Lore 313: Tall, Tall Tales

Some folklore thrives in the depths of our world—whether that's across the ocean waves or along the docks of an ancient harbor town. But a few have risen to great heights, giving us a view of history that is downright terrifying. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Cassandra de Alba, and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— ORDER EXHUMED TODAY: aaronmahnke.com/exhumed https://www.aaronmahnke.com/exhumed ————————— Lore Resources: Get Ad-Free Lore: lorepodcast.com/support https://www.lorepodcast.com/support Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music https://www.lorepodcast.com/music Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources https://www.lorepodcast.com/sources Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop ————————— Sponsors: HomeServe: Your next costly home repair is already coming. Act now and get protected with a plan through HomeServe. For 50% less your first year, go to HomeServe.com/lore https://www.homeserve.com/lore. SimpliSafe: Secure your home with 24/7 professional monitoring. Sign up today at SimpliSafe.com/Lore http://simplisafe.com/lore to get 50% off a new SimpliSafe system. Quince: Premium European clothing and accessories for 50% to 80% less than similar brands. Visit Quince.com/LORE http://www.quince.com/lore for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Gusto: Online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. Try Gusto today at Gusto.com/LORE https://www.gusto.com/lore, and get 3 months free when you run your first payroll. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode is sponsored by Wildwood. From Laika, the studio behind Coraline, comes a new epic fantasy adventure. And at the heart of Wildwood is a simple question: How far would you go for someone you love? Wildwood is a handcrafted epic fantasy adventure that transports audiences into a secret, magical, and dangerously alive world just beyond their doorstep. At its heart is the story of a courageous girl, Prue McKeel, on a desperate mission to rescue her baby brother from a forbidden forest filled with enchanted creatures, endearing allies, and formidable adversaries. Her journey unfolds in a spectacular, high-stakes adventure where the fate of an entire hidden world hangs in the balance.

• 0:45Aaron Mahnke?

  The film features vocal performances from Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, and Angela Bassett. And I have to tell you, folks, I have seen the trailer for this film so many times, and I cannot wait to park my butt in a seat and experience this adventure. Wildwood is in theaters everywhere October 23, and tickets are on sale right now.

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• 1:49Aaron Mahnke?

  When the crew of Artemis II took their famous trip to the moon a few months back, it got me thinking about the passage of time. Specifically, the idea that astronauts age ever so slightly slower in space. It has to do with Einstein's theory of relativity. Basically, speed and gravity impact time. So when someone is hurtling through space at crazy high speeds, time slows down a bit for them. Say that you sent one twin into space while the other stayed on Earth. The astronaut twin would be fractions of a second younger than the one who stayed behind when they returned. Meanwhile, the closer a clock is to a center of gravity, the slower it moves. In fact, believe it or not, the core of the Earth is estimated to be a full 2.5 years

• 2:34Aaron Mahnke?

  younger than the surface. It's called gravitational time dilation, and it's honestly heady stuff. Too heady to get deeper into here. But it made me wonder, just how high off the ground do you have to be before time starts to shift? Well, it turns out I wasn't the only one wondering this. In 2023, roughly $2 million was granted to a team of scientists to explore exactly that idea. They wanted to see if a clock atop the towering peak of Mount Blue Sky in Colorado would tick faster than a clock down in Boulder. We'll have to wait until 2027 for the results, but this is what we already know: Time at sea level does move more slowly than it does at high altitudes.

• 3:18Aaron Mahnke?

  Infinitesimally, for sure, but still, there's a difference. In a way, climbing a tall peak isn't just adventurous, it's a form of time travel. Then again, that wouldn't be the strangest thing to occur on a mountain top, and if the stories are true, there might be one mountain more prone to oddity than all the rest. I'm Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

• 3:58Aaron Mahnke?

  It looms over the land like an ancient god. Crowned in snow with a cloak of hardened lava on its massive shoulders, the giant has slumbered there for nearly 600,000 years. In that time, it's become the subject of countless legends, too. Creation myths and conspiracies, ghost stories and religions, all have gathered in the great shadow of Mount Shasta. Located in northern California, about 50 miles south of the Oregon border, Mount Shasta is the second tallest mountain in the Cascade Range. But don't be fooled by its silver metal. This leviathan is a whopping 14,179 feet high, and if that weren't intimidating enough, it also happens to be an active volcano.

• 4:43Aaron Mahnke?

