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The Third Phone Call
April 24th, 2000


​After not hearing from Mel for over three years, Art was able to get back in touch with him and get him on the air once more. Almost immediately, Art asks Mel if the entire story was just another "Blair Witch Project" type of hoax, to which Mel says that it's not. He was just looking for some help when he first sent that original fax back in 1997, and didn't think things would end up going the way they did.

​Because it had been a few years since the original calls, Art asked Mel to go over the story from the beginning once again for new listeners and to see if Mel "kept his facts straight." One thing he mentions very early on in this call, is that his wife was actually the owner of the property. He brings up the fact that they had a couple out buildings and trailers out there, and he lived in a trailer on the property.

Mel brings up his interest and work in natural plant healing, and how it relates to Native American practices. He says that he had met a woman from Ellensburg and got married, but have since broken up. 

Art and Mel touch back on the original story, and Mel brings up a new fact that he failed to mention before. A Mexican man used to regularly come and dump tires down the hole. He would collect them at the various used tires places, and discard them in the pit. Mel speculates that he dumped thousands and thousands of tires.

Art has Mel describe the "well" again, to which Mel says that it was about 9 feet across and round with stone work. He says that he built a metal cover for the top so that it could be closed for safety reasons. He was worried that someone could fall down into it, and that you'd never know. People used to dump dead cows, and Mel would toss down old television tubes. He'd be unable to reach the center, but could hold large items over and dump them without ever hearing any sound whatsoever, unless of course it hit the side. 

According to Mel, the locals in the area have always associated the hole with that property. Some neighbors have said to him that the hole has been there as long as the whale bone has been stuck in a tree in Ellensburg. A jaw bone of a whale is embedded in a tree in town, and you can find a picture of it in the Yakima Herald. The bone has been there for a hundred years, and the hole has been too. Ellensburg has only been there for 150 years or so, and the hole is likely older than that. Mel is unsure when the stone wall was built around it, however.

​Mel, his ex-Wife, and neighbors would throw all of their trash down the hole. 

He previously lived in California, and worked as a shark fisherman. He had some spare fishing line and decided to send down about 1200 yards or 3600 feet of it into the hole using a shark fishing pole, weight, and roll of Life Savers to see if he hit water. He allowed the line to sit before pulling it up. The candies came back up dry.  Mel said that he could still sense the weight of the line as it was down the hole, and he could still move it side to side with a bit of an effort.

Before taking a break, Art mentions that Mel is back from Australia, but they would continue with the original story before getting into that. They talk about how there have been other stories of mysterious holes around the world, and that his story wasn't completely unique in those regards.

Mel talks about he's still adding line and going down the hole without hitting anything. Callers suggested that at some point the weight of the line in terms of a reference would not matter, as the weight would be greater. Mel says that he attached a Fisherman's scale and it read 17 to 18 pounds of total line that was down the hole, including the lead weight.  All told, he had 80,000 feet of line down the hole. He confirms that he never brought that total amount of line back up, as it would have taken too much effort. He would buy fishing line in huge bolts in order to get a good deal and have enough of it. The only issues he ran into was when he had to hook up the original lines to an Outrigger line to continue on to the next lines. He says that even though he hit 80,000 feet of line, that wasn't the bottom of the hole. 

He brings up the hunter and the dead dog story from the previous series of calls. He also talks about how it was in his will that when he died, his remains should be placed down the hole. The hole had a weird feeling, and his animals even seemed to sense it. He described the feeling that he got when being near the hole as being "Surprised by the moon." and the eerie sense that it brought you. He would get that same sensation around the hole.

​Mel also talks about the black beam coming out of the hole that his neighbors had told him about before. Art asks if he'd ever used a powerful flashlight, to which Mel said that he had. He said that he could see where the stone retaining wall ended, but the flashlight would just run out before he could ever see the bottom. He wonders how far he could see with a high powered flashlight. Art says that he likes to scare off reporters with his giant flashlight, Mel agrees.

They again talk about how Mel wanted to have his remains placed down the hole when he died, because he wanted to see whether or not he would come back from the dead like the dog did before. He talked to many people about the hole, and knows that other people know what it is, but they won't tell him.

Art says that originally coming onto the show was a big mistake, to which Mel agrees. He went out to property after he sent the fax, and expected to see a bunch of people. He says that he rented an apartment in Ellensburg, because a snowstorm had caved in his building up there. He went back to the property the day after the call, and says that he saw a group of armed men and yellow gear at his property. Mel said that they told him there was a plane crash, and they knew it was his property, but wouldn't let him up. He didn't see any smoke or anything, but he left and headed back to town. He called Art later that night after his run-in with the armed guards. He's not sure why they were at his property, but thinks that it was because he was Art's show and they knew it. They had the power to find his land right away, and made it a big production. The hole must have a very valuable property if the government wanted it so bad, according to Mel.

