Mel Waters and The Devil's Hole

On February 21, 1997, Art Bell had a guest on his Coast to Coast AM radio show named Mel Waters who claimed to know the location of a mysterious hole on his property outside of Ellensburg, Washington that had some very interesting paranormal properties. He subsequently appeared on February 24, 1997, April 2000 and January 29, 2002. His final appearance on the show was on December 20, 2002.

Waters claimed to own property near Manastash Ridge, Washington, about nine miles west of Ellensburg. On his property, he had found a hole. The hole was about 9 feet around, brick lined down the first 15 feet, and had been used by locals to dump garbage and other unwanted junk for years, never filling up. If you dropped something into the hole, you never heard it hit bottom, and Waters had tried lowering a weight on the end of a fishing line in an attempt to determine the depth. After attaching many reels of line together, the estimate was the hole was in excess of 15 miles deep. The hole also was said to have some other odd qualities, like the ability to bring dead animals back to life. Waters shared a story of a local who had thrown his dead dog into the hole, only to have the dog return to him alive later. At some point, Waters sold the property and Waters disappeared, and with him, the exact location of Mel’s hole.

Since then, there have been multiple ‘searches’ for the location of Mel’s Hole. Nothing has been found matching Water’s mysterious description. In fact, rumor has it the Tri City Herald reported that Waters was not listed in the Kittitas County telephone directory or the registered as a taxpayers, and that authorities in Ellensburg were unable to find any evidence that he was a ever resident or existed. Even the Mel’s Hole Website has called further searches off after determining that the quest for Mel’s Hole is a series of dead ends.

The tale of Mel’s Hole is widely accepted as a urban legend and hoax now, but some rather odd details suggest there may be more to the story than a simple hoax.

First, the story of Mel’s hole didn’t start with Mel Waters. On September 18, 2008, Coast to Coast AM had a guest name Red Elk, an Inter-Tribal Medicine Man who claimed to have visited the hole with his father in 1961 and also claimed to have more information on the hole. Red Elk has said the hole is 24–28 miles deep and connected to Mt Rainier. He has also been know to tell tales of an Inner Earth beneath the surface of the ground with a race giant lizardmen who make sex slaves of captures humans.

Red Elk is not the only one other one to have seen the hole. Ellensburg resident Jay Nickell remember exploring the area of Manastash Ridge as a teenager and coming across a hole that fits Waters’ descriptions.

There are rumbling of a government conspiracy to conceal the location of the hole. Mel’s property was near Yakima Firing Range, a 500 square mile training and firing range near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, used by soldiers from Fort Lewis. It is said the satellite photos of the area have been altered to protect the military’s training and that images of the hole and Waters’ land were also doctored.

On Waters’ second phone call into Coast To Coast, he described how was prevented from returning to his land by government or military Men In Black types. They claimed there was a plane crash on his property and would not allow him back on his property. Could these Men In Black possibly be responsible for then erasing any record of him owning property or paying taxes in Kittitas County?

During his second call, he also told the story of a conversation Waters had with a long time Kittitas County resident who remembered the hole from many years ago. According to the long time resident, there used to be stone monoliths, much like Stonehenge, with out the top pieces, surrounding the hole.

Waters is thought to now be in Nevada, studying another mysterious hole. This hole is creeper yet, with a bizarre story of a dead sheep that was lowered into Waters’ new hole and returned dead and completely ‘cooked’ on the inside. When cut open, the sheep was found to be filled with a jelly like substance described as a tumour that formed into a alien/seal like creature that jumped back into the hole.

Until Mel Waters resurfaces, we may never know the truth behind the strange tale of Mel Waters and The Devil’s Hole.

Thanks to a Whales In Space tipster for the heads up on Mel Water’s Devil’s Hole.