In late 2014, a man posted to a YouTube video titled “Son of an Area 51 Technician.” The man behind the screen was Las Vegas resident and avid hiker Kenny Veach, using the screenname snakebitmgee. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his comment would set in motion a series of events that would lead to one of Nevada’s most puzzling urban legends.

“That aint nothing. I am a long distance hiker. One time during one of my hikes out by Nellis Air Force Base, I found a hidden cave. The entrance to the cave was shaped like a perfect capital M. I always enter every cave I find, but as I began to enter this particular cave, my whole body began to vibrate. The closer I got to the cave entrance, the worse the vibrating became. Suddenly I became very scared and high-tailed it out of there. That was one of the strangest things that ever happened to me.”

Kenny’s comment sparked interest like wildfire. After posting his original comment, several YouTube users encouraged hiker Kenny to seek out the cave and enter again, this time documenting his hike, and providing evidence of his strange discovery. He obliged.

He set off to find the mysterious cave for a second time, armed with a 9-millimeter handgun and a video camera. Upon his return, he posted a video of his discoveries. Much to the dismay of those following his claims, he was unable to locate the cave, and his video didn’t seem to reveal any clues to the mysterious M Cave he had discussed in his original comment.

His video was met with much criticism, and YouTube commenters both encouraged and provoked him to try for a third time to seek out the cave. Kenny again obliged.

Though one comment would stand out among all the others as an ominous foretelling.

It read, “No! Do not go back there. If you find that cave entrance, don’t go in, you won’t get out.”

On Nov. 10, 2014, Kenny set off on his last hike. He told his family he was going for a “short, overnight trip,” though he would never return. Then, the search was on!

Kenny was not new to desert hiking or spelunking. He claims to have hiked extensively in the area, even leaving several YouTube comments on the Area 51 video detailing his experience.

He seemed to ignore the worried comments from viewers, and was more interested in finding the cave for the ones who continued to push him to go back to the desert and find the cave.

In another comment, he added, “I have been doing this sort of thing for over 20years. I go where no one goes, and I never take anyone with me. I find skulls of all shapes and sizes, and occasionally I find really old animal traps. I hike over mountain top after mountain top and sleep on peaks under the stars. Sometimes I have to scale giant cliffs to get myself out of a jam, but I always make it back. I’m beat up and tired, and my pack is almost always heavier than when I left. I had to be rescued only one time by a helicopter. I had blown out my left leg at the top of the mountain, and I only had a cup of water left to get me 20 miles back to my truck. It was also over 100 degrees out. So I have a very good safety record.”

So he was very confident in himself, and his ability to stay alone in the wilderness.

Even with his impressive track record, Kenny was at a disadvantage to the elements. He was drunk with internet courage, searching for an elusive cave, in the Mojave Desert, one of the hottest and driest regions on the planet.

In the beginning of the “M Cave Hike” video Kenny posted before his disappearance, he is standing by an abandoned mine shaft, narrating some information about the cave he’s seeking out. It was there, that on Nov. 22, 2014, search and rescue volunteers found Kenny’s cell phone, indicating that he had, in fact, gone out searching for the cave again. 

“We found his cell phone close to a very vertical old mine shaft and we can’t find another trail,” Red Rock Search & Rescue Commander Dave Cummings told News 3. “It doesn’t mean that he’s down the mine shaft, but we have tracked him as far as we can. We are having our other crews come in from the search areas.”

After his cell phone was found, the trail would unfortunately go cold. Kenny was never found, leading to much speculation on how he died. The mysterious circumstances of his death fueled the internet with conspiracy theories of every shape and color. Had Kenny fallen down a mineshaft? Had he discovered a hidden entrance to Area 51? Had he stumbled upon some great military secret? Was it a layer for an ancient Vampire ? Or had he simply succumbed to the elements? We may never know now.

His girlfriend did reach out to worried onlookers after his mysterious disappearance, she mainly was warning others not to take on his same demise. She pleaded for people NOT to go searching for this M shaped cave at all due to it being unsafe.

It was a dangerous trek for anyone to take on and it wasn’t safe, even a well equipped man can succumb to the Nevada desert. So please, do not try this at home or in any town you may feel the need to go exploring. Be mindful of where you are and always listen to your instincts.