In March of 1980, John J. Williams, a New Mexico "Patriot" who published the anti-Communist oriented "REBEL MAGAZINE" (at the time available from: Consumertronics Co., c/o John J. Williams. Pres., 2011 Crescent Dr., P.O. Drawer 537., Alamogardo, NM 88310) revealed some incredible details on an alleged subterranean system which the Navy had been exploring below the western United States. The report appeared in issue No. 6 of his magazine, and was later reproduced in the Fall, 1985 (#164) issue of SEARCH Magazine, at the time edited by Marjorie Palmer, widow of the late Ray Palmer. The article, titled 'CALIFORNIA FLOATS ON OCEAN?', revealed the following:

"Some time ago, I heard a man on a TV interview-show briefly mention that parts of California and neighboring states are floating on the Pacific Ocean! He was a high ranking Naval officer on a top- secret nuclear submarine that has been (and is) exploring and mapping these enormous caverns and passage-ways underneath the West for over 10 years now.

"A friend of mine finally tracked the man down. He is now living quietly in retirement and asked that no details pointing to him be revealed as he does not want publicity and government attention. After writing this article, I destroyed my files on him. This is his story..."

Williams explains that not "all" of the areas in question are actually "resting" or "floating" on the ocean, however there are allegedly many subterranean cavities below the western U.S., and they are not limited to California, and many of them consist of very large water-filled aqua-systems. These have been explored via nuclear submarines to several hundred miles inland, particularly in the region of southern California and the southern Oregon - northern California area. Williams continues:


"...When he retired several years ago, in spite of about 10 years of intensive Naval study, the Navy had not gotten even a handle on their exacts and dimensions. Today, the story may be different.
"He makes the following statements from his observations:


"1. The passageways are labyrinthine with widths from a few
to thousands of feet (caverns), averaging roughly about a 100
feet.

"2. Much like dry caverns do, heights and depths vary a
great deal and in some cases, two or more caverns or
passageways pass over or under each other at different
depths.

"3. Most of the entrances lie just off the Continental Shelf
(ie. in the Continental Slope - Branton).

"4. Most of the entrances are too small for submarine
investigation; and many that are large enough lie in waters
that are too deep.

"5. Some of the caverns (in S. California) are topped with
oil while some others are filled with gases believed to
approximate our atmosphere (in very ancient times).

"6. The San Joaquin Valley is essentially a portion of the
original cavernous area that collapsed eons ago due to it's
sheer weight.

"7. What is being passed off as the 'San Andreas Fault' are
large, unsupported chambers that are in the process of
collapsing. When the BIG ONE finally hits, many scientists
in the know believe that most of California will break off
like a cold Hershey bar and slide into the ocean! (it is
postulated by some that an ancient land-mass which some
believe may have been connected to what is now California,
broke off and sunk into the ocean during an ancient cataclysm
- Branton)

"8. (We are deleting this section due to the possibility of
undue stress and fear which may result from it's disclosure.
Also, because of recent international events which may have
resulted in a solution to this problem. We will merely state
that it involves a scenario similar to that which was
portrayed in a James Bond movie, and which concerned
underground caverns, silicon valley, nuclear weapons, and the
San Andreas fault - Branton).

"9. A WELL-KNOWN U.S. nuclear submarine lost its way in
these passages and disappeared forever. It was reported to
have been lost IN OPEN SEA ELSEWHERE to keep the American
people in total ignorance and to justify an enormous pay-off
to an eccentric U.S. billionaire (who died in recent years)
for providing the fictitious "recovery" effort.


"I have no reason to doubt the man. I can't tell for sure whether or not these caverns and passageways exist or to their extents. The story does sound a bit fantastic but I have no reason to doubt the man. I have seen copies of documentation that at least prove that he was a high ranking Naval officer (nuclear submarine duty) and a distinguished scientist. In fact, his scientific background and reputation are impeccable. He definitely cannot be labeled as a crackpot, lunatic or publicity-seeker. I would very much like more information on this topic..."

After further inquiries to Mr. Williams on the part of 'inner earth' researchers, Williams responded with the following when asked whether or not he had received any replies to his request for more information about the alleged passageways below California:


"Since publishing our article on the vast cavern network under much of California, we have received many responses and inquiries. Some of these responses appear to be knowledgeable sources. Note that the material sent to us for this article was written by someone of very high repute whose credentials I personally checked out. Due to an agreement with him, I cannot reveal his identity.

"One response was from a retired (conventional submarine duty? - Branton) submarine commander, who according to him, spent many years in the waters off California. He stated that the caverns do NOT exist.

"Another response was from an anonymous person who cited unpublished oil company seismographical data, and stated, 'Although most of the caverns you depict in your drawing are smaller, larger or located somewhat differently than the actual caverns, you are essentially correct... My information is more up-to-date than what you apparently relied upon.' He (or she) did not supply any maps to pin down our differences, just some written descriptions. However, some knowledgeable person could probably deduce his (or her) overall 'map' from the voluminous seismographical data sent. I am in the process of looking for this input; it's been several years now and it may have all been thrown out... Incidentally, the oil company seismic data had much data round the Fresno area if that helps any.

"One incident which tends to confirm the fact that California is in fact floating on the ocean was a story which made the headlines in recent years. This incident involved an oil discovery beneath Long Beach, California. When oil companies began pumping oil out of the ground beneath Long Beach it was soon learned that the entire city BEGAN SINKING INTO THE OCEAN!

"It sank up to 26 feet and dikes had to be built to keep out the water. The problem is (temporarily) being rectified by 'water injection'--i.e. pumping an equivalent amount of WATER into the ground to the amount of oil and water taken out, in order to keep the city AFLOAT!"


One thing which may be of interest in connection with Mr. Williams' account was a statement which was made by a prominent California Bigfoot investigator by the name of Virginia Louise Swanson, who has done a good deal of study on caves and their connections to the Bigfoot phenomena. She refers to these caverns in the following words:


"...Somewhere I got the idea that a big portion of Death Valley is located on a shelf of FALSE bedrock. A certain type of earthquake would collapse all of it down to an enormous series of caverns that would open up into another Grand Canyon."
According to our knowledge, the only nuclear submarines ever to disappear under mysterious circumstances were the U.S.S THRESHER and the U.S.S. SCORPION. It is uncertain whether the retired Navy Officer who John J. Williams spoke of was referring to the THRESHER or the SCORPION, although the disappearance of the Thresher probably caused more publicity. The Thresher was the LEAD SHIP or 'Flag' ship in the world's most advanced class of nuclear attack submarines. She was designed to operate deeper and more silently than any of her predecessors and was also endowed with significant advances in sonar equipment, in noise reduction, and in fire-control. All in all, she was the most advanced international submarine in the world at the time of her disappearance and would have been an ideal choice for a top- secret mission such as the exploration of the caverns mentioned by John Williams' source.

On April 10, 1963 (according to official reports) the Thresher, under the command of Lt. Commander John W. Harvey, USN, with a total of 129 men (comprised of the crew, civilian technicians, and observers) disappeared without explanation. NOT A SINGLE TRACE or clue as to the fate of the craft, or it's occupants, were ever recovered: no oil slicks, radiation, floating debris, or similar signs of wreckage were ever seen. It is interesting to note that almost all of the reports at the time stated the ship had "disappeared," or was "lost," not "sunk!" One woman whose husband was on the ill-fated ship reported her belief that her husband was still alive. Theologically speaking, the possibility of a long-distance connection or "communion" on a deep, emotional level between a husband and a wife should not necessarily be consigned to the realm of the occult or "psychic" phenomena. Many religions believe that the very spiritual natures of a husband and a wife are united upon the consummation of a marriage, and thus they become, as Christian teachings say, "one flesh". The actual words of this woman, who was interviewed by Will Carson and Jeannie Joy--two writers devoted to pursuing strange events--shortly after the Thresher incident, were as follows:


"My husband was on the submarine Thresher when it disappeared. I don't consider myself a widow. I don't believe my husband is dead. No, it's not a matter of just not being able to believe it, to accept reality; I just can't get over the conviction that he's still alive somewhere. I love my husband very much. I know he loved--loves me. We were very close. We could always tell when something was wrong with each other. Intuition, I guess. I should have felt something the instant there was trouble, if he was really in serious trouble and knew it--a matter of life and death--but I didn't."

"What do you believe really happened?" Carson and Joy asked the attractive young woman.

"Most people think I'm crazy when I say this, but I believe the Thresher was captured."

"By whom?"

"I can't say for sure, but there WAS a Russian submarine spotted near there that day (that is, near where it REPORTEDLY vanished 220 miles off Boston harbor)--only I can't imagine how even the Russians could CAPTURE a vessel like the Thresher without leaving the slightest evidence!"
The following account, concerning an area just east of BISHOP (OWENS VALLEY), CALIFORNIA, was related by Val Valerian in his 'LEADING EDGE' Newsletter, Dec. 1989 - Jan. 1990 issue. The article, titled: 'DEEP SPRING'S, CALIFORNIA', stated:


"Deep Springs, California is an area that is becoming known as the site for very strange events. According to the information released both on the air on KVEG-AM and from other sources, the area is full of strange people wandering around in black suits. There have also been rumors that there is an underground facility in the area. Checking with gravity anomaly maps proved that there are large cavities under the ground in that area. The wildest claims relative to the area have stated that alien lifeforms are being released there... Deep Springs Lake has been probed and it appears bottomless. Divers have traveled along an underground river 27 miles toward the Las Vegas area before having to turn around." (This 'river' would probably have been a 'partially' water-filled cave with a large stream or river flowing through it, rather than an entirely underwater passage, since 27 miles would undoubtedly be entirely out of the question if it were all underwater travel, with present diving technology - Branton).

The Underworld Empire by Branton
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The UnderWorld Empire


"Still another explorer named D.O. visited this same tunnel near Gaspar, Santa Catarina, and behind a wonderful fruit orchard saw a subterranean woman with a child in her arms reading to it aloud from a huge book written in an unknown language... After she read each sentence the child repeated the same and in this way was taught how to read. All of these subterranean cities are illuminated by strange light...'"

In relation to the apparent connection between subterranean civilizations and unidentified flying objects (Bernard and de Souza, incidentally, believed 'flying saucers' to be of subterranean origin), we will here quote from Paris Flammonde, author of 'THE AGE OF FLYING SAUCERS' (Hawthorne Books, Inc., N.Y.), who tends to confirm this hypothesis. He in turn quoted Raymond A. Palmer as a major proponent of this belief:


"...The new decade was not without a new theory, or, at least, a variation of an old one--that not only were Flying Saucers not originating from beyond the farthest reaches of our planet, they were expelled from within it... Ray Palmer wrote a lengthy article elaborating his interesting and imaginative thesis, and prefaced it with the assertion that he was prepared 'to prove that flying saucers are native to planet earth; that the governments of more than one nation (if not all of them) know this to be the fact; that a concerted effort is being made to learn all about them, and to explore their native land; and that facts already known are considered so important that they are the world's top secret...' The continuation of his contention reads:

'...is there any area on Earth which can be regarded as a possible origin for flying saucers? There are...four...the two major, in order of importance, are Antarctica and the Arctic...the two minor areas are South America's Motto Grosso and Asia's Tibetan Highlands.'"


Raymond Bernard (actual name 'Walter Seigmeister'), writing in the Oct. 1959 issue of SEARCH Magazine, p. 48, described yet another alleged encounter with a subterranean race. What are we to make of all these stories? Are we to assume that some of the individuals who told Bernard such accounts actually made them up, as some suggest, in order to receive the 'reward' Bernard was known to offer on documentable accounts of ancient tunnels? Or, are we to accept these accounts for just what their sources claim them to be, actual encounters with a subterranean world? Bernard stated the following:


"...Last week my investigators returned and said they visited their city (i.e. the 'city' of a race of dwarf-humans whom Bernard referred to as the 'Niebelungs', who live in a subterranean region with it's own system of illumination - Branton) and are able to bring any of my American friends to visit it, but I require one condition: absolute secrecy, as I don't want governments to send armies into the tunnel to disturb these peaceful people.

"To reach them requires a 3-day journey of about 40 miles through a tunnel. This entire distance is through a tunnel carefully lined with cut stone blocks below, above and on the sides. That was quite an engineering feat. I think the tunnel was made long to keep out curiosity seekers, and only the most determined will travel that distance.

"Here is the report of my investigations: (They are two ranchers, father and son, who discovered the tunnel accidentally):

"'We left our house 5 A.M. for the tunnel on top of a mountain and reached it 3 P.M. We were tired and camped near the entrance of the tunnel. For three days we proceeded through the tunnel. We told time by our watches, as we could not tell when it was day or night. We went to sleep at 10 P.M. and awoke at 3 A.M. and continued walking. By the third day the tunnel started to go downward by steps. It was built of stone blocks on all sides. By the night of the third day the tunnel suddenly opened into a great space covered with what appeared as a sky with a yellow light that made everything luminous, like daylight. We saw a city with many houses and saw many people in the distance. They were dwarfs with long white beards and long hair and we saw women and children, and heard them crying. The third member of our party got frightened so we had to return.'

"These men found three such tunnels. They entered another for three days, but after hearing voices further in, got scared and returned. Now they are entering the third..."

In his book 'THE UNDERPEOPLE' (1969. Award Books., N.Y.), author Eric Norman relates an interesting account of the possible fate of the Inca Indians. In chapter 2 - 'Strange Caverns and Terrifying Tunnels', he relates:


"Conquest in South America was natives hacked to death by Spanish swords, arrogant priests absolving Conquistadors for their murderous atrocities, sharp Toledo steel lances running through children and, pervading it all, a dark lust for native gold.

"In the autumn of 1582, Francisco Pizarro hid his 168 Spanish horse soldiers behind the doorways and walls of the Incan town of Cajamarca. Atahualpa, the absolute emperor of the sun-worshipping Inca's empire, had agreed to meet Pizarro in the village plaza. Atahualpa's procession entered the village with a flair of pageantry. Incan warriors and the emperor's litter bearers were dressed in the finest cloth. The Royal Guard were armed with spiked helmets, feathered war clubs, poison-tipped lances and dazzling gold-inlaid swords. Thick gold bracelets encircled their bronze wrists and rich silver discs dangled from their pierced ear lobes.

"Pizarro and his Conquistadors remained hidden behind their guns and cannons as Atahualpa and his entourage entered the main plaza. 'It is like leading hogs to the killing pen,' Pizarro sneered. The bandy-legged Spaniard knew hogs; prior to his service for Spain's king, Pizarro had been a swineherd in the province of Estremadura. He lived by a harsh personal code that equated kindness with weakness; deceit was the trick of a clever man and lying, duplicity and thievery were proper.

"Atahualpa's group stirred nervously when they found no sign of the visitors to their land. Spanish fingers twitched on gun triggers and a hawk-faced soldier stood ready to torch the cannon. Suddenly, a solitary figure left a building and walked into the plaza. He was dressed in the faded robe of a Dominican friar. His bald head glistened contemptuously toward the Incan emperor.

"Friar Vincente Valverde announced that all of South America now belonged to the king of Spain. He stared coldly at the emperor and snapped, 'The Papal Bull of 1493 provides this right...'

