A bottomless pit in central Washington, 80,000 feet deep and impossible to fill. In 1997, one phone call to Art Bell turned a piece of local folklore into a national mystery. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli investigate Mel’s Hole.

https://youtu.be/MPfOoCjG6EQ

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• “Mel’s Hole” (Wikipedia)
• “Mel’s Hole” (Grokipedia)
• Mike Johnston, “Getting to the bottom of Mel’s Hole” (Ellensburg Daily Record, March 31, 2012)
• John Zebrowski, “Expedition seeks paranormal pit” (The Seattle Times, April 14, 2002)
• Brian Dunning, “Falling into Mel’s Hole” (Skeptoid #156, June 2, 2009)
• Audio archive of original Mel Waters Coast to Coast AM appearances
• “Mel Waters” guest page, Coast to Coast AM

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS423
• 0:13 – Intro
• 2:42 – Mel’s first call (Feb. 21, 1997)
• 5:01 – Neighborhood dump
• 6:50 – Measuring with fishing line
• 9:14 – Stone retaining wall
• 10:48 – No echo and spooked dogs
• 11:50 – The dead dog that came back
• 13:06 – Native American connection
• 14:00 – Second call (Feb. 24, 1997)
• 17:04 – Government arrives
• 19:26 – The black beam of llight
• 20:27 – Third call (April 2000)
• 22:00 – Australia relocation
• 23:38 – Twelve days missing
• 27:02 – 1943 Roosevelt dime
• 32:37 – Final call (January 2002)
• 32:51 – Nevada hole
• 35:06 – Ice experiment
• 38:36 – Lowering the sheep
• 40:12 – Seal-like creature
• 44:08 – Basque elder and second dime
• 45:23 – Mel goes off-grid
• 49:44 – After Mel
• 51:21 – Thank you to Patrons
• 51:54 – Sponsor: Transformed – The Legend of Rising Eagle
• 52:35 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 52:58 – Theories
• 53:20 – Reason Perspective
• 1:04:27 – Faith Perspective
• 1:07:42 – Bottom Line
• 1:08:58 – Further Resources
• 1:09:37 – Mysterious Feedback: #412 The Earling Exorcism
• 1:15:10 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:15:48 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:15:53 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:16:31 – Next Time: Joseph Williamson’s Tunnels
• 1:16:57 – Mysterious World store
• 1:17:05 – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:17:13 – Show notes
• 1:17:21 – Become a Patron
• 1:17:29 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 1:17:49 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 19 June 2026 to 24 June 2026.

Angelus

• 21 June 2026 – Angelus

General Audiences

• 24 June 2026 – General Audience – Catechesis. The Documents of the Second Vatican Council. III. Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. 4. The Mystery of the Eucharist

Messages

• 19 June 2026 – Video message of the Holy Father on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the ‘Steubenville Summer Youth Conferences’
• 24 June 2026 – Message of the Holy Father, signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, for theCaritas InternationalisHealth gathering Caritas Internationalis [Castel Gandolfo, 23–25 June 2026] (24 Jun

Social Media

• x/Pontifex
• instagram/Pontifex

An alien observer who detaches his own body parts puts Kirk and Spock through their paces in TAS S2E2. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler weigh whether “Bem” earns its strange premise — and how this episode named James Tiberius Kirk.

https://youtu.be/G3J8foKreaA

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

The most famous lost object in history — the Ark of the Covenant — vanished from Scripture before 586 BC and was never seen again. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine what it was, trace its history, and weigh nine theories for where it went.

https://youtu.be/OiAOWcLk454

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• David Falk, The Ark of the Covenant in Its Egyptian Context
• Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant
• Tudor Parfitt, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500-Year-Old Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark
• Randall Price, Searching for the Ark of the Covenant
• Paul Raffaele, “Keepers of the Lost Ark?” Smithsonian, December 2007
• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation)
• Mishnah, Yoma 5:2/21b, 53b–54a (Sefaria)
• E. A. Wallis Budge, trans., The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast)

