Odd accounts and strange tales orbit around Shasta

[Magical Realist]

"Mt. Shasta, the Cascade peak that mesmerized John Muir, has long attracted mystics, metaphysicians and spiritualists. Now a researcher is seeking 'stories and information' for a book on Bigfoot and UFO sightings.

January 23, 2012|By Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times

"Reporting from Mount Shasta, Calif. — Locals didn't find the ads, posted at the laundromat or running in the SuperSaver, to be strange at all.

A number of people, in fact, reached out to Brian Wallenstein the "researcher looking to gather stories and information" for a book on Bigfoot and UFO sightings.

A woman named Rudi emailed to report that she'd seen a bright disc hovering above Mt. Shasta. She attached a photo from a ski resort snow cam that showed a luminous speck. (Credible, Wallenstein thought.)

A man named Larry recounted his own research — including telepathic communication with "them" — conducted in preparation for the day extraterrestrials would reveal themselves to earthlings. (Too out there, Wallenstein decided.)

People pulled him aside to share anecdotes of mystery lights and star gates, or to whisper the names of neighbors and brothers with tales to tell.

Secondhand accounts flowed in: about the forest ranger who casually spoke of spotting a Bigfoot east of McCloud, and the deer-hunting couple from Weed who came across a bright chrome vessel on a dark mountain road.

"Their stories will die if I don't do this," Wallenstein, a 56-year-old computer technician and self-published children's author, said recently from his home here, a 21/2-acre sanctuary of sorts for the six cats who serve as his muses.

Mt. Shasta, a 14,162-foot peak often tinged in pink alpenglow and topped by lens-shaped clouds, long has elicited awe. When John Muir first caught sight of it, "I was fifty miles away, afoot, alone and weary," he wrote in 1874, "yet all of my blood turned to wine and I have not been weary since."

A tale written a few years later by a teenager from Yreka, just northwest of the mountain — a story of advanced beings living in a crystal city beneath the mountain — cemented Shasta's otherworldly reputation.

The mountain has been touted as the site of an energy vortex that allows passage into the metaphysical dimension; the birthplace of a spiritual foundation whose adherents believe they can ascend to the eternal realm; and a hot spot for UFOs that hide in the clouds and enter the mountain's core through mystery "portals."

Newer to the repertoire are sightings of Bigfoot (the word serves as both singular and plural, like fish and sheep), believed by some to conceal themselves by passing into a fifth dimension.

"Mt. Shasta has always had a spiritual drawing, but it's getting more and more popular," said Karen Anderson, a supervisor in the town's visitors bureau, who estimated that a fourth of the area's tourists come for that reason......."====http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/23/...s-20120124

[Yazata]

I've been to Mt. Shasta and its vicinity several times and never observed anything supernatural.

The tiny towns around Mt. Shasta were one of the rural destinations that many 60's and 70's hippies moved to when they cleared out of San Francisco and similar urban places. (New Mexico was another.) So there are lots of aging hippies living in the local towns, individuals with psychedelic histories (like me!) and probably in some cases, still-active imaginations.

I guess that one reason they were attracted to Shasta was its already existing paranormal reputation.

I think that what Brian Wallenstein is doing writing his book is valuable, simply from an anthropological standpoint. There's a lot of very weird folklore around the mountain that's fascinating and well worth recording, even if little of it is likely to be true.

The mountain itself is worth visiting, a giant and very imposing 14,000 foot snow-topped volcano rising from a forested high-plateau area, very popular with outdoor enthusiasts and mountain climbers.

Here's a story from NPR that emphasizes Mt. Shasta as a destination for spiritual seekers. They equate it to Mt. Olympos on Greece and Moses on Mt. Sinai. Except Shasta is non-denominational. You can believe anything there, and many people do.

http://www.npr.org/2015/06/07/412098380/...-the-globe

The local Indians worshipped there, and still do, thinking it was a sacred place. Then there were the legends of the Lemurians and the crystal city. Then there were the Ascended Masters. There's at least one Buddhist monastery there.

[Magical Realist]

I was much impressed by Shasta when I went to California a few years ago. It's stand-alone prominence in the otherwise flat landscape makes it look quite majestic. I'd like to explore it in the next year or so. Stay at a campsite overnight and see if I catch sight of any Lemurians. Maybe lasso one and take it back to Oregon with me. You can rent these fire lookout stations with advanced notice. That'd be pretty cool. The only drawback? Being alone in the woods at night. Not the most ideal situation for a semi-agoraphobic insomniac who believes in ghosts, aliens, rakes, bigfoot, and serial killers! But hey, live life on the edge I say!

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[Yazata]

Aerial photo of Mt Shasta by Rob Carlmark

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[Magical Realist]

Took a road trip to Texas thru California in January. Stayed the night in Redding. I really like that town. In any case, I learned there's a smaller volcanic cone that is near Mt Shasta they call Shastina. I thought that amusing. Shasta and her daughter Shastina! Here's a pic of it:

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