“Lonely as God and white as a winter moon.” –Joaquin Miller

In 1904, JC Brown, a British prospector, was hired by the Lord Cowdray Mining Company in London, to search for possible locations where gold deposits may be located in Northern California. By his own account, while investigating around Mount Shasta, he noticed an odd looking piece of rock that did not match the surrounding area. As he began clearing the debris and vegetation surrounding the rock, he noticed that there was a hole leading into a cavern system that led deep into Mount Shasta. He journeyed for about three miles into the interior of the mountain through an array of crisscrossing tunnel systems when he began stumbling across pieces of gold. After the eleventh mile he reached a location that resembled a village. Inside the village he came across chambers filled with gold and copper tablets, statues, spears and skeletons. The average heights of these skeletons were around 6’6” and the tallest being 10 feet in height. He painstakingly took down notes for the next few days, memorizing everything the best that he could and left everything exactly the way that he had found it.

Brown spent the next 30 years researching and trying to build a group of experts to embark on an expedition. By this time he was 79 years old, living in Stockton, California, and had gained a following of about 80 people willing to contribute on the expedition including a museum curator and several scientists. He spent six weeks planning out the entire trip while several individuals sold off their properties believing that they would soon become rich. Brown, assumedly fearing that someone might jump the gun, withheld a lot of the specifics regarding the location of the cavern system. He met with the team one last time to make final preparations and established the time and place of departure; June 19th, at 1:00pm. However, that was the last time anyone saw J.C. Brown. Stockton Police spent the next several months investigating his disappearance to no avail. Theories ran amok, had he returned by himself? Was he kidnapped? Did he scam everyone? The simple fact remained, he never made a penny from his story nor did he have anything to gain from it.

Stories surrounding Mount Shasta have long existed dating back to the earliest of Native American legends. Some of these older myths pertain to an invisible people who dwell within the mountain itself while newer claims attest to hidden passageways and rooms of gold existing within. From treasure seekers to spiritualists alike, the draw of Mount Shasta deeply resonates within. The snow-capped mountain with its radiant splendor will always inspire the imaginations of all who stare up from its shadow. I decided to take a look at the evolution of these legends and investigate for myself any possible proof that may lend credence to the existence of forgotten realm that may lay hidden within the mountain.

Indigenous Lore

About 50 miles west of Mount Shasta, the Yurok Native Americans lived along the Klamath River for untold centuries. Oral stories and traditions passed down in both popular and esoteric fashion continued to make their way well into the 19th century. The accuracy of these oral traditions over time have been notably documented by academics. For one instance, such descriptions of specific evolving natural landscapes can attest as proof to these oral traditions and how accurately they match up with geological changes over time. According to the Yurok, as well as other local nearby tribes, there was once a race of mystic-like individuals with ‘white-skin’ known as the Wa-gas. They were ancient beings who made their way into the Americas long before their own arrival, and whom were considered highly peaceful. The indigenous populations at the time intermixed to some degree with the Wa-gas and there were no wars between all surrounding communities.

At some point in time the Wa-gas “went toward the north from whence we came, and disappeared from our land beyond the northern seas…All the half-castes with the exception of a few went away with the Wa-gas, and nearly all those that were three-quarters Indian remained with our people.” They reassured the Yurok that they would one day return and upon their return “peace and happiness will reign supreme again over this great land, and evil will be cast out.” Variations of this legend among the Yurok suggest that not all the Wa-gas left during the exodus towards the north and that perhaps some went into seclusion or refrained from interaction (as they had done so upon their own arrival–into the mountains). Some Yurok variations see them as immortal, due to their ‘spiritual-like’ powers and in many instances taught them how to ‘keep the world in balance’, as they do. The Wa-gas, also spelled (Wo’gey, Woge, or Wah-Ghas), gave specific instructions on how to communicate with them if needed:

If a person wants to tell me something, let him come up (into the hills) and stay all night. Let him take tobacco with him and angelica root, only those two. And he must be careful of himself before he does that: he must get sweathouse wood, and drink no water, and go with no women. Then I shall answer him; and if I answer him he will have what he tells me that he wants. And he may not eat in the house with others. He will have to eat his food (separately) for ten days.

