Local legends add to the mystery. One neighbor reportedly threw his dead hunting dog into the hole only to later encounter the same animal alive in the woods, wearing its original collar and tags. Another neighbor describes seeing a beam of absolute blackness shooting skyward from the uncovered hole at night. An elderly resident recalls stone columns once surrounding the opening in a formation resembling Stonehenge. Dogs universally refuse to approach within a hundred feet of the shaft.
In a dramatic update, Mel reports that armed military personnel have blocked access to his property, claiming a plane crash. A plainclothes official warned him that a drug lab could easily be found on his land if he pressed the issue. Mobile buildings and generators have been moved onto the site, and a real estate agent has conveyed a generous purchase offer from an unnamed buyer.
Key Moments
Mel Waters introduces the bottomless hole on his Manastash property: On the original 1997 call, Mel Waters tells Art he has been lowering 5,000-yard spools of fishing line tied to a one-pound weight into a stone-walled hole on his property near Ellensburg, Washington. He has used 80,000 feet of line and the weight still falls freely with no echo, no bottom, and dropped 4,500 feet down he confirmed there was no water by sending a roll of Lifesavers.
The resurrected hunting dog: Mel relays the local legend that a neighbor threw his dead hunting dog into the hole, then later saw the same dog, same collar and tag, alive while hunting. Mel admits he has put it in his will that when he dies, his body should be disposed of into the well.
Armed troops seize Mel's property: On a return appearance, Mel reads his second fax: he drove to his property after the first broadcast and found the access road blocked by armed military, who told him a plane had crashed there, that 'it's not necessarily my property,' and that it would be very easy to find a drug lab there if he didn't leave.
The neighbor's beam of solid black: Mel reports a neighbor's account of driving up to the then-uncovered hole at night and seeing a beam of solid black, blacker than black, rising out of the hole like a searchlight reaching as far as he could see into the sky.
Stonehenge-like pillars once ringed the hole: An elderly neighbor tells Mel that 40 or 50 years ago there was a ring of stone columns around the hole. Mel pulls up a Stonehenge picture on his PowerBook and the neighbor confirms the layout matched, minus the lintels.