Mel's Hole

The story of Mel's Hole - a mysterious pit, possibly as deep as 80,000 feet, located somewhere in the middle of Washington near Ellensburg.

2004

[angelicmerc]

Bottom line don't tell the government anything, keep it to yourself!

[matthewcapps]

Does this freak me out? Yes. Does that stop me from trying to go look for it? No. Does my wallet stop me from going to look for it? Yes.

[franklinbumgartener]

As a young man in my 20's I used to work as a janitor in a very, very large church building that literally took up an entire city block in an old Mid-west downtown area. Many late nights well after dark I would listen to Art Bell while making my rounds.... That remains one of the most wonderfully terrifying experiences of my life.

[smilingdog]

Art Bell entertained us long haul truck drivers for many years. We laughed with him when he superglued himself on the air repairing a CD tray. We cried with him over his losses. We missed him following his retirement.

[edwardenglish]

I cannot add to or detract from Mel's Hole, but I will tell you this. While stationed at F.t Lewis Washington (1985-1991), I spent about 4-6 months a year maneuvering around Yakima Firing Center. In 1988 as a Staff Sergeant, my tank was sent to an area near a silica mine recon north of Umptanum Ridge. I thought it odd that only one tank was sent to do this. While traveling about 15-20 mph down a flat trail, I was standing chest high out of the commanders hatch scanning the open terrain.


Suddenly, our tank (M60A3) was rocked so violently that I was thrown out of the hatch and my CVC flew off my head. The event felt and sounded like Thor had swung his massive hammer and hit the side of our tank. So intense was this event that my driver stopped immediately, which fortunately allowed me to recover and not be thrown off the turret onto the ground. Everyone was yelling at the driver asking what he had hit because we had all heard the almost bell sounding strike as we were violently shook and thrown around.


My driver shut the engine down and we all dismounted the tank and walked around it and then walked the trail finding nothing. Trying to rationalize the event we blamed a mechanical failure of the suspension or something for the event. We got out tools and began to inspect torsion bars, shocks, and track components for something broken only to come up empty. Unto this day I have no rational explanation for what happened. My lieutenant never questioned what took so long and we never volunteered an explanation.


I have tried to explain it away as a subterranean fault slipped and we heard the sound and received the shock wave which shook us so violently. I even considered that Rangers, SF who train in the area, or the Army's NATIC technology group fired some type of sonic weapon at our tank. I still wonder today what happened

[moorevideo]

On a Military Exercise in 1984 at Yakima Firing Range my fellow airman and me found a large seemingly bottomless hole on the range about 20 ft across. We threw rocks into it and never heard a reply... We were just happy no one fell into it, but it had no sides... crazy!

[jamesaustralian]

If you keep feeding rope down a hole, how do you know when it stops going down and starts coilling up on the bottom ?

[Bloodcount]

reminder to turn down your volume after watching this video

[dontcrymasha]

Rest in peace Art! I still listen to your shows almost daily. You are still the best radio show host

[lestatangel]

Any rational person would understand that if the military and government took this land and restricted access, must be a reason.

[terriflores]

Art Bell was the best and will be missed by millions of his listeners.

[erict]

Man I miss Art! He really made the night shift I worked go so smoothly with me and my co workers. I used to listen to all the ghost to ghost am shows. They were great. Rip Art bell - you are greatly missed brother

[Ryan-ixnr]

I grew up in this area. Never heard of Mel's Hole but in high school(mid 90s) we would have bonfire parties around something we called the "Hanford Hole". It was large enough to drop a car down it...and we did once. Never heard it hit bottom or send up smoke or anything. The sides of this hole were smooth as glass and perfectly straight and smooth as if a laser from space made it and vitrified(?) The rocks to glass as it did so. I had been telling my fiance about it for a couple years while living in Alaska where she is from. I finally got back to Washington state and was showing her various sites. We made the long drive across the state just show her the 'hole' I had spoke so many times about...and it is now surrounded by a high security fence and razor wire about 60'×60' with government warning signs posted to keep out. Bummer but not surprising. I'm am surprised I haven't heard anything about it over the years. Has anyone else???

[islandofthemoon]

all my volume settings at maximum and I still struggle to hear it

[IVoyager-ljit]

"Mel is the guy with a never ending hole."
Giggity.
Yeah, I'm not comfortable listening to people discuss Mel's hole.

[jerrycross]

I miss Art Bell! I listened to him while on the graveyard shift many years ago.

[CutterDriftwood]

"There's nothing better than a deep hole"!!
-Random Ginger

[Cunnilingusaurus]

I remember when I heard this broadcast over 20 years ago. I was working 3rd shift in a gas station. So happy to get to hear it again. Thanks for posting this. Lots of memories. Like freaking out the 3AM bathroom weirdo lady by splattering chocolate syrup all over the commode right before her "scheduled" visit! Priceless!

[gangoffour]

R.I.P. Art Bell 👍🏼. The greatest of all time !

[robertsnyder]

My friend and fellow gold miner Charlie Sherpinski was in Mel's hole years ago. He lowered himself down in it on a rope but the
rope wasn't near long enough. Want to find it? Look for the foundation of Central Washington university old observatory. It's in the area below that. Charlie said the government built a barn like structure over it and a chain link fence around that with nasty warning signs on it. I think the reason the observatory was demolished is it was too close to Mel's hole and the government didn't want curious college kids around it. I know Red Elk and his fairey tales about the place. For years people from Ellensburg used to throw their old refrigerators and washing machines down the hole just to listen to them go out of earshot.