  Now, while scientists believe it last erupted around the year 1250, the U.S. Geological Survey ranks it number five on its list of most hazardous volcanoes in the country. In other words, just because it hasn't erupted in a while doesn't mean that it won't go off again. The mountain gets its name from the local Shasta tribe, but they're not the only native population living in the mountain's foothills. In fact, the area is home to the Shasta, Winntu, Achumawi, and Modoc people, among others. And unsurprisingly, many of them have legends about the prominent peak. According to the Winntu, the very first members of their tribe emerged from a sacred healing spring right there on Mount Shasta.

• 5:25Aaron Mahnke?

  To this day, they hold a ceremony by that spring every August. Meanwhile, the Winntu claim that there were once giants living within the mountain and that spirit beings dwell above the tree line. In fact, humans should never go above the tree line at all, they say, except for rituals, advice that the Shasta people insist upon as well. In Modoc mythology, the great creator himself resides on the mountain, and as such, Modoc people bring offerings like water or tobacco whenever they visit. They also believe that all animals originate from a race of animal people who came down from the top of Mount Shasta and made new homes for themselves on Earth. Oh, and also living on the mountain are a creature known as the keepers of the woods,

• 6:09Aaron Mahnke?

  the Matakagmi, or as you might call them, Bigfoot. The Achumawi, on the other hand, tell of an entirely different supernatural entity residing on the slopes. They're called Isu Chin and are magical black imps known for punishing those who disrespect the sacred mountain. Punish how, you might ask? Well, they might simply scare you, or make you get lost on the mountain forever. Or if they're feeling particularly cheeky, drive you fully and entirely insane. Then again, not all the mountain's legends come from its indigenous neighbors. No, it turns out some might just come from a local Mount Shasta-area teenage boy with a typewriter and a tiny obsession with Atlantis. Let me explain.

• 6:54Aaron Mahnke?

  His name was Frederick Spencer Oliver, and let's just say, he wasn't a very good student. He had trouble concentrating in class, his teachers called him lazy, but in the early 1880s, one mentor took a chance on the 17-year-old Frederick and changed his life forever. Now, let me be clear here: If you're imagining a strict tutor with a scowl and a hickory switch, you've got the wrong idea. This was no typical teacher. In fact, Frederick's mentor wasn't even, well, human. You see, the boy was actually under the careful tutelage of an invisible being known as Philos the Thibetan, former resident of Atlantis. According to Frederick, this supernatural being had begun projecting spiritual messages

• 7:38Aaron Mahnke?

  right into his brain. Messages the teenager transcribed into a 442-page doozy of a manuscript. And let me tell you, folks, this thing is wild. First, it describes Philos's life on Atlantis way back in 11,000 B.C., a high-tech world complete with public transportation and anti-gravity airships. Apparently, Atlantis even had X-rays, which, for the record, hadn't even been discovered yet when Frederick was writing. But it's in the next part of the book where things go really crazy, because that's where Frederick mentions his favorite local landmark: Mount Shasta. You see, if his book is true, the mountain has a secret.

• 8:20Aaron Mahnke?

  It hides a tunnel leading to a temple city deep within Mount Shasta's belly. There are walls of polished quartz veined with gold, luminous white light ebbs from no clear source, the air is perfumed, and presiding over it all is a multicultural, robe-clad brotherhood with access to all the secrets of the universe. In other words, Frederick Spencer Oliver had written one heck of a sci-fi novel. But hey, if L. Ron Hubbard taught us anything, it's that fiction and fact have a pesky way of blurring together. That's right, plenty of people were happy to take Frederick's book all too literally.

• 9:10Aaron Mahnke?

  Frederick Oliver passed away at the young age of 33. But in 1905, his mother had his book published under the title “A Dweller on Two Planets,” and immediately, it was super-popular among a very particular type of people who, suffice to say, did not consider it to be fiction. And the book’s biggest fans? The Rosicrucians, an esoteric order hodgepodge-ing together Masonic traditions, alchemy, Christian mysticism, and the theories of Paracelsus. And they went bananas for the Mount Shasta stuff as well. Not only did they gobble up Frederick’s book, but they added brand-new details in writings of their own. Specifically, they offered new information on an ancient race of possibly egg-laying people called Lamyrians.

• 9:55Aaron Mahnke?

