The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 516: DEEP DIVE: Mount Shasta: The Most Paranormal Place On Earth

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

No place on earth is steeped in more mystery than Mount Shasta. Aliens, ghosts, underground bases, and interdimensional portals. Check. Lost cities, strange disappearances, bigfoot, gods, and demons. Check. Atlantis, Lemuria, reptilian humanoids, and giants. Mount Shasta has it all.

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Others want lost cities, strange disappearances, or reptilian humanoids. Today, we fulfill all these requests in one episode. There is no other place on Earth steeped in more mystery than Mount Shasta. Aliens, ghosts, underground bases, interdimensional portals. Mount Shasta, the first thing you notice is how absolutely out of place it is. Though it's one of the tallest peaks in North America, it's not directly connected to any other mountains. It stands alone and seems to leap off the landscape. At over 40,000 feet above sea level, Mount Shasta is so tall and steep,

it pierces the clouds. It creates its own weather. Located in Northern California, Mount Shasta is actually a semi-active volcano. Its last major eruption was in 1250, but as recently as 2020, Mount Shasta was oozing lava that caused several fires in the surrounding forest. And just about every type of paranormal event you can think of converges on Mount Shasta.

UFO sightings, mysterious disappearances, lost cities, ghosts, gods, everything. Mount Shasta legends exist in every culture that's lived in its shadow, including the first cultures. Native tribes have inhabited the area for over 10,000 years, making it one of the longest occupied areas in North America. And each tribe has a myth about the mountain. Some tribes say Mount Shasta is the sacred center of the universe. Others say the mountain is the birthplace of all life. As different as these stories are,

there is one theme found in every native legend. You do not go above the tree line. That area is reserved for the sky people. Not far from Mount Shasta is Petroglyph Point. It has some of the oldest stone writing ever found in North America, dating back thousands of years. And the glyphs depict the types of things you'd expect to see. Animals, rivers, the sun, stars. But there are also carvings

of what some people believe are sky people. Native tribes believe the sky people were spiritual beings who existed in a different realm. A plane of existence where souls and spirits of the dead dwell. But what if the sky people aren't spirits of the dead,

but are actually beings that are very much alive, just not human. There are Native American legends that describe a race of giants that live on Mount Shasta. The Modoc have the Matacagme, which are said to be the keepers of the woods. Could these ancient people be describing Bigfoot? Mata Kagmi is the Modoc word for Bigfoot, and it's similar to the Tibetan word Metokagmi, which is their word for Yeti. Since at least the 1920s, people have claimed to see tall creatures roaming the forests around Mount Shasta. In 1976, a camper thought a park ranger was investigating his camp,

but upon closer inspection, it was a Bigfoot. Another famous account happened in 1962, when a hiker claimed to have seen a female Bigfoot giving birth. In 1930, a humanoid skeleton over eight feet tall was discovered near Mount Shasta. And this wasn't a fringe report. It was covered by major newspapers all over the area. And native legends say the race of giants prospered on the earth for thousands of years, but were suddenly wiped out in a great flood.

But there is an interpretation of this legend claiming the giants of the woods are not Bigfoot. They're an ancient race of people called Lemurians. People from all over the world have visited Mount Shasta and experienced encounters with what they believe to be Lemurians. Lemurians are from the lost continent of Lemuria. Lemurians thrived for thousands of years on the earth, but their civilization was eventually wiped out by a great flood, an earthquake, a war, or all three. This disaster caused Lemuria to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Refugees from Lemuria, according to legend, fled to Mount Shasta. There, the Lemurians rebuilt their civilization. The Lemurians are a highly spiritual race who can communicate telepathically, and some people claim they received telepathic

messages from the Lemurians while meditating or performing other spiritual practices. These communications seem to be generally positive, messages of guidance or insight. Other people say they actually saw Lemurians while exploring the mountain. They describe the beings as ethereal and mysterious, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. People have dreams and visions of the Lemurians, things like images of their advanced civilization, ancient wisdom, and spiritual guidance. Gatherings are often held on Mount Shasta. Their purpose is to connect with the Lemurian energy there. Even people with no beliefs or expectations report a heightened sense of

energy at various points around the mountain. The Lemurians seem to be there, and they're waiting for someone to find them. Which brings us to the fascinating story of J.C. Brown. He's considered the first person to find the lost civilization of Lemuria. But his story takes a mysterious turn. In 1904, J.C. Brown was working as a geologist for a gold mining operation. He was sent to Mount Shasta to look for gold. During one of Brown's expeditions, he came across a rock fall that looked like something could be buried underneath. When he cleared the rubble, he discovered the entrance to a cave that disappeared into the

darkness, for it looked like forever. Brown hiked the length of the tunnel, which turned out to be 11 miles long. And that may sound crazy, but Mount Shasta is a volcano. The entire area around the mountain is a network of lava tubes. Lava tubes can be huge and stretch for miles underground. When J.C. Brown reached the end of the tunnel, he found what he described as the remains of an ancient city. He found machinery long abandoned

that looked like it was used for a mining operation. He found statues, tablets, shields, and weapons, all made of gold and inscribed with hieroglyphics. He found what he called a worship room with statues that seemed to glow in the dark. And the final chamber of the cave system was a tomb, where 27 giant skeletons were arranged. They ranged in height from 7 feet to over 10 feet tall. Among them was what Brown described as a mummified queen, covered with jewels and laying in a crystal casket.

