1
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:14,520
Speaker 1: In late December twenty thirteen, a video was uploaded to

2
00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:19,000
Speaker 1: the YouTube account of doctor Stephen Greer, a ufologist and

3
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,280
Speaker 1: founder of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence,

4
00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:30,400
Speaker 1: titled Area fifty one Technician's Son Discloses Secret Alternative Energy.

5
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,720
Speaker 1: The sixteen minute clip is an interview with Paul H.

6
00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,879
Speaker 1: Hut's about his father's involvement in a clandestine scientific project.

7
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,680
Speaker 1: For most of Paul's childhood, Ute Senior worked at Nellis

8
00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,440
Speaker 1: Air Force Base in southern Nevada. Paul remembers him leaving

9
00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,400
Speaker 1: every morning from the Las Vegas Airport close to their

10
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: home and flying to Nellis, where he claimed to work

11
00:00:55,600 --> 00:01:00,920
Speaker 1: as an optical engineer. Paul describes his dad as a quiet,

12
00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,080
Speaker 1: conservative man, not prone to sharing details about his life.

13
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:10,479
Speaker 1: But in nineteen ninety three, after Yute Senior retired, he

14
00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,080
Speaker 1: and the now adult Paul met at a bar. It

15
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,200
Speaker 1: seemed the alcohol loosened something in the old man. It

16
00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 1: seemed as though there was something he needed to get

17
00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:26,640
Speaker 1: off his chest, a truth he'd been withholding for years.

18
00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,679
Speaker 1: According to Paul, this was when his father confessed to

19
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,000
Speaker 1: him that he hadn't simply worked at Nellis Air Force

20
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:41,399
Speaker 1: base he'd worked at the infamous Area fifty one. This site,

21
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,360
Speaker 1: which is indeed a remote part of the Nellis Base,

22
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,000
Speaker 1: as many listeners will know, has been the center for

23
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:53,560
Speaker 1: conspiracy theories for decades. Most famously, according to some, it

24
00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,960
Speaker 1: is thought to be the place where the remains of

25
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,760
Speaker 1: the Roswell incident were studied, but other rumors have a

26
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:05,640
Speaker 1: rude and persisted the development of exotic technologies, weather control,

27
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:12,400
Speaker 1: time travel, and even face to face meetings with visiting extraterrestrials.

28
00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,760
Speaker 1: It's a site forever associated with shadowy, black ops and secret,

29
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:25,000
Speaker 1: perhaps dangerous knowledge. Paul Utes his father is said to

30
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 1: have called it Dreamland. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm

31
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:43,840
Speaker 1: Richard McLean Smith. It was at Dreamland that Paul Utes

32
00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:48,000
Speaker 1: claimed his father and his team specialized in reverse engineering

33
00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:55,240
Speaker 1: and adapting advanced technologies. The provenance of technologies is never questioned.

34
00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,280
Speaker 1: In Paul's YouTube interview, Paul says they were presented to

35
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 1: his father's dead team by government agencies and universities, but

36
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,240
Speaker 1: where they got them is not discussed. One of the technologies, however,

37
00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:14,600
Speaker 1: was apparently a new and unknown energy source. Paul has

38
00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,560
Speaker 1: scant details to give, but he does say that his

39
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,480
Speaker 1: father described the device as containing a large amount of

40
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:27,519
Speaker 1: organic material and even potentially some degree of consciousness, though

41
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,280
Speaker 1: he doesn't elaborate on what his father meant by this.

42
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,440
Speaker 1: He does add, however, that when Yute Senior's team took

43
00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,840
Speaker 1: the device out into the desert to activate it, it exploded.

