- SEATTLE, Wa. - More details
on the "Bottomless Pit" discovered In Woodinville including that
authorities are still trying to get to the bottom of the hole - literally.
The group is interested in the hole and what is found of its depth via
instrumentation because of its similarity to a story of another bottomless
hole in Ellensburg Washington - "Mel's Hole".
A visit to the Woodinville site today showed that the hole is covered with
steel plates and the county will not be filling it in or capping it off
just yet but will be lowering a camera into the hole - again. This time
agencies will run the camera through the pipe running inside the hole.
Perhaps in time also locate some debris at the bottom and determine the
history.
The story started when a local neighborhood boy named Cody discovered a
well-known pothole had caved in last Friday. A garbage truck had parked
over the hole and had further broken down the asphault over what the neighbors
thought was just a simple depression in the road. Cody poked a handle into
it and couldn't find the bottom. Little did he know how deep it was.
It grew bigger.
Before road repair opened up the hole to its full size, Cody demonstrated
with his hands the size of the hole which was about the size of a baseball.
Thinking the pothole needed to be fixed, neighbors called the county and
before long not only were the road repair officials there but also the
Woodinville Fire department, the police department, the water department,
a geologist and every local news in Seattle. Why? They couldn't find
the bottom. This hole was almost perfectly concentric with smooth walls
comprised mostly of clay and had only the indications of a metal rod and
some old wood planks to give clues to its development. Some speculate what
appears to be a partial ledge half way down is a tree stump lodged to once
cap the hole. Most believe the boards and support rotted over the years,
gave way and collapsed any fill in dirt above thereby exposing the hole.
A neighbor reports there was a carbon monoxide test done but no gas was
detected. Did the recent earthquakes in the Northwest dislodge the support?
Finding its depth: The Fire Department attempted by apparently tying every
single roping they had to determine the depth. Rescue line and hose line
with a good solid weight at the bottom. They reported the roping may have
gone down 1,000 feet but other departments commented what they were using
could have well "coiled" on the bottom and would not have shown
slack. The argument against that is none of the line lowered became wet
or showed any dust or debris if it indeed hit bottom or a ledge. Odd?
Then King County road repair lowered a small camera they had rented with
cabeling and determined that the hole was 230-250 feet deep. They were
also looking for side or lateral holes but didn't see any. But is there?
Did the camera reach 250 feet or is that just the length of cabeling they
had available? Did they see something they are not telling? Perhaps, but
the video is on-line for viewing (see link below) and hopefully they will
have a video of the return visit.
Mysterious Breeze? Apparently when the hole was first opened, the persons
standing around the hole said it felt like "an airconditioner"
and they could definitly feel "a breeze". Was the difference
in air temperature in the hole and outside creating an updraft? Or where
people feeling an air current from a hole that was really a tunnel? A neighbor
commented that the air current was less noticable when the hole was widened
but feels it is still there.
Further value? Could this hole be a significant study geologically being
at the apex of a high elevation point?
- One of the neighbors - Dan is the oldest resident there
and recalls when the area was developed in the sixties and he doesn't recall
any noticable well or mining shaft. In fact he ran the grating over the
road to prepare it for development when it was sectioned for housing.
The lot directly in front of the hole used to have an old house and the
area was a chicken farm.
Several neighborhood boys commented that the depression had always held
water even on dry days and thought it strange when the hole was finally
opened up and the sides were bone dry. Some say the hole is a mining shaft
or an old well but whatever is speculated the explanations still don't
seem to fit - kind of like the proverbial square peg in a round hole.
A water well with no water? Did the diggers need to drill a hole over three
feet across when not required or necessary for testing methods or for conventional
wells? Was this an old well that was hand dug? If so why did the diggers
"drill" for water on top of the highest hill in the highest elevation
in North King County? Did they abandon the well when no water was found?
Strange.
A mining shaft with nothing to mine? Records show no gold or ore in the
area. So what could they have been digging for? Does the hole open up
into a cavern?
Other speculations: An early abandoned gas line, One neighbor speculates
it may have been a shaft for a fall out shelter that was an abandoned project.
Could it have been a vent hole for the Nike missile silos built during
the sixties? Could the hole have been dug from below? Is it military
related?
Whatever it is, it will be interesting getting to the bottom.
- Charlette LeFevre
Seattle UFO/Paranormal Group
http://www.seattlechatclub.org
New video taken inside deep shaft near Woodinville; investigation continues
into its past http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/news/2002/nr020617_sinkhole.htm
Bottomless Pit Discovered In Woodinville?
http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?id=18955
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