Weird Tales

On August 5, 1947 an astounding announcement was made: Dr. F. Bruce Russell, a retired physician from Cincinnati, had found a cave with giant mummified remains and artifacts from a lost civilization. Fifteen years earlier a miner broke through a mine shaft and into a tunnel of caverns, which he also said, led to the remains of an ancient people. And, before that, one of the men who worked on the wagons hauling borax stumbled up on a cavern with remnants of a forgotten and lost race. Every one of these accounts takes place in Death Valley which begs the question: Are there really caverns with hidden gold and ancient mummies in Death Valley?

In 1907, Willis Emerson left his Death Valley mine to pen a classic book: The Smokey God, which claims that civilizations exist in subterranean caverns: The Hollow Earth Theory. Did he get this idea in Death Valley? What about killer Charles Manson’s quest for an underground city? Do the aliens called reptilians have a base under Death Valley? There’s only one way to find out! Join filmmaker Ted Faye as he takes us UNDER Death Valley to look for mummies and aliens!

In 1849 a group of optimistic and determined pioneers set out from the settlement of Salt Lake, Utah to head to California. Most were gold seekers, some Mormon Missionaries and others simply looking for a better life. But all seemed impatient. When some of them took a shortcut, it got them into the “jaws of hell” as was predicted, leading them directly into the place they named “Death Valley.” Most escaped with just the clothes on their back leaving behind a trail of animal bones, wagon remains and all their earthly possessions. But in 1998 an expedition of historians and explorers claimed to have found a trunk that belonged to those original pioneers. Was it real or was the trunk bunk?

At the Eastern entrance to Death Valley National Park stands a group of adobe buildings known as Death Valley Junction. It has gained fame due to the extraordinary efforts of artist Marta Becket, an artist and performer whose Amargosa Opera House has brought both national and international acclaim. Its history is also connected to the famous 20 Mule Team borax laundry additive and to Death Valley’s boom town days. Today its population is three and if you ask any one of them, including Marta Becket, they’ll tell you there are other residents at the Junction… and they’re not among the living. Join filmmaker Ted Faye to discover if there really are ghosts at this historic location.

Rhyolite was part of the last great American gold rush which took place in Central Nevada from 1900 to 1910. And while there are plenty of ghost towns in the West, Rhyolite is one of the most famous, located on the edge of Death Valley. But it harbors a secret from 1908. A strange grave on the edge of town remains to this day with the name Mona Bell. Who was she? Did her murder change the course of the town? Why did Rhyolite die? Join filmmaker Ted Faye as he explores the strange case of Rhyolite, Nevada.

Deep beneath a mountain named Kokoweef in the Mojave Desert awaits the discovery of a lifetime! Or does it? With a mixture of deception, possible murder and other worldly visitors, the story of Kokoweef Mountain and the Lost River of Gold becomes the stuff of legend. Join Filmmaker Ted Faye as he tries to sort out fact from fiction on the quest to discover what may be the greatest treasure in human history lying beneath the California desert.