  Lamyrians, they said, lived in the mountain, protected by a huge force field while traveling via a flying boat. You know, totally normal stuff. Word spread, though, and by the 30s, the conspiracies had leaked into the mainstream. No more gatekeeping that secret underground city. In fact, one man even claimed that he had been there. But let me say, if you thought Frederick Spencer Oliver was a bit quirky, just wait until you meet Guy Warren Ballard. He had come to California in 1930 in search of Mount Shasta’s secret brotherhood. Or, okay, maybe Ballard’s trip had more to do with the fact that Illinois authorities were after him for selling stock in phony gold mines, but he’d failed to mention that specific detail. So, anyway.

• 10:40Aaron Mahnke?

  According to Ballard, he’d been at Mount Shasta, bending down to drink from a spring, when suddenly, a man had appeared and asked to borrow his cup. Ballard obliged, and at once, the cup was filled with, and I quote, “creamy liquid.” Ballard drank that, and the stranger explained that the beverage was actually omnipresent life itself, before going on a rant about universal love. At this point, Ballard realized that the stranger was, and I quote, “godlike in a white jeweled robe, a light and love sparkling in his eyes.” He also came to the conclusion, and don’t ask me why he did, that the man was none other than the Count of Saint Germain, an actual 18th-century alchemist.

• 11:23Aaron Mahnke?

  The alleged Saint Germain went on to show Ballard golden ribbons containing the whole history of the universe, plus heaps of rescued Atlantean gold. And as a cherry on top, he revealed Ballard’s own past lives as an Egyptian priest, an Incan prince, and George Washington. So, what did Ballard do next? He published the account far and wide, of course, outlining every last detail of this encounter that definitely happened and certainly wasn’t made up by a man who was already a known con artist. And what do you know? It was a huge hit. In fact, it started a whole religious movement called the I Am Activity, based around the idea that the words “I am” have a sort of powerful creative vibration.

• 12:08Aaron Mahnke?

  Ballard and his wife Edna hit the road, touring the country in a cream-colored Cadillac. Edna brought her concert harp along. They sold I Am pins and rings, recordings of Edna’s harp music, and garishly colored pictures of Saint Germain and Jesus Christ. But it wasn’t all light and love. At I Am meetings, they didn’t only spread their teachings, but rallied against communists, labor unions, and anyone they saw as anti-American. For a taste, here’s just a little sample of actionable dialogue from one such meeting. First, Guy Ballard shouted, “Everyone who opposes the light, silence them forever,” to which his followers screamed, “Annihilate!”

• 12:51Aaron Mahnke?

  Ballard then yelled, “Anyone who stands against me, I shall blast his carcass to pieces,” and again, the devotees cried, “Annihilate!” Yeah, slightly alarming, I know, and like similar esoteric movements, they allegedly had ties to fascist groups, which really puts a damper on that whole “universal love” thing, right? But the worst part? This was no niche, obscure cult. By the time of Guy Ballard’s death in 1939, there were anywhere from 400,000 to a million I Am devotees worldwide. And believe it or not, they’re still around, and even hold an annual pageant right there on Mount Shasta itself. And as for Ballard’s wife Edna, well, she ended up convicted of swindling people through a fraudulent religion.

• 13:35Aaron Mahnke?

  At least until the case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that whether a supposed religion is true or not, frankly, isn’t any of their business. In the end, the Ballards got away with it, and they weren’t alone. Because the I Am Activity, it is only one of about 100 or so new religious movements that erupted from the mouth of Mount Shasta. And just like hot lava, some conspiracies are impossible to contain.

• 14:16Aaron Mahnke?

  It was June 18th of 1934, and no one could find J.C. Brown, which was worrying to say the least. You see, Brown had promised around 80 people that he would meet them that day at 1:00 PM. He told them that he would have a surprise waiting for them, and in a way, I suppose he did. That is, the surprise was that he’d never showed up. But let me rewind just a bit. Earlier that spring, Brown had rolled into the city of Stockton, California, a little over 200 miles south of Mount Shasta. A kindly 79-year-old, white-haired geologist, he was quick to make friends with the Stockton locals, and soon, he began to tell them an incredible story. You see, Brown claimed that 30 years prior, he’d been working for a mining company

• 15:01Aaron Mahnke?

  in the Cascades, when he noticed a large rock that seemed oddly out of place. Turning it over, he discovered a tunnel underneath. Cautiously, he crept inside, but no matter how far he walked, the tunnel didn’t seem to end. It ran on for miles and miles, all the way into the heart of Mount Shasta. Driven by curiosity, he just had to see where it all led, and so he kept on walking. Eventually, Brown came upon a room. Well, two rooms, actually, both filled with copper and gold tablets covered in fine, intricate writing. Then, a third room, this one full of copper weapons. I imagine it would have felt like Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders, all that gleaming treasure in such a strange, impossible place.

