Season 08 Episode 22: Somewhere in Dreamland

Air Force Base in southern Nevada. Paul remembers him leaving every morning from the Las Vegas Airport close to their home and flying to Nellis, where he claimed to work as an optical engineer. Paul describes his dad as a quiet, conservative man, not prone to sharing details about his life. But in nineteen ninety three, after Yute Senior retired, he and the now adult Paul met at a bar. It

seemed the alcohol loosened something in the old man. It seemed as though there was something he needed to get off his chest, a truth he'd been withholding for years. According to Paul, this was when his father confessed to him that he hadn't simply worked at Nellis Air Force base he'd worked at the infamous Area fifty one. This site, which is indeed a remote part of the Nellis Base, as many listeners will know, has been the center for

conspiracy theories for decades. Most famously, according to some, it is thought to be the place where the remains of the Roswell incident were studied, but other rumors have a rude and persisted the development of exotic technologies, weather control, time travel, and even face to face meetings with visiting extraterrestrials. It's a site forever associated with shadowy, black ops and secret, perhaps dangerous knowledge. Paul Utes his father is said to

have called it Dreamland. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. It was at Dreamland that Paul Utes claimed his father and his team specialized in reverse engineering and adapting advanced technologies. The provenance of technologies is never questioned. In Paul's YouTube interview, Paul says they were presented to his father's dead team by government agencies and universities, but where they got them is not discussed. One of the technologies, however,

was apparently a new and unknown energy source. Paul has scant details to give, but he does say that his father described the device as containing a large amount of organic material and even potentially some degree of consciousness, though he doesn't elaborate on what his father meant by this. He does add, however, that when Yute Senior's team took the device out into the desert to activate it, it exploded.

After these tantalizing hints of highly strange conspiracy, Paul's interview trails off into a long lament for a childhood marred by his father's career, how an atmosphere of secrecy suffocated the family and impeded Paul's social development. The video does not return to the nature of Eute Senia's work or

its mysterious implications. It's at best a half mystery, intriguing for sure, with Paul's knowledge of military jargon and regional geography giving some weight to his story, but it's never more than an anecdotal contribution to the sweeping mythology of Area fifty one, and that's probably where the video's impact would have ended as a minor footnote in a grand conspiracy, were it not for a single reply posted in the

comment section below the video. Nearly a year later, at first glance, it reads like a typically cooky bread crumb thrown at YouTube, either attention grabbing fiction or a paranoid upping of the ante. But that comment turned out to be the first digital link in a new chain of mystery, one that has stumped both online sleuths and real world investigators for over a decade, one that suggests there may be far stranger things waiting in the Nevaden dream land

for those reckless enough to go looking. I am a long distance hiker. The comment began one time during one of my hikes out by Nellis Air Force Base. I found a hidden cave. The entrance was shaped like a perfect capital M. I always enter every cave I find, but as I began to enter this particular cave, my whole body began to vibrate. The closer I got to the cave entrance, the worse it became. Suddenly I became

very scared and high tailed it out of there. That was one of the strangest things that ever happened to me. The poster went by the handle snake Bit McGee. Out in the real world. He was Kenny Veach, a forty seven year old outdoors enthusiast, and self proclaimed inventor from Las Vegas. Kenny Veach frequently posted on other users' videos, typically about his prowess as an outdoorsman in the Mohart and Great Basin deserts. In one comment, he describes how

my hikes are brutal on the body. Sometimes my toenails turn black and fall off. It takes me about three days to recover from the abuse I put myself through. He explains that his online monica was a reference to his reckless habit of picking up snakes during his excursions. In another post, he sets out his experience in the desert. I have been doing this sort of thing for over twenty years. I go where no one goes, and I

never take any one with me. I high cover mountaintop after mountain top and sleep on peaks under the stars. Sometimes I have to scale giant cliffs just to get myself out of a jam, but I always make it back, beat up and tie it. Though his remarks are strewn across YouTube, Kenny's own footprint on the site is minimal. The snake bit McGee profile hosts only five videos, three of which demonstrate prototypes of his inventions. One is a

new and improved toilet roll holder. Another is a polar bear figurine filled with luminescent beads that make it glow in the dark. He calls it the Glolar Bear and says he plans to submit it to the reality TV show Shark Tank as an investment opportunity. There's a sense of cheerful desperation to Kenny's videos. Another film documents an attempt to sell his house whilst hoping to be allowed to live on in the property as a caretaker of sorts.

Watching the videos and reading Kenny's comments, you get the impression of an endearingly eccentric man, funny, energetic, and extremely confident in his own abilities, though it's hard to tell whether that confidence is hard earned and deserved, foolhardy, or camouflaged for a deeper insecurity. There is only one video that substantiates Kenny's claims of outdoor expertise. This is the now infamous m Cave Hike, the video that sits at

the center of the mystery surrounding Kenny Veach. You made it as a response to the backlash he received to his comment on Paul Uts's video. After Kenny described the strange cave that scared him so badly. A number of YouTube users expressed doubts. Many were extremely skeptical, even hostile. Others were fascinated and encouraged Kenny to retrace his route and investigate further. One reply stands out, though, a user named Lemmy kill Mister wrote, No, don't go back there.