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS422
• 0:11 – Intro
• 1:43 – What Is the Ark of the Covenant?
• 8:50 – Physical Construction
• 13:43 – Contents of the Ark
• 18:08 – History: Conquest and Judges
• 21:26 – David and Uzzah
• 23:50 – Solomon’s Temple
• 24:50 – Silence
• 27:09 – The Babylonian Destruction
• 32:36 – Ancient traditions about its fate
• 36:06 – The Ark in the New Testament
• 37:30 – Thank you to Patrons
• 37:59 – Sponsor: Transformed – The Legend of Rising Eagle
• 38:41 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 39:03 – Theories
• 40:45 – Reason Perspective: Alien/ET removal?
• 43:29 – Knights Templar?
• 46:26 – Translated to heaven?
• 58:59 – Samaritans?
• 1:00:41 – Jeremiah hid it?
• 1:06:18 – Under the Temple Mount?
• 1:09:27 – Aksum in Ethiopia?
• 1:21:12 – Pharoah Shishak?
• 1:24:08 – Destroyed by Babylon?
• 1:33:26 – Faith Perspective
• 1:36:44 – Bottom Line
• 1:37:56 – Top. Men.
• 1:38:47 – Further Resources
• 1:40:01 – Mysterious Feedback: #411 George Adamski, Alien Contactee
• 1:42:51 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:43:26 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:43:31 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:44:17 – Next Time: Mel’s Hole
• 1:44:39 – Share the show
• 1:44:51 – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:44:58 – Show notes
• 1:45:06 – Become a Patron
• 1:45:13 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 1:45:33 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

No Christmas special. No showrunner. No production partner. The BBC has put Doctor Who out to competitive tender, and Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin weigh what the shake-up means for Billie Piper, the Timeless Child, and the show’s next era.

https://youtu.be/QvrY3HaSLv0

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 10 June 2026 to 17 June 2026.

Angelus

• 14 June 2026 – Angelus

General Audiences

• 17 June 2026 – General Audience – The Apostolic Journey in Spain

Homilies

• 10 June 2026 – Apostolic Journey to Spain’ Holy Mass in the Basilica of the Sagrada Família (Barcelona)
• 11 June 2026 – Apostolic Journey to Spain’ Holy Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium
• 12 June 2026 – Apostolic Journey to Spain’ Holy Mass at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Messages

• 12 June 2026 – Message of the Holy Father to Priests on the Occasion of the Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests
• 13 June 2026 – Message of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV for the Tenth World Day of the Poor [15 November 2026]
• 15 June 2026 – Message from His Holiness Leo XIV for the Sixth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, 2026’ I will never forget you (Is49’15)
• 16 June 2026 – Video Message of the Holy Father on the Occasion of the tenth Austrian World Summit

Social Media

• x/Pontifex
• instagram/Pontifex

A giant green hand grabs the Enterprise — and the Greek god Apollo demands worship. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler weigh TOS S2E2’s ancient-aliens premise, Kirk’s defiance, and the ending that was filmed but never aired.

https://youtu.be/iQD8FXozlGc

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

The Magi’s star in Matthew’s Gospel has generated centuries of argument. Does the phrase “en te anatole” describe the Star of Bethlehem’s heliacal rising, its first reappearance on the eastern horizon after months behind the sun, or does it just mean the Magi saw a star in the east? What does Matthew actually say when the star “stood over” the house in Bethlehem?

**Jimmy Akin** and **Dom Bettinelli** open this 28th patron questions episode with that question, work through Jupiter as the strongest natural candidate, and explain what Matthew’s text does and doesn’t commit you to.

The episode then turns to where Mary went after Pentecost. Acts 1:14 places her among the disciples before Pentecost, not on the day itself. After that the New Testament goes quiet. Two early traditions compete: Jerusalem, which claims her tomb, and Ephesus, where pilgrims visit what tradition identifies as the House of the Virgin Mary. Jimmy lays out what the patristic evidence shows.