Mel goes on to say that there was a mix of both military and civilian personnel at his property. He says that many years ago, he was in the Army, and knows what uniforms look like. He says that he couldn't tell you which Army they belonged too. Every person there was armed to the teeth with heavy weapons. At this point, they take another break.

​After the break, they talk about how the area where his hole is located has some odd happenings, such as a possible alien encounter and the discovery of the Kennewick Man, a prehistoric skeletal specimen.  

Mel says that, at first, they intimidated him and threatened him with possibly finding a drug lab on his property. He says that he was growing non-native plants for medicinal purposes, and that could easily be considered a drug lab instead if he didn't cooperate. But, not long after, they made him a very generous offer which Mel is able to talk about. They put together a very interesting package and a lease of the property in perpetuity. Mel accepted the offer, and moved to Australia. He says that part of the conditions for the lease was that he received $250,00 a month.   

Art confirms that Mel was in Australia, and that he was in correspondence with him while he was there. Mel was specifically located in Perth, Western Australia, which he said he loved. Mel says that he built some facilities to grow and cultivate the various plants that he was allowed to bring with him when he moved. He also mentions that he was able to work on wombat rescue, an endangered species at the time, and that they are making a comeback thanks to the work he was doing.

Art wonders what went wrong? Mel says that initially, after accepting the deal, he was rushed away. He had to leave his car, was driven to San Francisco, and hopped on a plane for Australia. He was allowed to take his two dogs with him. And he already had an account set up for him and ready to go for his move. His departure was all handled by the government and the Australian government. He was to receive $3 million dollars a year on the lease for the land, and was to follow a non-disclosure agreement in regards to the little that he knew about the hole and the property. Art agrees that he would have taken the money and ran with it, as well.

​One of the things that Mel did while in Australia was continue his work on the herbs, and was able to cultivate the plants that he brought with him. He says that plants that he brought that were grown near the hole displayed some rather unusual attributes. Plants that weren't from the hole did not show the same properties. 

At this point. Art wants to hear what happened to Australia and Mel being so well off. They talk about how Mel was supposed to be on the show at some point, but was a no-show. On the day that he was going to be on the show, he helped his Nephew move from his apartment to the Olympia area. They had to return the truck back to Tacoma, and Mel was to take the bus back down to Olympia. He says that he got on the bus, and there was an altercation. They pulled into the Park and Ride and Transit Authority were there to ask questions about what happened during the ride. He got on the Transit bus for a ride back to Olympia, and says that this was the last thing that he remembered. 

​About 12 days later, he found himself in San Francisco in an alley. He brings up the fact that he looks like Willie Nelson, and that some bums were trying to get him to sing them a song. Art is stunned, and Mel says that he had gotten on the bus to go back to Olympia, and that it was the last thing he remembered before waking up almost two weeks later. He said that he had no wallet, keys, or anything else. He was just in the clothes he was wearing when he was helping his Nephew move. He said that his arm hurt, and he rolled up his sleeve, and noticed that he still had the residue of tape from an IV.

He thinks that he was kept knocked out for 12 days, and that he was shocked to find out that he had no back teeth. His molars had been removed while he was unconscious. He's able to get in touch with his Nephew, who sends him a ticket for a Greyhound bus. His Nephew says that he was frantic during the time Mel was gone, as was Art. He had scars in his mouth from where his tooth were removed, and he could still taste blood from the removal. Art says that he was screwing with someone he shouldn't have been, and Mel thinks that it might not have been related to him planning to be back on the show. Mel may have gotten himself in trouble, otherwise, but Art things its all connected. 

The next thing he finds out, is that there is legal action against him on behalf of his former wife. She had leased the land to him as part of their divorce settlement. At this point, they take one more break. As the show comes back, Mel mentions that he was also missing his custom belt buckle. He had made it out of bending a silver fork, adding some nice rocks that he found on it. He goes back to talking about the legal action, and that he was given the land by his ex because the land was basically useless. The papers he was served stated that he was in violation of the lease he had with her. The violations were an underground fuel system, a septic system, and paved roads. These were all things that were not supposed to occur under the original lease, but were done by the people who had leased the land from Mel. Him and his ex had an understanding, and he was giving her $25000 a month.