If you find that cave entrance, don't go in. If you do, you won't get out. What makes you say that, Kenny asked, but he received no reply. Unmoved by the warning, or perhaps feeling the need to back up his self professed reputation, Kenny posted that he would make another trip into the desert and he would film it. The video he recorded would be the last footage the world. What Ever saw of Kenny veach m Cave Hike was uploaded

to YouTube on October eighteenth, twenty fourteen. It is twenty two minutes in length and opens without fanfare or tidal cart on an unforgiving panorama. Far in the distance, a mountain range looms hazy in the morning light. The mountains roll down to a flat span of desert in the middle distance, before the land rises again toward the camera. In the immediate foreground, there is a scaffold, a crude assembly of wood and steel over a small hole in the ground, an old mine shaft, like a scene from

an old Western. After a few seconds, we hear the crunch of approaching footsteps. Then a figure steps into the frame. This is Kenny Veach. He's a lean, wiry man with dark hair and sun blasted skin. He looks like someone who spends a lot of time outdoors. His clothing is a random assortment of technical and casual gear, all topped off with a floppy fishing hat. At its waist is a brown leather holster. He looks like someone experienced enough in the outdoors to know what he needs, not what

looks good on camera. Kenny walks back and forth until he settles in the center of the frame. Then he turns to the camera with a smile.

is well oriented himself. He knows where he is and where he has been, pointing to the nearby gas peak, where he spent the night on his previous visit to the area. But on this day, his mission is a single day, ten hour hike looking for the cave that had so spooked him. M cave.

Hayford Peak, the highest part of the range. Kenny then points out the next stage of his hike. He turns the camera to reveal a low rise on the far side. He tells us there is a canyon heading west towards Mount Charleston, a canyon that gets ever narrower, and in there somewhere is the M Cave. Seemingly reminded of his purpose. Kenny references being called out on YouTube for his claims of the cave's strange properties.

gives a curious hum, then moves on. Towards the very end of the video, he cuts to the lonely profile of a ram standing on a cliff edge. It's an animal native to the area, but it looks eerie none the less. When it turns its horned head in Kenny's direction, it's hard not to feel that the creature has sensed the interloper from its distant perch. And then the adventure

is over. Suddenly, the film cuts to the canyon mouth, where the tight wind opens up on to the hard packed floor of the Great Basin.

I will cross through the same canyon where I found the cave. If I don't find it again, I'll just continue hiking over mountain after mountain to the north of the canyon. Kenny sounded incensed by his followers attitudes. He continued, I dare any of the people that like to run their mouths on here to join me. My hike's are brutal on the body. There's no guarantee that I will find the cave again. The region that I cover is vast. There are many caves. I have been in hundreds of them.

The m Cave is the only cave I ever feared going inside. I really want to find it again. It was November tenth, twenty fourteen, when Kenny ventured out to the Sheep Range for the third time. All we know is that he set out in his truck that morning with a cell phone and the necessary supplies for a multi day hike. He told him his girlfriend, Sherrion Pilgrim, that he would be gone for a few days. When

he didn't return after three, she raised the alarm. In the days following Sheryon's report, the Las Vegas based Red Rock Search and Rescue located Kenny's truck. Led by Commander Dave Cummings. They followed Kenny's trail to that first mine shaft featured in the m cave hike video. Lying on the ground near the borded shaft entrance, they found Kenny's cell phone. Efforts intensified to find Kenny. Other crews poured in from surrounding areas, with over thirty rescuers conducting three

separate searches. A helicopter surveyed the scene but found no sign of Kenny, his camp, or his trail. Commander Cummings told reporters that there was no visible trail leading away from the mine. It doesn't mean he went down the mine shaft. He hedged, but we tracked him as far as we can. In the days that followed Kenny's disappearance, with comments and conspiracies already boiling up online, Kenny's girlfriend Sherrion posted an unexpected note under the mkve hike video.

In it, she first acknowledges the interest and sadness of other posters before confirming that Kenny has not been found, and suggesting that he would likely not be found for many, many months if ever. She then goes on to explain that she and Kenny had hiked often together in the desert, and though Kenny was more daring than her, they always took appropriate precaution that led her to a sad conclusion.