"Proud and regal, Atahualpa glared at the haughty friar before him. 'Your Pope must be crazy to give away land that does not belong to him,' he said...

"The friar was stunned momentarily, then he turned and ran toward the safety of a building, shouting: 'Pizarro, attack, attack! Kill all of them! I will absolve you!'

"With hoarse cries of 'Santiago!', the Spaniards slaughtered the unsuspecting Inca warriors. In a few minutes the battle was over; the emperor's royal guard was dead, or dying, in the bloodstained dust of the plaza and Atahualpa was a prisoner of Pizarro. Greedy Spanish hands ripped the emerald necklace from his body. A wild gleam entered Pizarro's eyes when the emperor handed over his exquisitely carved bracelets of thick gold.

"'I want my freedom,' Atahualpa informed Pizarro. 'I will fill this room with gold for ransom.' The room was 17 feet wide and 22 feet long! The emperor's subjects delivered $8,443,456 in gold to Pizarro and, afterward, Pizarro and Friar Vincente Valverde condemned Atahualpa to be burned alive at the stake.

"While the Spaniards were burning the emperor, a pack train of 11,000 llamas was headed toward the Spanish encampment. Each beast was burdened by a heavy load of gold. Native messengers brought news of the Inca king's death--and the fantastic caravan disappeared! During the past centuries, thousands of gold-greedy adventurers have searched for the 'loot of the 11,000 llamas.' None has discovered a single clue to the treasure's site.

"Believers in the Under-People theory are firm in their contention that the Incan llamas disappeared into a gigantic tunnel that led to the inner earth kingdoms. 'Even the population figures show that these conquered people outwitted their bestial conquerors,' according to one South American researcher. 'Incan census figures reveal that there was 10,000,000 subjects when the Spaniards arrived. Forty years later, in 1571, the Spaniards took a census. There was approximately 1,000,000 Indians. I admit that the Spanish method of slave labor took a tremendous toll. But could 9,000,000 Incas have died in Spanish mines?'"


Eric Norman relates the words of one correspondent who described the ancient subterranean tunnels believed by many to exist beneath the Andes:


"'...at first I scoffed at such stories about mysterious tunnels and an alien civilization beneath the surface... I joined an inner earth group for the simple enjoyment of discussing outlandish ideas in a humorless, serious manner. Gradually, I became interested by the considerable volume of circumstantial evidence. I now believe the earth is absolutely honeycombed by a web of tunnels that run beneath the continents, under the oceans, and these passageways link the subterranean cities of the inner world.

"'...There are many reports concerning a vast tunnel called the 'Roadway of the Incas' which has an entrance somewhere in Peru. It runs south more than a thousand miles. There is another entrance to this fabulous tunnel in the Desert of Atacamba in Chile. The 'Highway of the Incas' passes under Cuzco, the legendary city of Peru. There is another, smaller, but very well hidden entrance to the tunnel in the mountains near Machu Picchu, which is the capital city of the first and last Inca emperor. It is called 'The Lost City of the Incas' and was not discovered until 1911 by an American, Hiram Bringham. It is considered the 'Eighth Wonder of the World.'

"'...Everything at Machu Picchu is an excellent preservation...there are more than two hundred buildings constructed from white granite...fountains...shrines...and gigantic stairways carved from a single massive boulder.

"'...This was a thriving city. It is intact except for the thatched roofs of the houses having deteriorated over the centuries...and, the doors are missing...it is as if the inhabitants selected a single day and mysteriously vanished. Did they enter the 'Highway of the Incas' and migrate to the inner earth?'

"Was this correspondent brainwashed by his colleagues to believe in the subterranean world? Or, was he a skeptical man who changed his mind in the face of a tremendous amount of information? His mention of the 'Highway of the Incas' strikes a familiar note... A physician in Argentina has devoted his spare time to an investigation of this legendary inter-continental tunnel of the Under-People. He commented:

"'...I have always been intrigued by the unknown and please convey my thanks to Dr. H--- for providing the opportunity to publish my views... I started to investigate the 'Highway of the Incas' when I was a young, curious youth and I have hundreds of witnessed, notarized statements. These documents and tape recordings fill one room of my home. The Incas knew of the tunnel and, although gold was of little value to them, they hid their treasures in these caverns to keep it from the greedy Spanish conquerors. No one had provided a satisfactory explanation for their mysterious disappearance. There was an empire of several million people that vanished from the surface of the earth. They entered the tunnel and left the Quechua Indians behind. As few Incas have been seen since then, they possibly took up residence in a cavern city or followed the tunnel to the interior of the earth.

"'...The 'Highway' is the largest of the tunnels and it connects all continents. In addition to the openings in South America, there are entrances in Canada, in British Columbia; in America, you should investigate Mt. Shasta in California and Mt. St. Helena in Oregon. The tunnel is connected with Tibet and another opening in Central Asia. I believe the African entrance is in the Atlas mountains in the north of that continent.

"'...I also suggest that you explore the 'highways' which have been found in the oceans. These ancient underworld civilizations may be mining our seas!'"

In previous files we referred to the alleged inhabitants of a subterranean city below Mt. Shasta in California, which is believed to be one of the largest, if not THE largest, subterranean community in North America, and which allegedly has ties with the Asian empire of "Agharti" and the South American subterranean colonies. The following are some excepts from an article written by William F. Hamilton (whose other publications can be obtained via 7327 Bothwell Rd., Reseda, CA 91335), who we have mentioned in earlier writings. Bill Hamilton has been in Data Processing for 22 years and is now a Sr. Programmer- Analyst. He is a writer, investigator and researcher. He has been involved in UFO research and investigations since 1953. Bill is a past member of The Foundation for Research in Parapsychology, The Spacecraft Research Foundation, The World Federation of Science and Engineering, and MENSA, the high IQ society. He has been a member of Understanding, Inc., and served on it's Board. He founded Nexus and Nexus News, an info center for alternative energy and alternative life-styles. He founded The UFORUM, a monthly forum on the UFO phenomena. He is a UFO investigator with MUFON, an Associate Director of UFOCCI, and founder of UFORCES. Bill is the author of the following books: Space, Time and Gravity; Center of the Cortex; Telos, The Cosmic Computer; Geometry of the Grid; Close Encounter Report; Alien Magic; and Cosmic Top Secret. He has written numerous articles for publications such as 'Search,' 'Energy Unlimited,' 'New Age Science,' 'The New Atlantean Journal,' 'California UFO,' and 'UFO Universe'. The following article originally appeared in the 'New Atlantean Journal':


"...I run across some fascinating people in the course of my investigations who tell me many unusual stories. While on the trail of reports of UFO base locations, I met a young, very pretty blonde girl with almond-shaped eyes and small perfect teeth, whose name is Bonnie. Bonnie has told me an incredible story and has related a volume of interesting information... Bonnie is sincere, cheerful, and rational and says she (was born) in 1951 in a city called TELOS that was built inside an artificial dome-shaped cavern in the Earth a mile or so beneath Mt. Shasta, California.

"Bonnie, her mother (Rana Mu), her father Ra(Mu), her sister Judy, her cousins Lorae and Matox, live and move in our society, returning frequently to TELOS for rest and recuperation. Bonnie relates that her people use boring machines to bore tunnels in the Earth. These boring machines heat the rock to incandescence, then vitrify it, thus eliminating the need for beams and supports. A tube transit tunnel is used to connect the... cities that exist in various subterranean regions in our hemisphere. The tube trains are propelled by electromagnetic impulses up to speeds of 2500 mph. One tube connects with one of their cities in the Matto Grosso jungle of Brazil. (They) have developed space travel and some flying saucers come from their subterranean bases...

"They grow food hydroponically under full-spectrum lights with their gardens attended by automatons. The food and resources of Telos are distributed in plenty to the million-and-a-half population that thrives on a no-money economy. Bonnie talks about history, of the Uighers, Naga-Mayas, and Quetzals, of which she is a descendant (Note: Many people have mistakenly identified the inhabitants of 'Telos' as being directly descended from the 'Lemurians', however Bonnie here seems to refute this by indicating that her ancestrage was other than this, possibly Meso-American and/or East-Indian? As in the case of the ancient 'antediluvian' cities of the eastern seaboard which were re-established after being abandoned by the lost 'Atlanteans', the 'Lemurians', if they existed, also seem to have been devastated in a world-wide cataclysm and their cities re-established by the Uighers, Naga-Mayas, and Quetzals and probably scattered members of other societies. As we've said earlier, the name 'Telos' is a Grecian word meaning 'uttermost', suggesting a 'possible' connection with the grecian-like Hav-musuvs of the Panamint mountains of California - Branton).

"I met Bonnie's cousin, Matox, who, like her, is a strict vegetarian and holds the same attitudes concerning the motives of government. They constantly guard against discovery or intrusion. Their advanced awareness and technology helps them remain vigilant...

"Science Fiction? Bonnie is a real person. Many have met her. Is she perpetrating a hoax? For what motive? She does not seek publicity and I have a devil of a time getting her to meetings to talk with others, but she has done so. There has been little variation in her story and her answers in the past three years. She has given me excellent technical insight on the construction of a crystal-powered generator that extracts ambient energy... Bonnie's father, the Ramu, is 300 years old and a member of the ruling council of Telos.

"Many tunnels are unsafe and closed off. All tube transit tunnels are protected and are designed to eject uninvited guests. Does Bonnie have the answers that we are looking for? I don't know... Bonnie says she would like to satisfy our need for proof and will work with me on a satisfactory answer to that problem, but she is unconcerned with whether people accept her or not. Bonnie is humorous and easy-going and well-poised, yet sometimes she becomes brooding and mysterious. She says her people are busy planning survival centers for refugees. One of these is to be near Prescott, Arizona..." (Note: or rather below the Groom Creek area just south of Prescott, to be exact. Another 'survival center' for refugees of the world-wide cataclysms which the Telosians believe will eventually devastate the surface of the earth, is said to be below the general area of Jenny Lake, Wyoming, near the Tetons. The Tetons themselves have been the alleged home of a mysterious race, according to different sources, and extremely ancient stone 'buildings' have reportedly been found high atop these peaks - Branton).
When Bill Hamilton asked "Bonnie" to elaborate about the power- sources which her people utilize to propel the so-called "flying saucer" craft, she replied:


"...A lot of it is crystals (i.e. crystal-induced electromagnetism? - Branton), particularly the atmospheric vehicles. The planet-to-planet vehicles are driven by an Ion-Mercury engine. Spaceships can reach speeds way beyond light-- they can enter hyperspace--you generate into the fourth dimension--this is controlled by an on-board computer that takes you into and out of hyperspace. I know this is a simplification. When your on a ship going into hyperspace, you will hear this vibration, and a loud screaming sound when you enter, then you will hear nothing..."

Bill concludes:

"I have had many correlations on this data and am researching it further toward a comprehensive theory of space travel..."

The account given below appeared in 'INNER LIGHT' Magazine, Summer, 1991. Written by 'Antara', the article, entitled: 'INTRODUCING THE WOMAN FROM TELOS, THE CITY BENEATH MOUNT SHASTA', is an alleged interview with this same resident of a subterranean city now living and working on the surface, under the name of 'Bonnie' or 'Sharula', along with her husband 'Shield'. We quote portions of the interview as follows:


"The following interview with Sharula took place on July 23, 1990, and is reprinted from 'INSIGHTS FOR POSITIVE LIVING.' She shares with us some wonderful information about the 'Atlantean' and 'Lemurian' cities (i.e. cities originally 'built' by antediluvian 'Atlanteans' and 'Lemurians'? - Branton) that exist beneath the earth's surface.

"She speaks of her home, Telos, a city built a mile or so beneath Mt. Shasta, California. During a recent trip to Mt. Shasta, I encountered several local townspeople who have personally seen mysterious fires and lights on the slopes of Mt. Shasta, and have heard otherworldly chants and music late at night, emanating from the mountain. And of course, there have been sightings of mysterious robed people walking into the side of the mountain. Even the local visitor's guide mentions the 'Lemurian' connection to Mt. Shasta.

"This interview may really stretch your perceptions of reality. I hope it does. It's meant to...
"INSIGHTS: Let's start off with some basic questions of who you are and where you come from."

"SHARULA: My name is Sharula and I come from a city underneath Mt. Shasta, called Telos. This city was constructed... at the termination of the Lemurian continent. When the scientists and priests of Lemuria realized the continent was about to sink, they petitioned a group called the Agharta Network, which controlled all the subterranean cities, to build our own city underneath Mt. Shasta. There was an original set of caves there. We chose to enlarge these caverns to make them bigger and more livable..." (Note: Although most accounts seem to suggest that 'Atlantis' was destroyed in a cataclysm equivalent to a universal flood or deluge such as is described in the traditions of several races as well as in the writings of the Greek Plato, 'Lemuria' may be a different story. 'Lemuria' seems to be the name that surface humans have attributed to this alleged lost continent of the Pacific, but whether it was actually named that by the ancient inhabitants is uncertain. The major area of confusion seems to be whether 'Lemuria' or 'Mu' was an antediluvian OR post- deluvian society like 'Agharti'. James Churchward seems to place 'Mu' somewhere in the Indian ocean, whereas others place it in the Pacific. Some of the old Indian tribes of the northeast and the California area have ancient legends of an island-continent called 'Elam-Mu' which was said to be connected to ancient California or separate from it, out in the Pacific Ocean. Could the Hawaiian islands be remnants of such an island-continent? The native American legends of California seem to place 'MU' shortly AFTER the deluge, which was believed to have occurred a few thousand years B.C. or 5000 years previous to the close of the 20th Century. The exact history of the 'Telosians' still needs to be investigated, even with the present information available, as it seems to be a complex history possibly involving several races - the Uighers, Naga-Mayas, Quetzal's, 'Lemurians' or 'Muvians', Aghartians, and possibly Greeks, East Indians, and others!? - Branton).

"INSIGHTS: How many people live in Telos?"

"SHARULA: A million and a half."

"INSIGHTS: Tell us about your ecosystem; your water, food, air, environment--what is it like to live in Telos?"

"SHARULA: We have perpetual light through a process of energizing stones to create full spectrum lighting. We process them with the forces that make them small suns. The five levels are garden levels where we produce all the food we need with hydroponic gardens. There are plants on all five levels that continue to circulate the air. We work off the same system the earth does - the plants produce oxygen (i.e. a subterranean 'biosphere' - Branton). Plus, we have air shafts that come through the surface that sends air. Since that air is polluted, we use them less and less." (Note: Several years ago a man wrote into SEARCH Magazine stating that he was an Incan descendant who was "searching for" his own people, as he was convinced that they had escaped en masse into underground cities via ancient tunnels which they knew of, when the conquistadors invaded their land. He claimed that one day while by a river in a certain region near Matto Grosso, Brazil, he thought he heard a voice shouting from the top of a mountain. He began to climb the peak and a few hours later found himself beside a mountain-top shaft. He later managed to descend the shaft and discovered a tunnel which led horizontally to a point where a type of "door" existed. He heard what sounded like an "elevator" coming up from deep below and a well-built man who claimed to be part "Incan" appeared and introduced himself through a transparent screen. He was told that anyone entering this particular subterranean region had to undergo a physical "purification" process to remove the radioactive poisons from their bodies, which were resident in the atmosphere of the outer world. Could this explain why the lifespan of some of the under-people has reportedly increased dramatically? The Old Testament 'Torah' states that previous to the deluge a transparent 'canopy' of water vapor permeated the upper atmosphere, and some suggest that before this canopy fell in the form of the deluge the life-span of the antediluvians was dramatically increased because this "canopy" sealed-out most of the harmful and degenerating radiations of the sun. They suggest that this was why the antediluvians lived to an average of 500 years of age, while some like Methuselah lived upwards of 900 years! It appears as if the 'Telosians' have taken precautions not only from the atmospheric solar radioactive pollution resulting from a decaying atmospheric 'shield', as is evidenced by an increase in skin-cancer world-wide, etc., but also from the man-made radioactive and industrial pollutants - Branton)

"INSIGHTS: What form of government do you have?"

