Click for larger photo
Posted on 06/24/2002 2:35:12 AM PDT by 2Trievers
WOODINVILLE -- The mystery began last week, when 10-year-old Kaare Tollefson noticed the hole while walking to his school bus.
It was no wider than a quarter then. But no one knew how deep it was.
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| King County transportation employees inspect a hole on 164th Avenue Northeast in Woodinville. Paul Kitagaki Jr. / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo |
"I went and got a broom handle and stuck it in the hole and it didn't hit," remembered Jim Van Noy.
He then tried it with a 16-foot pole.
It still didn't reach the bottom.
Since then, the Hollywood Hills neighborhood has been transformed into something of a tourist attraction: State and county officials and concerned neighbors have been flocking to this Eastside community, all eager to take a peek. [Note: the original version of this story omitted county officials.]
"I'm just waiting for the governor to get here," Van Noy said.
Calls have come from around the country. UFO enthusiasts have visited the hole on 164th Avenue Northeast and come up with their own suspicions. Kaare and other neighborhood children have lined up outside the caution tape, peering over the edge.
And almost everyone has a theory as to how the hole appeared here in the first place.
Van Noy noticed it shortly after a garbage truck was parked there. He's convinced that's what caused the hole.
"I'm out here every day," he said, "and I know what's going on in this neighborhood."
His wife noticed the hole appeared during the solar eclipse.
She wonders if that had something to do with it.
Inspectors have been relying on something more scientific.
They've dropped bricks, shone lights and lowered ropes into the hole.
But no one could determine where it ended, until the depth was finally measured at 236 feet Monday night with the help of a camera that had been lowered into the hole.
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By that time, all that poking and prodding caused the top of the hole to crumble inside and widen to 3 feet.
In the neighborhood, the suspense grew, too.
Dan Ovenell has lived in the area since 1967.
Back then, the road on which the hole appeared wasn't even there.
"Before, we just had 20 cows and an old homestead house," he said. "We pastured all of this area."
In the mid-1980s, the neighborhood underwent a major development. It's now lined with upscale homes and occupied mostly by Microsoft Corp. employees.
Ovenell never noticed any wells or mine shafts where the hole appeared. And he certainly hasn't done any digging.
Theresa Tollefson was concerned about her children's safety.
"We just want to be sure there's no more holes," she said.
And members of the Seattle UFO/Paranormal Group wondered whether the hole may be connected to other "bottomless pits" discovered in other places across the state, such as Ellensburg and Bothell.
Through it all, Van Noy has enjoyed the excitement in his front yard on 164th Avenue Northeast.
He even brought out coolers of soda and lawn chairs to accommodate the crowd.
"I think it's really good," he said; "it gives me something to do."
Yesterday, though, the mystery was finally solved with the use of the camera.
The hole is nothing more than an old water well.
And by early next week, the community could return to normal.
That's when road crews will begin filling the hole.
Sounds like another "Mel's hole" of Art Bell fame.
Me either. It's those darn Morlocks. Look out Weena!
Who told you this!!
I was walking beside a highway just across the ohio state line one day about a decade and a half ago.. I was climbing a small hill to the sholder of the road and the parking area when I was just knocked right off my feet. It's a wooded area and it happened so fast I thought someone had shot me.
Sooo.. I laid very still and looked around real carefully.
That was when I realized one of my legs was buried up to the hip in the hillside. Even more frightening was I could swing it underground (and I have LONG legs.. I am 6'3") and not touch a thing in any direction. It swung completely around in a circle without touching.
Fearing the hillside would collapse and take me with it I spread out my other limbs as far as I could to spread out my body weight.. then slowly withdrew my leg from the hole.
I still don't know what it was, but it scared me nearly to death.
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