44
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:46,880
Speaker 1: After these tantalizing hints of highly strange conspiracy, Paul's interview

45
00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 1: trails off into a long lament for a childhood marred

46
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,840
Speaker 1: by his father's career, how an atmosphere of secrecy suffocated

47
00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:01,280
Speaker 1: the family and impeded Paul's social development. The video does

48
00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,880
Speaker 1: not return to the nature of Eute Senia's work or

49
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:11,320
Speaker 1: its mysterious implications. It's at best a half mystery, intriguing

50
00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,440
Speaker 1: for sure, with Paul's knowledge of military jargon and regional

51
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,680
Speaker 1: geography giving some weight to his story, but it's never

52
00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,080
Speaker 1: more than an anecdotal contribution to the sweeping mythology of

53
00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,560
Speaker 1: Area fifty one, and that's probably where the video's impact

54
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,920
Speaker 1: would have ended as a minor footnote in a grand conspiracy,

55
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,640
Speaker 1: were it not for a single reply posted in the

56
00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 1: comment section below the video. Nearly a year later, at

57
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,760
Speaker 1: first glance, it reads like a typically cooky bread crumb

58
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:51,279
Speaker 1: thrown at YouTube, either attention grabbing fiction or a paranoid

59
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,719
Speaker 1: upping of the ante. But that comment turned out to

60
00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 1: be the first digital link in a new chain of mystery,

61
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,400
Speaker 1: one that has stumped both online sleuths and real world

62
00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:09,200
Speaker 1: investigators for over a decade, one that suggests there may

63
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,159
Speaker 1: be far stranger things waiting in the Nevaden dream land

64
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,919
Speaker 1: for those reckless enough to go looking. I am a

65
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:24,040
Speaker 1: long distance hiker. The comment began one time during one

66
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,120
Speaker 1: of my hikes out by Nellis Air Force Base. I

67
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,080
Speaker 1: found a hidden cave. The entrance was shaped like a

68
00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:35,840
Speaker 1: perfect capital M. I always enter every cave I find,

69
00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,479
Speaker 1: but as I began to enter this particular cave, my

70
00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,400
Speaker 1: whole body began to vibrate. The closer I got to

71
00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:48,280
Speaker 1: the cave entrance, the worse it became. Suddenly I became

72
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,279
Speaker 1: very scared and high tailed it out of there. That

73
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,520
Speaker 1: was one of the strangest things that ever happened to me.

74
00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,640
Speaker 1: The poster went by the handle snake Bit McGee. Out

75
00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,159
Speaker 1: in the real world. He was Kenny Veach, a forty

76
00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,800
Speaker 1: seven year old outdoors enthusiast, and self proclaimed inventor from

77
00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:21,600
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. Kenny Veach frequently posted on other users' videos,

78
00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,960
Speaker 1: typically about his prowess as an outdoorsman in the Mohart

79
00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:31,039
Speaker 1: and Great Basin deserts. In one comment, he describes how

80
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:35,320
Speaker 1: my hikes are brutal on the body. Sometimes my toenails

81
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,640
Speaker 1: turn black and fall off. It takes me about three

82
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,840
Speaker 1: days to recover from the abuse I put myself through.

83
00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,440
Speaker 1: He explains that his online monica was a reference to

84
00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,520
Speaker 1: his reckless habit of picking up snakes during his excursions.

85
00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:55,640
Speaker 1: In another post, he sets out his experience in the desert.

86
00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,000
Speaker 1: I have been doing this sort of thing for over

87
00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,800
Speaker 1: twenty years. I go where no one goes, and I

88
00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,680
Speaker 1: never take any one with me. I high cover mountaintop

89
00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,520
Speaker 1: after mountain top and sleep on peaks under the stars.

90
00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,160
Speaker 1: Sometimes I have to scale giant cliffs just to get

91
00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,480
Speaker 1: myself out of a jam, but I always make it back,

92
00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:23,200
Speaker 1: beat up and tie it. Though his remarks are strewn

93
00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,000
Speaker 1: across YouTube, Kenny's own footprint on the site is minimal.

94
00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:32,560
Speaker 1: The snake bit McGee profile hosts only five videos, three

95
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:37,760
Speaker 1: of which demonstrate prototypes of his inventions. One is a

96
00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:42,200
Speaker 1: new and improved toilet roll holder. Another is a polar

97
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:46,440
Speaker 1: bear figurine filled with luminescent beads that make it glow

98
00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,560
Speaker 1: in the dark. He calls it the Glolar Bear and

99
00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,400
Speaker 1: says he plans to submit it to the reality TV

100
00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 1: show Shark Tank as an investment opportunity. There's a sense

101
00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:04,240
Speaker 1: of cheerful desperation to Kenny's videos. Another film documents an

102
00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 1: attempt to sell his house whilst hoping to be allowed

103
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:11,200
Speaker 1: to live on in the property as a caretaker of sorts.