Unsure of what to do, J.C. Brown covered the entrance to the cave and told no one about it. But over the next few years, Brown became obsessed with a book by James Churchward called The Lost Continent of Mu and stories of Lemuria, which he thought could be the same thing. Lemuria, according to the legend, was an entire continent that sunk beneath the ocean many thousands of years ago.

And you might be thinking, this sounds a lot like Atlantis. Well, it turns out Lemuria and Atlantis are connected. In 1899, Frederick Spencer Oliver published a book called A Dweller on Two Planets. It tells an amazing story that was found written on ancient Hindu tablets. Over a million years ago, the Earth was ruled by two very advanced civilizations, the Atlanteans and the Lemurians. And both cultures had technology that far exceeds our own. Atlantis was the dominant culture.

For many years, Atlantis was benevolent. But about 25,000 years ago, Atlantis became corrupt and wanted to rule all the people on the Earth. Lemurians rejected this idea and wanted to be left alone. And after much internal conflict, Atlantis decided to go to war with the Lemurians. And for years, the two mighty civilizations deployed devastating nuclear weapons against each other. The explosions were so violent that they caused the Earth's tectonic plates to become unstable and the magnetic poles to shift.

Finally, a massive flood tore across the planet and laid waste to both civilizations. In all, 60 million Lemurians died. Atlantis suffered severe losses as well. The few surviving Atlanteans evacuated to Agartha, an underground city.

The last remaining Lemurians fled to Mount Shasta and established a city called Telos. What's amazing is there's a Hawaiian legend that says the islands of Hawaii were once part of a vast continent called Mu, also known as Lemuria. Once J.C. Brown learned of these stories, he was convinced that he had found the lost civilization of Lemuria under Mount Shasta. So he decided, now 30 years later, at the age of 74, it was time to go back to the mountain. And when J.C. Brown returned to Mount Shasta, he put together a search party to help him rediscover Lemuria.

Brown had assembled a group of 80 researchers, scientists, and explorers. And after a thousand years of legend, Lemuria was about to be proven real. Newspapers widely covered the story and generated a lot of excitement around the adventure. Then on the morning that the expedition was set to begin, J.C. Brown didn't show. People combed every tavern, every street, every inn looking for him,

but they would find no trace. J.C. Brown had vanished and was never heard from again. TreadExperts. Toyo's open country family of tires will get you through tough weather in a variety of terrains. Until May 31st, save up to $100 in rebates on select Toyo tires. Find a Toyo TreadExperts dealer near you at TreadExperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there. TreadExperts.ca Everyone's got a pro.

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helping you with Kumo tires you can trust. Until June 15th, receive up to $60 on a prepaid MasterCard when you purchase Kumo RoadVenture AT52 tires. Find your pro at your local tread experts. From tires to auto repair, we're always there. TreadExperts.ca Explanations for J.C. Brown's disappearance covered everything. Some said he was simply a fraud, though he never took a penny from anyone.

Others said a secret but powerful organization learned of Brown's plans and had him erased. But a few others were convinced that J.C. Brown no longer needed a search party to find Lemuria, that he had been granted access and taken there by some mysterious machine. And to hear descriptions of this machine, it sounds like a vehicle or maybe a UFO. There have been UFO sightings around Mount Shasta going back over 100 years, and in recent years, sightings are accelerating. Of the top 300 UFO hotspots in the world, Mount Shasta is ranked 13th.

People have seen chrome objects hovering above dark mountain roads. Others report lights moving in formation, silently swarming at the peak and then disappearing. But these lights don't move like conventional aircraft. Skeptics say they're drones, but sightings go back years before anyone knew what a drone was. The lights, whatever they are, fly in patterns. They make organized formations in the sky. They seem to be operated by a type of intelligence. They can change direction rapidly or stop moving altogether. Red, blue, green, and white lights have all been reported on the mountain.

Many times a year, people organize gatherings to watch the sky around Mount Shasta in the hopes of seeing the lights, and sometimes they do. And those who do see them swear they can't be explained by any aircraft or natural atmospheric phenomena. One of the most widely reported UFO sightings happened in 2008. Residents said they saw what looked like a giant glowing jellyfish hovering over the mountain.

Eyewitnesses said it made no noise, but seemed to have a fire raging inside of it. Now, unfortunately, there are no photos from the sighting, but seemed to have a fire raging inside of it. Now, unfortunately, there are no photos from the sighting, but just last year, someone captured footage of an object through the window of an airplane. It looked like a massive glowing sheet floating in quickly changing shape. It looked like a jellyfish. And what makes Mount Shasta UFOs really strange is that they don't just hover around the mountain. People have seen them fly into the mountain.