Other questions in the first half: Did Jesus work miracles privately before his public ministry? (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas says yes, but that text was almost certainly Christian fiction.) What name will God call us in heaven? Did Mary and Joseph know Jesus was God? Who crushes the serpent’s head in Genesis 3:15, and why did Jerome change the pronoun in his Latin translation?

The second half covers leavened vs. unleavened bread in the Eucharist. Early Christians used leavened bread. The shift to unleavened happened in the 8th and 9th centuries in the Western Church, triggered the Azymes controversy, and contributed to the 1054 East-West schism. Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, written around 593-594, contain a story about a ghost from purgatory asking a priest to use leavened loaves for the Mass.

Further questions cover why Jesus chose bread and wine instead of lamb, why milk is white, whether smartphones suppress precognitive abilities, a trolley-problem variant about voting, the afterlife and cognitive conditions like ADHD and Down syndrome, how a timeless God makes choices without middle knowledge, and whether the Church qualifies as a living organism.

The episode closes with feedback on MYS410, the Kentucky Meat Shower.

https://youtu.be/QJF3euntr6A

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS421
• 0:17 – Intro
• 1:42 – The Magi’s Star in Matthew 2 — Jeff S.
• 11:59 – Where Was Mary After Pentecost? — Robert R.
• 16:16 – What Name Will God Call Us in Heaven? — Jimmy C.
• 22:11 – Did Jesus Work Private Miracles Before Age 30? – Mary X.
• 23:57 – Did Mary and Joseph Know Jesus Was God?
• 26:15 – Genesis 3:15 — Who Crushes the Serpent’s Head?
• 28:25 – If Only Eve Had Sinned — Original Sin and the Garden of Eden
• 30:22 – Leavened vs. Unleavened Bread in the Eucharist
• 38:16 – Why Did Jesus Use Bread Instead of Lamb? — Joey, Age 9
• 42:02 – Why Is Milk White? — Adelaide, Age 7
• 44:45 – Do Smartphones Affect Precognitive Abilities? — Rob L.
• 47:53 – When Will There Be an Episode on Our Lady of Guadalupe?
• 48:54 – Sponsor: Transformed – The Legend of Rising Eagle
• 49:34 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 49:57 – The Trolley Problem — Voting and Belief-Based Evidence — Paul B.
• 53:46 – The Afterlife — Overlapping Planes of Existence; ADHD, Autism, Down Syndrome — Fiona H.
• 59:40 – How Does a Timeless God Make Choices? — JJ
• 1:08:43 – Is the Church a Living Organism? — Emily
• 1:12:32 – Are Demons Finite? Does Human Population Dilute Demonic Influence? — Rob
• 1:22:54 – Mysterious Feedback: #410 The Kentucky Meat Shower
• 1:29:22 – Become a Patron
• 1:29:40 – Show notes
• 1:29:48 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:30:21 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:30:26 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:30:55 – Next Time
• 1:31:09 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 1:31:29 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 5 June 2026 to 9 June 2026.

Homilies

• 7 June 2026 – Apostolic Journey to Spain’ Holy Mass in the ‘Plaza de Cibeles’ (Madrid)
• 9 June 2026 – Apostolic Journey to Spain’ Midday Prayer in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Barcelona)

Letters

• 5 June 2026 – Letter from the Holy Father, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, to His Eminence Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell on the occasion of the meeting on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly (5 June

Messages

• 7 June 2026 – Video Message of the Holy Father on the Occasion of the 6th World Apostolic Congress on Mercy on the Theme ‘Let Us Build the City of Mercy’ [Vilnius, Lithuania, 7–12 June 2026]

Social Media

• x/Pontifex
• instagram/Pontifex

A lost communicator on a war-torn pre-warp world forces Archer and Reed to risk their lives over an ethic the Prime Directive hasn’t invented yet. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler take on Enterprise S2E8, “The Communicator.”

https://youtu.be/E-48OtfIdw4

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.