"SHARULA: We have a system where the government is run by the council of twelve plus one. They are twelve masters, six male and six female. If anyone has a disagreement, they go to an arbitrator, rather than fight it out among themselves. All arbitrators report to the council and they change constantly. They are appointed to that position based on their natural affinity for it."

"INSIGHTS: Who appoints them to that position?"

"SHARULA: The temple of Melchizedek... All through the cosmos (i.e. human colonizers and explorers sent out from the earth since the deluge? - Branton) there is an order called Melchizedek..."

At this point we will, before continuing with the Sharula interview, deal with the history of 'Melchizedek', which began on Earth in ancient times. Melchizedek was the ancient High Priest of Salem (now Jerusalem). We believe that this subject is important enough to deserve a fairly extensive explanation. There are basically two divergent views concerning the Priesthood of Melchizedek. The first is held by the various ancient and neo-masonic religions, which basically state that there are NUMEROUS members of the order who have been 'initiated' into the priesthood through a process of religious devotion, etc., while the other view is held by the various groups of Judeo-Christian believers who claim that there is only one Melchizedek Priest, the God-Man Jesus, and since only one High Priest was allowed to serve before Almighty God at any one time in ancient Israel--to be replaced by another when he had passed on--these claim that since Jesus ascended from the grave and now lives forever without the possibility of every dying, this singular Priesthood will be His alone eternally. Both sides no doubt sincerely believe that they have 'the truth', but, of course, both cannot be correct.

Many believe that the ancient Melchizedek was none other than the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, or was in essence a 'thiophene' or an Old Testament appearance of Jesus-Jehovah. They make the following connections and similarities between Melchizedek and Jesus as evidence of their beliefs:


CHARACTERISTICS OF MELCHIZEDEK CHARACTERISTICS OF JESUS CHRIST

"...Melchizedek King of Salem." "Unto us a child is born... and
- Gen. 14:18 (the Hebrew word his name shall be called... The
for 'Salem' is 'Shalem' which Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6
literally means: "PEACEFUL; "...When they heard that
SHALEM, an early name for Jer- Jesus was coming to Jerusalem..
us.:Salem." - From: STRONG'S (they) cried, Hosanna: Blessed
CONCORDANCE) is the King of Israel..." (or,
King of Peace, King of Salem) -
John 12:12-13

"And Melchizedek... brought "...Jesus took bread, and
forth bread and wine." (i.e. blessed, and broke it... and he
the fruit of the vine, or the took the cup, and... gave it
fruit of the grape) - Genesis unto them." - Mark 14:22-23
14:18

"Melchizedek... was the Priest "...Seeing then that we have a
of the most high God." - great high priest, that is pas-
Genesis 14:18 sed unto the heavens, Jesus..."

"Melchizedek... abideth a - Hebrews 4:14
priest continually." - Hebrews "But into the second went
7:1,3 the high priest alone once

"And they truly were many every year... But Christ being
priests, because they were not come an high Priest... by his
suffered to continue by rea- own blood he entered in once
son of death." - Hebrews into the holy place, having
7:23 obtained eternal redemption for
us." - Hebrews 9:7,11-12
"But this man (Jesus), be-
cause he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood."
- Hebrews 7:24

"Melchizedek... to whom also "And all the tithe of the land
Abraham gave a tenth part of ...is the Lord's: it is holy
all." (i.e. tithes) - Hebrews unto the Lord... the tenth
7:1-2 (also see: Genesis 14: shall be holy unto the Lord."
18-20) - Leviticus 27:30,32
"Jesus Christ is Lord..."
- Philippians 2:11

"Melchizedek... King of right- "In those days... I will cause
eousness..." - Hebrews 7:1,2 the Branch of Righteousness to
grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgement in the
land." - Jeremiah 33:15

"Melchizedek... having neither "I am Alpha and Omega, the be-
beginning of days, nor end of ginning and the ending.. the
life..." - Hebrews 7:1,3 Almighty... the first and the
last... I am he that liveth,
and was dead; and, behold, I am
alive for ever more." - Reve-
lation 1:8,11,18


We continue now with the interview with 'Sharula':

"INSIGHTS: Earlier, you mentioned... you had to petition the Aghartha, the ones in charge of the inner earth cities. Are there other cities in existence?"
"SHARULA: Oh, yes. There are many. There are over one hundred inner earth cities. Some of them are very similar..."

"INSIGHTS: How does one travel from city to city or from surface to inner city?"

"SHARULA: Probably the most common method is what we call the 'tubes.' It is a series of underground trains. We've bored tunnels that run underneath all the oceans and all the continents and connect all the cities and several of the retreats. The trains, which look very much like a subway train, are run on a cushion of air, an electromagnetic cushion, so they never actually touch the sides of the tunnel. This cushion creates a force field without friction and therefore they can achieve very high speeds. The trains are capable of running over 3,000 mph."

"INSIGHTS: Between the surface and the inner cities, how does one travel?"

"SHARULA: There are several entrances that open to the surface. We'll use that method or we'll use a ship which is run by the silver fleet."

"INSIGHTS: The silver fleet...explain that please."

"SHARULA: ...The silver fleet is made up of beings from the Agharthean cities. Many of the ships that people see in the air are silver fleets' ships, except for the 'nasties.'"

"INSIGHTS: How can you identify a silver fleet ship as opposed to the 'nasties,' as you call them?"

"SHARULA: ...all the Confederation ships run off of 'divine' geometrics (or rather, 'cosmic' geometrics - Branton). The ships will be either cylinder (cigar?) or they will be saucer shaped or they will be round. There are NOT a lot of protrusions and angles; they have a tendency to be smooth. The ships that come in boomerang shapes and other weird configurations are usually not Confederation ships." (Note: although this may be true to some extent, in recent years according to some reports the saurian grays have begun to use the 'disk' or 'saucer' shape also more frequently. The 'triangular' craft seen en masse in Belgium, etc. are apparently 'gray' craft according to abductees there, which would tend to confirm some of what Bonnie or Sharula is saying. Also, these 'boomerang' craft have often been seen in connection with the Archuleta sub-base network of the southwestern U.S., which would seem to indicate from what Sharula has said that the "Dulce" network is largely under the control of the 'nasties', or the draconian powers, as many other sources allege that it is. - Branton)

"INSIGHTS: Let's talk about the people themselves, the Telosians. What would a typical Telosian look like?"

"SHARULA: The typical Telosian has a slightly golden tone to their skin and have a tendency toward high cheek bones and slightly almond shaped eyes. Most Telosians run toward light hair and we have all eye colors. The men are generally 7' to 7'6" in height and the women are generally 6'6" to 7'1" in height. When we come to the surface we have a process of altering the molecules of our bodies so that we are able to appear the same height as people here on the surface."

"INSIGHTS: Does your civilization have any of the social problems that ours seem to have, like: pollution, hunger, homeless people and water droughts?"

"SHARULA: No. We don't have pollution because we are able to monitor our systems at all times. We have learned to accelerate the atom. When the first scientists started working with atoms they didn't realize that they weren't meant to shatter the atom for energy; they were meant to accelerate the atom for energy that won't die out and won't produce hazardous afterform. Because we learned to accelerate the atoms, we're also able to dematerialize all of our waste matter and return it back to its original form..."

"INSIGHTS: Is the U.S. Government aware of the existence of Telos and the other underground cities?"

"SHARULA: Yes. For a long time they have been trying to get in, to access the information of Telos and the silver fleet. The promise of what they need would be given to them, but in return there are several things they have to do or quit doing?"

"INSIGHTS: What was it that they were given to do or stop doing?"

"SHARULA: Basically, return the country to what it was founded on and return to an open and honest government, so that every citizen has access to what's happening in the government." (Note: i.e. Constitutionally-based government, Bill of Rights's,etc? If this is Sharula's interpretation of an 'open' government, then we must assume that the Telosians, or at least many of them, are opposed to the present plans to establish a one-world socialist dictatorship or 'New World Order' which will no doubt impose tremendous threats upon individual liberty of conscience. The reader may recall the information from an earlier file to the effect that human 'benevolents' were working with the U.S. Government in the Nevada Military complex against the saurian grays. Their 'teachings' stated that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights was very much respected by them. Also, could these be allied with the same 'human' aliens who landed in Florida after the two giant astroid-ships took up a geosynchronous orbit around the earth, and warned us not to have any dealing with these 'gray' aliens, and offered their own assistance if we dis-armed our nuclear weapons? Were 'they' tied in with the Telosian 'Blonds' or the Pleiadean 'Nordics'? Some accounts suggest that both human groups are at least aware of each other, and possibly have an alliance with each other. Now that the Soviet Union has broken up and the 'need' for intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles has been decreased, will the U.S. government break-off their self-destructive alliance with the 'grays' and instead seek alliances with the human groups who had originally warned them about the grays? - Branton)

"INSIGHTS: Are you referring to the government's interaction with other 'extraterrestrial' (and/or 'innerterrestrials' - Branton) that are not of the silver fleet?" (Note: The interviewer is no doubt referring to the 'pact' which the secret government was manipulated and deceived into making with the reptilian 'Grays', and subsequently with other branches of the 'serpent race' - Branton)

"SHARULA: Yes. That is only one."

"INSIGHTS: When was the government first introduced to Telos?"

"SHARULA: They have been aware of the subterranean cities and they have been aware of Telos since the country's conception. It is only near the turn of the century that they started taking action. This action did not get really aggressive until the 1950's."




Note: There are indications that some members of certain Masonic- type 'secret government' societies, such as the Rosicrucian Order, have attempted to establish contact with the subterranean residents of Mt. Shasta, although it is uncertain just what might have come of this. Several encounters with the 'Blondes' (both subterran and exterran?) have revealed 'their' own concern about what is taking place with the abductions and mutilations of human beings by the sauroid Grays, although many of these groups claim that they cannot 'interfere' with the problem due to some 'cosmic law' of non- intervention. This may be true with those 'Nordic' or 'Blonde' societies who hail from other planetary bodies, such as the Taurians, Lyrans, Eridanians, and Cetusians (the latter of whom seem to be taking the most action to help their brothers here on earth, in essence interfering with the saurian 'interferers' from the Draconis, Bootes, Reticuli, Canis, etc. constellations), and the 'Solar Tribunal' groups of Mars, Luna, Saturn, etc, and so on. However, in the case of the Telosian-Aghartian alliance, this 'non-intervention' policy would not apply, since this is their world also, and they are just as native to earth as anyone else living on this planet. In light of this fact, and especially in light of their own awareness of the reptilian-saurian threat, we would urge them (if by chance they are reading this) to reconsider such a stance and join with their fellow human brothers and sisters on the surface in defending our society from this ancient threat.

According to Sharula, in another interview, the city of Telos exists on five different levels. The bottom level is about one and one-half miles across, while the other levels are different. The closest level to the mountain itself is about three-quarters of a mile across. This would allow for the possibility of "housing" a large number of inhabitants in a more concentrated area than surface cities could permit, being that surface areas can only be inhabited on the one (surface) level, except for high-rises. This might explain the large (million-and-a-half) population of this particular sub-city.


As a possible confirmation of the above, we quote the following transcript of parts of an interview between John Lear and the National Fringe Sciences Bulletin Board:


"Question: You just mentioned that there were... other 'species' in contact with this world... are they aware of the EBE's?
"Lear: Yes they are. The types I will mention are listed in a USAF Academy Physics book called 'INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE VOLUME 2,B.' I refer to chapter 13... which lists the ones that are most seen. They are the EBE's, the 'Blondes'... They look just like us but are invariably blond haired and blue eyed. Don't know where they come from but they do not interact with us except for a few abductions now and then. We also have a species that is similar to us in appearance but they are about seven feet tall and the main difference is that their eyes wrap around their head a little more than ours. Another type listed is a small species about four feet tall, very hairy and extremely strong for their size. We don't know where these guys come from either. All this was in the aforementioned text which was withdrawn by the Air Force in the early '70's from the book. But there are several people who have the original book...

"Question: I'm curious also as to the government's plans, if any, to deal with an uprising of EBE's should that eventually occur... or would the technological gap make an attempt untenable?

"Lear: It is my understanding that we have already lost the battle. This is the reason why MJ-12 is in such a panic. They had a lot of well laid plans to inform us, and when the deception was confirmed about 1984 it was all out the window...

"Question: Recently in the INF treaty negotiations, Gorbachev indicated that despite prior claims, they too were working on an SDI program... Is there any connection between our program and theirs and if the battle is lost, why are those attempts being made?

"Lear: I wish I knew the answer to that. Several rumors have come out of the test site recently and one of them was that every test shot this year (1989? - Branton) has been to make a giant (underground - Branton) room. The shots are very clean and as soon as everything subsides they move in equipment to make walls, ceiling, floors and various levels."


The following account is based on a series of letters, documents, and diagrams which were received from a man in Michigan who we will refer to as David L., who claimed to have been part of a 12-man speleological team who broke into an ancient tunnel system and, subsequently, encountered some of the inhabitants of the subsurface world. These beings described by David 'may' be the 7-ft. tall humans with large 'wrap-around' eyes described by John Lear who have bases on the moon. However this is only a supposition.

During the mid-1980's, subsurface researcher Charles A. Marcoux (now deceased) informed other researchers who were at the time involved in aerial and subsurface investigations, that he had received a manuscript, maps, etc., from a long-time correspondent of his. This was David L. We will not reveal the last name of this source, nor the last names nor the cities of residence of others involved in the incident out of respect for their privacy. However, since much of the story was released to inner earth researchers some years ago we feel that the information itself is of enough importance to the "master puzzle" to mention here.

The manuscript contained an account of a series of expeditions which David L. and 11 others were involved with during the late 1950's and early 1960's. Only 4 or 5 of the members took part in the expeditions at any given time, while the others supported their efforts. The account contained a description of an alleged encounter with a subterran "human" race who allegedly inhabited an underground city or cities, connected by tunnels, approximately 5-7 miles beneath the surface of northern Arkansas. This subterranean system was apparently built by a highly technological race. Some indications suggest that the tunnels were constructed by a race which was more ancient than the present inhabitants, and were possibly excavated in antediluvian times, since the present inhabitants allegedly showed the speleologists ancient sealed 'cities' farther below their own, built by a race which pre-dated themselves.

