When a local man went and explored a lake that he worked at with his trusty drone, he noticed something somewhat horrifying that left him and the rest of the town with tons of questions.
The Man in Question
Evan Kilkus works at a jet ski and boat rental company on the shore of Lake Berryessa. When he’s not working, he’s flying his drone. Sometimes, he films things for his Youtube channel under the username Evan K. A lot of drone lovers congregate to his channel and relish in his breathtaking videos. He’s got 36,000 fellow drone enthusiasts in his network!
Lake Berryessa
In Napa County, California, there is a beautiful man-made lake called Lake Berryessa. It’s a very popular local hangout spot where people can take out their boats, hang out on the short, and even get some swimming and paddleboarding in! The lake was created near the Monticello Dam in order to help feed the water into it. The lake itself is hydroelectric to mimic the natural goings-on of a lake.
A Dark History
In 1997, a 41-year-old woman ended up passing away while spending the day at the lake. It was ruled a drowning, but the locals felt that there was a mysterious circumstance that they were not revealing. Some witness reports of the drowning even said she was ‘grabbing’ onto something before she drowned. For years, this drowning haunted the locals of the town. When news that someone was found in the lake surface, it’s no wonder what it took off like wildfire.
A Giant Hole?
After work, Kilkus went to go fly his drone over the lake as he usually does just to decompress. As he was flying, he noticed something that looked like a ‘wormhole’ in the middle of the lake. He flew the drone in for a closer look and saw the hole that formed in the middle of the lake. It looked like it was right out of a sci-fi movie! It baffled the drone flier. The most bizarre thing is that he was not there the day before! How did it pop out of nowhere? And what was it?
Posting Online
Kilkus knew that he had to get to the bottom of this (no pun intended!) He posted the footage to the internet and asked for responses. It immediately became viral within the local population. Everyone wanted to know what was going on with their favorite lake!
Figure It Out
Kilkus began going over the facts since this viral speculation was met with no other information. Since it was common knowledge that the lake was man-made, that means that this hole had to have been to. There’s no way it could be ‘naturally’ occurring since the lake itself isn’t natural…
These Holes Have Popped Up All Over The World
Weird, reverse-waterfall holes such as the one in Lake Berryessa is not an isolated incident. Dean’s Blue Hole is another one that magically appeared in a lake that was found to be 660 feet deep. Another one is the Giant Blue Hole in Belize, which was 407 feet deep. Were these related? Kilkus knew that he needed to research these so that he could maybe figure it out.
Getting Into Theories
Needless to say, people took this bizarre event and ran with it in lieu of lack of information. Kilkus began to question the reality of this hole, too. He thought about it being a portal to another world, or if something supernatural had created it. After doing some research and speculating, he finally decided to take action in the only way he knew how to.
Changing Climate of California
It’s no secret that California had been experiencing a drought. The landscape and ecosystem of the state have been suffering, including Lake Berryessa. The water level of the lake had been reduced drastically over the years. Officials who were in charge of the lake had been in charge of filling it so it doesn’t look like it was suffering for the public. Despite these issues, the lake was still a hot spot for being to spend their days off. This could have been why this hole formed… But, how?
Get The Drone!
Naturally, Kilkus took his drone back to the hole. As he got close to where the hole was, he began to experience glitches with the monitoring system. In order for him to even know what he was going, he needed that monitor to be working perfectly. Kilkus had noted online that this had never happened to him before, and of course it was happening when he needed it to work. He also wasn’t so positive it was just coincidental… What else could it have been?
Taking It In
Kilkus ended up taking the drone to a store to get it inspected out by professionals. Apparently, they came to the conclusion that the battery was running low on the drone itself so it had to get replaced. It was bizarre because that isn’t something that usually happens to drones in general, but Evan decided not to question it and got it fixed. He knew that he needed to get to the bottom of that hole!
It Got Bigger?
Prior to getting back to the lake, Evan reviewed the small amount of footage that he did get during that failed trip. If he could see it correctly, it truly looked like the hole was much bigger than he remembered. Since the footage was so glitchy, it was extremely hard to tell. It just fueled his curiosity even more!
Is Something Inside?
