April 24, 2000: Mel's Hole Update

Art Bell reconnects with Mel Waters, the man behind one of the show's most legendary stories, for a long-awaited update on the mysterious bottomless hole on his former property near Ellensburg, Washington. Mel confirms the story is no hoax and recaps how he lowered 80,000 feet of monofilament fishing line into the nine-foot-wide hole without ever reaching bottom.

Mel reveals that after his original appearance on the show, armed military and civilian personnel seized his property under the pretense of a plane crash. He was offered a quarter of a million dollars per month to lease the land in perpetuity and relocate to Australia, where he continued his herbal medicine research and wombat rescue work. He describes plants grown near the hole exhibiting remarkable medicinal properties, including reportedly helping three men with advanced HIV recover from hospice care.

The update takes a darker turn as Mel recounts being abducted after boarding a transit van, waking up twelve days later in a San Francisco alley with no identification, no money, and all of his back teeth surgically removed. His ex-wife seized the property through legal action, and he now survives by selling plasma. He also describes a mysterious German P-38 pistol dug up near the hole that could pick up radio signals from different eras.