Some of the men involved were formerly members of a UFO organization which thrived in Michigan in the 1950's, and which published a UFO journal which had up to a few thousand subscribers at one point. Some of the writers for this publication, who were also members of the 'board' of this investigations group, later left off investigating UFO's due to the confusing "paranormal" aspects of the phenomena, and instead turned their attentions to subsurface investigations. At the time there was a great division between those UFOlogists who considered the UFO phenomena to be an exclusively physical and solid phenomena and those who were convinced it was more paraphysial or supernatural in nature. Unfortunately, few considered the possibility that both could be true, i.e. that a physical race of alien "sorcerers" that possessed seemingly supernatural or paraphysial abilities, such as the reptilian Grays, were behind much of the phenomena. One of the early members of this groups was a man by the name of George Wight. He, like the others, felt that it might be more profitable to investigate something more "closer to home", like the subterranean realm, instead of attempting to investigate possible encounters with alien craft from beyond earth which were here today and gone tomorrow and might have been paraphysial apparitions anyway, from all they could gather. So the group eventually drifted towards investigating the underground realm, beginning with the exploration of caverns in Arkansas and surrounding states.

According to David L., even though they had been partially exposed to the idea of subterranean civilizations through the Shaver Mystery, etc., none of them ever expected to encounter anything like that, and they took such accounts with a grain of salt. To them the idea was almost as elusive as the UFO phenomena, they had not really seen any solid evidence to prove it. They probably realized that any such "evidence" of an alien civilization might be apprehended by government officials even if it did turn up, and so they more-or-less resigned themselves to a "wait and see" attitude.

Two of the incidents which led Wight and the others to their assumption of a "paranormal" connection to the UFO phenomena were as follows. The first incident which led them to their conclusions involved a woman known by some members of the group, who claimed to be an "occult channel" for psychic messages from the so-called "space people". The researchers tried to convince the girl that she should ask the 'occupants' to make an appearance to them, which she did. She took them outside and directed their attention to the sky. From the standpoint of the researchers, nothing could be seen in the sky, even through the girl insisted that 'they' were there. However, several people in the area reported seeing a luminous object flying overhead at about the same time the researchers were standing outside with the 'contactee', and in the exact same area. They noticed some strange qualities with the girl which reminded them of some of the obsessive and irrational behavior which often accompanies those who have become involved in the occult, witchcraft, and the dark side and have become 'possessed' by invisible malevolent entities as a result. Also, with the 'religious' background of some of the members of the group, they began to suspect that something sinister and deceptive and at least in part supernatural might be working behind the phenomena. They noticed that some of the objects could be seen by people who were supposedly 'psychically attuned' to them or people who were under the influence of the objects and the occupants, while those standing next to them might not see anything at all.


The other account involved one of the members of the group who was of the conviction that many of the UFO's were of 'demonic' origin (this is not to say that ALL such objects can be classified in this way). This member was alleged to have had conversations with a well- known UFOlogist at the time who claimed to have had frequent visits by the so-called 'Men In Black'. The beings he encountered looked humanlike yet seemed to possess (or were 'possessed' by?) supernatural energies; perhaps a "controlled" hidden society of sorcerers!? This particular member of the group, according to David L., claimed that during his conversations with this well-known researcher, he was told by this man confidentially that he was of the opinion that some of the UFO phenomena was 'satanic' or 'demonic' in nature. The member who was told this even went so far as to begin giving public lectures about the occultic/demonic origin of some of the phenomena.

According to David L., some time afterwards and apparently in response to his outspokenness, this member and friend of his was on a ranch somewhere in the mountains of Wyoming where he was suddenly struck by a brilliantly lit red-glowing object which appeared in the sky. As a result of this he suffered serious paralysis below the waist and was consigned to a wheel chair for years afterwards.

Shortly before the group officially disbanded the UFO organization, George Wight himself wrote and published an article in their periodical which presented strong evidence that much of the UFO phenomena was being directed by an unknown intelligence which was secretly working towards the establishment of an Anti-Christ system on earth.

As the "group" began to disband, some of it's members as we've said began to seek out ways to continue their friendships and still remain active in some pursuit. Not so much out of a motive to discover a lost world but more out of a desire to fulfill their hunger for adventure (and escape for at least a time the busy rat-race which many of them, having been involved in some type of 'professional' career or business, found themselves getting caught up in) they began to explore the caverns.


During the latter part of the 1950's the exploration party had investigated some very interesting caverns, mainly within the area of Arkansas and the surrounding states. At on point they came across one particular cavern some miles north of Batesville, Arkansas. This was in an area where several caverns were located. Many of these caves (concentrated generally NW-West of the town of Cushman) have in fact been the subject of some very interesting accounts, suggesting that there might be more thanone route to the nether regions below other than the one discovered by David L. and his friends. There are accounts of several people who have entered some of these caves and were never seen again; or who encountered strange phenomena deep underground - such as electrical failure of flashlights, suggesting possible electromagnetic interference; accounts involving extremely deep caverns; gas pockets encountered at extreme depths; and an account concerning one of the caves west of Cushman which seemed to have ancient carvings over it depicting various figures; and there is even one account which came from an Oklahoma man who was told by a friend of his of being chased from a cavern west of Cushman by a large hairy humanoid who began throwing boulders at him as if annoyingly scaring him out of "his" territory!

At one point David L's group came across one particular cavern near the town. Over a period of years, returning from time to time to this particular cavern, the explorers had crossed underground lakes, followed dead-end leads, explored "breakdown" areas, investigated numerous cracks and chasms, and steep inclines. One of their most fortunate discoveries was made in a large boulder-strewn break-down area about half-way between the entrance and an underground "lake". They noticed a crack in the path which they had found through the boulders and, following this crack into the thick of the breakdown they came across another area where the crevice widened enough to allow them entrance. Following this they descended for a very great distance for a very long while, down a sloping 45 degree incline, so steep in places that rope had to be used. This steep, sloping passage led them past a couple of horizontal "side passages" which they followed a few miles to dead ends, and continued deeper through at least one more crevice. Eventually they emerged into a large cavernous area hundreds of feet high and long, which they named "glass cave" because of it's features, and used it as a central "camp" in subsequent explorations. The remarkable thing about this cavern, however, was their claim that it was located almost 4 MILES beneath the surface of the earth, which would definitely make it deeper than any other "officially" recognized cavern.

Time and again they explored the mazes and labyrinths deep in the earth using "glass cave" as their central camp. Two passages in the far wall of this chamber, opposite from the crevice through which they first entered glass cave, were each explored for 3 days continuously before they decided to turn back. According to David L., these passages still continued onward with no end in sight. Could these have led to the gloomy 'hadean' like caverns which they were to see later, and which they alleged contained 'gigantic serpents' or snakes capable of crushing a human being to death in a few seconds?

After some experiments involving air flow within glass cave, the explorers were able to trace slight air movements to another as-yet- undiscovered crevice hidden within the wall, not far from the crevice which they had entered from above. This passage, through relatively small, continued still DEEPER into the earth. They explored the steep incline for what they approximated to be a mile, before reaching an area of "breakdown". This "seemed" to be the end of the line. Just as they were about to turn back in disappointment from this passage which had taken them deeper than they had ever been before, one of the members of the team noticed that the light of their carbide lamps seemed to have a faint amber tint to it. All of them were perplexed, wondering what would be causing the phenomena.

It was decided that they would all turn off their lamps in order to see if the greenish luminescence remained. They did so, and a minute or so afterwards their eyes adjusted to the darkness and they could faintly distinguish a greenish luminescence which seemed to emanate from the lowest part of the passage in an area where heavy "breakdown" SEEMED to close off any further progress.


George Wight was the first one to make his way to the spot in the breakdown area from which the faint light seemed to emanate and, after removing more rocks, they discovered that still another crack or crevice, barely wide enough for one man to enter at a time, descended vertically from beneath the breakdown.

According to David L., Wight volunteered himself to be the first to explore the crevice, and soon afterwards he was on his way down. A few minutes passed before those above heard the sound of what they could only guess was George slipping and falling down the crevice.

After a period of uncertainty those above, concerned for his safety, were relieved to hear the faint voice of George Wight rising up from apparently several dozen feet below. They were able to make out his excited words to the effect that he had fallen into a large tunnel, and encouraged the others to follow him.

They did so, and when they were all in the 'tunnel' they stood in stunned silence. The passage which stretched out from them in BOTH directions was not like the common natural cavern passages which they had explored for the past few days. In fact, it seemed more artificial than natural. Approximately a dozen feet in height and about the same in width, the 'tunnel' was similar in shape to a subway tunnel, having a domed ceiling and a flat floor. What really caught their attention however, was the fact that the tunnel was illuminated by a greenish phosphorescence to the point that they did not need their carbide lamps to see their surroundings. The strange luminescence seemed to emanate from the walls of the tunnel itself, which were clear and glass-like yet at the same time extremely hard.

In one direction the lighting effect faded out into blackness, while in the other direction the light seemed to increase. One of the members suggested that the light might be coming from the surface, and that they might be in one of the old mines which existed in the area of the cavern entrance, but others brought up the fact that, according to their calculations, they were at least five miles beneath the earth and therefore the light probably did not come from the surface.

Subsequently, the explorers decided to investigate in the direction of the "light" since it would allow them to keep some carbide in reserve for their return trip. At one point the tunnel (which was apparently cut through solid rock much of the way and then glazed over with the hard, transparent substance) opened into a gigantic cavern. Actually, this occurred several times and at intervals, as if those who constructed the tunnel intentionally meant for them to intersect the various cavern systems. Did the ancient builders of this tunnel system possess a combination of gravitometers, x-rays and sounding radars to detect these cavities? Even as it passed through these large caverns, the tunnel still continued in the form of a transparent domed enclosure, still the same shape as before, yet this time the hard transparent substance was in the form of a 'wall' a foot or so thick that protected the group from the 'outside' or cavern environment. And fortunately so, for beyond the luminescent walls, were black expanses of gloomy darkness within which they could faintly make out huge moving and slithering figures of what seemed to be giant serpents and other grotesque reptilian creatures as well as other non-reptilian creatures, including giant insects.

If not for the fact that these creatures were physical, tangible things, these dark caverns could have been likely candidates for the legendary 'Hades' of Greek and Hebrew tradition.


The most shocking surprise of all, however, occurred on the third day after exploration of this tunnel began, a considerable distance from the crevice from which they entered the tunnel. They were walking along when all-of-the-sudden they turned around and found themselves face-to-face with a group of human-like beings who stood around 7 to 8 feet tall. 'Their' skin had a faint pale-bluish, almost clay-bluish tint to it and their eyes were relatively large and owl- like. But 'they' were definitely human, according to David L., who was on this particular expedition. The 'people' took out some type of electronic device, apparently some kind of parabolic communicator, and after a few attempts they succeeded in establishing a communication link using the electronic 'translator'.

At this point their story becomes even more complex, and the exact series of events, in their chronological order, are rather undefined. First, the strange 'people' made it known that the tunnel led to a network that went all throughout the earth and to even greater depths. 'They' had certain types of instruments that could monitor from a distance the emotional field or make-up of a person and thus determine their intentions. It was only because 'the group' was found to possess an emotional makeup indicating relatively non-violent and non-selfish motivations that they were chosen to be contacted. 'They' made it known that the cavers could have traveled through the underground tunnels for weeks and would not have discovered their "city" if "they" did not wish them to, as the entrance to it was so well hidden. Here then, are some of the other incidents which allegedly occurred after the group encountered the strange people, or rather after these people CONTACTED the group (chronological sequence uncertain):


1) The group learned that the tunnels continued for hundreds of
miles, at least. After the initial contact, the topsiders
were taken to a hidden "elevator" and were then taken through
this to the "city" where these people resided. This
community was apparently made out of a glass-like substance,
somewhat like the makeup of the tunnels themselves.

2) Their lifestyle, way of life, society, government, etc., was
described as being radically different than that which
existed on the surface. These people possessed a "Book of
Laws" or a moral code by which they attempted to live.
According to David L., if any of their society became violent
or became a threat to the rest they were expelled into the
tunnels, given sufficient provisions to make it on their own,
and generally forced to seek out their destiny in other parts
of the nether regions. This punishment for unrepentant
"criminals" was apparently practiced only on very rare
occasions.

3) The technology used by this civilization was very complex,
and is based largely on the technology of the lost races who
lived before the flood and whose demise resulted in the
abandonment of the subterranean system, along with all of the
sophisticated technology which had been left there as well.
The race encountered by David L. and his group allegedly were
direct descendants of Noah, and were of a race of explorers
who came to the Western Hemisphere some centuries following
the deluge and discovered and took up residence within the
ancient subsystem where they now resided. Some of the
technology left by the "ancients" is still not understood by
the people encountered by the speleologists. The group was
also shown tremendous dark caverns miles beneath the city,
where the subterraneans had found ancient ruins of this
ancient lost race. Some of these buildings were sealed,
apparently the desperate act of the vanished race who built
them.

4) Some of the caverns--especially the extremely deep one's
in which the ancient cities were found--were miles in
diameter. Some were pitch black and so still and silent that
a whisper could seemingly be heard miles away. Some of the
upper caverns through which the 'tunnel' penetrated contained
not only serpent-like creatures but also huge, hairy
'humanoids', perhaps tied-in with the Sasquatch family.
These however were particularly violent in nature, possibly
due to their environment and constant proximity to the
serpents. Apparently there was an ongoing conflict between
the "hairy" humanoids and the reptilian creatures in the
caverns. According to David L., these hairy giants had faces
"only a mother could love". On one occasion, their
subterranean friends demonstrated some type of hand-held beam
weapon by pointing it at one of the large serpents which
could be seen through the tunnel "walls". The beam melted
through the transparent barrier and the serpent disappeared
in a sizzling glow of fire.

5) The group attempted to tell their story to friends of theirs
on the surface. Apparently they made several trips after
their first encounter with the blue-skinned race. However,
their story was rejected and met with mockery and ridicule.
They attempted to gather proof of their visit, and made a
special trip "down under" just for that purpose, and
succeeded in capturing a "giant cave moth" which roamed the
deeper caverns. They placed it in a bag and upon returning
topside they opened the bag and exposed the creature to the
brilliant summer sun. For some reason, the sunlight had a
disintegrating effect on the insect and before they could
show it to anyone as proof it had dried up, become brittle
and eventually crumbled to dust. After this, they gave up
all attempts to get anyone to believe them, and resigned
themselves to keep the secret among the twelve individuals
who made up the exploration and support teams, that is, until
David L. was given permission to reveal the story to the now
late Charles A. Marcoux (Note: Marcoux incidentally died as a
result of a 'heart attack', while exploring the surface areas
around the Cushman caves. His wife described it as a sudden
and irrational attack of fear resulting from a swarm of bees
that Charles had encountered. One must realize that 'fear'
is one of the most powerful weapons utilized by the
'infernals' who would attempt to blind mankind to conditions
taking place in the inner world. However, by the grace of
God Almighty, many have been able to defend themselves from
the "body terror" utilized by the reptilians and which can
often lead to paralysis, heart attacks, insanity or even
suicide).

