|
 Probably
one the more bizarre searches I have ever been
involved in occurred in the summer of 1980. Like my
friend Bob Corbin, I had sworn to stay out of the
Superstition Mountains in the summertime. The
extreme heat was dangerous, rattlesnakes were quite
common, and not to mention water was at a premium.
On July 2, 1980, a man named Joe Mays contacted me
and wanted me to help him hunt for a crystal skull
buried in the Superstition Mountains. I tried to
laugh off his request, but I had this curious desire
to hear his story out.
At first he sounded somewhat reasonable, but when he
said he wanted to pack into the Superstition
Mountain on July 6th I certainly had second
thoughts. The temperatures were hovering around 110
degrees and the monsoons were late that year. So far
there had been no relief from the heat.
I met with Joe Mays, Everett Johnston and three of
Mays’ men at Cobb’s Restaurant in Apache Junction on
July 5th. Joe explained to me that he had contracted
Johnston, owner and operator of Peralta Stables on
South Meridian Road, to pack him into the mountains
for three weeks. Joe looked at me and said he wanted
to hire me as a consultant in the mountains. He said
I would only need to go into the mountain for a
couple of days. Again I thought he was joking, but
when he offered me six crisp new one hundred dollar
bills to help him I soon changed my mind. Summers
were always a lean period for me because I only
worked nine months a year as a teacher in those
days... but this consultant job was one I lived to
regret.
At 4:30 a.m. on July 6th we loaded up the horses and
gear at Peralta Stables on Meridian Road and drove
out to First Water Trail Head. The rays of the sun
were shining on us before we were saddled and packed
up ready for our trip into a burning hell.
As we rode along the trail down toward Garden Valley
and Second Water it started getting warm. We rode up
East Boulder Canyon and then picked up the trail
over to La Barge Canyon. Johnston was sure we would
find water in La Barge Canyon above the Lower Box.
Riding down La Barge about 11 a.m., again I realized
I had made a big mistake. But it was too late to
turn back at this point.
 We
found good water for the stock and ourselves in La
Barge Canyon. We packed in all of our drinking
water. Johnston planned on somebody going to town
every day and hauling ice and drinks back to camp.
Once at the site, the wranglers set up a large fly
for a shade to eat and rest under. We had plenty of
good food and lots of cold drinks. Once camp was set
up I didn’t think it was going to be so bad after
all even with temperatures above 109 degrees.
That evening when it cooled down a little we hiked
down La Barge Canyon toward the Upper Box looking
for the site where the crystal skull was supposedly
hidden. Joe wandered up and down several small side
canyons until he came to a spot where there was a
very deep vertical crack in the rock. He peered into
the crack a hundred feet or so and declared this was
the spot. He immediately put his crew of three guys
to work trying to break the rock. What an effort in
futility!
These guys must have believed there was a ton of
gold buried behind the crack the way they were
trying to break the rock. Within 30 minutes or so
Joe Mays determined we would need an explosive
expert. I informed Joe it was against the law to
blast in the wilderness without a federal permit.
This permit soon became a point of contention
between Mays and I. After a couple of really hot
days of digging and scraping, Joe Mays abandoned the
site and said he had been wrong. We started looking
for another site.
It wasn’t long before Joe came up with another site.
This was the day before my birthday, July 9th. I
absolutely refused to leave camp on my birthday and
ride or walk in the blazing hot sun. I planned to
sit under the shade all day and drink Pepsi to
celebrate my birthday. On the evening of my birthday
it was decided that early the next morning I would
go out with the pack horse and send Auggie, a
wrangler, back in with ice and supplies. My time in
the mountain was over... I thought.
I learned a lot on that trip. First of all, I
couldn’t believe the money Joe was spending on this
adventure in the Superstition Mountains. It wasn’t
long before I found out Joe was spending an
investor’s money on this whole operation.
Furthermore, I couldn’t believe anyone would invest
money in such a wild tale as a crystal skull hidden
in the Superstition Mountains by the Aztecs 500
years ago.
I later found out Joe was using an ancient book as
collateral for his adventure. When Joe’s stories
began not to prove out, his investors told him
stories about guys who were thrown in the Atlantic
Ocean with concrete shoes. It was at this point he
convinced his investors they should make a video
documentary of this entire adventure. Believe it or
not the investors thought this was a great idea.
Joe almost begged me to accompany them and help with
technical information for the documentary. He told
me if I didn’t he might end up in the Atlantic
Ocean. I guess I took pity on his soul and continued
with them until they completed the project at the
end of July. Like so many things about the
Superstition Mountains there was no Crystal Skull. I
really think it was a figment of Joe’s imagination
that he transposed from another story or legend.
Johnston and his crew ended up packing Joe and his
group all over the Superstition Wilderness Area
while they were filming a documentary that was never
produced. They spent a week at the Reavis Ranch were
it was much cooler. I rented a high quality video
camera from Troxell Communications for this project.
Some twelve hours of tape was shot on the
Superstition Wilderness Area. Before this operation
was over Joe had spent more than $20,000 of his
investor’s money. To this day, I don’t know what
happened to the tape, but I did make a VHS copy of
it and it is still in my files.
I swore at the end of July that I would never work
in those mountains during the summer months again.
Basically I have adhered to that rule for obvious
reasons. Over the years many people have succumbed
to the heat of the desert. It can really be
dangerous if you are not properly hydrated.
The search for the Crystal Skull still remains as
one of the most interesting and bizarre expeditions
I have ever joined. |