104
00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,960
Speaker 1: Watching the videos and reading Kenny's comments, you get the

105
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:22,160
Speaker 1: impression of an endearingly eccentric man, funny, energetic, and extremely

106
00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,760
Speaker 1: confident in his own abilities, though it's hard to tell

107
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,080
Speaker 1: whether that confidence is hard earned and deserved, foolhardy, or

108
00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:36,760
Speaker 1: camouflaged for a deeper insecurity. There is only one video

109
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,400
Speaker 1: that substantiates Kenny's claims of outdoor expertise. This is the

110
00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,960
Speaker 1: now infamous m Cave Hike, the video that sits at

111
00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 1: the center of the mystery surrounding Kenny Veach. You made

112
00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,040
Speaker 1: it as a response to the backlash he received to

113
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,480
Speaker 1: his comment on Paul Uts's video. After Kenny described the

114
00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,480
Speaker 1: strange cave that scared him so badly. A number of

115
00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:10,199
Speaker 1: YouTube users expressed doubts. Many were extremely skeptical, even hostile.

116
00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,640
Speaker 1: Others were fascinated and encouraged Kenny to retrace his route

117
00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:22,480
Speaker 1: and investigate further. One reply stands out, though, a user

118
00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:27,920
Speaker 1: named Lemmy kill Mister wrote, No, don't go back there.

119
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,839
Speaker 1: If you find that cave entrance, don't go in. If

120
00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:37,320
Speaker 1: you do, you won't get out. What makes you say that,

121
00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:44,400
Speaker 1: Kenny asked, but he received no reply. Unmoved by the warning,

122
00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,640
Speaker 1: or perhaps feeling the need to back up his self

123
00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:52,080
Speaker 1: professed reputation, Kenny posted that he would make another trip

124
00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 1: into the desert and he would film it. The video

125
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,160
Speaker 1: he recorded would be the last footage the world. What

126
00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:14,240
Speaker 1: Ever saw of Kenny veach m Cave Hike was uploaded

127
00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:19,680
Speaker 1: to YouTube on October eighteenth, twenty fourteen. It is twenty

128
00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:23,760
Speaker 1: two minutes in length and opens without fanfare or tidal

129
00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:29,400
Speaker 1: cart on an unforgiving panorama. Far in the distance, a

130
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,160
Speaker 1: mountain range looms hazy in the morning light. The mountains

131
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,720
Speaker 1: roll down to a flat span of desert in the

132
00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:40,680
Speaker 1: middle distance, before the land rises again toward the camera.

133
00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,680
Speaker 1: In the immediate foreground, there is a scaffold, a crude

134
00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,080
Speaker 1: assembly of wood and steel over a small hole in

135
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,120
Speaker 1: the ground, an old mine shaft, like a scene from

136
00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:57,800
Speaker 1: an old Western. After a few seconds, we hear the

137
00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:02,440
Speaker 1: crunch of approaching footsteps. Then a figure steps into the frame.

138
00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:11,319
Speaker 1: This is Kenny Veach. He's a lean, wiry man with

139
00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,320
Speaker 1: dark hair and sun blasted skin. He looks like someone

140
00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,560
Speaker 1: who spends a lot of time outdoors. His clothing is

141
00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:23,880
Speaker 1: a random assortment of technical and casual gear, all topped

142
00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:28,240
Speaker 1: off with a floppy fishing hat. At its waist is

143
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 1: a brown leather holster. He looks like someone experienced enough

144
00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,440
Speaker 1: in the outdoors to know what he needs, not what

145
00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:42,520
Speaker 1: looks good on camera. Kenny walks back and forth until

146
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:45,360
Speaker 1: he settles in the center of the frame. Then he

147
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:47,200
Speaker 1: turns to the camera with a smile.