​ He's so bad off that he has to sell plasma in order just to buy cigarettes. But there are things that he just has to know, including the Mexican fellow who used to toss tires down the hole. There is also a Catholic Priest, and a Hungarian fellow with connections to the hole that Mel wants to track down. 

The plants that he had grown originally on the property, and then in Australia had remarkable properties that had been known about for at least a hundred years, he talks about. He declines to say the names of the plants, but does talk about how they were used to treat the Great Influenza at the turn of the century. The mix was an concoction of Indian plants that cured them.

​Mel says that he's 68 years old, and had a simple life before all of this happened, and things have been extraordinary the last few. He wants to figure things out and tie up some loose ends. One person he needs to find and contact is the gentleman that he gave an old gun to he found on the property. He dug up a gun, holster, and odds and ends. And when he had to move into his apartment, he gave it to a landlord as a deposit. Mel describes the pistol has being like the old Nazi P38 from World War 2. He's been unable to get in touch with the person he gave it to, and has found out that he left his family, his wife, and has simply vanished. After talking to the son, Mel says that the guy he gave the gun to became obsessed with it and that he said he would shoot it and it would make no sound. Art remembers Mel talking about that years before when they first started talking. He also said that he would set the gun down near the radio and it would pick up signals from all over the place, both past and present. He could wave his hands and it would change broadcasts from both different areas and different times.

Art speculates that anyone who ever came in contact with the hole ran into problems. Mel talks about how the Mexican guy who used to throw tires down there once had issues with his truck, and his son went out to help him with it. Mel had given him a couple of paint buckets full of rocks and metal shards that he collected around the property to put in the back of his car for added weight to get out of the snow and mud. Mel wants to track down those buckets.

While in Australia, he worked with the Ministry of Health and had given some of the plants that he had brought with him from the property so that they could treat some men who were near death with the AIDS virus. Mel says that they were no longer sick, and were fine. Mel left Australia just to be with his family, which Art thinks was a big mistake after what had happened. If he had stayed there, he might have still been doing well, Mel agrees and wishes that he was there on the beaches because of the girls in tiny swimsuits. Now, he's back in America and has nothing of his own.

Mel just wants to find the Hungarian and the Priest, to find out as much as he can. His nephew is writing a book about what has happened, and Art mentions that people had been writing songs about him and his story. Mel's nephew even had a CD called "The Ballad of Mel's Hole" He also had drinks named after him. 

Since he's been back, Mel has not tried to go back to the hole at all. He's just trying to figure out everything, and get things worked out with his ex-wife and warn her that she may be barking up the wrong tree. Mel just wants a small place to live, and a place he can continue his work. Mel makes a joke about how he had a hole, and now he's been shafted. Mel asks about a fax that he had sent, to which Art said he hadn't read because of some specific names included. Mel thinks that there is a very strong connection between his hole and the Heaven's Gate incident. His original call was around a month before that situation happened.

Mel gave out his email address, which was melwaters@home.com, hoping that anyone relating to him and his hole from before would contact him. The show runs out of time, and Mel says his goodbye, but says that you may not have heard the last of this story and tells his ex that she "owes him."
Picture

The Whale Bone in the tree. Ellensburg, WA.


Notes & Facts from Call #3

-Mel Waters swears that his story is not fake in any way.
-Mel's Ex-Wife originally owned the property with the hole, but leased it to him as a settlement in their divorce. 
-A Mexican man used to dump thousands of tires into the hole.
​-There is a tree with a whale's jaw bone embedded into it in Ellensburg, WA.
-Mel tried to shine a flashlight down the hole, but couldn't see very far with it.
-The Manastash Ridge and Ellensburg area is a strange place.
-After initially being threatened, Mel took a generous offer of leasing the land for $250,000 a month and relocation to Australia. His trip was completely arranged for him, and he was able to bring his dogs and plants with him.
-Mel helped build a Wombat Rescue facility in or around Perth, Australia.
-While visiting family and helping a Nephew move, he got into an argument on a bus.
-He remembers nothing for 12 days, before waking up in an alley in a bad side of San Francisco. 
-Mel Waters looks like Willie Nelson.
-His custom belt buckle had been taken from him, and he had his back teeth removed. 
-After returning from his 12 day absence, he finds out that his ex-wife is taking legal action against him due to his violation of the previous lease agreement they had.
-The government had installed an underground fuel line, septic system, and paved roads to the property.
-The plants grown near the hole had incredible healing powers, and even cured men of AIDS.
-Mel gave his landlord a German P38 that had mysterious qualities to it.
-Mel is looking for a Catholic Priest and Hungarian man who have connections to the hole.

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