Friday, March 1, 2019

Scary: Mysteries of the Mojave (video)

 
Mojave Mysteries author M.L. Behrman shares bizarre accounts from SoCal's desolate Mojave Desert from witnesses, modern and historical, of things that left them shaken, terrified, or worse.

The Mojave could be considered a giant triangular area in the middle of Southern California, he explains, that includes both deserts and mountains, with Death Valley at the top, Joshua Tree at the bottom, and the Mojave National Preserve in the center.

Many spots are 1-3 days from any roads or rescue, and the remoteness of the desert attracts people that want to hide or do things in secret.

Up in Sandy Valley, on the edge of Death Valley, a young Mexican man was hitchhiking to Los Angeles when he was picked up by two women who offered to make a home-cooked meal for him at an old trailer, Behrman recounts.
The women ended up drugging him, and when he awoke, he found himself tied up in the center of a Satanic bonfire ritual, with a leader in a black robe encircled by naked followers.

Assuming he was going to be sacrificed when the leader pointed a knife at him, he was able to make a break for it. Because they had left his boots on him, he was able to escape from his barefooted pursuers, who gave chase in the rough terrain.

Behrman also details accounts of giant spiders. One was said to have an abdomen the size of a football and was seen dragging off a rabbit. In another instance, a man reported running over one of the enormous spiders in his truck and actually "felt the tires bounce."

A mysterious locked iron door in a cave in what is now Joshua Tree National Park was thought to be created by a miner in a spot that someone would have to crawl to get into. One folkloric explanation is that a deformed child was kept there.

The "cement monster" or "Yucca Man" is part of the lore he labels as "I saw it on the road," strange things people fleetingly witnessed by drivers and truckers.

Traveling out in the backcountry, as Behrman does, yields other kinds of experiences, such as when he saw inexplicably large footprints in a rocky path up close and personal. More

Murder in the Mojave
Ian Punnett hosts Deanne Stillman, who discusses murders in the Mojave Desert. In the first-hour, comedian George Carlin's daughter, Kelly Carlin, remembers her father. And M.L. Behrman analyzes a strange desert discovery a week after his first appearance. More

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