The Horrifying Legend of Mel's Hole | Real or Hoax?

In 1997, radio presenter Art Bell had a phone conversation with a man named Mel. He had discovered something strange on his land, a seemingly bottomless hole. Over the course of 5 years, Mel and Art would have a number of conversations live on Coast to Coast AM, discussing the increasingly strange experiences Mel had with the hole.

Join me as we delve into all of those conversations and try to get to the bottom of Mel's Hole. Government cover up? Hoax? Or a mixture of the two. Let's find out on this entry into The Tape Library.

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Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime.

Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Additional footage and audio from Evanto, Singularity, Midjourney and Pexels. All other footage used under fair use.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Art Bell/Coast to Coast
02:14 Welcome to The Tape Library
04:15 The First Call - 1997
13:36 The 2nd Call
22:23 Mel Returns - 2000
33:03 Call 4 - 2002
41:55 Animal Cruelty Warning
43:45 The Autopsy
48:03 The Final Call
53:48 What Really Happened With Mel's Hole

[bonny-at-morn]

As a woman called Mel I can’t tell you how hard my double take was when I read the title of this video

[joshuamueller]

Humans throwing garbage down a seemingly bottomless hole is one of the most human things I have ever heard.

[tarnetskygge]

You have to remember this was at the height of the X-Files popularity... I bet Mel watched every episode of that show. This story would have made a pretty good episode itself.

[justsayin]

“Mel was a self described, near professional shark fisher.” Like what? This episode is full of absolutely amazing one liners👌🏼

[saltmydishbartender]

first call: “this hole seems to have no bottom. that’s strange.”
last call: “AND THEN THE SEAL TALKED THROUGH THE RADIO LIKE BUMBLEBEE AND WARNED THE FOOLISH MORTALS OF THE APOCALYPTIC DEMON ICE CUBE”

[PYRPIGGY]

I grew up in the town where the Mel's hole legend is from. Hiked around the manashtash ridge area many times growing up. In school it would get mentioned every once in awhile. Stories of people going searching for it but never coming back. Some kids would even claim that they knew someone who knew where it was but they couldn't share. Classic. It's cool to see this story in the video. Brings just a little bit of the culture I grew up in to the wider world.

[halseyseneschal]

Firmly in the “Mel made it up” camp, but can you guys imagine if he’d chosen to write it into a novel instead of going on the show?? We’d probably have had the latest sci fi classic on our hands…

[ReaperOfStories]

My dad had a late night commute listening to Art Bell and would regale us with the epic of Mel's Hole. It was good times.

[RagingIrishman]

Lol, Art was so genuinely intrigued by the people that called in to his show, but he was also one of the greatest trolls ever. He was a master of egging on these delusional types and extracting the maximum amount of intrigue and entertainment from them. RIP Art, you're the GOAT.

[clanksshekels]

When you start your first shift as bottomless-hole inspector and they tell you to start filling it

[OuterGalaxyLounge]

Mel went too far with it when he claimed he found the second hole and all kinds of wacky creatures and stuff were in it. Total BS.

[virginiamackey]

This was an absolutely enthralling fascinating spine-tingling campfire story! Physically impossible, phoney as hell, and vague in all the right spots. Thanks for the afternoon's entertainment!

[samuelslack]

“Let’s get into Mel’s hole” just doesn’t sound like a very good time

[yerva]

I love the narrative capacity that radio has for creepypasta, it blurrs the line between reality and fiction in a way that is fascinating

[TwoSoulsOneCup]

None of the jokes involving Mel’s Hole fell short. Great job all around. You really nailed Mel’s Hole, so much that i could feel it too. 👍🏻

[cozmyx]

18:20 "the government taking an interest... in Mel's hole" I genuinely laughed 😅 interesting story

[Durpydurp]

Honestly the part that struck me the most unbelievable was the bit where Mel paid his ex-wife $25, 000 a MONTH to lease land he did not live on. Where did he get that money and why was that land worth so much to him? Then the government pays him exactly 10x that much ($3 million per year) without ever checking to see that he has the deed? That seems TOO ODD.

[d.c.]

Just watching the development of this story it becomes clear that making this up is part of a fantastic imagination and doesn't take anything away from the deep wonder that such a tale inspires. It becomes irrelevant whether the hole really exists....

[morgainebrigid]

All of the other people who knew about this - the neighbors, the Natives, the Basque- no e of them ever came forward to validate his story? Even anonymously? 1 person called in in the beginning and said they'd heard about the first hole, but that's it. If the government silenced him, why didn't they silence Mel? Way too many holes. Still, a fascinating retelling

[A_S_Quinn]

I don't know if I'm mature enough for this episode, can't stop giggling.