Evan, a Youtuber residing in California got his jaw dropped when he saw a strange hole inside a lake neighboring his workplace. Strangely he had been to that lake numerous time but he had never seen that hole before. Clearly, the hole had come out in a matter of a night. But how was that possible? How can a hole emerge inside a lake? He decided to find out the reason. And what he finally discovered stunned him completely.
Evan Kilkus, also known as Evan K in the YouTube world is in literally in love with drones. However, for a living, he used to work at jet ski and boat rental at Lake Berryessa. Despite his busy schedule, he would take out time to indulge in adventures with his drone. Similarly, one day he was flying his drone over Lake Berryessa when he noticed something very strange.
He saw a hole formed inside the Lake Berryessa. The hole was massive and it seemed as if it was swallowing the water of the lake. Evan had never seen something like this before in his entire life. The hole was in the middle of the lake. The first question that clicked on his mind was: how did this hole come through? He planned on investigating it. What he found, in the end, blew his mind completely.
Lake Berryessa is the largest man-made lake in Napa County, California. This scenic lake that is designed by hydroelectric Monticello Dam, is flanked with Vaca Mountains. Naturally, the reservoir is quite popular and throng with fishermen, water skiers, swimmer, a and kayakers.
But that is not the only thing the lake is famous for. The lake made headlines worldwide when a mysterious hole was found inside the very lake. The biggest thing was that nobody knew where it came from. It just appeared out of nowhere. And now Evan was going to find out what exactly was that.
Evan had discovered something very odd. No doubt, the unusual sight fanned the curiosity of Kilkus. That is why he decided to take a closer look at this thing. Evan knew it was going to be different but he had no idea till then that this was going to be the once in a lifetime kind of adventure. He knew what he has to do to find out.
This is not the first time a strange hole has appeared and upheaved the world. There is a long list of mysterious holes that took the world by surprise - Dean's Blue hole which is 660 feet deep, Giant Blue Hole in Belize which is 407 feet deep, and Devil's Sinkhole that is 350-foot deep- to name a few.
Many questions popped into the head of Kilkus. Was it an entrance to another world? Perhaps the hole was, in reality, a door that takes the individual to another world or is it something else. In order to find out Kilkus had to investigate further and that is what he did.
He began flying his drone into the direction of the hole. Everything was going smoothly until the device's screen began to flash due to technical glitches. Strangely, such kind of technical complication had never occurred before. This was the first time his drone had shown inefficiency in the middle of the journey. However, Kilkus got it back.
After piloting the drone back to the shore, he checked what was wrong with that. It was then he realized that its battery was running low. No need to say that the drone was the only tool he had to demystify the secret of the pit. Losing it now would be the last thing he wanted. So, he checked the drone properly.
He also checked if the drone took any picture of the pit. Luckily, the drone had! The hole was clearly visible in the footage. Kilkus who saw the hole from a distance had no idea that the pit was way bigger than he thought. However, it was still not clear what actually was inside the pit. For that, he needed to give it another shot.
Kilkus finally had the footage of that enormous pit but he was yet to get pictures of what the hole held inside. He never felt so intrigued before. He wanted to know more about the hole. But it was not going to be that easy as he had no idea how was he going to explore the interior of the hollow.
He did some research before exploring the hole. While going through the history of the pool he learned a shocking truth. Some years ago in 1997, a swimmer named Emily Schwalek, 41 passed away while swimming in the same lake. It is believed that the reason behind the death of the woman is the same hole. The witnesses had seen her clinging to the edge of the hole before getting drowned in it.
He had two options to follow. Either use his drone to explore the inside or jump down in the hole to find out what is in there. He knew very well that his drone was not capable enough to survive and get into the pit himself would be the stupidest thing to do. He had to come up with a more fruitful idea.
Nevertheless, Kilkus gave it another try by flying his drone above the hole. Though it was a risky thing to do he had no other way. However, this time he decided to take some precautions. He piloted the drone by a perimeter and decided to get a peek inside the hole. After that, he would be strategizing his next step.
He was soon going to find out the shocking truth behind the hole. The mission he had undertaken was no way easy. But he was determined enough to find out the reason behind this puzzling abyss. Little did he know the revelation was going to stun him.
California was undergoing a serious drought for the past ten years. The calamity had made the entire ecosystem suffer including Lake Berryessa. Due to drought, the water level of the lake had reduced scaringly. It was a pathetic sight as the lake that used to be filled to its brim was lacking a huge amount of it.