Eventually George Wight decided to remain below with their subterranean friends, and on their second-to-the-last trip they said their goodbyes. They allegedly made one more trip afterwards during which they met with their friend, who was doing well, for the last time. The peculiar thing about this incident, according to David, was that shortly after Wight had joined this underground society all evidence and records of him ever existing began to mysteriously disappear from the surface. Birth certificates, school records, computer records, bank records, etc. all seemed to vanish, apparently the work of someone in a very influential position who was able to erase all evidence that Wight had ever lived. Some researchers still retain copies of George Wight's articles from the old UFO periodical, nevertheless. This would open up the possibility that this underground race closely monitors events on the surface, and even has "workers" in various influential positions who act as mediators in surface society. Everything points to the fact that this subterranean race prefers it's privacy and does not wish to become involved in the political conflict and chaos which has for untold centuries plagued the surface world by warring factions constantly fighting over territorial rights, etc.

There is apparently much more to this account than we can relate here, however for various reasons, specific information other than that which we have just related will have to remain confidential. One can seemingly find "connections" between this account and others which have been related by other sources. For instance, John Lear has stated to some researchers that certain Apollo astronauts encountered another terran or earth-based race on the moon, a race that apparently made it there long before America did, and this 7 ft. tall, large-eyed race of humans seems to fit the same description as that given by David L. The people that Lear referred to allegedly have an alliance with the 'Blondes'. Is it possible that the underground people contacted by David know of and interact with the Telosians?

Whether this small item has any connection with the people allegedly encountered by the speleologists is uncertain, but it was related by John Keel in his book 'THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES': "...The Cherokees have a tradition, according to Benjamin Smith Barton's 'NEW VIEWS OF THE ORIGINS OF THE TRIBES AND NATIONS OF AMERICA' (1798), that when they migrated to Tennessee they found the region inhabited by a weird race of white people who lived in houses and were apparently quite civilized. They had one problem: their eyes were very large and sensitive to light. They could only see at night..." Is it possible that these people may have later taken up a cave- dwelling lifestyle, if they had not done so previously, to allow themselves more comfortable living conditions?


'Leading Edge Research' made the following statements in one of their publications:


"ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON ALIEN BASES - There is some confusion over the subject of alien bases in the United States. There seem to be many of them, but some of them seem to stand out functionally and operationally. IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE MAIN BASE is in NEW MEXICO with small detachments (human phrase) at Dreamland and Area 51 in general. Both of those locations are used to test-fly alien craft (PROJECT GRUDGE/REDLIGHT). The main location for the test flights appears to be Area 51. The EXCALIBUR project being developed AT LOS ALAMOS is designed to try and penetrate underground facilities, since they (grays) have entrenched themselves and no longer honor any of the dubious agreements which they have made with (certain) factions within the government."

In the May, 1989 issue of 'Leading Edge' (formerly 'Nevada Aerial Research') it was stated that: "...Information about underground bases at Edwards AFB (CA) are not new. Stories have circulated for years. There was the lady whose mother used to work at the cafeteria who overheard people talking about aliens and disks. The constant stream of construction materials going out to the end of the base, but nothing showed up on the surface. NASA has a large underground base that has been there for years.

"'Tube shuttles take personnel 50 miles to the other end of the base in the Tahachapi mountains. The underground base has been referred to as an underground city. It is even said that there are disks stored in glasslike enclosures under a vacuum to preserve them.'"
What may very well be a confirmation of the above appeared in the Dec. 1990 issue of a publication sent out by 'THE BORDERLAND SCIENCES RESEARCH FOUNDATION', which has for years been under the direction of Riley H. Crabb. The information was in the form of a letter which we quote here:


"I spent the weekend with a 'recent' Edwards AFB workman and his wife -- 'recent' because they are both repeat contactees and have become 'unmanageable' as the AFB management puts it. He was fired for blasting a Spybee with spray paint -- which I find funny and as classic as the graffiti on New York subway cars.

"'You did it on purpose,' they told him, and they knew of course, because the Spybees are telepathic (i.e. capable of 'tuning in' to Extremely Low Frequency or 'ELF' electro-encephalographic neuro-brain waves? - Branton) as well as camera equipt. They also carry microphones. We were all laughing as he told us how the little spray- painted gold orb, blinded, went bouncing off walls and posts and was quickly withdrawn from its spy mission. He said Spybees are about the size of a basketball. They fly by antigravity all over any 'Above Top Secret' installation. They dart soundlessly everywhere and hover between workers, sometimes programmed to harass the guys for fun, like bumping them in the rear end.

"No person (that) he and his friends knew about there was allowed to say one word to another while on the job. They would test by trying to write to each other in the floor dust. Within two or three strokes a Spybee would whiz around the corner, lock on to and stop above the writing. His last comment was to write and draw a great big 'screw you'.

"His painting work was part of an ONGOING EXCAVATION beneath Edwards AFB on the high desert in California. He and his crew were always blindfolded and strip-searched before transit. They couldn't even have watches. BY TAKING TURNS COUNTING IN THE ELEVATOR GOING TO AND FROM THE WORK SITE, THEY ESTIMATED IT MUST BE SOME 9,000 FEET DOWN, AT LEAST TWO MILES, AND THE TRIP TOOK ABOUT 15 MINUTES.

"Management accused him of doing it on purpose, and they knew... 'No, no. The Spybee kept bumpin' the back of my neck while I was sprayin.' After one real hard knock I whirled around with the spray gun still goin.'"

"A prominent researcher with us that Saturday evening suggested, after careful questioning of the worker, THAT THE ELEVATOR ITSELF WAS ANTI-GRAVITIC, AS THERE WERE NO CABLES; SO THE ESTIMATED DISTANCE WAS AT BEST MINIMUM. ALL PRESENT CONFIRMED THE GOVERNMENT'S POSSESSION OF PLASMOLE TUNNELING MACHINES (referred to as 'Terron drives' by Dulce Base employees - Branton) WHICH MELT A 50 FOOT HOLE THROUGH SOLID ROCK, AT A RATE OF ABOUT FIVE MILES PER HOUR.

"For part of the night we went 'foo chasing', their term for sightseeking UFOs. Tahachapi where H. Hughes and Northrup Corporations and the USAF have just imported Delta Forces and fleets of black helicopters deployed by the government for top security events coverage. There is no doubt something major is going on up there, even that night.

"The researcher and his team were hoping to see the 30-FOOT VERSION OF THE SPYBEES, as there are growing numbers of reports on these. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO FLY OVER YOUR HOUSE (electromagnetically cloaked in a similar manner as was discovered during the 'Philadelphia' experiments? - Branton), CARRYING SURVEILLANCE BEAMS FOR THOUGHT/EMOTION CONTROL AND BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. (Note: Since thoughts and emotions may be to some extent electromagnetic in nature, it may be possible for them to be manipulated by EM rays - Branton).

"...I often see Terra now as in near-final throes of exactly the H.G. Wells scenario where the unwilling and witless 90% of mankind inhabits a play-fantasy world on Earth's surface, while the split-off race of highly technical degenerates (in league with and/or controlled by the serpent race - Branton), the Trogs, prey on them from underground..."

he Mystery of the $30 Billion Treasure -

Published by the Church of Scientology International

The Mystery of the $30 Billion Treasure [1986]tional News

Gold!
The Mystery of the $30 Billion Treasure
Part I
From Freedom Magazine, June 1986



According to Freedom’s sources, hundreds — perhaps thousands — of tons of gold were secretly and illegally removed from Victorio Peak on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico between 1964 and 1977.
You are about to read a story that strains the imagination. It is about the disappearance of a fortune of up to $30 billion in gold bullion. When it was first presented as a “tip” to a Freedom Magazine reporter in El Paso, Texas, in 1981, it was discounted as beyond belief. However, when dozens of unrelated, independent sources began to corroborate the story, it could no longer be disregarded, no matter how bizarre. The following story, constructed from personal interviews, documents and confidential reports, is the result of a five-year investigation.

By Thomas G. Whittle

In one of the most closely guarded crimes of recent history, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tons of gold bullion were secretly and illegally removed from caverns on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the beneficiaries allegedly including former President Lyndon Johnson and individuals connected with the U.S. Army, the Central Intelligence Agency and organized crime.

The caverns are located in and around Victorio Peak, in a remote, rugged section of south-central New Mexico.

The peak, named after a 19th century Apache war chief, apparently served as a repository for immense quantities of gold mined centuries ago by Spaniards and Indians and smelted into tens of thousands of crudely formed bars.


Between 1937 and 1939, Milton Ernest “Doc” Noss (left) and his wife, Ova (right), working with family members and trusted associates, reportedly removed up to 350 gold bars from the depths of Victorio Peak.
An investigation by Freedom has probed the history of that region, particularly the nearly 49 years since gold bars were first found in that area in November 1937 by a man named Milton Ernest “Doc” Noss, as fascinating a character as ever held a six-gun.

Background research into the enormous wealth contained in the caverns of Victorio Peak revealed many eyewitness reports of the gold.

In 1937, the peak was miles from nowhere. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. They had trekked in from Hot Springs, New Mexico, a town since renamed Truth or Consequences.

According to accounts from members of the Noss family, Doc bagged no deer, but he found something that whetted his appetite for the area — a shaft near the top of Victorio Peak which led into the bowels of the mountain. Doc mentioned nothing of his find to the group, choosing instead to return to the site a couple of days later with Ova.

Using ropes for support and guided by his flashlight’s wavering beam, Doc Noss descended a series of interconnecting chambers which led downward for 186 feet.

Years later, in 1946, Doc discussed his exploration with Gordon E. Herkenhoff, field representative of the New Mexico State Land Office.1

In a four-page confidential report entitled “Field Examination of Noss Mining Claims, Hembrillo District,” Herkenhoff recorded a description:

“Dr. Noss claims that beyond the 186-foot depth, there is an incline downward at 45 degrees for 72 feet.... Beyond that there is supposed to be another incline upward at about 30 degrees for some distance (40 feet as I remember it) where entrance is gained to a cave some 2700 feet long which contains many evidences that the cave was occupied as living quarters by a large group of humans for many years.”

The group evidently had some grisly practices, for the first thing Doc Noss encountered was a row of skeletons, 27 in all. Each skeleton had its hands bound behind it to a large wooden stake driven into the ground. Doc later brought one of the eerie things out.2

Doc’s object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves — “rooms,” he called them. In one “room” he discovered a large stash of old swords and guns, papers and letters from the 19th century, and a king’s ransom in jewels and coins.

Returning through the main cavern, he noticed an immense stack of metal bars off to one side. There were thousands of them, covered with old, dusty buffalo hides.

After he got back to the surface, Doc told Ova what he had seen, and almost as an afterthought mentioned the long row of metal bars. He also told his wife that there were “enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.”

Ova convinced Doc to return to the big cave and bring one of the heavy bars back up. Begrudgingly, he did so.

After scraping a small section of the bar clean, she exclaimed, “Doc, this is gold!”

Letha Guthrie, Ova’s eldest daughter from a previous marriage, described the next few years as a very happy time for the Noss family, one of simple, hard work with a bright, limitless future. Deferring to Doc’s belief that the gold would all be taken by the government should his find become too broadly known, the work force was confined to the immediate family and a couple of handfuls of trusted associates.

Ova Noss, her two sons, Harold and Marvin, and her two daughters, Letha and Dorothy, helped Doc in the strenuous task of removing the bars, one at a time, from the depths of the peak. Letha told Freedom that she herself handled 12 to 15 of the bars, “and I even put one up and hid it for four days.”

Six men who worked with Doc in removing the gold — C.D. Patterson, Don Breech, Edgar F. Foreman, Leo D. O’Connell, Eppie Montoya and B.D. Lampros — later signed sworn affidavits regarding their experiences.

Lampros, for example, described having his photograph taken with Colonel Willard E. Holt of Lordsburg, New Mexico; each held an end of a bar while it was being sawed in half.

Joe Andregg, an electrician from Santa Fe, New Mexico, reflected on the days when he worked with Doc Noss in the late 1930s. “I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old,” he told this writer. Asked about the bars, he said, “I sawed one in two with a hacksaw.”

One person who worked with Doc Noss inside the cave was Jose Serafin Sedillo of Cuchillo, New Mexico. He told this writer that the gold bars in the cave were “stacked like cordwood.”

The bars that Noss and his crew removed from Victorio Peak were, in general, crudely formed, indicating the use of primitive smelting processes.

Estimates vary on the number of bars removed, ranging up to 350 or so.

According to members of the family, there would have been more, but Doc’s work was abruptly and unexpectedly brought to a halt in August 1939 when a dynamite blast, set to enlarge a narrow passage, instead caved the passage in, sealing off the main cavern.

Doc Noss spent the next 10 years in intermittent efforts to regain access to the hoard, in vain. He worked with a succession of partners, the last of whom, Charlie Ryan of Alice, Texas, shot and killed Noss in an altercation in Hatch, New Mexico, on March 5, 1949.

The night before his death, perhaps sensing that a business deal was going sour, Doc enlisted the aid of a cowboy named Tony Jolley to shuffle the locations of various stashes of the bars. There were 110 gold bars moved that night, according to an affidavit obtained by this writer and sworn to by Jolley.

The affidavit states, in part: “In March of 1949 I handled 110 rough [sic] poured bars of gold in the area which is now White Sands Missile Range which is now the area of Victorio Peak. On the night of March 4, 1949, I went with Doc Noss and dug up 20 bars of gold at a windmill in the desert east of Hatch, New Mexico, and reburied them in the basin where Victorio Peak is. We took 90 bars ... stacked by a mine shaft at Victorio Peak and reburied them 10 in a pile scattered throughout the basin with the exception of 30 bars that we buried in a grassy flat near the road we came out on.”

After the death of Doc Noss, Ova and her family continued efforts to regain access to the big treasure room. The U.S. Army, which gained control of the area when it was converted to a bombing range during the Second World War, refused her request to bring in an excavation firm and ultimately ordered the Nosses to stay out of the area.

Word of the Doc Noss treasure spread, and keeping people out of the area was no easy chore. In November 1958, a team of four weekend gold seekers rediscovered the hoard.

Led by U.S. Air Force Captain Leonard V. Fiege, the four had done extensive research on Victorio Peak, poring over old documents and records, and even traveling south into Mexico to check stories there regarding a man who has often been linked with the origin of the gold, Padre Philip La Rue.

All four men — Fiege, Thomas Berlett, Ken Prather and Milleadge Wessel — were, at the time of their find, employees at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. According to Berlett, the four men proceeded down a fault into the peak for about 150 feet, at which point their progress was stopped by a large boulder. They dug under it, and Berlett and Fiege moved past it for another 100 to 125 feet, coming eventually to what Berlett described as a small cavern, approximately eight feet wide by 10 or 12 feet long.

In the room were two large stacks of gold bars, each roughly six feet high, three feet wide and eight feet long. A third, smaller stack, pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high.

Berlett and Fiege had found a different passage into Victorio Peak, leading into a different chamber.

