Slamdance Film Festival 2025 -Writer/director Elijah Sullivan‘s The Hole Story is one bizarre tale about a 60-foot, manmade hole located at Mount Shasta, California. While Sullivan’s film explores the reaction to the hole, and some of the myths and urban legends about the area, more than anything, his work highlights the impact of long-standing misinformation upon a small community. Yes, the documentary is about a massive hole, but more importantly, Sullivan’s film addresses much deeper and timely truths.

The film’s initial set-up has a Twin Peaks vibe. Something feels off and uncanny about this community. The documentary begins with various interview subjects talking about the more paranormal aspects associated with the mountains. Some consider it a vortex and portal to other dimensions. Others mention UFO activity. Heck, even Big Foot gets a shoutout or two. Initially, the documentary plays out like an exploration of urban legends and how they pertain to this particular community. It is, in part that, but there’s also, well, the hole, which sparked police investigations. Sullivan’s film includes several interviews with park rangers talking about the hole, including its weirdness. They discovered rope, chains, and buckets. Yet, no one could initially figure out who made the hole, which was ultimately filled in so the curious didn’t fall in it and die.

From there, the documentary veers into a much more interesting direction. More specifically, it addresses Lemuria: The Lost Continent of the Pacific, a book written by Wishar S. Serve and published in the early 1930s. In short, the book claims that that beneath the rolling seas exist lost civilizations, including the advanced civilization of Lemuria. The book relates to the documentary because this lost civilization had specific connection to the Shasta mountains. Sullivan’s documentary really kicks into high gear when he analyzes just how a book published nearly 100 years ago impacts the present and had a rather damaging impact on a community. Its ideas went viral, at least within this particular community, even though the author later published an article denouncing what he wrote about the area. Yet it was too late. The disinformation spread and maintains followers today.

All of this circles back to the hole, specifically who was responsible for creating it and what they mined from it. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say that Serve’s writings from all those decades ago still attract new followers. Yet, the people who ended up digging the hole professed on camera that they eventually felt dupped by a church, or what they sometimes to refer to as a cult.

While The Hole Story indeed investigates what led to the creation of an unusual 60-foot hole at Mount Shasta, it’s more an analysis of misinformation, debunked writings, and their impact upon a community. Though the documentary examines paranormal claims around a geographical location, it does present some hard truths that have nothing to do with little green men or other dimensions. The Hole Story is a fascinating and timely documentary that maintains a Twin Peaks vibe.