148
00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:54,240
Speaker 2: Well, here I am on my hike up here in

149
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 2: the mountains north of Las Vegas.

150
00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,560
Speaker 1: He turns to point at the view behind, tells us

151
00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,800
Speaker 1: his truck is parked somewhere way out there, on the

152
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,480
Speaker 1: far side of what looked to be in possibly distant peaks.

153
00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,760
Speaker 1: He switches stance and points to the mountains to the

154
00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:13,960
Speaker 1: right side of the frame.

155
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,120
Speaker 2: On the other side of these mountains, I'll show you

156
00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,760
Speaker 2: in a second is the bombing range, the Nellis Air

157
00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 2: Force Bombing Range. They do a lot of practice stuff

158
00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:23,880
Speaker 2: out there.

159
00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:29,160
Speaker 1: These details and other geographical features seen in the video

160
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,640
Speaker 1: have led experts to believe that Kenny was hiking in

161
00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,559
Speaker 1: the Sheep Range, a sixty mile stretch of mountains running

162
00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:41,280
Speaker 1: north to south in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and

163
00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,559
Speaker 1: named for the bighorn sheep that make their home amids

164
00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:49,240
Speaker 1: the rock and rubble. Though it parallels Highway ninety three,

165
00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:55,320
Speaker 1: it is the largest roadless area in Nevada. Clearly, Kenny

166
00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,120
Speaker 1: is well oriented himself. He knows where he is and

167
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,760
Speaker 1: where he has been, pointing to the nearby gas peak,

168
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,600
Speaker 1: where he spent the night on his previous visit to

169
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,400
Speaker 1: the area. But on this day, his mission is a

170
00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,960
Speaker 1: single day, ten hour hike looking for the cave that

171
00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,600
Speaker 1: had so spooked him. M cave.

172
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,400
Speaker 2: The last time I came up here, I didn't I

173
00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,679
Speaker 2: didn't have a side arm when I was here before, he.

174
00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,000
Speaker 1: Gestures casually to the weapon now holsted on his hip.

175
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,480
Speaker 2: Something about that cave just spooked me. At all the

176
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,880
Speaker 2: caves I've ever gone in. This one just made my

177
00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,800
Speaker 2: body vibrate. The closer I got to it, the crazier

178
00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:37,719
Speaker 2: my body felt. And I was like, all right, I'm

179
00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:39,959
Speaker 2: not gonna go in there right now, but I'm coming

180
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:40,720
Speaker 2: back someday.

181
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,800
Speaker 1: The first section of Kenny's M Cave video lasts for

182
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:56,080
Speaker 1: six minutes. He speaks to the camera casually, telling the

183
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,240
Speaker 1: viewer that he has a big cooler of beer waiting

184
00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,040
Speaker 1: for him in his truck because he didn't bring a

185
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,439
Speaker 1: lot of water with him and only a single candy bar.

186
00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,920
Speaker 1: He emphasizes the length of his hike and the harshness

187
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,880
Speaker 1: of the terrain, establishing also that he's already at a

188
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,440
Speaker 1: significant altitude, telling us that a nearby mountain is around

189
00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:22,240
Speaker 1: nine thousand feet that would put him somewhere close to

190
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:27,880
Speaker 1: Hayford Peak, the highest part of the range. Kenny then

191
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,280
Speaker 1: points out the next stage of his hike. He turns

192
00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:35,400
Speaker 1: the camera to reveal a low rise on the far side.

193
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,680
Speaker 1: He tells us there is a canyon heading west towards

194
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,480
Speaker 1: Mount Charleston, a canyon that gets ever narrower, and in

195
00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:50,560
Speaker 1: there somewhere is the M Cave. Seemingly reminded of his purpose.

196
00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,680
Speaker 1: Kenny references being called out on YouTube for his claims

197
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,560
Speaker 1: of the cave's strange properties.