• 15:44Aaron Mahnke?

  But when Brown reached the fourth room, the tone changed, because this one wasn’t full of gold or copper. No, it was full of skeletons. Seventeen of them, to be precise, and let’s just say, they weren’t exactly of a typical stature. The shortest of them was 6.5 feet tall, the tallest, over 10 feet. Continuing onward, Brown entered a room containing two more bodies. These ones preserved by some sort of embalming process. Both were draped in royal robes, so Brown assumed that they must have been a king and queen of whatever people had once inhabited this space. And lastly, he found a worship room, teeming with gold and copper suns and statues. This is the story that he told the awestruck residents of Stockton.

• 16:29Aaron Mahnke?

  And now, three decades later, he had returned to California to finish what he had started. He was going back to get the treasure. Now, if you’re wondering why it took him so long to come back? Well, he claimed that he had planned to explore the cave with his wife, father-in-law, two daughters, and an old college friend, but all of them had died in, and I quote, “a series of tragedies.” Heartbroken, treasure hunting had taken a backburner, but now, finally, he was ready, and he was going to need help. Help from who? Why, the people of Stockton, of course. Anyone who came along would not only be paid handsomely, but could keep whatever they wanted from the first two rooms.

• 17:09Aaron Mahnke?

  Brown was a multimillionaire, you see, and was more than happy to fund the expedition. He just needed strong, capable hands alongside him. Needless to say, there were plenty of takers, around 80, in fact, and Brown began gathering these eager believers twice a day for strategy meetings. They discussed their expedition to the tunnel, yes, but other topics came up as well. Topics like the lost Lamyrian civilization, mysticism, occultism, and possibly another ism, beginning with “fash.” Yeah, the slopes of Mount Shasta sure do seem to be slippery ones. Soon enough, Brown’s followers began preparing for their journey into the mountainside.

• 17:49Aaron Mahnke?

  It was going to be a long, immersive voyage, so some quit their jobs, others gave away or sold their possessions. But to be fair, not everyone was so quick to blindly fall in line. One follower, a man named Henry Neus Pratt, wanted to see proof of Brown’s story before going on some wild goose chase. Pratt was Stockton’s history museum curator, you see, and he knew the value of a secondary source. And so, that’s what he asked for: solid, concrete evidence that Brown’s tale was true, and he wanted it by June 18th of 1934. On June 17th, Brown made an announcement. The very next day, he would finally provide that proof that Pratt had requested.

• 18:31Aaron Mahnke?

  And what’s more, he’d have a big surprise for everyone. All they had to do was meet him the following day, June 18th, at 1:00 PM. But of course, you already know what happened next. Although Brown’s followers waited and waited, their leader never showed. In fact, J.C. Brown, if that was even his real name, was never seen again.

• 19:08Aaron Mahnke?

  We all want something to believe in, some proof that our world is more than it appears to be, that there's magic hiding in the rocks and hills all around us, if we only look hard enough. There's a lot of banality to day-to-day life, a constant cycle of groceries and chores, commuting and bill paying. And when that drudgery gets to be too much, we start to dream. We dream of fairy worlds and fire-breathing dragons, of flying saucers and time travel, and yes, of secret tunnels in our own backyard. Tunnels, of course, that lead to ancient hidden cities. And surely, that's what young Frederick Spencer Oliver was doing, that teenager in the 1880s who wrote a whole book about the enchanted brotherhood

• 19:53Aaron Mahnke?

  living under the mountain near his house. And that's what J.C. Brown's followers clung to as well. Unfortunately, there will always be swindlers ready to take advantage of hope. People like Guy Warren Ballard, who conned a million people through his fake religion and made a pretty penny in the process. And as for J.C. Brown, he lied to his followers, too. He didn't meet them when he said he would. And remember how he promised to fund the expedition with millions of his own dollars? Well, you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that Brown was not a multimillionaire. In fact, he had spent the beginning of that year living in a government-run shelter. But here's where things get complicated. While Brown certainly was not truthful,