And they don't mean they flew into an opening in the mountain. Every single person said the UFOs flew into the side of the mountain and just vanished into the rock. It's been said that Mount Shasta is hiding an energy vortex that allows passage into another dimension. Locals believe the UFOs hide in the clouds and enter the mountain through some kind of portal. But that begs the question, a portal to where? For decades, eyewitnesses have seen strange beings in Mount Shasta's caves that seem to have the ability to walk through walls. They just vanish. And it's not just these strange beings that disappear on Mount Shasta. It's one of the most active hotspots in North America for mysterious disappearances.

In 2011, a young couple was camping on Mount Shasta with their three-year-old son. Suddenly, the boy's parents looked up and their son was gone. They immediately called the authorities and a massive search went on for five hours. Then a sheriff's deputy heard a quiet voice coming from a bush right next to a trail not far from the campsite. Now this was odd. Dozens of trained search and rescue professionals had combed every inch of this area multiple times and found nothing. But the boy was found unharmed. This was called a successful operation and that was pretty much the end of it. It wasn't until a few weeks later when the story would take a mysterious turn.

The boy was talking to his grandmother, who he called Grandma Cappy, about the incident. He said he liked this Grandma Cappy better than the other Grandma Cappy who found him in the woods. The boy's mother was upset by this and asked, what other Grandma Cappy better than the other Grandma Cappy who found him in the woods. The boy's mother was upset by this and asked, what other Grandma Cappy? The boy said the other Grandma Cappy had taken him to a cave in the woods. There were other people there too, who were just frozen in place. The boy described the cave as dark and scary. It was full of spiders. There were a bunch of weird objects covered in dust leaning against the cave walls. And the frozen people were covered in dust too. This other Grandma Cappy had a strange

light coming from inside her head. The boy said this made her look like a robot, so he thought the other frozen people were probably robots too. And this new Grandma Cappy seemed nice enough, but then she wanted to examine the boy. And for some reason she asked him to defecate

on a piece of paper she placed on the ground, but he said he couldn't go. But it gets even stranger. The robot grandma told the boy his parents weren't really his parents, and he was actually from outer space. She then took the boy to the bushes and told him to wait there until someone found him. Grandma Cappy, the real Grandma Cappy, said that just a few weeks earlier, she was camping in the same area when she blacked out. Then she woke up face down in the dirt, a short distance from her tent and sleeping bag. She didn't remember what happened and didn't know how she ended up outside. She felt an intense pain on the back of her neck. Upon looking at it, her friend said

that there were two puncture marks and her skin was red and irritated. She said she was violently ill and thought it was a spider or insect bite. One theory suggests this could have been a DNA extraction. Her friend, who had also been camping with her, had a similar wound and was also terribly sick. Neither of them could recall what happened the night before, and it would be months before they felt like themselves again. But Grandma Cappy said she's never going to that mountain again. Then there's the story of Carl Landers. In 1999, Landers, along with two friends,

set out to hike to the summit of Mount Shasta. And along the trail, Landers just vanished. He didn't wander off. He didn't cry for help. He was just gone. And it's not like he disappeared into the woods or fell down a hole. The topography of the area had no crevices and no dense trees or bushes. There was good visibility for over 100 yards. Landers vanished in a wide open field. The nearby lake

was grid-searched thoroughly along with the nearby forest. They found nothing. Landers was an experienced hiker who knew this terrain extremely well. Yet somehow he disappeared off the mountain without a trace. And for a week, a huge manhunt searched every inch of the area.

The National Guard even sent helicopters equipped with infrared sensors. Cadaver dogs and human scent dogs were brought in to try to track him down. And despite the fact that we know he was on the mountain, they couldn't even detect his scent. Nothing was found. No equipment, no clothing, no body. All gone. To this day, there is no explanation for what happened to Karl Landers. People don't just see strange things on Mount Shasta, they hear things too. People report melodic tones in the air around the mountain. These are often described as soothing or uplifting.

Soft musical sounds that seem to be coming from, well, nowhere. Others hear a hum and feel a vibration in the air. This phenomenon is pretty common on the mountain and is believed to be linked to the spiritual energy there. The sound is more intense in some spots than others and is more of a feeling than an actual sound. But the mountain doesn't just hum and vibrate, it whispers. Some accounts say they hear voices and conversations when there is no one around. And the voices sound otherworldly and definitely not human. But what they're saying varies wildly.