–A.L. Kroeber, Yurok Myths

Other local indigenous people who once lived around Mount Shasta itself considered the mountain highly sacred. When they walked upon the mountain they were, under no circumstance, allowed to venture past the timber line. They believed inside the mountain lived the Great Spirit of which they had the utmost veneration towards. The local Wintu people (as well as the Pit River tribe) claim that the mountain is the home of ‘little people’ who dwell inside the mountain–similar to some Yurok descriptions of the Wa-gas. Like the other tribes, they do not venture on to the mountain itself. They claim that during their ceremonies these ‘little people’ would venture nearby to watch over. They are always around and can be heard at times. Lastly, the mountain itself took a particular centralized role within the legends themselves, such as the various flood myths of the area and how it was utilized as a means of survival. The mountain remains a focal point for their general mythology as well as highly respected entity as a means for their own survival. Only a select few were allowed to venture onto its slopes, following ritualistic protocol, in order to obtain sacred medicine found on the mountain itself. These stories remain largely obscure today, however, for the local indigenous populations that remain Mount Shasta still remains as a sacred place to be carefully looked after.

A Dweller on Two Planets

What secrets perchance are about us? We do not know as we lie there, our bodies resting, our souls filled with peace, nor do we know until many years are passed out through the back door of time that that tall basalt cliff conceals a doorway. We do not suspect this, nor that a long tunnel stretches away, far into the interior of majestic Shasta. Wholly unthought is it that there lie at the tunnel’s far end vast apartments, the home of a mystic brotherhood, whose occult arts hollowed that tunnel and mysterious dwelling: “Sach” the name is. Are you incredulous as to these things? Go there, or suffer yourself to be taken as I was, once! See, as I saw, not with the vision of flesh, the walls, polished as by jewelers, though excavated as by giants; floors carpeted with long, fleecy gray fabric that looked like fur, but was a mineral product; ledges intersected by the builders, and in their wonderful polish exhibiting veinings of gold, of silver, of green copper ores, and maculations of precious stones. Verily, a mystic temple, made afar from the madding crowd, a refuge whereof those who, “Seeing, see not,” can truly say:

“And no man knows . . .

“And no man saw it e’er.”

Once I was there, friend, casting pebbles in the stream’s deep pools; yet it was then hid, for only a few are privileged. And departing, the spot was forgotten, and to-day, unable as any one who reads this, I cannot tell its place. Curiosity will never unlock that secret. Does it truly exist? Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Shasta is a true guardian and silently towers, giving no sign of that within his breast. But there is a key. The one who first conquers self, Shasta will not deny.

This is the last scene. You have viewed the proud peak both near and far; by day, by night; in the smoke, and in the clear mountain air; seen its interior, and from its apex gazed upon it and the globe stretched away ‘neath your feet. ‘Tis a sight of God’s handiwork, sublime, awful, never to be forgotten; and as thy soul hath rated itself with admiration thereof, in that measure be now filled with His Peace.

–Frederick S. Oliver, A Dweller on Two Planets (Seven Shasta Scenes; Interlude: Part VII)

Very little is known about Frederick S. Oliver and his book A Dweller on Two Planets. By his own account between 1883 and 1884, at the age of 17, he was surveying his family’s mining claim in the town of Yreka when something overtook control of his hand and he began to frantically write down in his notebook. Frightened, he ran home, sat down and allowed his hand to continue writing. A few pages at a time each day, this automatic writing lasted the next several years until he had completed the book. He finished the book in 1886, however, it wasn’t published until 1905 by his mother Mary Elizabeth Manley-Oliver, 6 years after his death at the age of 33.