The room had been undisturbed for so long that the dust, according to Berlett, lay several inches thick. The slightest movement stirred up a cloud. Nearly choking, the two men hastily marked their claim and made their exit.

Before leaving, both men had observed an old wooden cross on one of the walls. Berlett viewed this as substantiation for the theory that Spaniards had been responsible for stashing the gold.

In September 1961, Berlett and Fiege swore to the specifics of their discovery in detailed affidavits provided to federal officials. They also were given — and passed — lie detector tests.

Among those who attested to the accessibility of the peak’s treasure was Lynn Porter, a businessman now residing in San Diego, California.

On the night of September 1, 1968, Porter drove to the peak with a friend and a civilian security guard from White Sands Missile Range named Clarence McDonald. The three men had been on a hunting party when McDonald, who reportedly had imbibed several cans of beer, began talking freely about a huge stash of gold. Porter and his friends were amused at his story and McDonald, to prove that what he was saying was true, took the two other hunters on a moonlit drive to Victorio Peak.

A narrow passage through rocks kept the bulky Porter from following the other two men into the depths of the peak. He stood guard while McDonald and the other man descended into a large cavern, returning with a crudely formed gold bar roughly 2 1/2 inches wide by 7 inches long.

The gold, Porter’s friend stated breathlessly, ran in a tremendous stack along one side of the cavern — stretching for approximately 200 yards. The two men told Porter they had taken one of the smaller bars from the stack because they felt it would be easier to handle than one of the large bars in moving through the long and sometimes difficult passage.

After some discussion, the men decided that Porter should take the bar to a close friend of his who worked in the provost marshal’s office in nearby Fort Bliss, Texas. Possession of gold was against the law at the time, and the men reasoned that the bar would provide evidence to bring about an authorized, legal expedition to remove the vast quantity of gold. The men believed that Porter’s friend was in a good position to help arrange an official government expedition to claim the gold.

Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major.

The major took the bar and told Porter to check back with him in a few days. He did, only to find that in the short, three-day interim the major had been whisked away, transferred to the Pentagon. His wife and his two school-age children had also abruptly left.

The gold bar had disappeared without a trace. No one in the provost marshal’s office to whom Porter talked would admit to knowing anything about the gold, and he was warned by the provost marshal that any future “trespassing” would be dealt with severely.

There is evidence to indicate that many gold bars were removed from Victorio Peak a short time after Lynn Porter brought the bar to the Fort Bliss provost marshal’s office.

Going public with information about the gold stored in Victorio Peak or removed from it, however, is something that people familiar with the subject are generally reluctant to do. And for good reason.

Chester Stout, for example, a retired Army sergeant, traced the removal of two large truckloads of gold from Victorio Peak, but later had to move out of New Mexico; his life was threatened because, as he was told, he “knew too much.”

In all, eight persons told this writer they had received direct threats against their lives or against the lives of their families. Sam Scott, for example, a retired airline pilot, was warned in 1977 to keep clear of anything regarding Victorio Peak for at least five years under pain of having his home firebombed and his wife and daughter killed.

The sources of this threat, according to the man who relayed the threat to Scott, were two agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The daughter of another man, Harvey Snow, died from a gunshot wound in the head after Snow had disregarded repeated warnings in regard to the peak.

Thayer Snipes of El Paso, Texas, swore to an affidavit regarding another death. The affidavit states:

“I, Thayer Snipes, first being duly sworn, on my oath state:

“That in the latter part of 1972, I had stopped by the Airport Chevron Station at the corner of Airway Blvd. and Montana Ave. in El Paso, Texas, to visit with a friend, Frank Foss, owner of the station.

“That while visiting Foss, a man we both knew, E.M. Guthrie, drove in to the station in a late model Ford Thunderbird.

“That I had known E.M. Guthrie for about three years prior to this meeting and knew him to be the husband of Letha Guthrie, stepdaughter of Milton Ernest ‘Doc’ Noss.

“That I knew E.M. Guthrie had taken an active personal interest in the fate of gold located in Victorio Peak by Doc Noss.

“That I walked over to E.M. Guthrie on this occasion in 1972, greeted him, and invited him out to dinner with myself and Frank Foss.

“That he seemed very disturbed, nervous and agitated, and refused my invitation to dinner, saying, ‘I’m running for my life.’

“That he also said, ‘The Mob is after me.’

“That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America.

“That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California.

“That after he had been beaten to death, according to the information I received, his body was put back into his car, the car was doused with kerosene or gasoline, and then set aflame.”

Another source confirmed the manner and the circumstances of E.M. Guthrie’s death, noting that “it was listed as just a natural death, but he’d been worked over with a baseball bat.” This source said that he had hired a team of experienced investigators to dig into Guthrie’s death and more than 30 other deaths in connection with a massive, continuing cover-up of the removal of gold from Victorio Peak.

Bill Shriver, an international dealer in precious metals who proved very helpful in the initial stages of this investigation until his death, brought the total still higher. According to a close relative interviewed by Freedom, Shriver was “murdered.” The relative said that Shriver “was beaten up in California, beaten about the kidneys and the head” and subsequently died from his injuries.

The cloud of death shrouding Victorio Peak has reached far.

Edward Atkins of Decatur, Illinois, had been a claimant to the peak’s gold and was vigorously pursuing that claim via attorney Darrell Holmes of Athens, Georgia, when Holmes died under mysterious circumstances.

According to Atkins’ son, John, Holmes possessed key materials which were being used to press the Army into allowing Atkins and Holmes access to Victorio Peak. These materials, including tape-recorded sessions wherein Lyndon Johnson discussed the disposition of some of the gold bars on his ranch, disappeared from Holmes’ office at the time of his death in February 1977.

Edward Atkins himself died, reportedly of a heart attack, in April 1979 while returning to Illinois from El Paso on a matter pertaining to his claim. At least one close relative was convinced that Atkins’ death was not accidental and that it was directly related to his getting too close to the true story of Victorio Peak.

Lyndon Johnson’s name loomed large in the information that Freedom uncovered, with various sources claiming that the president was instrumental in the planning and execution of the removal of the gold. The charges concerning LBJ’s involvement included the following:

# A retired White Sands Missile Range security guard, residing in El Paso, Texas, indicated that he observed Johnson and former Texas Governor John Connally spending about 10 days in the desolate area around Victorio Peak in the late 1960s. According to the security guard, Johnson and Connally headed a team which brought in sophisticated excavation equipment to remove gold from the peak, “the most modern I’ve ever seen,” he said. “They even brought in their own security guards,” he added.

# A retired U.S. Army officer said that while on duty at the provost marshal’s office on White Sands Missile Range during the period of LBJ’s presidency, he was visited by four men in a late model Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham who sought permission to drive to Victorio Peak. One man, a Mr. Moon, said that he was from the White House Secret Service detail and he showed the officer a green, laminated card which stated “Secret Service, Division of the White House.” Another man, an engineer named Dick Richardson, told the officer that he was a boyhood friend of Lyndon Johnson’s and that he had personally counted 18,888 gold bars in one stack in a cavern at Victorio Peak, each bar weighing about 60 pounds.3

# Bill Shriver, before his death, told this writer that he had a copy of a transcribed order from Lyndon Johnson describing in detail how the president wanted a military escort to handle the supply of gold taken out of Victorio Peak and taken to his ranch. Shriver also said that he had copies of other “presidential messages, several initialed by LBJ,” dealing with the clandestine, illegal removal of the gold.

# A source interviewed in Mexico stated that it was common knowledge in the towns of Jimenez and Camargo that Johnson’s 110,000-acre ranch in Chihuahua served as a storage area for a very large amount of gold flown in by a four-engine, propeller-driven aircraft in the late 1960s.

# Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnson’s presidency. According to this source, a B-24 was used to transport at least seven loads of the peak’s gold, with up to 20 tons of gold moving in each load.

# Another source, who asked to remain unidentified, stated that he had personally interviewed several men who had brought a large load of the peak’s gold to Johnson’s ranch.

According to this same source, Victorio Peak “was just like a private vault to certain high-ranking people.” They would “go in periodically and get what they wanted. They would have the proper persons on guard duty.”

Possession of gold by private American citizens was illegal under federal law throughout the period of the Johnson presidency. In addition, Victorio Peak lay on land owned by the state of New Mexico, and removal of gold without permission of the state violated New Mexico law.4

A number of sources also independently named Major General John G. Shinkle, the commander of White Sands Missile Range from June 1960 to July 1962, as knowing about the movement of tons of gold from Victorio Peak. Reached for comment in Cocoa Beach, Florida, General Shinkle adamantly denied any knowledge of the gold and refused to comment at all on the story.

Large movements of bullion from the peak went on for nearly a decade, with the largest single removal of gold occurring in 1976, according to Bill Shriver. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977.

Shriver estimated the total amount of gold removed from Victorio Peak at 25 million troy ounces, of which 10 million came out in 1976. The gold, he said, was removed and “smelted into old Mexican bars, 50-pound bars.” The gold in its new form, he noted, had no marks to identify its origin.

The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. “The buying entity was a Middle Eastern principal,” Shriver said.

The actual movement of the gold in this last, largest shipment, Shriver said, was “done by [U.S.] military aircraft.” Independent of Shriver, another source traced a number of large removals from Victorio Peak. He estimated the total amount of gold coming from the peak at a staggering 96 million troy ounces, worth, at $320 an ounce, nearly $31 billion.

Army spokesmen have consistently dismissed all reports of Victorio Peak gold as “rumors.” An apparent propaganda campaign, in fact, has been conducted for many years by the Army in order to dispel these reports and to keep treasure seekers away from the missile range.

Part II: The bizarre history of Victorio Peak continues to unravel as the Army, the Treasury Department and the Secret Service authorize a top secret operation aimed at locating and bringing out the gold.

Ova Noss, Leonard Fiege and others don’t listen when they are told to “shut up” — and they pay the price.


References:
1 Freedom Magazine obtained copies of the 1946 New Mexico land office correspondence regarding Doc Noss’ claim.
2 Chester R. Johnson Jr., “Explorations at Victorio Peak,” Division of Research, Museum of New Mexico, 1963. The official version of this report, released after U.S. Army censorship, deleted numerous key references to gold bars and to secret government activities contained in Chester R. Johnson’s original report. The author obtained copies of both the official version and the original, uncensored report.
3 While the purity of the gold cannot be accurately assessed at this time, the mid-1960s value of this stack, which was about one-third of the total amount in that cavern, would be more than $400 million at $32 per troy ounce. At a 1986 value of $320 per troy ounce, that stack alone would be worth more than $4 billion.
4 Those who took the gold were also taking it over what had been claims filed by Doc Noss, members of his family and others who had staked claims to the gold with the state of New Mexico as early as the 1930s. U.S. Army rights to use the land did not include mineral rights, which were retained by the state.
Gold!
The Mystery of the $30 Billion Treasure
Part II
From Freedom Magazine, July 1986



According to Freedom’s sources, hundreds — perhaps thousands — of tons of gold were secretly and illegally removed from Victorio Peak on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico between 1964 and 1977.
In the first part of this series, Freedom reported the bizarre story of a fabulous hoard of up to $30 billion in gold bullion sequestered in a remote location on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

A large number of sources had reported to Freedom that the gold was secretly and illegally removed from its underground chambers by a combination of interests that allegedly included the U.S. Army, the Central Intelligence Agency, organized crime and former President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The peak’s modern history began in November 1937 with the discovery by Milton Ernest “Doc” Noss of an immense quantity of gold bars. Over a period of about 21 months, Noss removed a large number of gold bars from one of the caverns, a fact attested to by more than a dozen people who worked directly with him. Estimates on the number of bars removed by Doc Noss and his co-workers range up to approximately 350.

During an attempt to enlarge a passage to the gold in August 1939, the shaft caved in, leading to frenzied and unsuccessful efforts by Doc, his family and a few close associates to regain access to the hoard through hundreds of feet of rocks and rubble.

Nineteen years after the cave-in, in November 1958, U.S. Air Force Captain Leonard V. Fiege led a team of treasure hunters who discovered a second, smaller treasure in another Victorio Peak cavern.

As described in Part I, Fiege and Airman Thomas L. Berlett found three stacks of gold bars that had lain undisturbed for so many years that they were covered by several inches of thick dust.

Freedom also unveiled some of the further history of Victorio Peak, including numerous reports by eyewitnesses and others that a tremendous quantity of gold bars were secretly and illegally removed from the mountain over a period of years, principally from 1964 to 1977.

In this article, Freedom continues the story.


By Thomas G. Whittle

The clandestine removal of tons of gold from Victorio Peak left legitimate claimants to the treasure with no money and little recourse. Principal among these unlucky individuals were Ova Noss and Leonard Fiege.

Ova had been with Doc Noss when he made his 1937 discovery of the tremendous stash of gold bullion inside Victorio Peak.

Fiege, Thomas Berlett and their companions — Ken Prather and Milleadge Wessel — were, at the time of their find, employees of Holloman Air Force Base, located just east of White Sands Missile Range.

As leader of the four treasure hunters, Fiege worked within the Air Force chain of command to get permission to legally return to Hembrillo Basin — the large, bowl-shaped area surrounding Victorio Peak — in order to recover the treasure.

In seeking to return to the site of his find, Fiege solicited the assistance of Holloman’s staff judge advocate, Lieutenant Colonel Sigmund I. Gasiewicz.

The aboveboard attempts by Fiege, Berlett and their companions were stymied, however. The White Sands commander, Major General John G. Shinkle, refused all requests for permission to enter the area, including one made by Air Force Major General Monte Canterbury on behalf of Fiege and his companions.

In August 1961, after forming a partnership with three Air Force attorneys, the men were allowed to meet in Washington, D.C., with senior representatives of the Department of the Army, the Department of the Treasury, the Secret Service and the Bureau of the Mint. Chairing the meeting was the director of the Bureau of the Mint. At the meeting, the four treasure hunters and the three lawyers stated their case. And, nearly three years after the discovery, the men were finally allowed to return.

The operation itself, a five-day affair in August 1961, was “carried out as a top secret project,” according to a heavily censored Secret Service report.

Those accompanying the four treasure hunters included General Shinkle and agent Liliburn “Pat” Boggs from the Secret Service’s Albuquerque office.

The passage used by Fiege and Berlett in reaching the gold was found. Unfortunately, as noted in the Secret Service report, the final 40 feet to the gold “was blocked by large boulders that could not be removed by hand or shoveled away.” Although the expedition had General Shinkle as a supervisor and 14 armed military policemen as guards, no equipment heavier than shovels and picks had been brought. It ended fruitlessly.

A heavily deleted August 31, 1961, Secret Service memorandum obtained by Freedom shows that on that date the missile range’s provost marshal met with Pat Boggs in the Albuquerque Secret Service office. The provost marshal stated that he was seeing Boggs at the order of the missile range commander.

According to the memorandum, the commander, General Shinkle, “was anxious to determine the degree of interest” of the Secret Service in the gold.

In the memorandum, Boggs records that the interview with the provost marshal was interrupted by a telephone call from the Holloman commander, who wanted to know whether the Treasury Department would “permit exploration of the tunnel on weekends.”