Still, other people hear nothing. Absolute silence. At the time, I thought it was just an odd coincidence and started walking up alongside the river. Other people hear nothing, absolute silence. you think someone is outside your window watching you the kind of feeling that makes you feel multiple people or things are observing your every movement studying you in a forest full of birds and trees and animals i can think of nothing more unsettling than nothing i've never had that kind of feeling in my life but what happened after made me completely forget about that feeling. I suddenly started to hear something out of nowhere that sounded like angelic humming or maybe a song with no lyrics. But it also sounded strangely electric, like the sound telephone lines

make. It wasn't very loud, but enough to make me look in the direction it was coming from. I looked to the other side of the dried-up river that had multiple trees and other foliage to see someone or something looking straight at me. It almost looked like a ghost, with it looking completely white, but this thing was very clearly there. It almost looked like it was wearing a robe, but I couldn't see any feet, hands, or even a face, although it had an oval head. However, I could feel it looking straight at me, almost as if it was trying to remember my every detail. Even from afar away, I could tell that its entire body had a very weird texture,

almost like porcelain, but if porcelain was a silky fabric, it was very obviously not human. It's as if these people wandered somewhere they shouldn't have. Then the entire forest stopped and held its breath, waiting to see what the people would do. Once they leave the area and return to the trail, the sounds of nature return. In addition to Lemurians, who are described

as bright, glowing figures, there's another type of entity commonly seen on Mount Shasta, the shadow people. The shadow people are described as human in size and shape, but almost always appear darker than their surroundings. And the only way to see them is out of the corner of your eye. Reports almost always include a lack of facial features or clothing or anything to indicate that they were human. People say that they can feel shadow people

watching them from the distance, but as soon as you turn to look, they vanish. And their movement is described as very unnatural, yet fluid and effortless. When someone encounters a shadow being, they're left with feelings ranging from uneasiness to sheer terror.

But these sightings aren't limited to Mount Shasta. People in the area report seeing them in their homes. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna.

There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You searched for your informant. Who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Both the glowing beings and the shadow people are believed to be drawn to the unnatural energy surrounding the mountain.

There are accounts of people's dreams being affected too. Some dreams are premonitions, offering small glimpses into the future. Others involve direct communication with the entities on Mount Shasta. You remember the scene from Close Encounters where Richard Dreyfuss is carving the Devil's Tower out of his mashed potatoes? He says, this means something, this is important. Well, some experience visions, astral projections, and find themselves leaving their beds and traveling to the mountain, even if they've never been there before. People have also reported

disruptions in time and space. Time doesn't move like it should. For some, time moves much faster than it should, while others might experience things moving much more slowly. Others lose time entirely. Some reported being gone for hours when it felt like only a few minutes had passed. Temporal distortion has occurred, where people can't seem to agree in what order certain events happened, or they have difficulty recalling specific details about their time on the mountain. You can experience sudden and drastic changes to your surroundings. The sun can go dim as if an eclipse was happening without the eclipse. Weather can completely change without warning. People have

even reported that the terrain of the mountain itself changes, like a maze rearranging itself in real time. This might sound far-fetched, but it does explain the disappearances of experienced hikers like Landers and others. Melodic music that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere, strange entities observing at a distance, hidden tunnels, maze-like landscapes, mysterious visions, and unexplainable disappearances. It's a lot to be happening in one place. And it seems like the mountain is protecting something from outsiders. And there happens to be a theory saying

that this is exactly the case. And it's something worth protecting. And to many, the search to find it is worth dying for. The mountain's protecting the Holy Grail. There is a legend of a mystical place associated with magic, healing, and the final resting place of King Arthur. It's called Avalon,

and it's something that I didn't expect to find in connection with Mount Shasta. King Arthur is a legendary king said to have ruled Britain from Camelot a long time ago. He was said to have been chosen as the king by fate and proved it by pulling the sword Excalibur from solid stone. One of Arthur's quests led him in search of the Holy Grail, a sacred object of divine power.

The Holy Grail is the cup Christ drank from at the Last Supper. It's believed that it can cure illness, restore youth, and even grant immortality. In addition to being King Arthur's resting place, Avalon is also where the Holy Grail is said to be kept, safe from evil. But Mount Shasta can't be Avalon. Mount Shasta is a mountain and Avalon is an island. Doesn't make any sense. Until you look around

Mount Shasta, there isn't another mountain around, not for miles. As I said earlier, it's completely out of place and it stands alone, like an island. Another aspect of Avalon is it doesn't even exist on Earth. It's in another realm outside of time and space, a realm accessed through portals like the ones described on Mount Shasta. This has earned Shasta the nickname, the gateway to Avalon. Some people who've gone to Mount Shasta on spiritual or vision quests returned with experiences they can't explain. Their visions were of symbols and landscapes linked to Arthurian mythology. The beings they encountered were knights and fairies and other figures of the legend. There's also the Lady of the Lake.

She was said to be a magical and benevolent enchantress who helped Arthur, giving him a sword Excalibur. Now, an island would probably need to be pretty big to have a lake on it, unless the island was actually a lonely mountain. And it just so happens, Mount Shasta does have a lake on it. Avalon is often described as a place of beauty, more beautiful than any place on earth, like the Garden of Eden. And those who find their way to Avalon can be healed of any illness. They can stop aging altogether. It's a place of mystical and spiritual significance that's influenced many cultures,

teeming with a magical energy and fiercely guarding sacred treasures and mystical knowledge. Avalon sounds a lot like Mount Shasta. Online, you can find many firsthand stories from people who have had strange experiences on Mount Shasta. I found an interesting post from a man named Greg. He recalled a hiking trip he had with his father. They were on a barren incline called Old Ski Bowl Trail

and had come across an odd arrangement of rocks. The rocks were formed into a circle. They thought it was strange, but continued up the trail. Further up, near a switchback, they met a father and his son. They exchanged hellos, talked about the trails a bit, and then continued on. No more than two minutes later, Greg turned to look back at them, and they were very far down the trail, at least a 20-minute walk away. He thought this must have been someone else, but they looked more closely, and it was the same father and son, and there was no one else in sight.