198
00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:59,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if fault be freaked out like

199
00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,360
Speaker 2: I was last time. There might have been a mountain

200
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,280
Speaker 2: lying in there, and it was just my sixth sense

201
00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:04,240
Speaker 2: talking to me, So.

202
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:05,920
Speaker 1: He grins at the camera.

203
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:08,960
Speaker 2: If I find the cave, I'm definitely gonna set up

204
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:13,480
Speaker 2: my tripod over here, and uh, I'm gonna go check

205
00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:15,440
Speaker 2: it out. So you'll see me with my gun in

206
00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:17,720
Speaker 2: hand and my flashlight and we'll see what happens.

207
00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,280
Speaker 1: The rest of the video continues in somewhat repetitive two

208
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:26,520
Speaker 1: or three minute chunks. Each leaps forward to a new

209
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:31,160
Speaker 1: stage of Kenny's hike. He discovers fresh pine nuts and

210
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:35,320
Speaker 1: pops them in his mouth. Much later, he stops to

211
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,800
Speaker 1: marvel at a large moha tortoise and tells us he

212
00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:42,960
Speaker 1: got a great photo of a tarantula. So Kenny is

213
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 1: looking for the cave. The video does not give the

214
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:50,040
Speaker 1: impression of a man possessed by singular purpose. He is

215
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 1: enjoying his day in the desert. He's relaxed.

216
00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:06,840
Speaker 2: Oh perfect right stage, look at that perfect Wow. So

217
00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,320
Speaker 2: I'm a happy camper. I'm gonna collect these for a

218
00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,080
Speaker 2: while and then hopefully we'll find that cave.

219
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,800
Speaker 1: Kenny doesn't have a compass with him, and he has

220
00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,920
Speaker 1: an odd approach to self discipline.

221
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,560
Speaker 2: I don't have any supplies, you know. I bring water

222
00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,880
Speaker 2: and I bring something to eat, but I kind of

223
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,280
Speaker 2: try to pretend that I'm running out or I don't

224
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,760
Speaker 2: have it, just so I can see how far I

225
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 2: can actually go before I feel like I'm in trouble.

226
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,080
Speaker 2: That way, if I ever do get in trouble, I

227
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:39,720
Speaker 2: know when I should start panicking.

228
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,800
Speaker 1: Despite the stark, frightening beauty of the desert, there is

229
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,760
Speaker 1: little in the video that appears strange or out of place,

230
00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:55,280
Speaker 1: but two details catch the eye. Around thirteen minutes, Kenny's

231
00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,360
Speaker 1: camera lens lingers on an unusual rock formation, a patch

232
00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,360
Speaker 1: of stone that looks different to the rock around it,

233
00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:08,400
Speaker 1: almost like brickwork set into the hillside. Beside it, there

234
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,719
Speaker 1: is what looks in passing more like a ruined stone

235
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:16,359
Speaker 1: structure than a natural outcrop. Kenny pauses for a moment,

236
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:22,640
Speaker 1: gives a curious hum, then moves on. Towards the very

237
00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,720
Speaker 1: end of the video, he cuts to the lonely profile

238
00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,439
Speaker 1: of a ram standing on a cliff edge. It's an

239
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,960
Speaker 1: animal native to the area, but it looks eerie none

240
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,360
Speaker 1: the less. When it turns its horned head in Kenny's direction,

241
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,920
Speaker 1: it's hard not to feel that the creature has sensed

242
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:46,359
Speaker 1: the interloper from its distant perch. And then the adventure

243
00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:50,879
Speaker 1: is over. Suddenly, the film cuts to the canyon mouth,

244
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,200
Speaker 1: where the tight wind opens up on to the hard

245
00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,480
Speaker 1: packed floor of the Great Basin.

246
00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:08,600
Speaker 2: Well, I did not find the cave. That is so.

247
00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:13,120
Speaker 1: Weird, Kenny sounds more surprised and disappointed here.

248
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,080
Speaker 2: I mean, I thought for sure I was just going

249
00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,200
Speaker 2: to be able to find it. I remember it being

250
00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:24,399
Speaker 2: fairly easy. Who knows, But that's it. I'll talk to

251
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:25,920
Speaker 2: you when I get back to my truck.