• 20:36Aaron Mahnke?

  there's a major difference between him and Ballard. J.C. Brown never asked his followers for money. As a matter of fact, he didn't ask them for anything other than their help entering the mountain. In other words, his tall tale wasn't a tool for extortion. So what was it? Perhaps he did it for the attention. Or maybe he was suffering from delusions and believed his story just as much as his followers did. And then there's the third option. Maybe, just maybe, the mountain's secret was real all along. A secret that Brown had come a bit too close to unveiling, until someone, or something perhaps, came along and stopped him. And if that's the case,

• 21:20Aaron Mahnke?

  well, then I suppose that all those tunnels are still there, waiting to be found again.

• 21:41Aaron Mahnke?

  Thanks for joining me on this daring hike through the countless mysteries of Mount Shasta. Some places are just magnets for supernatural stories, and this peak is certainly one of them. But guess what? Shasta isn't the only part of the Cascades with legends attached to it. And thanks to one final story we've uncovered, we're standing on the precipice of another adventure. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This episode was made possible by Gusto. When you run a small business, you don't just do your own job. You're also the hiring manager, the payroll department, and the benefits team, usually all before lunch. Gusto takes a few of those off your plate quickly and seamlessly. I have an entire team of people working for me here at Grim and Mild, and I get to pay them every single month,

• 22:26Aaron Mahnke?

  which is amazing. Thankfully, Gusto makes that complex task something that I can do in literally 60 seconds with, if I remember correctly, just two clicks. And I've been using Gusto for six glorious years, and I will never stop. I love them that much. Gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. They offer automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers' comp, and 401K. Gusto has unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price, no hidden fees, no surprises. And maybe that's why Gusto is ranked number one on G2's Highest Satisfaction Products List

• 23:10Aaron Mahnke?

  for 2026 and trusted by over 400,000 small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com/lore and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com/lore. One more time, gusto.com/lore. This episode was made possible by HomeServe. Here's the thing about home disasters that sneak up and bite you. Most of them cost more than a car repair. And let's be honest, your cooling system isn't going to warn you before it quits. HVAC, breakdowns, burned-out motors. These repairs hit hardest when it's 95 degrees out and you need AC the most. Don't wait until you're sweating it out to figure out if you're not covered. HomeServe is like a subscription for your home. For as little as $4.99 a month,

• 23:55Aaron Mahnke?

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• 24:38Aaron Mahnke?

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• 25:21Aaron Mahnke?

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• 26:06Aaron Mahnke?

  detect suspicious activity at the perimeter and alert live US-based agents to step in. SimpliSafe's agents assess the threat, intervene through the outdoor camera to scare off trespassers, and call for 911 dispatch. SimpliSafe has been protecting our world for 20 years. Celebrate their anniversary with us and save 60% on your new SimpliSafe system at simplisafe.com/lore. That's 60% off at simplisafe.com/lore. Plus, when you order, write in our show's name in the "How did you hear about us?" survey to let them know that we sent you. Don't forget, there's no safe like SimpliSafe. This episode was made possible by Quince. August is the perfect time to hit reset

• 26:50Aaron Mahnke?

  before the autumn rush begins. And honestly, I can't think of a better place to start than my closet. And that's why I love shopping at Quince. Quince is all about fewer, better pieces. Their clothes are made with premium materials, built to last, and designed to become the ones you reach for every day. Quince specializes in everyday staples that work harder, like their ultra-soft organic cotton tees and premium Mongolian cashmere sweaters. They're versatile, timeless, and they transition seamlessly from a casual workday to a dinner out. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered their organic stretch corduroy trucker jacket in a gorgeous blue, and I can already tell that I'm going to wear this thing every single day. The fit is perfect, and the material feels absolutely amazing. If you're still hanging on to the same worn-out basics,

• 27:34Aaron Mahnke?

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• 28:26Aaron Mahnke?

  It was late February of 1910, and Wellington was being downright walloped. Wellington, Washington, that is, a small railroad town in the Cascade Mountains. And by walloped, I mean pounded by unbelievable amounts of snow. Heck, in just one day, they received 11 feet of snowfall. Unsurprisingly, the railroad's plows were struggling, leaving the tracks absolutely buried. And also stuck on those tracks, that would be two trains containing around 50 passengers and 75 railroad workers. Now, as the railroad workers got busy shoveling off the tracks, the passengers could only wait and wait and keep on waiting. In fact, they were trapped on those stalled trains for nearly a week.