Now, this was really strange, but they still continued. They reached the top of a cliff and found another arrangement of rocks, not a circle, but rows like gravestones. Just a minute or so down the trail, they reached a dead end. They would have needed climbing gear to continue forward, so they decided to head back down. As Greg turned around, he noticed a man out of the corner of his eye.

He was standing between the rows of the stones, just staring. He wore a button-up shirt and cargo shorts and had a straw hat with a wide brim. He wasn't very far from Greg and his dad, and yet he had no facial features. His face was just blank. He mentioned this to his father, who turned around to look. Then the man ducked behind one of the boulders. Then things get really weird. Greg has no recollection of what happened next, but his dad told him he just started walking. Greg wasn't responding to his father, even when he was shouting at him.

When Greg finally snapped out of the trance, he was standing on the edge of a very, very high cliff and the man was gone. But Greg and his father didn't see where the man went. The only way out of that dead end was to walk past Greg and his dad, but nobody else was on that trail. There was a post from a woman from Europe who was visiting California. She and her boyfriend decided to hike Mount Shasta. After their hike, the woman used the restroom near the parking lot. When she returned to the car, her boyfriend was almost in a state of panic. He was standing by the driver's side door scanning the forest, his eyes darting back and forth. When she got in the car, he jumped in quickly and locked the doors. Confused, she asked him what was wrong. He said, didn't you notice it? Didn't you notice there isn't a single sound in the entire forest? She hadn't. So she got very

still and just listened. There was nothing. There were no birds chirping, no animal sounds, not even the sound of wind through the trees. The only sounds they can hear was their own quickened breath. They rolled up the windows and got out of there fast. When the couple got home, they looked up information about Mount Shasta. That's when they realized stories like theirs were not unique. There were more strange experiences on that mountain. Lots more. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth,

while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. There have also been a number of Mount Shasta stories from you, viewers and listeners of the Y-Files. Here are a few of my favorites. In 2016, Eric found himself on an adventure, camping on the infamous Mount Shasta.

On a hiking trail, he met a Native American local to the area. This local shared tales about spirit beings inhabiting the region. These entities, he claimed, were masters of the skies, morphing from deer to, well, something else entirely. He didn't want to share too many details, fearing he would be summoning evil spirits,

but he did mention an eerie phenomenon. Deer tracks that would abruptly end, only to be replaced by a mysterious set of bipedal prints, distinctly non-human. As Eric's journey neared its end, something extraordinary happened. The peak of Mount Shasta was suddenly bathed in a brilliant blue light, a flash that engulfed the entire summit. Eric has no idea what he saw, but he swore to never go back to the mountain. Tracy, only nine at the time, was in the car with her mom. It was just a regular drive until she spotted something unusual in the sky.

Her mom, curious but cautious, didn't want to glance away from the road. Tracy, eyes wide, saw what she could only describe as a gigantic inverted Christmas tree adorned with shimmering red lights. Confused and a little frightened, without any reassurance from her mom, Tracy did what most kids would do. She shut her eyes. She silently counted to 30, hoping that when she reopened her eyes, the strange sight would be gone. But the mystery deepened. On opening her eyes, the object seemed to have vanished. Only for Tracy to realize it hadn't disappeared.

It had moved closer, now looming over a cliff. The lights on the craft changed. They were no longer twinkling, but racing up and down its structure in a mesmerizing pattern. Then, in a sudden shift, the lights went out. Darkness fell, and all that remained was the imposing silhouette of the object against the backdrop of Mount Shasta. In 2007, Sarah found herself on a secluded retreat on the mountain. The nights there were peaceful, the kind that invite deep, undisturbed sleep. But one night, that would change. Her room was pitch dark, yet Sarah could

see six towering figures standing silently around her bed. Their presence was both imposing and serene. Despite feeling a rush of adrenaline, Sarah sensed no malice from these beings. It was as if they were mere observers, watchers in the night. Struggling to steady her breath, Sarah felt an overwhelming wave of sleepiness. She then fell into a deep sleep unlike anything she'd experienced before. To this day, Sarah doesn't know how long this encounter lasted. Was she dreaming or was it something more? Years have passed,

yet the clarity of that night remains undimmed in her memory. The experience, dream or not, has etched itself permanently in her mind. It's an experience she will never forget. Trey and his partner had a similar experience. They stopped for the night in Mount Shasta. They had planned for a day of hiking. The duo arrived at a motel that seemed almost abandoned.