He knew that he had to get inside of this hole to really get the truth. He had the footage from above, but not inside. From his past research of these mysterious holes from all over the world, he knew that it had to be deep, but how deep? He knew that he had to explore the inside of it to help answer the questions that the public had… He had to get his drone in there!
Brainstorming Ideas
After much deliberation, Kilkus knew that he had at least two options. He could either take his drone into the massive hole and try to not drown it or… He could go down there himself. The chances of the drone going down there without water damage were extremely low, and he knew that going down there himself would be extremely dangerous. His channel is also videos of him doing crazy stunts like that though, just like the photo above of him zip lining… But it was still super scary! He was at a loss of what to do.
We Need The Truth
As he did more research, Kilkus got more and more eager to get to the truth. At this point in the frenzy, authorities had blocked off the area in the water within a thousand-yard perimeter of the hole, but that was it. Nothing else was really coming out of this other than the same media coverage over and over again.
Why Not Try
Well, Kilkus was obviously not going to risk his life just for this hole, but he was willing to risk his drone! He figured that he would try very, very slowly to see how what’s going on. The drone would first fly around the perimeter and then get closer and closer.
Time For Take-Off
Kilkus got to the lake and readied his gear. He was excited and hopeful that he would be able to at least see something good this time. As the drone got closer, he could tell that the hole was about 72-feet-wide, which is significantly smaller than the others that he researched. It was time to get even closer…
Getting Closer
The drone was finally able to get close enough. Kilkus still couldn’t see if the water was falling into it or coming out of it… It was a wild sight to say the least! Either way, he was able to get close enough to see through the water, which then lead to the truth.
It’s A Spillway
This giant hole turned out to be a man-made spillway that the architects put in the lake to make sure it doesn’t overflow. Although it wasn’t something alien or supernatural, it was absolutely bizarre that the water got low enough for it to create this phenomenon. As it turns out, drought made this an interesting circumstance.
The Drought
The changing climate of California is probably to blame for this. The lake was losing popularity because of the changing climate, from drought to a heavy rain, so the regulators that worked with the lake knew that they had to make a change in order to keep the lake normal. Things changed dramatically once the heavy rains came. This time it revealed something wild: The hole!
Nearly Damaging Rains
After the 10-year drought that risked major damage to Lake Berryessa, California ended up getting the heaviest rain of the decade. Because of this drastic rainfall, officials in charge of the lake were not prepared and therefore ended up messing with the water levels.
The Spillway Is Necessary
Lake Berryessa is a man-made lake so it has the spillway in order for the lake to avoid overflowing. Â Because of the mix of drought and rain, it made the lake water levels go extremely low and officials didn’t know how to handle it.
It’s Always Been There
The water has always been high enough, so it kept the gigantic spillway concealed. It also was kept closed during these harsh drought years so that all of the water didn’t drain right into it.
It's All Good
Kevin King, the water and power operations manager, said, “The bureau has protocol and inspections, and with every inspection, everything has checked out so far.” That means that they were made aware of it and checked it all out, but people should stay away from it in the waters. He also revealed that this is a different type of spillway, which is why it looked so incredible!
Bell-Shaped Spillway
This rarely used design spans from 28-feet at the bottom to 75-feet at the top. It funnels the water through a system to make sure it won’t overflow, because that would be an absolute disaster!
Open It Up!
Once the water level measures over 440 feet above sea level, it goes over and into the funnel. Then the water drains out the funnel, not unlike a bathtub! Once they knew that the rain was coming, it was time to open it up for the first time in ten years!
Sight-Seeing
Weirdly enough, this sight actually became a huge crowd spot. People traveled to see this bizarre sight as it’s extremely rare. It was a beautiful thing to witness, even if it was just a simple spillway. Many people, especially the locals who had no idea about this spillway, went to see it.
New Drone Sights!
Kevin King has said, “I went up there the other day and there were about 15 drones flying around and people taking videos. It’s really dramatic to watch.” Little did the operations manager and rest of the management team for the lake know that this seemingly boring part of a lake would draw so much attention! They were amazed.
This Was Great For Youtube
Since Kilkus posted the videos and story of the mysterious hole in the water, he Evan has earned up to 32,000 subscribers on his youtube channel. Tons of other drone lovers are now joining his love for drones and exploring. The video he posted of the spillway over 12 million times!