According to Oliver, the automatic writing was channeled through him by ‘Phylos the Thibetan’ who retold through him the story of Atlantis (or Poseidi, as he refers to it) and the several lives that he had gone through. Though the book is a little erratic, it does follow a consistent flow from start to finish. Some of the undreamed of technologies mentioned within the book pretty accurately resemble scientific breakthrough technologies that we take for granted today. As this ancient civilization of Poseidi began to expand somehow they began to reduce themselves to almost a primitive and superstitious-like culture. This domino effect ultimately led to the downfall of their civilization. Written from a vividly detailed perspective Phylos recounts several lives from Atlantis, through South America, and ultimately in the United States.

The most recent of these lives consists that of Walter Pierson, a Civil War veteran, who after the war in the 1860’s ended up at Mount Shasta to try his luck at prospecting. During this time he meets with a Chinese immigrant named Quong, who claims to have been watching him over the years. Quong then begins to teach Pierson about life and certain spiritual techniques such as taming wild animals. After some days Quong takes Pierson deep into Mount Shasta via a tunnel where he sees vast rooms cut into the rock decorated in gold and quartz. At some point he is then introduced to people from around the world who claim to be a part of an ancient brotherhood who are headquartered within Mount Shasta. Pierson’s life came to an end in 1880 in a shipwreck off Bermuda, 3 years before the Phylos established contact with Frederick.

The Lemurian Craze

In the 1920’s several secretive Tibetan manuscripts were handed over to the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC based in San Jose, California. These manuscripts made mentions of an ancient civilization that once existed in the Pacific Ocean, to which they called Lemuria (based on Theosophical teachings of the time). The order then privately published a few small articles for its members alluding to the existence of a mysterious ancient cult in the Mount Shasta vicinity. The head of AMORC at the time was Dr. Harvey Spencer Lewis, who then later published a book, Lemuria: the lost continent of the Pacific, based primarily on the manuscripts as well as speculative accounts that could reinforce the possibility of an ancient civilization once existing. According to Lewis, who authored the book under the penname ‘Wishar S. Cerve’, after the downfall of the civilization a few mystics heeding the warnings left the continent and travelled to present-day California before the ultimate destruction of their own homeland. There are mentions of several of these colonies in existence today, descendants of these original mystics, who now live in secret around North and Central America, most specifically around Mount Shasta.

The book mentions strange sightings of mystic-like people around Mount Shasta and how they dwell deep inside the mountain, similar to Oliver’s account in Dweller on Two Planets. After the book was published in 1931, a Lemurian craze began. People began flocking to Mount Shasta in hopes of capturing a Lemurian or entering into the cavern system in hopes of finding the hidden treasure within. There were many instances of people shooting guns blindly into the dark forests around the mountain and even throwing explosive devices into the various caves in hopes of scaring them out. People then slowly began to capitalize on the craze claiming that they were initiated into the Lemurian community and with donations they too could become an initiate. Similarly, there were claims that people knew the exact entrances to these secret tunnels and with money they could show them the way in, only they would turn around, take the money and run. Several cult-like groups (such as the I AM movement and Lemurian Fellowship) began to form based on both Dweller on Two Planets and AMORC’s Lemuria. And some took it even further claiming to have been approached by ‘ascended masters’ on the slopes of Mount Shasta (on par with Theosophical beliefs).

A few years later the Rosicrucian Order published a claim to its members stating that they had made contact with representatives of this secret community and that they would be abandoning Mount Shasta due to unwanted publicity. Dr. Lewis stated that in October 12th, 1935 they had begun the relocation process with the aid of a select few (similar to the claim made by Dr. Robert D. Stelle who created the Lemurian Fellowship the following year). They were relocating to other colonies within Canada and Mexico. Further details regarding this relocation were to be disclosed at a later time, however, Dr. Lewis died shortly before revealing anything else.