I want you to know that I do not think Kenny had an accident, Sheririon writes, I believe he committed suicide. He battled depression for many years and would not take medication or see a doctor. Sherrian suspected that Kenny left his phone where he did so that he could not be tracked by the GPS. She also points out that this time he had left the video camera at home

because he had no intention of filming anything. She concluded her message with a plea to those who may be inspired to go looking for Kenny or the m Cave, please please be careful, enjoy your adventures of life, and thank you for the kind, loving comments sent my way. For some, Sheririan's assumption of suicide is the most reasonable explanation. Others suggest that Kenny simply had an accident, got lost, dehydrated, or fell prey to the countless spiders, rattlesnakes, and scorpions

that routinely skitter across the desert floor. Some point out that the area is a known hotspot for criminal activity and that Kenny may have stumbled into something he shouldn't and was murdered as a result, but some suggest there are other lines that Kenny could have unknowingly crossed. Thousands of comments on the mk video still fixate on nearby Nellis Air Force Base and the infamous Area fifty one.

After all, in the video itself, Kenny points out that the base and its test sites are located just over and nearby Mountain One. Theory in particular relates to the intense fear and physical vibration that Kenny said he experienced near the m Cave. Commentators have pointed out that both are symptoms theoretically ascribed to the effects of infrasound. Infrasound is a term used to describe sound waves with a frequency below the normal limits of human hearing, generally considered

to be twenty hurts or less. Though the vast majority of humans fail to perceive such sounds, many feel the waves as physical vibrations in their body. More surprisingly, exposure to infrasound may prompt feelings of extreme fear or awe. Several academics have tested this hypothesis, with the psychologist Richard Wiseman going as far as to suggest that infrasound could be an explanation for supposedly supernatural accounts, as especially the

perception of ghosts. In an experiment at the University of Hertfordshire, a blind sample of participants was exposed to infrasound of seventeen hertz. Twenty two percent reported feelings of unease, nervousness, or outright terror among the more conspiratorially minded. Many think that Kenny Veitch came under the influence of infrasound on his first visit to the m Cave, sending him fleeing in fear without cause or understanding. Even Kenny had no

rational explanation for his apparent reaction. But if there was infrasound emanating from the m Cave, that is only half an answer. It doesn't give any closure to the question of Kenny's whereabouts, and a few strange details given extra twist to the mystery. First, Kenny's comment under the Paul Utes interview and the forbidding warning posted by Lemmy Kilmister that Kenny should stay well away from the M Cave

have both since been deleted from YouTube. Indeed, a great number of the more recent posts on the utes and M Cave hike video are now exclusively about those deletions, with many seeing it as a sign of a potential cover up. Second since Kenny's disappearance, many have continued to look for the cave. The Internet is littered with search videos, updates, and claims to have discovered the site. In truth, there was little to be gleaned from the vast majority of them.

That was until twenty nineteen, when a professional hiker and YouTuber named Sean Neil Horlocker published a video retracing Kenny's exact route. In it, Horlocker roams the canyons until he comes across a strange looking rock formation, partially obscured behind desert brush. Close to the ground. There is indeed a sharply arched pattern to the dark rock that isn't unlike a letter M, but where a cave mouth could potentially be,

there are layers of much lighter stone. To the naked eye, it does look like a space that has been filled in, as shorn All Lucar notes of the strange pattern in the rock. Each of the rocks filling the hole seem to stand separate. I don't even know how these are sitting here right now, he says excitedly to the camera. How are they holding themselves up? Upon closer inspection, the

stones seem unusually flat and well fitted together. Holuca also points out what he regards as an artificial seam in the base of the rock, complete with a white substance that he says resembles a sealant. He then peers into a gap between the rocks and finds what appears to be the beginning of a cavity. Shortly after peering into the obscured cave, Horlocer begins to cough. This quickly accelerates to breathlessness and nausea. Within minutes, he is vomiting. He

only starts to recover when he leaves the scene. As with any mystery pursued online, it's difficult to find any certain foothold from which to start. We only ever have the subjective, edited and curated videos of Kenny and those like Sean Horlocker who follow in its footsteps and from the prevailing comments. It's near impossible to if the fiction and trolling from ernest hypothesis, but there is one substantial

link between Kenny's and Sean Hollocker's footage. At fifteen minutes and forty seconds on Kenny Veach's m Cave hike video, Kenny is becoming frustrated by his inability to find the cave. The footage scans across a canyon wall, resting momentarily on each opening in the rock. Just as he says, I have to keep my eyes peeled, his camera flits across a patch of lighter material nestled in a triangle of darkly contrasting stone. Then the moment is gone and Kenny

doesn't stop or notice it. This strange formation in the canyon is the exact spot that Sewn Hollaker discovers in his exploration. Taken altogether, this has led some to believe that Kenny's cave had in fact been filled in during the time between his discovery and his failed attempt to relocate it, and if Horlocker's supposition is true, this was not the result of natural processes. This episode was written by Neil McRobert and produced by me Richard McLain Smith.

Neil is the creator and host of his own brilliant podcast called Talking Scat, in which he discusses the craft of horror, writing with everyone from Tnanerieve Do to the God of Horror himself, Stephen King. I can't recommend it highly enough. Unexplained as an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, were also produced by me. Richard McLain's Smith Unexplained. The book and audiobook is now available to

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