Film Review: THE HOLE STORY
by Karen Pecota

Elijah Sullivan, USA 2024

Filmmaker Elijah Sullivan has been interested in storytelling since childhood, always searching for a unique, mystical story about Mount Shasta. He happened to find such a story and spent twelve years developing it to showcase his findings in THE HOLE STORY.

Sullivan shares, “Mount Shasta is a city defined by its storytelling. Its principal industry, ‘spiritual tourism,’ came from stories about a lost city under the mountain full of gold and the wisdom of the ages.” Adding, “Among those drawn to the mountain were my parents, making this movie deeply personal.” Sullivan moved to the area as a child and grew up hearing conspiracy theories of what mysterious aspects the mountain had to offer but not much came to fruition, until Sullivan began his own research years later.

“It was a chance conversation with friends talking over wine, trading weird stories,” Sullivan notes. Continuing, “One story was the weirdest, about an encounter with a man who claimed to have been hired to dig a hole on Mount Shasta.” Upon listening to this outrageous account, Sullivan was instantly hooked to figure out if there was any truth to such a wild story. Truth be told, he did find the sixty-foot man-made hole; and for twelve years his obsession with the reasons for such a feat on Mount Shasta consumed him and his pursuit to find answers.

This is a true Indie film. It is a thrilling narrative, made over a decade with very little money. Sullivan draws his audience in slowly with each new finding and with every interview of those who know something of the mystery. Once you start this journey with Sullivan, you will not want it to end. Sullivan himself says, “I will probably never be cured of the obsession.”