252
00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,880
Speaker 1: My back, And with that it begins the remaining three

253
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,439
Speaker 1: mile trek to his car, with its tantalizing promise of

254
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:38,600
Speaker 1: cold beer. When Kenny uploaded his failed hike to m Cave,

255
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,720
Speaker 1: it was met by an intense blast of skepticism and negativity.

256
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:48,520
Speaker 1: Fellow YouTubers angrily insisted that he'd fabricated the entire story.

257
00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:54,880
Speaker 1: After several weeks of this, Kenny posted a reply, I'm

258
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,919
Speaker 1: going again this weekend, he wrote, I'll be hiking solo

259
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,400
Speaker 1: for three days and plan on covering about forty miles.

260
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,600
Speaker 1: I will cross through the same canyon where I found

261
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,040
Speaker 1: the cave. If I don't find it again, I'll just

262
00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,600
Speaker 1: continue hiking over mountain after mountain to the north of

263
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:18,960
Speaker 1: the canyon. Kenny sounded incensed by his followers attitudes. He continued,

264
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,320
Speaker 1: I dare any of the people that like to run

265
00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,600
Speaker 1: their mouths on here to join me. My hike's are

266
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:28,680
Speaker 1: brutal on the body. There's no guarantee that I will

267
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,159
Speaker 1: find the cave again. The region that I cover is vast.

268
00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,920
Speaker 1: There are many caves. I have been in hundreds of them.

269
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:38,879
Speaker 1: The m Cave is the only cave I ever feared

270
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:43,600
Speaker 1: going inside. I really want to find it again. It

271
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,840
Speaker 1: was November tenth, twenty fourteen, when Kenny ventured out to

272
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,600
Speaker 1: the Sheep Range for the third time. All we know

273
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,240
Speaker 1: is that he set out in his truck that morning

274
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,439
Speaker 1: with a cell phone and the necessary supplies for a

275
00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:02,200
Speaker 1: multi day hike. He told him his girlfriend, Sherrion Pilgrim,

276
00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,720
Speaker 1: that he would be gone for a few days. When

277
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:10,760
Speaker 1: he didn't return after three, she raised the alarm. In

278
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 1: the days following Sheryon's report, the Las Vegas based Red

279
00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:20,320
Speaker 1: Rock Search and Rescue located Kenny's truck. Led by Commander

280
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,639
Speaker 1: Dave Cummings. They followed Kenny's trail to that first mine

281
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:29,679
Speaker 1: shaft featured in the m cave hike video. Lying on

282
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,880
Speaker 1: the ground near the borded shaft entrance, they found Kenny's

283
00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:39,639
Speaker 1: cell phone. Efforts intensified to find Kenny. Other crews poured

284
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:44,320
Speaker 1: in from surrounding areas, with over thirty rescuers conducting three

285
00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:50,119
Speaker 1: separate searches. A helicopter surveyed the scene but found no

286
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:56,320
Speaker 1: sign of Kenny, his camp, or his trail. Commander Cummings

287
00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:00,439
Speaker 1: told reporters that there was no visible trail leading away

288
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,399
Speaker 1: from the mine. It doesn't mean he went down the

289
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:08,280
Speaker 1: mine shaft. He hedged, but we tracked him as far

290
00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:21,560
Speaker 1: as we can. In the days that followed Kenny's disappearance,

291
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:26,879
Speaker 1: with comments and conspiracies already boiling up online, Kenny's girlfriend

292
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:32,760
Speaker 1: Sherrion posted an unexpected note under the mkve hike video.

293
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,760
Speaker 1: In it, she first acknowledges the interest and sadness of

294
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,959
Speaker 1: other posters before confirming that Kenny has not been found,

295
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 1: and suggesting that he would likely not be found for many,

296
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,880
Speaker 1: many months if ever. She then goes on to explain

297
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,200
Speaker 1: that she and Kenny had hiked often together in the desert,

298
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: and though Kenny was more daring than her, they always

299
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,280
Speaker 1: took appropriate precaution that led her to a sad conclusion.

