You’ve seen the thumbnails.
Usually, it's a grainy, high-contrast shot of a dark circle in the middle of a Washington forest. Sometimes there’s a red arrow pointing into the void. The captions scream about Elon Musk or "secret government scans" that finally found the bottom of the world’s most famous bottomless pit.
If you grew up listening to Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM, the words Mel's Hole drone footage probably make your heart race just a little bit. It's the ultimate "what if." What if there actually is a hole near Ellensburg that swallows 80,000 feet of fishing line and brings dead dogs back to life?
Honestly, the search for this footage is a rabbit hole of its own. People have been obsessed with finding visual proof since 1997. But before you get lost in the latest "leak," you need to know what’s real, what’s a clever hoax, and why the geologists are still rolling their eyes.
The Viral Myth of Mel’s Hole Drone Footage
The internet is a weird place.
Right now, if you search for Mel's Hole drone footage, you’ll find dozen of YouTube videos claiming to show 4K resolution deep-dives into the pit. Most of these use AI-generated visuals or footage from the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia. Others are just clever edits of old mine shafts.
Back in the late '90s, we didn't have drones. We had Mel Waters on the radio, describing a hole 9 feet wide with a stone wall around it. He claimed the government seized his land and moved him to Australia. It was the perfect pre-internet creepypasta.
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Why people keep looking
- The "Red Elk" factor: A local shaman named Red Elk (Gerald Osborne) claimed he visited the hole in the 1960s. He said it was a "spiritual" site used by the government.
- Manastash Ridge: This area of Washington is rugged. It’s the kind of place where you could hide something.
- The "Tumor Seal": Mel’s later stories involved a second hole in Nevada and a creature that looked like a "zombie seal" coming out of it.
The idea that someone could just fly a DJI Mavic over the ridge and find it is tempting. It’s the ultimate "citizen scientist" dream. But here’s the kicker: nobody has ever provided GPS coordinates that lead to anything but solid dirt.
What Science Says About a Bottomless Pit
Geologists are the ultimate party poopers for urban legends. Jack Powell, a geologist for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, has spent years debunking this.
He basically says it’s physically impossible.
The Earth’s crust is only about 19 miles thick on average. If a hole were actually 80,000 feet deep—as Mel claimed—it would be over 15 miles deep. At that depth, the pressure and heat from the surrounding rock would cause the hole to collapse instantly. It would be like trying to keep a straw open at the bottom of a swimming pool made of molten lead.
Plus, there’s the fishing line problem.
Mel said he used 15 miles of line. Even if the line didn't snap under its own weight (which some hobbyists have actually calculated it might not), the heat at 80,000 feet would melt monofilament. It’s just physics.
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The Mine Shaft Theory
Powell believes the "real" Mel’s Hole is likely an old gold mine shaft. There are plenty of them on Manastash Ridge. He even pointed to one specifically—a shaft about 90 feet deep that he used to play near as a kid. 90 feet is deep enough to be scary, but it’s definitely not bottomless.
Why "New" Drone Videos Keep Appearing in 2026
If the science is so clear, why is Mel's Hole drone footage still a trending search term?
It’s the "Mystery Box" effect. We want there to be something weird in the woods. Recent videos often claim that "advanced AI scans" or "Elon Musk’s Starlink drones" have bypassed government jamming signals to film the hole.
These are almost always "entertainment" channels. They use dramatic music, synthesized voices, and stock footage of sinkholes. One popular video from 2025 claims a drone recorded a "heartbeat" signal from the depths.
It’s great storytelling. It’s just not reality.
The Search for the Real Mel Waters
Here is the most "unsolved" part of the whole thing: Mel Waters himself.
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Local reporters have combed through Kittitas County records for decades. They found nothing. No "Mel Waters" ever owned property on Manastash Ridge. No wife worked at the university he mentioned.
He was a ghost.
Some think he was a local prankster who knew the geography well enough to sound authentic. Others believe "Mel" was a composite character created for the radio show. Whoever he was, he was a genius at world-building. He gave us enough detail—the lack of an echo, the terrified dogs, the black beam of light—to make it feel like it could be true.
Actionable Insights for Mystery Hunters
If you're planning on heading out to Washington with a drone to find the "real" Mel's Hole drone footage, keep a few things in mind:
- Respect Private Property: Most of Manastash Ridge is a mix of state land and private ranches. Locals are tired of "hole hunters" cutting their fences.
- Check the Geology: If you find a hole, it’s almost certainly a mine shaft. These are incredibly dangerous. They can have "bad air" (low oxygen or methane) and unstable walls.
- Verify the Footage: If you see a video online, look for the "VFX" or "Entertainment" disclaimer in the description. If it looks too good to be true, it’s probably rendered in Unreal Engine 5.
- Listen to the Tapes: The original Art Bell archives are the best source. They capture the raw emotion of the story before the internet turned it into a meme.
The hole might not be real, but the legend is. It’s a piece of Pacific Northwest folklore that has survived for nearly thirty years without a single frame of legitimate film. Maybe that's for the best. Some mysteries are more fun when they only exist in the dark corners of our imagination.
To get the most out of this mystery, your next step should be listening to the original 1997 radio broadcasts. They are widely available on paranormal archive sites and give you a sense of why Mel Waters was so convincing to millions of people before the era of digital hoaxes.