The purport of the visit was to inform me quite definitely…that the main body of this mystic colony, meaning the essential group of individuals and their chief officers and most advanced directors of the colony, has moved the center of activities and isolated residence from the very old location of Mt. Shasta to another more isolated, secret, and desirable location in California. The new location is not an arbitrarily selected site but rather a place that was for several centuries occupied and used by these mystics and especially by a large section of them that had at one time occupied a large territory in another part of this Western World. This new location was never completely abandoned, but has always been maintained by a few with great secrecy because of all the treasures (not gold or silver coin) hidden and preserved there and because of the existence of several very beautiful and unique temples or sanctuaries…

–Dr. Spencer Lewis, A New Lemurian Mystery: A Surprising story about the Mystics of Mt. Shasta (PDF)— click for full article

Shasta today, the New Age mecca

The 1930’s began to turn Mount Shasta and the surrounding area into a mecca for spiritualism and people of the weird kind. After a man named Guy Ballard claimed to have met Count Saint Germain, the supposed immortal from the 1800’s, in the flesh on the slopes of the mountain, people began to flock heavily into the area. To this day a walk down the main street of the town of Mount Shasta one can easily spot the array of new age bookstores and other pseudo-spiritualist ‘centers’ open for business. As well-meaning as they seem to be, they are easily misguided in their own lack of understanding of the mountain itself. Several groups continued on the claims of Guy Ballard and Frederick Oliver and it exploded into what you see today. While walking around and opening up about my interest in Mount Shasta I began to hear it all from Telos, the supposed city inside the mountain created by a ‘psychic channeler’ in 2000, to the reptilian shapeshifting overlords who inhabit Panther Meadows near the top…I heard it all.

These stories and legends have a way of impacting your subconscious in the least unsuspecting way. The first time I visited Mount Shasta was in 2007, with my mother and father, we were wandering bookstore to bookstore looking at everything from Lemurian crystal wands to paintings of some pretty wild stuff. Afterwards, we drove up the mountain and set up camp in an isolated area after realizing Panther Meadows was packed full of a community of New Agers. We ventured around Panther Meadows and took a quick stroll up the mountain. When we returned we saw a group of people participating in a sweat lodge. They openly invited us in, so we jumped on the rare opportunity. After the sweat lodge we returned to camp and set up our fire for the evening. As we were sitting around talking in the middle of the darkness my father’s eyes ignited as he jumped up from his chair, “did you see that?!” He turned on the flashlight and started looking around. Not sure if it was something real or imaginary, but he swore up and down he saw something…or someone lurking around in the darkness near our camp. The nearest person to us was about quite some distance away, and from our camp’s placement nobody could easily access that side of the wilderness without us noticing. Needless to say, it left us a little on the edge.

The following year I returned by myself and met up with a buddy of mine who had recently moved up to the area. We drove around and eventually ended up at Pluto’s Cave, a few miles from the base of the mountain. Mount Shasta, being an active volcano, does have remnant lava tubes stretching throughout the vicinity. Pluto’s Cave is just one of these tunnel systems that collapsed in on itself and where people can easily venture inside. Going inside you can easily see how vast these chamber systems can be…and how easily you can get lost inside. On the other side of the mountain there are more isolated sections of wilderness where similar tunnels have been found. From the town of McCloud in the south to the northeastern slope of the mountain people have reported strange occurrences with cars turning off on their own and mist-like clouds extinguishing forest fires in an instant. Needless to say, that area of Mount Shasta is where I’d be willing to place my bets as to an entrance into the mountain, if there really was one leading into the supposed lost colony of Lemurians.

Is there any proof of such a place existing inside Mount Shasta? Probably not, but as Fox Mulder put it… I want to believe. Maybe these small grains of truth dating back to indigenous lore gave way to fictitious creations, whether or not for profit, fame or just craziness, either way they have reshaped the living mythology of the area. I’ve read and complied an innumerable amount stories ranging from alien to bigfoot sightings in the vicinity and yet, why do they still continue to this day? The level of fanaticism by some believers have persisted and shows no signs of slowing down. Perhaps it has something to do with the mystiqueness of the mountain, something so mind-blowing and awe inspiring that we substitute our rational mind with newer explanations to lure others in a continuous effect to revisit the mystical experience that we each perceive when we first see it for ourselves.

Citations and additional information can be found in my book, The Ancients: Investigations into the Lost Civilizations of Lemuria and Atlantis

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