300
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,240
Speaker 1: I want you to know that I do not think

301
00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:12,360
Speaker 1: Kenny had an accident, Sheririon writes, I believe he committed suicide.

302
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: He battled depression for many years and would not take

303
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: medication or see a doctor. Sherrian suspected that Kenny left

304
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,240
Speaker 1: his phone where he did so that he could not

305
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: be tracked by the GPS. She also points out that

306
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,880
Speaker 1: this time he had left the video camera at home

307
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:35,960
Speaker 1: because he had no intention of filming anything. She concluded

308
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,399
Speaker 1: her message with a plea to those who may be

309
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,760
Speaker 1: inspired to go looking for Kenny or the m Cave,

310
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:48,400
Speaker 1: please please be careful, enjoy your adventures of life, and

311
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,880
Speaker 1: thank you for the kind, loving comments sent my way.

312
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 1: For some, Sheririan's assumption of suicide is the most reasonable explanation.

313
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:05,000
Speaker 1: Others suggest that Kenny simply had an accident, got lost, dehydrated,

314
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 1: or fell prey to the countless spiders, rattlesnakes, and scorpions

315
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: that routinely skitter across the desert floor. Some point out

316
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,399
Speaker 1: that the area is a known hotspot for criminal activity

317
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 1: and that Kenny may have stumbled into something he shouldn't

318
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,600
Speaker 1: and was murdered as a result, but some suggest there

319
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 1: are other lines that Kenny could have unknowingly crossed. Thousands

320
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 1: of comments on the mk video still fixate on nearby

321
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,400
Speaker 1: Nellis Air Force Base and the infamous Area fifty one.

322
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 1: After all, in the video itself, Kenny points out that

323
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 1: the base and its test sites are located just over

324
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:56,199
Speaker 1: and nearby Mountain One. Theory in particular relates to the

325
00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:00,919
Speaker 1: intense fear and physical vibration that Kenny said he experienced

326
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,879
Speaker 1: near the m Cave. Commentators have pointed out that both

327
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:18,600
Speaker 1: are symptoms theoretically ascribed to the effects of infrasound. Infrasound

328
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,639
Speaker 1: is a term used to describe sound waves with a

329
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,400
Speaker 1: frequency below the normal limits of human hearing, generally considered

330
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: to be twenty hurts or less. Though the vast majority

331
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 1: of humans fail to perceive such sounds, many feel the

332
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:40,959
Speaker 1: waves as physical vibrations in their body. More surprisingly, exposure

333
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: to infrasound may prompt feelings of extreme fear or awe.

334
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 1: Several academics have tested this hypothesis, with the psychologist Richard

335
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 1: Wiseman going as far as to suggest that infrasound could

336
00:24:55,720 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 1: be an explanation for supposedly supernatural accounts, as especially the

337
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 1: perception of ghosts. In an experiment at the University of Hertfordshire,

338
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 1: a blind sample of participants was exposed to infrasound of

339
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: seventeen hertz. Twenty two percent reported feelings of unease, nervousness,

340
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 1: or outright terror among the more conspiratorially minded. Many think

341
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: that Kenny Veitch came under the influence of infrasound on

342
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: his first visit to the m Cave, sending him fleeing

343
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: in fear without cause or understanding. Even Kenny had no

344
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 1: rational explanation for his apparent reaction. But if there was

345
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,680
Speaker 1: infrasound emanating from the m Cave, that is only half

346
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: an answer. It doesn't give any closure to the question

347
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: of Kenny's whereabouts, and a few strange details given extra

348
00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 1: twist to the mystery. First, Kenny's comment under the Paul

349
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,720
Speaker 1: Utes interview and the forbidding warning posted by Lemmy Kilmister

350
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,120
Speaker 1: that Kenny should stay well away from the M Cave

351
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 1: have both since been deleted from YouTube. Indeed, a great

352
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: number of the more recent posts on the utes and

353
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,920
Speaker 1: M Cave hike video are now exclusively about those deletions,

354
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 1: with many seeing it as a sign of a potential

355
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:31,359
Speaker 1: cover up. Second since Kenny's disappearance, many have continued to

356
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:36,639
Speaker 1: look for the cave. The Internet is littered with search videos, updates,

357
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,879
Speaker 1: and claims to have discovered the site. In truth, there

358
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: was little to be gleaned from the vast majority of them.

