Washington Weirdness: Mel's Hole

A while back I posted on my MySpace blog that I had picked up the book "Weird Washington", and that I wanted to start blogging about the interestingly weird stories and places featured in the book. Well one thing led to another and I didn't start reading the book until recently (i.e. I farted around and didn't get to it until now).

What's nice about the layout of the book is you can pretty much open it up to any page, and start reading about some interesting and weird subject here in Washington State. I know Washington has lot's weird stuff (and people), but I didn't know how weird things were. It just happens that the first page I opened up in the book was page 50 which featured a story about Mel's Hole.

Now I had heard of Mel's Hole before; an apparently bottomless hole just West of Ellensburg, Washington. I knew that a man known as Mel Waters had either appeared on, or called in to the Coast to Coast AM radio show, and spoke to then host the Art Bell of a mysterious hole where people would toss in their garbage including cars, but the hole would never fill up. That was pretty much all I knew until I read the section in Weird Washington about Mel's Hole, and also Mel himself.

From the book I learned that Mel Waters claimed to have measured the depth of the hole to something close to 15 miles, that the hole may actually be a portal to different dimensions, and that dead animals tossed in to the hole would reappear some time later alive and kicking. Also Mel claims to have found a WW2 era handgun next to the well that didn't make any sound when fired, and when the gun was held next to a radio the radio would start to receive broadcasts from the past. According to Mel he also found a mysterious red envelope with several Roosevelt dimes with a date of 1943 and a "B" mintmark. Funny thing is though, according to this Wikipedia article, the US didn't start minting Roosevelt dimes until 1946, and according to the book no US Mint has a "B" mintmark.

Mel Waters' explanation for the inconsistencies with the dimes ties into the hole being a portal to a different dimension, but I don't buy it. Nor do I accept that the hole, if it exists, is 15 miles deep (or deeper as others have claimed). Take a look at this Wikipedia article on Mel's Hole, especially the section that states that the total weight of the fishing line used to measure the claimed depth of the hole would exceed the tensile strength of the line itself.

I also have a hard time buying Mel's claims that after his first appearance on the show, before he left the US for Australia to start a wombat preserve, the government prevented him from returning to his property on which the hole was on, and that he eventually leased the property to an unnamed party for $3 million a year. Mel later claimed on another appearance on Coast to Coast that when he returned to the US (in volation of an agreement with the government) he was apparently abducted and drugged, and a belt buckle that had three of the mysterious dimes embedded in it was taken from him.

It's interesting to note that according to the book, and the Wiki article a search of records failed to confirm that Mel Waters was ever a resident of the area he claimed to live in. But that could all be part of the "conspiracy and mystery" couldn't it :)

Read the book, and check out these links, then make up your own mind about this bit of Washington Weirdness:

• Mel's Hole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Mel's Hole Information
• Mel's Hole (melshole.com)
• The Continuing Saga of Mel's Hole (melshole.org)
• UWTV Program: Mel's Hole
• And here's the URL for the Weird Washington book's site: http://www.weirdwashington.us/main.htm
  

If you do an online search for "Mel's Hole" you get thousands of hits on subject, and you from those you can make your own conclusions. If you happen upon this blog and you have an opinion on the subject then feel free to leave a comment. Don't worry, I'll approve the comment unless it's spam or a ranting flame. Cheers ~ Nemo Black