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People have reported dozens of strange incidents around the potentially active volcano.
By NyRee Ausler — Written on Apr 02, 2023
If you are well-traveled, you might have heard about several places that are the subjects of myths and legends. There are those with an unusual amount of missing person cases like the Alaska Triangle and the Bridgewater Triangle, strange phenomena that occur in Big Sur, and others that are too remote to even visit like Point Nemo.
But one unassuming place that sits right on the west coast of the United States in northern California, and is the subject of stories about disappearances, UFOs, and mythical beings found only in legends, is Mount Shasta.
What is Mount Shasta?
Mount Shasta is an active volcano that lies in Siskiyou County, California. It stands 14,179 feet high and is surrounded by a forest valley. It is the second highest mountain in the Cascade range and the fifth highest in the state of California.
Mount Shasta is not connected to any other mountains and looks like a giant surrounded by green valleys of trees and foliage. It is a wondrous place and the subject of several legends and myths.
There are hard-to-believe stories of secret cities, lizard people, UFO sightings, and strange disappearances attached to this behemoth.
6 Mount Shasta Mysteries & Paranormal Experiences
There's a secret underground city below the volcano.
One of the most well-known and strange legends about the mountain is that it is hiding an ancient city inhabited by a highly advanced people known as the Lemurians.
The city is part of a long-lost continent called Lemuria that once bridged the Indian Ocean and was thought to be the birthplace of lemurs who later migrated from Madagascar to India.
As the story goes, similar to the Lost City of Atlantis, the lost continent of Lemuria is said to have sunken because of an apocalyptic event, possibly the same one that sunk Atlantis. The Lemurians escaped by way of the sea and settled under Mount Shasta where they established the city of Telos and continue to live to this day.
Mount Shasta is home to the long-lost race of Lemurians.
The people that inhabited the mythical continent of Lemuria, the Lemurians, are believed to be seven feet tall, thin, graceful, with glowing skin, extended necks adorned with collars made of gold, jewels and beads, and long flowing hair.
The Lemurians wear white robes and sandals, but can be found dressed in tunics or without any clothing at all. Their superpowers are magnetism, electricity, and the ability to alter space and time. They have airships for transportation and have an artificial sun lighting their city created with a magical power.
Apparently, Lemurians possess a small organ on their foreheads that gives them an array of psychic abilities like extra-sensory perception (ESP), telepathy, telekinesis, disappearing, and the power to influence how others think and act.
The concept of the Lemurians is thought to have come from the 1899 book "A Dweller on Two Planets" by Frederick S. Oliver. Since then, there have been many accounts of people seeing the Lemurians.
The Lemurians are said to be able to influence the environment and possess unbelievable architectural capabilities. There are stories of them containing massive fires to protect their home and preventing earthquakes from impacting them. The sightings and accounts are numerous, including one of a visit to San Francisco to meet with city officials during World War I.
Bright lights and magnificent temples were allegedly spotted through a telescope.
In 1940, Professor Edward L. Larkin of the Mount Lowe Observatory told William Bridge Cook of the "Mount Shasta Herald" of his experience viewing the mystical city of Lemuria through his telescope.
He claimed to have spotted huge "oriental style" temples made of carved marble, onyx temples, and magnificent white marble columns.
Larkin also alleged that in the evening hours, bright lights would shine from the temples. That light, he said, was the Lemurians because it was different from man-made lighting and exceeded human electrical capabilities.
When Cook wrote about it, he debunked Larkin’s claims, saying that it would be impossible to have seen what he said he saw from his vantage point.
Multiple strange objects and UFOs have been sighted over the years.
Mount Shasta has had a ton of UFO sightings, which many hikers, in particular have reported over the years.
One notable sighting occurred in 1991, when a couple allegedly saw a UFO hovering over the St. Germain Foundation property, about 45 minutes from Mount Shasta. Another sighting was recorded as recent as 2008.
Brian Wallenstein, author of "Mount Shasta Sightings," also claims in his book that local law officials and Forest Service employees have spotted strange objects in the sky.
Referring to the UFOs as "Off-Worlders," Wallenstein said they are here to "assist us to recall our origins and find a deeper connection to our galactic home... Unfortunately this data does little good if there are systems in place to stop the dissemination of this beneficial information... Some of the reasons for non-disclosure are examined in the book, from already found artifacts of our parent Off-World race, their long standing presence here and on the moon, being kept from us deliberately by the secret space program, which is only skimming the surface."
In February of 2020, people spotted an object in the skies above the mountain. The images went viral but, in the end, the UFO turned out to be a lenticular cloud. However, the sighting was so convincing that the U.S. Forest Service issued a statement denying that it was an extraterrestrial craft.
Because of the unusual number of lenticular clouds that appear over Mount Shasta, it has become a focal point for alien hunters. The enigmatic formations over the gigantic structure have piqued interest of many the same way Roswell, New Mexico does.
Native American legends say the mountain is inhabited by powerful spirits, Llao and Skell.
Indigenous tribes like the Klamath people have their own legends involving Mount Shasta. They believe the mountain is inhabited by the spirit of Chief Skell, who supposedly descended from heaven onto the summit of the mountain.
According to legend, he fought a spirit from the underworld named Llao who resided at Mount Mazama. They lobbed hot rocks and lava tubes at the spirit from the Below-World, resulting in eruptions on both mountains.
Mount Shasta is the home of the Shasta, Atsugewi, Achumawi, Wintu, and Modoc tribes. Prominent Native American figures like G’mokumk (the Creator) lived there and the original bones of deceased Modoc people were buried there. It is a spiritual place of worship and many trips are organized to travel there.
The Modocs believe that Mount Shasta is also inhabited by a creature known as matah kagmi (big foot), who is charged with protecting the woods around the mountain. In 1970, a writer named Joaquin Miller documented a slew of Native American legends surrounding Mount Shasta.
A dozen individuals have disappeared from Mount Shasta since the 1980s.
Since 1986, there have been 11 reported missing persons who disappeared from Mount Shasta or the surrounding area, none of whom have been seen or heard from since.
But there is a much more notable disappearance that occurred in 1904. If you believe the story, a British prospector named J.C. Brown discovered a lost underground city beneath Mount Shasta that year.
He had been hired by the Lord Cowdray Mining Company out of England to look for gold and ended up finding a descending cave that went 11 miles under the mountain. Brown claimed to have found an underground village with mummies up to 10 feet tall, gold, shields and other valuables.
Thirty years later, after telling his story to a man named John C. Root, an expedition team came together in Stockton, California to explore the buried village. But Brown never showed and has not been heard from since.
The theories surrounding Mount Shasta are plentiful. Some are detailed with stories to go with them, and some seemingly just pop up with no rhyme or reason.
Whether it’s ghosts, lizard people, or mystical beings watching over it, people will continue to make the trek, hoping to witness something they’ve never seen before.
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NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and the author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.