Boggs resumed his interview with the provost marshal. The provost marshal “stated that should any gold be recovered from the tunnel, he would immediately notify the writer [Boggs] so that possession of the gold could be taken by this Service for delivery to the Federal Reserve Bank Branch at El Paso, Texas.”

After a flurry of additional memos, reports and top secret conferences, work at the site continued, this time with heavier equipment.

In the interim, Fiege and Berlett had authenticated affidavits they had previously written regarding the gold they had found by taking, and passing, lie detector tests. After those tests, the order to dig came — not from General Shinkle, but from Secretary of the Army Elvis J. Stahr Jr.

New Mexico law is quite clear on the point that there can be no mining or treasure troving on any land in the state without approval of the State Land Office. In carrying forward with this top secret project, neither the Army nor the Secret Service had consulted with that office.

On October 28, 1961, word of the digging leaked out after four civilians — friends of Ova Noss — “wandered” into Hembrillo Basin.

News of the Army’s activities quickly reached Ova, who wasted no time in telling Oscar Jordan, general counsel of the State Land Office in Santa Fe, that her claim was being jumped.

Jordan sent S.A. Floersheim, supervisor of the State Land Office’s Lands and Minerals Division, to investigate. Floersheim, in a memorandum dated November 6, 1961, wrote that he contacted Colonel Jaffe, the White Sands staff judge advocate.

Floersheim told Jaffe that he wanted “to make an investigation of the land down there in question to determine if any activity on the part of unauthorized persons had taken place.”

The colonel, in Floersheim’s words, “was not too cooperative.”

When Floersheim indicated that if necessary he would secure a court order from a U.S. district judge, Colonel Jaffe “attempted to assure me that there was no operation, that it was all a myth.”

The “myth,” however, was quickly shown to be fact. The four men who had visited the peak — Ray Bradley, Bob Bradley, Hugh Moreland and R.B. Gray — had drawn up notarized affidavits of what they saw and heard. The affidavits were specific, down to the serial number on one of the jeeps.

Before Jaffe was confronted with the affidavits, he told essentially the same story to Ova Noss and her attorney, and on a separate occasion to Ova’s son, Harold Beckwith.

According to a later account, “When informed of the affidavits, he [Colonel Jaffe] became quite upset.”

Eventually, Oscar Jordan and S.A. Floersheim got the digging to stop. The Army’s less-than-straightforward practices, however, were not corrected.

A report, for example, entitled “Explorations at Victorio Peak,” was prepared by the Museum of New Mexico in 1963, summarizing the highlights of the peak’s history. This report was heavily censored by the Army. All references to Captain Fiege’s 1958 discovery of gold bars and to the subsequent illegal excavation efforts by the Army — two full pages of material — were removed from the final report.1

Furthermore, the Army misrepresented some important excavation work in 1963 done by the museum and Gaddis Mining Company of Denver, Colorado.

The museum had obtained permission to conduct an expedition to Victorio Peak in 1963. As a key part of the expedition, extensive digging was done by Gaddis Mining Company in an attempt to contact a passage that would lead to one of the caverns.

The Gaddis team ran out of its allotted time and money before it could reach the shaft that would have led to a cavern. The team, therefore, was forced to leave the site before completing its work.

The man who supervised the work for Gaddis on the 1963 expedition, geologist Loren Smith of Denver, was not happy with the results and wanted to return to finish the job. As recently as 1981, Smith wrote a letter to the secretary of the Army requesting permission to conduct a 90-day search.

“We didn’t give up,” Smith told this writer in reference to the 1963 expedition. “We just ran out of money. We had spent $100,000, and when we ran out we were getting close to where Fiege found the bars.”

The Museum of New Mexico also wanted to get back in. In a 1965 application to return to the peak, the museum stated, “The results of the exploration program conducted in 1963 proved the existence of a number of open cavities within Victorio Peak similar to those described by the individual who claimed to have been in the caves and seen the artifacts and treasure.”

And yet, through the 1960s and 1970s, the Army would repeatedly and falsely state that the 1963 expedition had “proved” there were no caves or caverns.

According to Sam Scott, a retired airline pilot who with his brother, Norman, led another expedition into the area in 1977, the Gaddis effort got very close to the fault which led down to the main cavern — the passage which Doc Noss had apparently used to haul up hundreds of bars of gold.

The Army consistently misrepresented what occurred on the Gaddis expedition, citing the “negative results” of the 1963 expedition as a reason all future treasure searches would forever be banned as a matter of official policy.

The reason was never sufficient, however. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, pressure for a bona fide search for the treasure continued to mount.

Among the leaders in the push for a new expedition was nationally known attorney F. Lee Bailey, who represented a group of some 52 claimants to the gold. A search of at least a cursory nature seemed inevitable.

Another expedition to the peak was finally mounted. With a twist of irony, this very limited search was dubbed by the Army “Operation Goldfinder.” Although brief and tightly constrained, it became the ultimate excuse to ban people from Victorio Peak.

The ostensible purpose of Goldfinder, as expressed at the time by expedition leader Norman Scott, was to “validate or not validate” stories about the gold and other treasure.

When contacted, Scott said that he and his company, Expeditions Unlimited Inc. of Pompano Beach, Florida, had been “used” by the Army.

Asked to elaborate, Scott expressed the theory that he had served as a “patsy” to give the appearance of a search in order to release the tremendous pressure that had been brought to bear on the Army by F. Lee Bailey and others.

One of the claimants to the gold who was there during Operation Goldfinder was Joe Newman of El Paso, Texas. Newman told this writer that he had found three piles of gold bars in a small cave within the peak in November 1973. He counted the bars in one pile — there were 600. The other piles were identical. Each bar, he said, weighed up to 60 pounds. They were roughly formed, as though from a primitive smelting process.

Newman provided photographs to Freedom showing extensive activity around Victorio Peak shortly before Operation Goldfinder. According to Newman, the photographs demonstrate that Victorio Peak gold was removed just weeks before the expedition.

By the time of Operation Goldfinder, the entrance Newman used to gain access to the small cavern was covered up by the Army. All possible entrances to the peak, according to Newman, had been sealed with concrete, steel bars, steel plates, mounds of earth, or two or more of those in combination.

“There was no way in hell we could get in there without heavy equipment,” Newman said. “ And then we showed up there without bulldozers, without backhoes, without anything but picks and shovels.”

When heavy equipment finally did arrive at the site, both Newman and Sam Scott charge, its use was restricted to locations where “we knew there wasn’t any gold.”

Attorney F. Lee Bailey had similar words. Bailey acknowledged that his group — one of a half-dozen claimant groups on the expedition — had been stopped in its efforts to dig at Bloody Hands, a site in an arroyo by Victorio Peak so named because of five red hand prints on the arroyo wall.

Because those he represented couldn’t look where they wanted to, Bailey told this writer that the expedition “didn’t really prove anything one way or another.”

There was universal agreement among all of the participants interviewed — except for Army spokesmen — that the 1977 expedition had been poorly executed and had not satisfactorily explored for gold.

Sam Scott charged that the expedition was “conceived to fail.” He continued, “I originally made arrangements for a 60-day expedition. The Army cut that down to 30 and then to 10.”

Nearly 19 years after he had made the dramatic three-stack find, Leonard Fiege crawled down the long passage which led to the same room. In the intervening years, much had changed.

As Fiege told newsmen during Operation Goldfinder, “It’s entirely different. There are timbers in there now. It’s all shored up.” And the gold was gone.


Ova Noss continued to press the family’s claim to the treasure after Doc Noss was shot and killed in 1949. Here she makes a point during Operation Goldfinder in 1977.
Ova Noss climbed to the top of the peak. In the same place she had scraped the crusty covering from the first bar Doc had brought out of the mountain in 1937, 40 years before, the 81-year-old Ova shouted to the wind, “Goddamn Army took the gold!”

While the gold had apparently been removed right from under the claimaints’ noses, Operation Goldfinder was important in that it provided high-tech proof that Victorio Peak harbored a very sizable cave. Using sophisticated ground-penetrating radar, a team from Stanford Research Institute headed by Lambert Dolphin determined that there indeed was a very large cavern situated right at the base of Victorio Peak. “It’s about where Doc Noss said it is,” Dolphin told this writer.

The geological structure of the peak is odd, according to Dolphin. Regarding the cavern, he said that “It’s an unusual geological formation, more or less a freak of nature, but it’s there.”

Dolphin is one of the many Goldfinder participants who sought to return to the site. His scientific interest was not shared by the Army, which summarily turned down his 1977 request for re-entry.

Dolphin would like to reach the big cavern, and he had the idea of lowering a remotely operated television camera through a shaft in order to see what remains in the cave described by Doc Noss as being “big enough for a freight train.”

Expressing a thought echoed by virtually everyone interviewed for this article, outside of military spokesmen, Dolphin said that the Army had been very active in and around the mountain. “Everybody who was there would like to know why the Army dug up the mountain so thoroughly,” said Dolphin. “You could see they went in through the existing openings, explored them, and then covered them over.”

One source familiar with Victorio Peak’s history who asked to remain unidentified described the mountain as being “like a hotel.” There were “five layers of caverns in that mountain,” he said.

The top caverns or rooms held “as little as 10 or 15 tons” of gold, according to this source. The bigger caverns were not all cleared out until the 1970s.

Operation Goldfinder “was all basically a show,” said Sam Scott. “Something the Army could turn around and say — ‘See? This proves there’s no gold!’”

But, at the time, the Victorio Peak show was one of the hottest things around. Scores of reporters from various news media were on hand, including CBS-TV’s Dan Rather.

According to several sources, Lady Byrd Johnson, the widow of former President Lyndon Johnson, reportedly called White Sands every day during the expedition in order to be kept posted.

This writer endeavored to reach Mrs. Johnson but was told that any questions had to be submitted via a staff assistant in Austin, Texas.

The answer that came back was that “Mrs. Johnson has no knowledge about that [the phone calls] at all.” The assistant said that Lady Byrd “was entertaining friends here” at the time of the expedition, and, she asserted, “Mrs. Johnson just doesn’t do things like that. It would be out of character for her.”2

By the last day of Operation Goldfinder, a carefully orchestrated public relations scenario had apparently done its work. Those most closely connected with the treasure had seen their dreams trampled and their claims ridiculed. For them, the 1977 expedition must have represented the end of any hope of confirmation of what they knew to be true.

One of these people was Leonard Fiege.

Sam Scott and Fiege were close friends. According to Scott, “Fiege was threatened. He didn’t like to talk about it. But that’s why he left the 1977 expedition early.”

In an affidavit in the possession of Freedom, Thayer Snipes of El Paso, Texas, confirms the threat and sheds some additional light on the overall situation.

The affidavit states that Snipes first met Dr. Robert Welch of Denver, Colorado, around 1975 or 1976. Welch, according to the affidavit, went to Snipes’ home on several occasions to buy turquoise for jewelry .

On one of these occasions, the affidavit states, Welch gave Snipes his business card. The card identified Welch as a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, although he jokingly referred to himself as a “head shrinker.”

The subject of treasure at Victorio Peak came up on one occasion. On this occasion, according to Snipes’ affidavit, “Dr. Welch stated that a U.S. Air Force captain had been sent to his office by the military.”

Snipes continues, “Dr. Welch stated that ‘the military wanted this man to be put away,’ which he further explained as meaning locked away in an insane asylum.

“ ... Dr. Welch stated that on numerous occasions he hypnotized the captain.

“ ... while under hypnosis, the captain told him he had found gold bars in a cave in Victorio Peak.

“ ... also while under hypnosis, the captain stated he had held gold bars in his hands and had covered up stacks of gold bars with rocks and dirt, intending to return later and retrieve the treasure legally.

“ ... Dr. Welch stated that he felt he could not put this man away because he was telling him the truth about the gold, and that he could not lie while under hypnosis.”

Snipes’ affidavit states that “I later met U.S. Air Force Captain Leonard V. Fiege while on the March 1977 expedition to Victorio Peak.

“ ... while on the expedition, I told Captain Fiege the story in front of several witnesses.

“ ... Captain Fiege’s reaction to the story was one of extreme surprise and shock.

“ ... Captain Fiege said he remembered being sent to a psychiatrist named Robert Welch by the military, but that he did not realize that he had been hypnotized.”

According to the affidavit, “Captain Fiege said he had been shipped overseas after finding gold in Victorio Peak, and that he had been ‘harassed ever since’ by the military.”

The affidavit states that Fiege “said he was going to investigate the matter of his visits to the psychiatrist and see what had happened during those visits.”

The affidavit closes with the statement that “Captain Fiege left the expedition a couple of days later, saying that he and his family had been threatened with death if he continued his efforts to prove gold had been in Victorio Peak.”

Fiege did leave the expedition, but, as described by Sam Scott and others, threats did not shut him up.

Scott signed a sworn affidavit regarding the harassment and intimidation leveled at Fiege which only ended with his death in 1979.

According to this affidavit, “I can recall many occasions (probably 10) that Leonard told me about his harassments and the threats to his and his children’s lives. For example, the time that Leonard spoke to a Lion’s Club luncheon in Milwaukee, only to be threatened that night on the telephone. Then there was the time that he was told at supper time what his kids had for lunch in the school cafeteria, their route to and from school, times, etc. Again, a nasty voice on the telephone — a threat on their lives.”

In a personal interview, Fiege’s daughter, Jan, confirmed for this writer the fact of the threats which plagued the family. In 1971 or 1972, for example, shortly after moving to Denton, Texas, she received a phone call from her father telling her that he had just received a call threatening all three of his children if he did not keep his mouth shut about Victorio Peak. Fiege had called her to see if she was all right. The caller knew where all three of his children were, Fiege told his daughter. He even knew that Jan had just taken a job at a diner in Denton. The bewildered Fiege told his daughter that with the operator’s help he had been able to trace the call to Kansas City, Missouri — hundreds of miles from himself in Wisconsin and from his daughter in Texas.

According to Jan, she returned to the family home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, not too long after that and heard a threatening voice on the phone there herself. The male caller told her that unless her father shut up about Victorio Peak, someone was “going to die.”

Similar threats were made to others. Harvey Snow, for example, was told over the phone where each of his five children were by geographic coordinates — including a son who was on a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific at the time. Snow was told to stay away from White Sands Missile Range or his children would be killed. Snow disregarded the warning, and his youngest daughter was found shot to death shortly thereafter.

A grandson of Ova Noss described an apparent attempt on Ova’s life to Freedom. Shortly after the expedition, someone entered her house at night by forcing a window. The intruder turned on the gas on the stove. “If we hadn’t gotten there,” the grandson said, “in 10 or 15 minutes, she would have had it.”

As it was, Ova had to be hospitalized. The grandson mentioned that after the expedition, Ova’s home was broken into two or three more times. Various items connected to Doc Noss’ treasure were stolen.

By the end of 1979, both Leonard Fiege and Ova Noss — the two major living claimants to the gold — were dead.

While it cannot be proven that their names should join the roster of people who died in connection with an apparently violent cover-up of the removal of gold from Victorio Peak, their deaths did mark the end of vigorous pursuit of the gold by active claimants.

Nearly 10 years after Operation Goldfinder failed to answer the many questions about Victorio Peak, the mystery surrounding the treasure has deepened and darkened.