Only a handful of cars in the parking lot and there wasn't a soul in sight. The motel was eerily quiet. They shrugged off the odd silence, settling in with some TV before drifting off to sleep. But restful sleep would not come. Dawn broke with both feeling unusually drained. As they began to pack up, a heavy silence hung in the air. Neither spoke of

the night's experiences. Breaking the quiet, Trey hesitantly shared his ordeal of unnerving nightmares that screamed a clear message. They were not welcome on the mountain. To his shock, his partner had been haunted by the same dark dreams. Their packing turned frantic, and soon they were out, but still determined to not let their eerie night spoil their hiking plans. The hike itself was pretty standard, except for a moment when they lost their trail, a common occurrence on Mount Shasta. But it was only after they left that they discovered Mount Shasta's reputation for bizarre happenings, piecing together their own unsettling experience with the stories of many others.

So add Trey and his friend to the list of people who will never go back to the mountain. Just a few weeks before I recorded this episode, a listener named James was driving home from Oregon on the I-5. Somewhere between Edgewood and Weed, James noticed an odd distortion of light in his peripheral vision. Small black triangles appeared to be descending like glass, but when he turned to look, they vanished. James said these objects reminded him of glitches in a video game. These strange visions persisted as he drove closer to Mount Shasta. Suddenly, a silk-like cable materialized, emitting a bluish-purple glow. Then it transformed back into a street lamp. James attempted to dismiss these occurrences as mere figments of his imagination. Surprisingly, he felt

a sense of tranquility instead of panic. As he approached Shasta Springs, an unexpected tree branch obstructed the road, seemingly appearing out of thin air. Just before impact, James braced himself, but the car passed right through the branch, which had transformed into what he called an ethereal spider web. Continuing his journey, he noticed large shadowy figures along the roadside, vanishing whenever he looked directly at them. He observed pulsating orbs of light forming a triangle above his car before quickly disappearing. Eventually, the strange sighting stopped. James felt as though he had looked into another realm, and that realm had looked back. Despite the unsettling nature of these events,

James felt secure and serene throughout the entire experience. Another person who wished to remain anonymous said he spent a weekend at Lake Shasta in 2006 on a houseboat. He heard stories about strange happenings and sightings at the lake and the creature living in the lake. The boat, filled with about 10 people, made its way out to a good fishing spot and the group dropped their lines. This viewer suddenly found himself on the bow of the boat fishing alone. Some amount of time had passed, but he didn't know how long. The rest of the group was partying at the back of the boat, with music, doing shots, and lots of laughing. Then things

went quiet. No music, no laughing, no sounds of the water or the forest, no sound of any kind. It was as if someone had muted the world. And just suddenly the sound was back as if nothing happened later that evening they heard a splash and assumed someone was going for a late night swim they looked to see who jumped off the boat but the lake was still and the only ripples on the water were from the boat after a quick head count everyone was found to still be on the boat, but everyone heard the splash. At this point, they decided to cut their trip short and head back home. Now, these aren't random accounts from the depths of the internet. These are your stories from listeners and viewers of the Y-Files,

stories that they hadn't thought of in years. Some people expressed relief at finally being able to share them. These are stories that they've kept secret all their lives. Now, I know how frightening some of these experiences can be, especially when you encounter a shadow person in the middle of the night. I know this because it happened to me, and I'm a skeptic by nature. Open-minded, sure, but I prefer hard evidence to stories and superstition. But to this day, my shadow person experience was the scariest thing that ever happened to me. To this day. More frightening than anything I experienced as a child.

I had never even heard of shadow people before that night. But that story, my story, that's for a different episode. About 15 years ago, a bizarre hole suddenly appeared on Mount Shasta. It looked like it was dug by hand, not by machinery or even shovels. By hand. But the only clues left behind were a water bottle, some buckets,

and the ladder used to reach the bottom. By the way, that hole was over 60 feet deep. Elijah Sullivan grew up in Mount Shasta and is determined to get to the bottom of the hole, pardon the pun. He's narrowed it down to three possibilities. The first is Lemuria. Growing up in Mount Shasta, Sullivan and other locals have seen plenty of unusual things, Lemurians being one of them.

Locals have reported everything from cloud-shaped UFOs around the mountain to the tall-robed Lemurian seen in the woods and even shopping in their town. You'll hear a lot of people talking about Lemuria, maybe even asking for directions. People make pilgrimages here. It's like a new age Mecca. These gatherings have been a continuous fixture at Mount Shasta since 1987. People descended on the town and the mountain as part of the new age spirituality event, some called a spiritual Woodstock. Sullivan believes the hole may have been made by some of these new age pilgrims trying to reach the Lemurian city. Then there's the second possibility, artifact thieves.

Sullivan says this would make sense. There is a long history of Native American artifacts being looted from the mountain. One tribe or another has occupied the area for more than 500 generations. These looters are taking major risks as the penalty for a first-time offense is $20,000 in fines and a year in prison. The penalty for a second offense is five times as bad. A third offense can put you in prison for 20 years. There's no sign of gold on Mount Shasta.