359
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: That was until twenty nineteen, when a professional hiker and

360
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 1: YouTuber named Sean Neil Horlocker published a video retracing Kenny's

361
00:26:54,760 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: exact route. In it, Horlocker roams the canyons until he

362
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: comes across a strange looking rock formation, partially obscured behind

363
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:10,399
Speaker 1: desert brush. Close to the ground. There is indeed a

364
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 1: sharply arched pattern to the dark rock that isn't unlike

365
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: a letter M, but where a cave mouth could potentially be,

366
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:24,920
Speaker 1: there are layers of much lighter stone. To the naked eye,

367
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,959
Speaker 1: it does look like a space that has been filled in,

368
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: as shorn All Lucar notes of the strange pattern in

369
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: the rock. Each of the rocks filling the hole seem

370
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 1: to stand separate. I don't even know how these are

371
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: sitting here right now, he says excitedly to the camera.

372
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: How are they holding themselves up? Upon closer inspection, the

373
00:27:55,840 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 1: stones seem unusually flat and well fitted together. Holuca also

374
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 1: points out what he regards as an artificial seam in

375
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 1: the base of the rock, complete with a white substance

376
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: that he says resembles a sealant. He then peers into

377
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 1: a gap between the rocks and finds what appears to

378
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 1: be the beginning of a cavity. Shortly after peering into

379
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 1: the obscured cave, Horlocer begins to cough. This quickly accelerates

380
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:33,399
Speaker 1: to breathlessness and nausea. Within minutes, he is vomiting. He

381
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 1: only starts to recover when he leaves the scene. As

382
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: with any mystery pursued online, it's difficult to find any

383
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 1: certain foothold from which to start. We only ever have

384
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: the subjective, edited and curated videos of Kenny and those

385
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: like Sean Horlocker who follow in its footsteps and from

386
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 1: the prevailing comments. It's near impossible to if the fiction

387
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: and trolling from ernest hypothesis, but there is one substantial

388
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:13,040
Speaker 1: link between Kenny's and Sean Hollocker's footage. At fifteen minutes

389
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 1: and forty seconds on Kenny Veach's m Cave hike video,

390
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 1: Kenny is becoming frustrated by his inability to find the cave.

391
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 1: The footage scans across a canyon wall, resting momentarily on

392
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,920
Speaker 1: each opening in the rock. Just as he says, I

393
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: have to keep my eyes peeled, his camera flits across

394
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 1: a patch of lighter material nestled in a triangle of

395
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 1: darkly contrasting stone. Then the moment is gone and Kenny

396
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 1: doesn't stop or notice it. This strange formation in the

397
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 1: canyon is the exact spot that Sewn Hollaker discovers in

398
00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 1: his exploration. Taken altogether, this has led some to believe

399
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: that Kenny's cave had in fact been filled in during

400
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: the time between his discovery and his failed attempt to

401
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: relocate it, and if Horlocker's supposition is true, this was

402
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:25,440
Speaker 1: not the result of natural processes. This episode was written

403
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: by Neil McRobert and produced by me Richard McLain Smith.

404
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 1: Neil is the creator and host of his own brilliant

405
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: podcast called Talking Scat, in which he discusses the craft

406
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 1: of horror, writing with everyone from Tnanerieve Do to the

407
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 1: God of Horror himself, Stephen King. I can't recommend it

408
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 1: highly enough. Unexplained as an AV Club Productions podcast created

409
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 1: by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,

410
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: including the music, were also produced by me. Richard McLain's

411
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: Smith Unexplained. The book and audiobook is now available to

412
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 1: buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble,

413
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 1: Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the

414
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 1: show wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to

415
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the

416
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an

417
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can

418
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reach

419
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at

420
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,520
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast