He Said a Cave Near Area 51 Made His Body Vibrate. He Went Back to Find It. Kenny Veach.

In 2014, a man left a comment under a YouTube video about Area 51.

He said that while hiking in the Nevada desert, he had found a cave with an entrance shaped like the letter M.

He said that as he walked toward it, his body started to vibrate. The closer he got, the stronger it got. It scared him so much that he turned around and went back to his car.

People in the comments told him to go back and film it.

He did. Twice.

The second time, he never came home.

His name was Kenny Veach.

Who was Kenny Veach?

Kenneth Lee Veach was born around 1967, in the Las Vegas area. In 2014, he was in his mid to late forties.

He was a serious desert hiker. He went out alone, into remote country, looking for strange and hard-to-reach places. He posted videos of his trips on YouTube, under the name "snakebitmgee."

Online, he said he had more than twenty years of solo hiking experience. He said he had been in many caves. He also said he had once been rescued by helicopter after hurting his leg.

The M cave

The comment was posted under a video called "Son of an Area 51 Technician."

Kenny described a cave near the Sheep Range, a mountain range north of Las Vegas, not far from the secret military base known as Area 51.

He said the cave's entrance was shaped like an M. And he described that strange feeling, his body vibrating, more and more strongly as he got closer.

He said it frightened him enough that he left.

He later deleted the comment.

Most people who replied told him to go back. Some did not believe him at all.

That comment section turned a private experience into a public challenge. And Kenny was the kind of person who answered challenges.

The second hike

Partly to answer the doubters, Kenny went back in October 2014.

According to Nevada Magazine, he carried a nine-millimeter handgun and a video camera.

He could not find the cave.

He posted the footage on October 18, 2014, as a video called "M Cave Hike." He said that for the entire trip, a black ram stood on a ridge, watching him.

The video shows no cave. It does show him at an abandoned mine shaft.

It is worth knowing what this land is like. The Sheep Range is rugged, dry and remote, north of Las Vegas. There are old mine shafts scattered through the area. Some of them are deep and steep, and many are not on any map anyone carries. Some reports say the military used old mine shafts out there for chemical disposal. Even experienced hikers can get into trouble fast.

"Don't go in"

After the second attempt, Kenny said he would try a third time.

Some people warned him. One commenter told him that if he found the cave, he should not go inside.

He planned to go anyway.

According to his girlfriend, Kenny had quit his job about a year before. He had more time for the desert. And he wanted to settle the question of the M cave.

November 10, 2014

On November 10, 2014, Kenny set out on what would be his last hike.

He told his family it would be a "short, overnight trip." He told his girlfriend about his plans, but not exactly where he was going.

That is the last time anyone heard from him.

Several days later, his girlfriend reported him missing.

His white Honda CR-V was found at the head of the trail, where she said it would be. Getting from there to the cave area and back took hours of hard hiking. The area is full of old mine shafts.

The phone

Search and rescue teams went out.

On November 22, 2014, volunteers found Kenny's cell phone. It was lying near a steep, abandoned mine shaft, at the place where the trail ended.

A search and rescue commander said the phone did not necessarily mean Kenny was in the shaft.

According to his girlfriend, more than thirty searchers looked on foot, three separate times, and a helicopter flew over once. They found no sign of Kenny, or of his camping gear.

The handgun was never found. Nobody knows if he took it.

His girlfriend said he did not take his video camera on the final trip. It stayed at home.

That detail matters. On a trip to find and film a cave that the internet was waiting to see, he left the camera behind. Why would he do that? Nobody knows.

The theories

Because of where it happened, the internet came up with every theory you can imagine. That Kenny found a hidden entrance to Area 51. That he stumbled onto a military secret. That the cave had something to do with aliens.

There is no evidence for any of that.

The most common explanation is an accident. A fall into one of the many old mine shafts in the area. Or the desert itself: heat, cold, thirst, rough ground.

There is also another possibility. His girlfriend has said that Kenny had struggled with depression for years, and that it had gotten worse before he disappeared. She believes he chose not to come back, and that he left his phone so he could not be tracked. That is her belief. It has not been confirmed.

If you are struggling yourself, please talk to someone. In the U.S., you can call or text 988.

What we still don't know

Kenny Veach has never been found.

We do not know if the M cave exists. We do not know if he found it. We do not know if he went into that mine shaft, or walked away from it.

What we know is this. A man who loved the desert wrote about a place that frightened him. Strangers online told him to go back. He went back. And all that was ever found was his phone, lying near a hole in the ground.

His girlfriend has a warning for anyone thinking of going out there to look. Don't hike alone. Carry a GPS. Tell people where you are going. Bring plenty of water.

In 2021, the TV series Real Life Nightmare covered his case. People still post online, saying they are going to find the M cave. Nobody has ever publicly shown that it exists.

What do you think happened to Kenny Veach?