The baffling mystery of the Devil’s Kettle waterfall

On the Brule River in Minnesota’s Judge C. R. Magney State Park, an unusual waterfall has sparked imaginations for decades. That’s because this waterfall, called the Devil’s Kettle, splits into two: one half of the river flows up to the edge of the falls and tumbles over, but the other half slips into a hole at the top of the falls and disappears.

DEVIL’S KETTLE, IN GRAND MARAIS, Minnesota, contains two streams: one, the waterfall itself, and a second stream (above left) that disappears down a hole.


With harsh waters and a strong current, the waterfall is known as a danger to citizens — but there it’s what lies beneath that fascinates people.


At the bottom of the waterfall lurks a large pothole, estimated to being at least three meters deep. As the water surges into this pothole it mysteriously seems to completely disparate inside the rocks. Many tourists have attempted to find where the water must escape, but their findings have been inconclusive.


Using coloured ping pong balls, sticks and even GPS devices, nothing has been found to locate the escape route of the water. Some believed the Kettle to go deeper than the earth’s crust, and even deep into the core. Others think it is a portal to hell.

 

Rumours spread of the waterfall’s mysterious nature, that anything could disappear within it’s depths. Some have even reported that bodies have fallen in, never to be retrieved.

It was featured in the film Jennifer’s Body as the dumping ground of a victim’s cadaver and continued to build the mysterious legend of the Kettle’s secrets.


In mid 2017, hydrologists Heather Emerson and Jon Libbey believed they had found the answer. Through use of deduction and measuring the flow and volume of water that circulates the waterfall, they determined that no water was being lost through the circuit. Meaning that the water falling into the Kettle most definitely escaped and flowed back into the river below the falls.


They could also see that the currents pouring into the kettle are enough to hold down most materials against the rocks until they’re utterly decimated under the pressure. This is why no objects have ever returned once they have entered the Kettle.


A dye experiment was planned to further finalise the theory and to find the destination of the water’s exit, but it was discouraged by the park management. Deciding they didn’t require a test to prove their theory, they deemed their explanation adequate. No further testing has been attempted or recorded to this date, leaving the theory to be just that. A theory without conclusive evidence.