There never has been, but people dig anyway, all the time. The hole has since been filled in, but the mystery remains. Sullivan is making a documentary called The Hole Story about the strange hole and his 10-year long hunt for answers. Even the most avid skeptics have to admit there is something strange about Mount Shasta. A sense of energy is felt by all who visit. One explanation for this is ley lines. Ley lines consist of points and routes that connect to ancient structures worldwide. The theory suggests that planetary energy flows across the surface and intensifies

along specific lines. Points of convergence are created where these lines intersect. The more lines intersect at a particular point, the stronger the energy convergence becomes. It may seem unbelievable, but numerous ancient structures are built along these lines. Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids, Machu Picchu, Teotihuacan, Angkor Wat, Glastonbury Tor, Avebury, Borobudur, Silbury Hill, all along ley lines. Then there are the Nazca Lines in Peru, Masa Verde, the Rollwright Stones, Chichen Itza, Delphi, Baalbek, Malta, Chaco Canyon, Bimini Road, and on and on, all on ley lines. There are natural phenomena occurring on ley lines too. Table Mountain, Mount Kalish, Monte Perdido, Devil's Tower, Mount Fuji, Beltane Hill, and of course, Mount Shasta.

Now, mainstream science doesn't believe there is anything to ley lines. They claim it's pseudoscience. But thousands, even millions of people claim to feel energy at these places. Many report strange sightings, objects, even abductions. And very often, people feel drawn to these locations. Something guided them there. And throughout history, something drove people to build monuments that would last thousands of years, all on ley lines.

Then is all the activity along ley lines a coincidence? Well, I don't believe in those. Something is happening at these mystical locations, including and especially Mount Shasta. What it is, I don't think we're meant to know. Many reports say that the beings living in Mount Shasta think humans are too violent and selfish, and that's why we're not welcome there. If the only way to learn the secrets of Mount Shasta is for our species to learn to live in harmony with the earth and each other, well, we're going to be waiting a long, long time. So what's going on at Mount Shasta? Can we use logic and science to explain these mysteries?

Well, it's difficult to explain ancient native legends because we have no evidence to support or refute the stories. Since the legends have been passed down over several thousand years, not only is it possible, but it's likely that these stories evolved over time. I mean, who can resist adding a little drama to make a story seem more mystical? I'm guilty of doing it in the stories that I tell to you. Most of the stories and strange sightings at Mount Shasta are first-person accounts with little or no corroboration. That's not to say the people involved are lying, but it is very hard to ignore the facts. The details of experiences on the mountain vary wildly. In my research, there were plenty of

experiences, but no two were the same, not even similar. The more people see something and report the same details of events, the more believable it is. If 500 unrelated people saw a clown walking through the forest by Mount Shasta on a weekend in November, it probably happened. But if 5,000 people saw 5,000 different things, heard different noises, had different feelings over 100 years, well, it creates a fun mystery, but it doesn't inspire believability. But we can't ignore the idea that this could all be true. Mount Shasta could be a singular place in the world that distorts the very fabric of reality. Maybe even to the point where what a

person experiences is influenced by their own thoughts and their own past. That would be fascinating, but I'd still like to see some proof. Mount Shasta isn't a very active volcano now, but it's erupted many times in the past, and human settlements were present during those eruptions. When native tribes described Mount Shasta as the home of a god who throws flaming rocks at his enemies, we could certainly see that these ancients were trying to make sense of what they saw. And when American Indians spoke of giants, did they really mean Bigfoot? Well, it's not clear. There isn't much reporting of Bigfoot until 1924. A few gold prospectors came back from an expedition

talking about how they were attacked by giant ape men who threw boulders at their camp. The story caught fire and grabbed so much attention that park rangers launched a full investigation. What they found didn't impress them. They said that the boulders were actually just large rocks and looked like they were placed there by the men who told the story. There were supposedly Bigfoot tracks in the area, but when the rangers looked closely at the tracks, it was clear they were made by one of the miners using his knuckles and the palm of his hand.

Still, there's no stopping a viral story, and the legend of Bigfoot was born. But what about these portals that seem to swallow people whole? Is there any evidence to support the phenomenon that two points in space can be joined by nothing but energy? Well, it turns out there is. In 2013, NASA discovered a phenomenon called an X-point. X-points are places where the magnetic field of the Earth is directly connected to the magnetic field of the Sun.

This is an uninterrupted path of energetic particles leading from our planet all the way to our star, 93 million miles away. Based on observations made by NASA's Themis spacecraft, some of these portals open and close more than a dozen times every day. But others are stable for long periods of time. Now, obviously, we can't use these portals to travel yet. But there is science to support that the Earth is magnetically tethered to the sun. And the magnetism around Mount Shasta is highly unusual.

