California's

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of , it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades ...

has been the subject of an unusually large number of

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

s and

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

s. In particular, it is often said there is a secret city beneath its peaks. In some stories, the city is no longer inhabited, while in others, it is inhabited by a technologically advanced society of human beings or mythical creatures.

Native American legends

According to local indigenous tribes, namely the Klamath people, Mount Shasta is inhabited by the spirit chief Skell, who descended from heaven to the mountain's summit. Skell fought with the Spirit of the Below-World,

Llao Llao is the god of the underworld in the mythology of the Klamath Native American tribe. Llao fought a great battle with the sky god, Skell, which caused the eruption of Mount Mazama, creating Crater Lake. Llao and Skell The Klamath tell many stor ...

, who resided at Mount Mazama, by throwing hot rocks and lava, probably representing the volcanic eruptions at both mountains. Writer Joaquin Miller recorded various related legends in the 1870s.

Lemuria

Mount Shasta has also been a focus for non-Native American legends, centered on a hidden city (called Telos) of advanced beings from the lost continent of

Lemuria Lemuria (), or Limuria, was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean, later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the di ...

. The legend grew from an offhand mention of Lemuria in the 1880s. In 1899, Frederick Spencer Oliver published '' A Dweller on Two Planets'', which claimed that survivors from a sunken continent called

were living in or on Mount Shasta. Oliver's Lemurians lived in a complex of tunnels beneath the mountain and occasionally were seen walking the surface dressed in white robes. In 1931,

Harvey Spencer Lewis Harvey Spencer Lewis F.R.C., S:::I:::I:::, 33° 66° 95°, PhD (November 25, 1883 – August 2, 1939), a noted Rosicrucian author, occultist, and mystic, was the founder in the US and the first Imperator of the Ancient and Mystical Order Ros ...

, using the pseudonym Wishar S enleCerve, wrote a book published by

AMORC The Ancient and Mystical Order Rosæ Crucis (AMORC), also known as the ''Rosicrucian Order'', is the largest Rosicrucian organization in the world. It has various lodges, chapters and other affiliated bodies throughout the globe, operating in ...

about the hidden Lemurians of Mount Shasta that a bibliography on Mount Shasta described as "responsible for the legend's widespread popularity". This belief has been incorporated into numerous occult religions, including

"I AM" Activity The "I AM" Activity Movement is the original ascended master teachings religious movement founded in the early 1930s by Guy Ballard (1878–1939) and his wife Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard (1886–1971) in Chicago, Illinois.Saint Germain Found ...

The Summit Lighthouse The Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) is an international New Age religious organization founded in 1975 by Elizabeth Clare Prophet. It is an outgrowth (and is now the corporate parent) of The Summit Lighthouse, founded in 1958 by Prophet's ...

Church Universal and Triumphant The Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) is an international New Age religious organization founded in 1975 by Elizabeth Clare Prophet. It is an outgrowth (and is now the corporate parent) of The Summit Lighthouse, founded in 1958 by Prophet's ...

Love Has Won Love Has Won (LHW) is a new religious movement which was led by Amy Carlson (November 30, 1975 – April 2021), referred to within the group as "Mother God". The group has been described as a cult by ex-members and media outlets. The group had ...

, and Kryon.

Count of St. Germain

According to

Guy Ballard Guy Warren Ballard (July 28, 1878 – December 29, 1939) was an American mining engineer who, with his wife Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard, founded the "I AM" Activity. Ballard was born in Newton, Kansas and married his wife in Chicago in 1916. ...

, while hiking on Mount Shasta, he encountered a man who introduced himself as

Count of St. Germain The Comte de Saint Germain (; – 27 February 1784) was a European adventurer, with an interest in science, alchemy and the arts. He achieved prominence in European high society of the mid-18th century. Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel considere ...

, who is said to have started Ballard on the path to discovering the teachings that would become the

religious movement.

J. C. Brown

According to a legend, J. C. Brown was a British prospector who discovered a lost underground city beneath Mount Shasta in 1904. Brown had been hired by the Lord Cowdray Mining Company of England to prospect for gold and discovered a cave which sloped downward for . In the cave, he found an underground village filled with gold, shields, and mummies, some being up to tall. He told his story 30 years later to John C. Root, who proceeded to gather an exploration team in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

. About 80 people joined the team, but, on the day the team was to set out, Brown did not show up. Brown was not heard from again.

References

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Pseudoarchaeology Mount Shasta