The situation was so grave that it seemed impossible to restore the lake to its previous glory. Consequently, the lake lost many of its visitors. From there on the waterbody lived a forgotten life. It came into people's notice when the rain revealed an unbelievable secret of the lake.
Finally, it rained cat and dogs after a decade in California. The very day was celebrated by every resident of California. However, little did they know there was another shocking truth awaiting them. Kilkus was the first resident who noticed the hole and he was hell-bent to resolve this mystery.
According to Kilkus, the hole was 72 feet wide. He was yet to find out how deep it was. The measurement had blown the mind of Kilkus. Many questions popped out on his mind. How a 72-feet wide hole came out of nowhere.
It was not only Kilkus who got dumbfounded by this sight. There were many more people who drove by the lake and got speechless after noticing the view. Some of them even tried to figure out what actually was it. However, it was only Kilkus who thought of unraveling the mystery.
There was no breakthrough! Kilkus did not know what was he going to do next. However, he kept on trying. The only thing he was armed with was his drone. But for how long the drone was going to help him? Well, the answer is till the end. Yes! This time his drone turned the table around and made Kilkus confront the most unexpected truth.
One more time he went to the lake and began flying his drone. He had his heart racing with lots of assumptions swirling in his mind. Gradually his drone made its way towards the hole. Again, the drone was failing to capture what was lurking inside the hole. It was then he made his drone turn towards the dam wall. Kilkus would have never imagined in his wildest dream what he saw there.
A current coursed through his body when he peeked inside the hole. Either the water of the lake was falling inside or the water was speeding out of it. Whatever the case was, the hole was hell intriguing. And finally, Kilkus had successfully resolved the mystery.
https://youtu.be/cB0BKIm1EzM
It turned out that the hole was nothing else but a man-made spillway. Though not many people were aware of it and that is why a major population of the city got confused when it appeared. Furthermore, spillway of this kind is not a common phenomenon. He realized that a big part of it was related to the history of the lake.
As mentioned earlier, the Lake Berryessa is a man-made lake. And this mysterious spillway was formed at the same time the lake was created. Being the seventh largest artificial lake in California it harbors massive water. That is why this spillway was made. Find out how a hole was helping this giant lake controlling the water inside it.
The spillway prevents overflow of water in the lake. Additionally, it also did not let water build pressure in the area and around the dam. So, they say the spillway was made years ago but how is it possible that nobody took notice of it before. Well, the answer is here!
The reason why spillway continued to evade the eyes of people is because of a drought that had clouded California for over a decade. You see, the water level of the lake was all-time low during those years and hence the spillway was left closed. Usually, the spillways are created on the sections of the dam wall or above them. This one was designed differently, giving it a whole new look.
The water and power operations manager at Solano Irrigation District, Kevin King said, “The bureau has protocol and inspections, and with every inspection, everything has checked out so far,”. This construction and structure (Monticello) are much different than Oroville. We’re very narrow canyon here embedded in bedrock. The traditional spillway construction wouldn’t have fit here. It would have been very costly to drill into the side of the mountains here, so that’s how they came up with the design,” he added.
The design of the spillway is called bell-mouth. The other popular name this hole goes by is "glory hole." It is kind of a funnel popping out of the dam. The hole is 28 feet at the bottom and stretches up to 75 feet in diameter. Now we will learn why the image of a whirlpool occurs when the water reaches a certain level in the lake.
Whenever the water rises over 440 feet above sea level, it goes over the funnel too. That very moment water begins to drain out of the funnel as it happens in a bathtub, giving an illusion of a whirlpool. Notably, the dam was not much in use for 60 years.
As Kilkus finally discovered what exactly is it, he is really happy. He says “It will be a great summer up here again.” No doubt, the lake is going to enjoy even more footfalls in summer.
The dam made in the 1940s is sort of a lifeline to the people of the town. It came in the use of drinking and irrigation. It serves 600,000 people in the city. The dam has the capability of holding 526 billion gallons of water in surplus.
King who supervises the operations of the dam explained, "as the water in the sink rises, it drains through that hole," he continued "But when it's less full, the water is stagnant."
The spillway has grown popular thereafter. King says “I went up there the other day and there were about 15 drones flying around and people taking videos,” he adds “It’s really dramatic to watch.”
Kilkus has a huge number of follower going up to 32,000. However, his video could get the attention of only some thousand people. But the video of this spillway garnered him about millions of views. It is one of his video that has been viewed over 12 million times.