and Apple and where great music is available.
Speaker 1:You can find us at old dirty basement on Facebook and Instagram and at old dirty basement podcast on Tik TOK Peace. We outtie 5,000. You.