People enjoy hiking for a number of reasons: for some, it’s the joy of being outdoors surrounded by nature, while others simply find it a way to exercise. For Kenny Veach, known on YouTube as Snakebitmgee, it was the thrill of exploration and adventure.
Kenny loved to explore uncharted territory, especially caves, but he may have gone too far when he decided to track down a cave that terrified even him. What happened next could have come straight out of a horror movie.
A self-described “daredevil” and “cowboy” that enjoyed playing with rattlesnakes and his pet tarantula, 47-year-old Las Vegas hiker, Kenny Veach, loved the outdoors. Yet even he was scared by something he experienced in the Mojave Desert.
The hiker tempered his athleticism and daring nature with a genuine love of nature. He often created drawings and snapped photos of desert flowers.
Kenny was also fascinated by the occult. Many of his favorite posts on YouTube included titles like “Returning to Source Wisdom” and “How Not to Go Crazy During Your Awakening.”
But it’s his comment on a video called “Son of an Area 51 Technician” that’s truly scary. In it, he describes the strange things that happened to him near an odd cave. It kickstarted a conversation that continued online for months, but the comments have since been removed.
The commenter tells a compelling story about how his entire body began to “vibrate” after entering a cave shaped like a perfect capital “M.” His comment attracted many angry skeptics demanding proof.
That mystery may have been what encouraged Kenny to seek out the M-Cave once again, only now, he was prepared. “I will have my 9mm with me this time, just in case,” he said on YouTube. “It’s a ten-hour hike. No trails. Very dangerous terrain.”
The journey required him to trek into the oppressively hot Sheep Mountains, which stretches up to 10,000 feet. It’s found in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge north of Las Vegas. “The mountain is located right next to a bombing range,” wrote Kenny. “I have found some giant empty rounds of ammo before.”
The dangerous hike took Kenny around a derelict mine shaft. At one point, he spotted a black ram watching him at the top of a mountain. Could this have been an omen? Unable to locate the M-Cave, the hiker gave up.
One month passed before Kenny decided to search for the cave again. “The region that I cover is vast,” he explained on YouTube. “There are many caves. I have been in hundreds of them. The M-cave is the only cave I ever feared… I dare any of the people that like to run their mouths on here to join me.”
On November 10, 2014, Kenny began what was meant to be a two-day journey to the cave. He was never seen again. All that was found was his cell phone, picked up by a search-and-rescue team near a mine shaft that had long been abandoned. A search in the mine itself came up empty.
The disappearance sparked an ongoing conversation on social media. One theory is that he misjudged the dangerous environment and had some sort of accident, which could have included anything from dehydration to a deadly fall.
As skilled and experienced as he was, Kenny may have taken too many risks. “My hikes are brutal on the body,” he wrote on YouTube. “After one of my long hikes, some of my toenails turn black and fall off… It takes me about three days to recover from the abuse I put myself through.”
Critics have suggested that Kenny had financial troubles and faked his own death, but that seems unlikely. “He has a beautiful daughter and granddaughter,” wrote relative Susie Veach on Reddit. “[He] would never intentionally put them through this. He would never just disappear…”
Unfortunately, it seems that Kenny most likely committed suicide, a theory that is shared by his girlfriend, Sheryon Pilgrim. “He battled depression for many years and would not take medication or see a doctor,” she revealed in a comment on one of his YouTube videos. “His father committed suicide when Kenny was in his early 20s.” She noted that he didn’t bring his camera on his final hike.
“Seeing his depression increase, I said to him, ‘You aren’t going to pull a Robin Williams on me are you?’ This is when he opened up more about his depression and his thoughts much of his life about suicide,” she continued. “He asked me what I would think of him if he did it. He also said if he decided to do it, ‘No one will ever find me.’”
Sheryon’s claims haven’t stopped people from speculating about what happened to Kenny. Given the mysterious circumstances surrounding his disappearance, some have suggested that it could be attributed to everything from aliens to a portal to another dimension.
Some YouTube users have suggested the supernatural, as if the cave lures in depressed individuals.
The M-cave, as it is known, has become emblematic of Kenny’s disappearance and the circumstances surrounding it. We’ll probably never learn exactly what happened there.
While some determined explorers have continued to search for Kenny’s body, but to this day, it has never been found.
Kenny appears to be a chipper, enthusiastic, and curious adventurer in his YouTube videos, but even the happiest of people aren’t immune to problems. Hopefully, his videos will continue to help others appreciate the outdoors, while his tragic circumstances will raise awareness about depression.