• 29:11Aaron Mahnke?

  Folks were tired, they were restless, and to make matters worse, they had started running out of food. Eventually, some of the passengers got so fed up with the situation that they decided to hoof it through the snow, hiking down the mountain on foot. It was a risky move, for sure, and a pretty reckless one at that. But little did they know that decision would save their lives. Because early in the morning of March 1st, a thunderstorm rolled in. Lightning streaked the air, rain lashed the valley, and as for what happened next, well, perhaps a thunderclap caused it, or maybe it was all that falling water. Whatever the case, what we do know is that this thunderstorm triggered an avalanche.

• 29:54Aaron Mahnke?

  Unbeknownst to all the innocent people fast asleep onboard the trains, a 14-foot-high, half-mile-long wall of snow began racing down the mountain, headed right for them. The results, according to railroad engineer Charles Andrews, who witnessed it all firsthand, were devastating. "White death," he wrote, "moving down the mountainside above the trains, relentlessly it advanced, exploding, roaring, rumbling, grinding, snapping, a crescendo of sound that might have been the crashing of 10,000 freight trains. It descended to the ledge where the side tracks lay, picked up cars and equipment as though they were so many snow-draped toys, and swallowing them up, disappeared like

• 30:37Aaron Mahnke?

  a white broad monster into the ravine below." Charles had witnessed a disaster. The avalanche knocked the trains off their tracks and sent them plummeting into the Tye River Valley, where they fell for 150 feet before crashing to earth. The people of Wellington tried to dig out the survivors, but the trains lay beneath a good 40 to 70 feet of snow and debris. Miraculously, they were able to drag 23 people out of the wreckage alive, but the number they couldn't save, well, that was far higher. 96 people died that day, 35 passengers, and 61 railroad workers. Now, remember, Wellington was a train industry town, and let's just say this sort of disaster

• 31:21Aaron Mahnke?

  didn't look great for the railroad's public relations. Following the accident, the railroad quickly renamed the town of Wellington to Tye, hoping future travelers wouldn't realize the area's connection to that fateful tragedy. By 1929, though, the town had been fully abandoned, and today, nothing more than a handful of empty buildings remain. Buildings and, if the stories are true, more than a few ghosts. They say that whispers and screams are heard floating on the air of what was once Wellington. Some have heard the sounds of trains passing by, although trains haven't run there for years. Others have spotted figures walking along the old tracks before suddenly vanishing.

• 32:03Aaron Mahnke?

  Dogs are said to behave strangely, and people have reported feeling, and I quote, "like they are being watched or followed by death." And look, I'll be honest with you here, all of that sounds a bit like ghost tourism sensationalism to me. After all, these reports do come from self-proclaimed ghost hunters, and of course, they're going to claim to have bumped into some creepy crawlers after visiting the disaster site. Except, well, there's one paranormal experience that's a bit harder to explain away. Remember Charles Andrews, who described the "white death" roaring down the mountain? Well, it turns out that he had been fast asleep just 15 minutes before the disaster, tucked away in a small cabin for railroad workers, when he suddenly woke up.

• 32:47Aaron Mahnke?

  And what woke him up, you might ask? Why, that would be an impending sense of doom so strong that he climbed out of bed and nervously made his way to the larger bunkhouse. And it was right there, on the steps of that bunkhouse, that he witnessed the avalanche devour the trains, along with the very cabin in which he had been sleeping, only minutes before.

• 33:22Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode of Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Jenna Rose Nethercotz, research by Cassandra De Alba, and music by Chad Lawson. Hey, folks, it's official. My brand-new creepy history book, Exhumed, is finally here, available in hardcover, ebook, and an audio version that's narrated by me. Exhumed is 300 pages of brand-new material exploring the strange and twisted roots of the New England Vampire Panic and its star player, Mercy Brown. Grab your copy today by heading over to aaronmahnke.com/exhumed. Don't like ads on Lore? Well, there's a paid version available on Apple Podcasts and Patreon that is 100% ad-free. Subscribers there also get weekly mini-bonus episodes called Lore Bites, and Patreon members

• 34:07Aaron Mahnke?

  specifically get discounts on Lore merch. Learn more by heading over to lorepodcast.com/support. Follow the show on YouTube Threads, Blue Sky, and Instagram. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.