gotta find it first...
if it's all a figment of Mel's active imagination, I wonder where he came up with the idea? When I was a kid, I used to watch a TV program called
Night Gallery hosted by Rod Serling (Twilight Zone host/creator as well) and there was an episode where a farmer/red neck type guy found this hole
while out hunting or something like that and there were wierd noises and mist coming out of it as well as an eerie glow (would probably be pretty
cheesy if I saw it today). And my memory fails me here but I think his dog fell in or something so they lowered a guy down in the hole and something
crazy happened but I can't remember what?

....anyway that's what I think of everytime I hear this story...
every episode started with the host in a
Night Gallery full of paintings, he would stop at one, and then the show would be about the
painting-
Night Gallery
it's funny I can't find that particular episode?
maybe the "Big Suprise"? I dunno...maybe it was another show?
hmmmmmm....