References:
1 “Explorations at Victorio Peak,” by Chester R. Johnson Jr., Division of Research, Museum of New Mexico, 1963. Freedom Magazine obtained copies of both the censored and uncensored reports, as well as copies of the affidavits mentioned above from the four men.
2 For the role that President Johnson played in the removal of tons of gold bullion from Victorio Peak, see Part 1.


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Monday, February 9, 2009
Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure (Part 5)
(A view of Hatch, NM from the other side of the Rio Grande.)

"Chili Capital of the World"

I want to mention Hatch, NM and its relative importance to the Victorio Peak Treasure legend. Why is little Hatch an interesting subset to this treasure tale? Let's take a look. Both Doc and Babe were in Hatch on multiple occasions over the years and I believe they may have lived there for a time as well. Other people who figure prominently in this tale of 100 tons of gold, including some Cheyenne Mining Company investors, also lived in the Hatch area.

Costplustools

Thus, anyone who wants to seriously research the Victorio Peak Treasure needs to take (at the very least) a cursory look at Hatch and perhaps city records dealing with any persons or incidents relating to this treasure legend. Oh, and one more thing. They don't call Hatch the "Chili Capital of the World" for nothing. Some of the best red and green chilis you've ever tasted are grown in and around Hatch, and each year the community holds a very popular Chili Festival for all comers.

Babe Carries On

Many say that Doc and Babe had patched things up between themselves just before Doc's murder. Tue or not, Babe did not give up her quest for the Peak's treasure trove after Doc's untimely demise. Plucky to the core, Babe took on all comers with a fierce stubbornness and a "take no prisoners mentality" when it came to her and Doc's treasure.

It wasn't long after Doc's death that the word really got out on the possibility of there being a huge treasure trove buried inside Victorio Peak. Suddenly, claimants began appearing from the woodwork and Babe fought back as best she could against these interlopers, one of which was (yes, you guessed it) Violet Boles, Doc's "other" wife from Arkansas.

Two New Claimants

Two other claimants were the State of New Mexico and the Federal Government. Both the State and the Feds laid claim to the Hembrillo Basin and Victorio Peak, ostensibly wrangling over who the land should belong to, but making no mention of the possible treasure trove cached inside Victorio Peak. Hmmmmmm. Of course the State and the Feds (U.S. Army) wouldn't be interested in the possibility of getting their greedy little hands on millions and millions of dollars' worth of treasure. Nope, not at all....

So the State and the Feds duked it out in the courts of law for 6 years, finally ending their dispute in 1955 with the Feds the obvious winners. During this entire time Babe was busy filing claims of her own and sneaking onto Victorio Peak whenever she could scrape up enough money and help to keep digging her way to the "treasure room." But with the Army's victory over the State came yet another eviction notice for Babe and she was banned from the Peak for good.
Gold Prospecting Books
Gold Concentrators
Metal Detectors

So this treasure tale continues its multitude of twists and turns. In Part 6 of this series, I'll bring to light another "discovery" atop Victorio Peak. Until then keep smiling.

I
Friday, February 6, 2009
Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure (Part 4)
The Cheyenne Mining Company

After their failed attempt to enlarge the main access tunnel to the
"treasure room" deep inside Victorio Peak, Doc and Babe were in a quandary. The amount of work necessary to once again gain access to the treasure seemed insurmountable.

But the gears were whirling inside Doc's mind and the brainstorm he came up with was something called the Cheyenne Mining Company. Using his considerable persuasive talents and the treasure as a lure, Doc managed to recruit a group of cash investors to join the Company and help finance excavation of the tons of rock and dirt that had blocked the access tunnel.

This is interesting in and of itself because most Americans at the time (late 1930s, early 1940s) had little in the way of spare cash to toss at a chimera like the one Doc conjured up for them. But the pull of gold is strong, and the pull of greed even stronger. Thus, by December 1941 the Cheyenne Mining Company was not only up and running, but had held its first "shareholder" meeting and had enough money in its coffers to begin the necessary excavation work.





More Bad Luck

But bad luck dogged Doc and Babe yet again, not to mention the investor membership of the Cheyenne Mining Company. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval Base and America found itself a World War II combatant.

Not long after Pearl Harbor U.S. Army officials showed up in Southern New Mexico to announce that the White Sands and Hembrillo Basin areas were now part of a new military test range and were "off limits" to all comers, including Doc, Babe, and the forlorn members of the Cheyenne Mining Company. Since Victorio Peak and its immense treasure trove lay within the restricted area, all bets were off. At least until the war ended.

Doc Finds Himself a New Wife

By the end of WWII not all was well with Doc and Babe both personally and in terms of their intent to remove the bulk of Victorio Peak's well-guarded treasure. The U.S. Army was still recalcitrant about allowing "outsiders" into the Hembrillo Basin area, although there is evidence that Doc and Babe may have snuck in and attempted to try their hand at a little excavation work on a number of occasions.

Worse yet, Doc and Babe had a falling out which led to his departure for "greener fields" (in this case Arkansas) where, in 1947, he hooked up with another woman, eventually marrying her. Doc's new wife, Viola Boles, would figure prominently down they road in this convoluted treasure tale.

A Deadly "Shell Game"

Sometime in 1949 Doc hatched a plan (a con game?) to sell a number of gold bars he said he'd removed from Victorio Peak before the access tunnel collapse. He said he'd stashed these in a secret desert location and this was ostensibly verified in later years by a local cowboy named Tony Jolley who stated under oath that he himself had helped Doc bury those same gold bars.

One person who was attracted to Doc's tale of gold bars for sale "under the table" was a Texas oil man of moderate substance named Charley Ryan. Ryan fronted Doc with cash and a pick up truck to help finance the gold recovery. Time dragged on and Doc returned to hit Ryan up again and again for more cash, citing more excuses as to why Doc couldn't recover the gold right now. This proved to be a deadly "shell game" for Doc.

Ryan was no fool and was at least as big a hot head as Doc himself was. During a heated argument late one afternoon voices were raised, threats made, and physical confrontation followed. Doc tried to beat a hasty retreat to his pick up truck down the street but Ryan stalked after him, gun in hand. "Shoot the son of a bitch!" screamed Ryan's wife and the oil man did just that, killing Doc with a shot to the upper cheek and leaving him slumped deader than a doornail over the right front fender of the pick up truck.

No, this is not the end of the Victorio Peak Treasure tale my friend. There is much, much more. So stay tuned....

If you liked this post, you may want to read: "Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure (Part 3)"

http://treasuretrovegold.blogspot.com/2009/01/legends-of-lost-gold-victorio-peak_27.html

(c) J.R. 2009
At the end of my previous post on New Mexico's Victorio Peak Treasure ("Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure [Part 1]" http://treasuretrovegold.blogspot.com/2009/01/legends-of-lost-gold-victorio-peak.html) I mentioned that I'd continue with the legend's history and significant events in the next post. So here goes (please note that all quotes by the parties involved are in italics):

"Something Unusual"

In 1937 the protagonist of our story, Milton "Doc" Noss, was illegally practicing foot medicine as a podiatrist in Hot Springs, New Mexico (now Truth or Consequences). In November of that same year he, his wife Ova "Babe" Noss, and another couple (who remain unnamed) were on a combined hunting and camping excursion in the Hembrillo Basin, not far from Victorio Peak.




At some point Doc slipped away from the others to hunt deer on his own. He returned to the campsite quite late in the evening and pulled Babe aside in their tent, swearing her to secrecy and whispering to her that he had "found something unusual" near the top of the mountain that included a small opening covered by a rock that led into a "cave-like" room.

"That Was the First of the Treasure"

To ensure that no undue suspicions regarding their activities were raised, Doc and Babe waited for a month or two before to returning to Victorio Peak with lengths of rope, digging tools, lanterns, and other supplies. Over the course of 3 or 4 visits, Doc expanded his initial discovery by venturing deeper and deeper into the mountain, squeezing himself through narrow passages and at one point, crossing an underground stream.

Finally, one fateful evening, after being inside the bowels of Victorio Peak for hours, Doc climbed his way back to the surface to confront a very worried Babe. Without saying a word Doc motioned Babe over to the campfire she had built and with shaking hands reached inside his vest and pulled out an old leather bag.

"It looked like a horse's feed bag" and was filled with "old foreign money" quoted Babe in later years. "That was the first of the treasure," said Babe. Over the next few months Doc would recover a number of other treasure items from inside Victorio Peak, including jewels, an old sword, and a gold crown.

"The Treasure Room"

Doc told Babe that the interior of the mountain was riddled with tunnels and caverns including a huge central chamber that Doc called "the treasure room." According to Doc inside this large, central cavern were several large stacks of "pig iron" which later turned out to be various-sized bars of gold (again, according to Doc) with a black oxidation coating on them. Also in the treasure room were wooden crates filled to the brim with jewels, old weapons and armor, trunks filled with lace and velvet, religious statues, gold crosses, and even old documents and letters.

To prove his point Doc handed Babe a gold crown. Later, while they were at home, Babe cleaned the crown at her kitchen sink, still unable to fully comprehend the treasure trove that Doc had found inside Victorio Peak. In later years Babe stated that "I took it to a jewelerman in El Paso and when he seen it he starting talking to us real polite. The crown had 243 diamonds and one big pigeon-blood ruby."

We'll continue with this fascinating treasure legend in my next post on the Victorio Peak Treasure. Until then be safe and good hunting to you!

If you liked this post, you may want to read: "$230,000 in Buried Gold"
(Perry County, Mississippi and the New Augusta area.)


The Southern "Land Pirate"

James Copeland, often called the Southern "Land Pirate," and his gang of criminal associates plagued Perry County (now Lamar County), Mississippi for nearly 18 years from 1839-1857. Copeland began his criminal career as a small-time thief and hog rustler, but after aligning himself with other local "ne'r do wells" like Gale Wages and Charles McGrath, his depredations and crimes increased both in number and in significance.

The Copeland Gang ranged far and wide in Perry County (and outside the county's environs as well) stealing anything that wasn't tied down, including stock and tools. During numerous home intrusions Copeland and his boys also absconded with silver and gold coin, jewelry, and family heirlooms including silver flatware. After Copeland was actually jailed for a brief period in 1843, he and the gang retaliated by burning down the Perry County courthouse.

Murder, Buried Loot, and Nearly a Quarter Million in Gold

In the early years of its reign of terror the Copeland Gang ran wild because local law enforcement was essentially non-existent and the vigilantes who tried to bring the gang to justice early on were disorganized and incompetent. This allowed Copeland and his minions to increase their criminal activities to the point they actually committed murder. The 2 unfortunates in question were Robbert Lott and Thomas Sumrall, well-respected Perry County citizens.

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The murders were the turning point for the Copeland Gang as the vigilantes grew both in numbers and in proficiency. Since Copeland was always on the move and literally "one step ahead of the law," he began burying caches of his stolen loot in various parts of Perry County. According to one of his men who was later captured, one of Copeland's caches which was buried in or near Catahoula Swamp contained nearly $230,000 in gold coin and jewelry. This informant, after disclosing the nature and size of the treasure cache, refused to cough up its exact location and was subsequently hung by vigilantes.

Copeland and His Gang Meet Justice

By 1857 all of the "Land Pirate's" gang of thieves, murderers, and thugs had met their fate, most by hanging at the hands of vigilante groups who had hunted each and every one of them down with dogged persistence and vengeful hearts. Copeland himself was hung on October 30, 1857. Here are a few of his final words:

"It is often I have meditated upon this subject since my imprisonment and often now I remember my father's advice to me when I was young, and repented a thousand times over with sorrow and regret that I failed to receive his good advice. Much I have suffered, but after tomorrow (his execution date, J.R.) my troubles will be over or worse than at present. I bid you a long farewell."

A Treasure Tale of Substance and Credibility

Copeland went to the gallows without revealing a single location of any of his buried treasure caches, including the big one containing nearly a quarter million dollars worth of gold. Although many have searched for Copeland Gang treasure caches over the intervening years, I can find no record of any of them being located or recovered.

Since the Copeland Gang and its movements and depredations in today's Lamar County, Mississippi are reasonably well documented, this tale of lost treasure contains a great deal of substance and credibility. If anyone out there decides to get down to it and perform additional research on the Copeland Gang treasures, remember that the historical records concern Perry County, not Lamar County (which did not exist at the time).

Good luck to you!

If you liked this post, you may want to read: "5 Famous Lost Mines and Treasures"Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure (Part 3)
A Pressing Need for Secrecy

In my previous post on the Victorio Peak Treasure, I alluded to the fact that Doc had sworn Babe to secrecy regarding his finds, including the gold crown Babe said she had shown to a "jewelerman" in El Paso. Most modern treasure hunters fully realize the need for being silent and circumspect about treasure finds. (I'm sure you, the reader, understand why.)

Gold Panning Kits
Mining Equipment
Gold Prospecting Books

But Doc and Babe had even more reason to be secretive about their finds in Hembrillo Basin, thanks to a little piece of Federal legislation known as the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. The Act prohibited private citizens in the United States from owning gold in any form other than coins or jewelry.

It was now 1939 and the repression inherent in the Gold Act had been in place for nearly 5 years. Doc rightfully feared that if he reported his finds at Victorio Peak, the Feds would step in and take all that treasure away from him. In this assumption he was pretty much correct. So he and Babe carried on their work to more easily reach the mountain's "treasure room" on their own, silently and away from prying eyes (at least initially).

Bottlenecks, an Engineer, and Too Much Dynamite

Doc's frustration level mounted with each day's work trying to improve access to the tunnels that honeycombed the Peak and led to the main treasure cave. Try as they might, work on these bottlenecks proved beyond the capabilities of Doc and Babe, and their cheap hand tools. Seeing no other alternative, Doc hired a mining engineer to help solve the problem.

Whether the engineer was apprised of the true reason for his hiring is suspect, but if Doc was the hustler many made him out to be, I'm sure he made up a good cover story. The mining engineer's approach to the access issue was dynamite. One good blast with properly set charges was all it would take he told Doc. Famous last words...

According to what Babe later told family members, the engineer screwed things up royally. The dynamite charge was too strong and instead of opening up the access tunnels, the huge explosion collapsed them, including the main passageway to the "treasure room." Doc, understandably, was furious.

An Alternate Scenario

However, some Victorio Peak treasure hunters and researchers believe in an alternate scenario. They think there never was a mining engineer and that Doc deliberately collapsed the main passageway to keep others from finding the vast treasure storehouse deep within the bowels of Victorio Peak.

Who truly knows? Doc and Babe are both long dead and like most treasure legends, the Victorio Peak tale has as many gaps in it as it does solid leads. Again, Doc's reputation as a con man preceded him, and perhaps he was working an angle to hustle "investors" for capital outlay money to recover a treasure that was, after all was said and done, non-existent.

I'll continue on with this great treasure legend in Part 4 of my Victorio Peak posts. See you next time.

If you liked this post, you may want to read: Legends of Lost Gold: the Victorio Peak Treasure (Part 2)"

http://treasuretrovegold.blogspot.com/2009/01/legends-of-lost-gold-victorio-peak_27.html

(c) J.R. 2009