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Mel's Hole investigated again; mystery remains unsolved

KOMO illustration captured from their news story video.
KOMO illustration captured from their news story video.

In a story worthy of our “I Wonder Why … ?” series, a Seattle TV station has resurrected the mystery of Mel’s Hole located somewhere (but no one knows where) near Ellensburg.

KOMO wrote on Tuesday:

From Bigfoot to the disappearance of D.B. Cooper, the Pacific Northwest is full of mysteries. Another mystery burred deep in the hills of eastern Washington keeps resurfacing. Ellensburg 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.

Led by a shaman

The television news crew netted an interview with a man who says he is a Native American Shaman, or medicine man. Red Elk told the station that he saw the hole and experienced its weirdness back in 1961.

Here’s what Red Elk said on his Website on Feb. 3 about the interview and renewed interest in Mel’s Hole:

What got me ‘public’ was Mel’s Hole. I don’t like untruths. This hole was told of on Coast-to-Coast/Art Bell. Told and LAUGHED AT! Ticked me off. The hole IS. Personally been there before, in 1960 or ’61. Called ‘em and TOLD ‘EM SO. I’ll stand by ANY who are falsely accused. Well, now KOMO TV News (out of Seattle, Wa.) called me…wanting an interview. Told ‘em I was willing, but……… NO MEDIA HAS TOLD THE TRUTH on this. Urban Legends to Newspapers. I’d share, they’d EDIT….and ALWAYS make it out as a “bald -faced” LIE. OK, one more chance. We meet today.

The mystery begins

Mel’s Hole was made famous because of an interview someone calling himself Mel Waters and claiming to live in Ellensburg had with Art Bell on the American radio show Coast to Coast AM. But who Mel was or if he really was is as much a mystery as the hole, which he told Art Bell was at least 80,000 feet deep and full of paranormal powers.

A Seattle Times reporter back in 2002, also led by Red Elk, set out to find the hole and struck out:

“Waters — himself a mystery — said he sold the property and won't say where it is. Few people know who he really is. So far, Waters exists only on radio waves, with a story many think is bunk. But tales of a deep hole in Ellensburg have circulated for years. Hoax or not, Waters' appearances before Bell's 10 million listeners have elevated an old local legend into a national paranormal mystery.

The Times' expedition failed.

The mystery and the UW

The University of Washington’s UWTV even got caught up in the mystery and created a 12-minute expose on the mysterious hole in 2006:

If you know the answer or if you are Mel … let us know where to find that hole!