The entire area is blanketed by an enormous negative magnetic anomaly. Could this area of strong magnetism be creating ruptures in space that cause people to disappear? Well, that's a stretch. But if some kind of electromagnetic event were to occur, there are few places on Earth better suited than Mount Shasta. Now, the story of the missing boy who suddenly reappeared five hours later, that's true. The part about his grandma Cappy and the puncture in her neck, well, that came from someone claiming

to be her, posting her story on the internet, so I don't know. And the boy's parents conveniently want to remain anonymous. But Carl Landers really did disappear without a trace, as have many people on Mount Shasta. Most of the time, missing hikers are discovered not far from their last known position, usually dead from injuries from a fall. But it's worth acknowledging that there are plenty, I mean lots of people, who just vanish with no explanation. The UFO sightings can't really be explained. Weather around Mount Shasta is highly unusual, and creates what's known as lenticular cloud formations.

And lenticular clouds look like giant UFOs, but they're just clouds. As for what looks like flying spacecraft hovering around and disappearing into the mountains, we'd be silly to discount those reports. Even our own government is finally admitting there are objects zipping around the planet that just can't be explained. So what about J.C. Brown and Lemuria? Well, the J.C. Brown story is a great one, but it might be debunked. It's worth saying I don't think J.C. Brown found nothing. It wouldn't make sense for a man to, after 30 years, put together a team as a hoax. As I said, J.C. Brown

never asked anyone for money. But did any of it happen? Well, in 2017, a researcher named Stephen Sindoni tracked down a man named John Benjamin Bodie, a mining engineer who retired in Mount Shasta. And Bodie had worked for the Lord Cowdrey Mining Company, which was also J.C. Brown's employer. Bodie lived right across the street from where J.C. Brown had given daily lectures on Lemuria and the lost city of Telos. This may not be definitive proof that J.C. Brown was a host, but it's pretty compelling research. And I should note that Sindoni is not a debunker. He's a hollow earth researcher who's been on countless TV and radio shows discussing how the earth is hollow and home to alien civilizations that live right under our feet.

And speaking of hollow earth, what about Lemuria? Is it hiding inside Mount Shasta? I think Lemuria is the best legend about Mount Shasta, and I'm not the only one. Entire religions have been built around the Lemuria story. In the 1930s, Guy Ballard, a mining engineer, was exploring Mount Shasta. He said he was met by a young man named the Count of St. Germain. And the Count of St. Germain. And the Count of St. Germain is a legend in paranormal history. He's supposedly immortal and shows up during all kinds of historical events.

There's even an account of him being present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, where he actually gave a speech. Ballard and his wife Edna claimed to be the sole messengers of St. Germain and other ascended Masters, as they're called. The Ballards began giving public lectures on St. Germain's teachings, and eventually had grown the I Am activity movement to over a million followers. And after Ballard passed away in 1971, most of the I Am members left the religion, but it's still around. You can visit the I Am reading room right now in Mount Shasta City.

And Lemuria and Atlantis were nothing more than stories for hundreds, even thousands of years. But with the discoveries like Bimini Road in the Bahamas and the Yanaguni Monument off the coast of Japan, well, we have to start wondering if these myths weren't myths at all, but actual places. Skeptics will say Bimini and Yanaguni are natural formations, but I think that debate is far from settled. To me, Bimini Road is iffy. I lean toward man-made, but I can see the other side of the argument. But Yanaguni? That looks 100% man-made to me.

Mount Shasta has captured the imagination of people around the world for centuries. Those who visit often say the mountain calls to them. I think it's fair to say if you're the type of person who goes to a place expecting to have a spiritual or supernatural experience, there's a good chance that you'll have one. The mind is a powerful thing. But as long as you're not starting religions based on this, I don't think there's anything wrong with believing what others say is a crazy theory. It's hard to ignore the belief Mount Shasta is more than just a mountain.

With the countless reports, stories, and myths and legends, it's earned its title as the center of the unexplained. Whether you're a believer in Lemuria or just someone who likes a good UFO sighting, I think we should all visit Mount Shasta. Some things can't be understood until they're experienced firsthand. Science does its best to explain many of the strange things happening up there, like atmospheric conditions and optical illusions. And for some people, that's good enough. But for others, there is still this nagging feeling there are forces at work we don't yet understand. I'm reminded of a quote from philosopher Buckminster Fuller. Until the 20th century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since

the initial publication of the charted electromagnetic spectrum, humans learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one millionth of reality. Our civilization's greatest leaps forward come from heretics who dare to challenge the status quo. From mavericks and dissenters have come scientific discoveries that altered the course of history and forced even the most ardent skeptics to wonder, what if? What if there was an ancient civilization that sunk beneath the ocean? And what if the children of those people are here now, just waiting for our own civilization to catch up? Waiting for us to emerge from our selfish adolescence so we can join a larger community? One that exists only for scientific discovery,

artistic expression, and spiritual enlightenment. Now, I admit that sounds like fantasy, but when we stop asking what if, civilization dies. But as long as there are heretics and mavericks and dissenters, we have a chance. And if you're one of those, keep asking what if. Everyone on earth, whether they know it or not, is counting on you. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today.

My name is AJ. This has been The Y Files. If you had fun or learned anything, do me a favor, leave the podcast a nice review. That lets me know to keep making these things for you. And like most topics I cover on The Y Files, today's was recommended by you. So if there's a story you'd like to learn more about, go to the Y Files dot com slash tips.

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