science

Mel's Hole

Mel's Hole is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mel's Hole rather than just read about it. In short: Mel's Hole is, according to an urban legend, an American "bottomless pit" near Ellensburg, Washington. Claims about it were first made on the radio show Coast to Coast AM in 1997 by a guest calling himself Mel Waters.

Key takeaways

Mel's Hole belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mel's Hole to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mel's Hole from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mel's Hole is, according to an urban legend, an American "bottomless pit" near Ellensburg, Washington. Claims about it were first made on the radio show Coast to Coast AM in 1997 by a guest calling himself Mel Waters. Later investigation revealed no such person was listed as residing in that area, and no credible evidence has been given that the hole ever existed.

Claims The legend of the bottomless hole started on February 21, 1997, when a man identifying himself as Mel Waters appeared as a guest on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell. Waters claimed that he owned rural property nine miles (14 km) west of Ellensburg in Kittitas County, Washington, that contained a mysterious hole. According to Waters, the hole had an unknown depth. He claimed to have measured its depth using fishing line and a weight, although he still had not hit bottom by the time 80,000 feet (15 mi; 24 km) of line had been used. He also claimed that his neighbor's dead dog had been seen alive sometime after it was thrown into the hole. According to Waters, the hole's magical properties prompted US federal agents to seize the land and fund his relocation to Australia. Waters made guest appearances on Bell's show in 1997 (February 21 and 24), 2000, and 2002. Rebroadcasts of those appearances have helped create what has been described as a "modern, rural myth". The exact location of the hole was unspecified, yet several people claimed to have seen it, such as self-described "intertribal medicine man" Gerald Osborne, also known as Red Elk, who told reporters in 2012 he visited the hole many times since 1961 and claimed the US government maintained a top secret base there where "alien activity" occurs.

Investigation In 2002, a group of thirty people led by Gerald Osborne undertook an expedition to find the hole, but were unable to locate it. Local news reporters who investigated the claims found no public records of anyone named Mel Waters ever residing in, or owning property in, Kittitas County. According to State Department of Natural Resources geologist Joe Tea, the hole does not exist and is geologically impossible. A hole of the depth claimed "would collapse into itself under the tremendous pressure and heat from the surrounding strata," said Powell. Powell said an ordinary old mine shaft on private property was probably the inspiration for the stories, and commented that Mel's Hole had established itself as a legend "based on no evidence at all." Geologist Pat Pringle doubted Waters' story about having lowered 80,000 feet (15 mi; 24 km) of fishing line into a hole, saying that the heat of the Earth would have snapped it before it could reach such a depth.

Art exhibition An art exhibition, "Aspects of Mel's Hole: Artists Respond to a Paranormal Land Event Occurring in Radiospace," curated by LA Weekly art critic Doug Harvey, was presented at the Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) in Santa Ana, California, in 2008. The show featured works by 41 artists and collectives, many created specifically for the exhibition, including works by Albert Cuellar, Charles Schneider, Marnie Weber, Jim Shaw, Jeffrey Vallance, Georganne Deen, Paul Laffoley, The Firesign Theatre, Gary Panter, The Center for Land Use Interpretation, James Hayward, Cathy Ward, Eric Wright and Craig Stecyk. The GCAC published a hardbound 146-page catalog in conjunction with the exhibit, containing contributions from all the artists, plus essays by Harvey, psychoanalyst Judy Spence, science author Margaret Wertheim, Hannah Miller, Brian Tucker, Christine Wertheim, Mike McGee and the Rev. Ethan Acres.

See also Well to Hell hoax Skinwalker Ranch, a similar paranormal "complex" (combining several different kinds of Fortean accounts in one location)

References

External links Mel's Bucket - a short point-and-click adventure game based on Mel's Hole Audio clips of the original two shows featuring Mel Waters Mel Waters' guest page on Coast to Coast AM Tri-City Herald story on Mel's Hole 2002 Seattle Times article about an expedition to Mel's Hole Archived June 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Grand Central Art Center's "Aspects of Mel's Hole: Artists Respond to a Paranormal Land Event Occurring in Radiospace" exhibit. Eastern Washington hole is shrouded in mystery Archived September 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine by Denise Whitaker, Published: Feb 7, 2012 at 11:33 PM PST, Last Updated: Feb 12, 2012 at 11:24 AM PST. Getting to the bottom of Mel's Hole Ellensburg Daily Record, March 31, 2012 Dunning, Brian (June 2, 2009). "Skeptoid #156: Falling into Mel's Hole". Skeptoid. Retrieved March 13, 2019.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mel's Hole

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mel's Hole claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mel's Hole before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mel's Hole ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mel's Hole

In research: Mel's Hole appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mel's Hole in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mel's Hole is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American urban legends, Coast to Coast AM, Fictional locations in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mel's Hole outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mel's Hole in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mel's Hole means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mel's Hole out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mel's Hole in simple terms?

Why does Mel's Hole matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mel's Hole?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mel's Hole.