US Odyssey Part 12: Mt Shasta Revisited
Since we mostly relaxed the last time I was in Mt Shasta (literally only a few days ago!), we made sure to do some more ‘tourist-y’ things this time around. Here they are in point form:
Radiostar Studios:
Not only is there a town nearby called Weed, but it’s also the home of Radiostar Studios, run by Sylvia Massy. Why is this important and/or significant? Well, let me tell you. Not only are there very few female music producers in the world, but Sylvia is responsible for quite a few albums you may have heard of, including Undertow by Tool. We got a tour of her facility, which includes over 6 different studio spaces ranging an old theatre to an old church, chock full of the latest gear any musician/engineer could think of. I made sure to take a photo with the City sign, much like Sublime did quite some time ago (although our intentions weren’t the same!).
The 13th Crystal Skull:
Mt Shasta is rife with folklore about aliens and our interactions with the spiritual world, so when we heard that there was someone that had a portal, of COURSE we had to visit it.
She owns a store in what used to be a gas station, and where the pumps used to be there were several rainbow triangular ribbons. Apparently that is the portal, the place where humans can connect with the aliens living beneath the mountains. That’s ‘Telos – the city under the mountains’, for those of you that are unaware. At certain times of the year, circular cloud formations appear over / near the mountain, and then stay there (yes – with next to no movement) for extended periods of time – even weeks. The strangest part is that the locals can pinpoint when the clouds will arrive – TO THE DAY – and there are often stacks of these disc shaped clouds. Because of this, Mt Shasta is believed to be the location of an interplanetary conference, which explains why the cloud-cloaked ships remain closely stacked for days.
Once we were in the actual store front, we found out that she is the keeper of the 13th Crystal Skull. Yes, she’s seen the newest Indiana Jones movie, but she was given this skull in 2000 by a group of Mayans when she was visiting some ruins in Central America. After just one meeting, they felt so convinced that she was meant to be the keeper of this Crystal Skull, that they flat out gave it to her. However, If we wanted to see it, we’d have to cough up $85 a person for a viewing. I was tempted, but I held my ground in light of what was 99.99% a scam. What? So what if it intrigues me!? Leave me alone. Here’s the hilariously terrible website.
Stand By Me bridge:
As if we hadn’t seen enough neat things that day, we were told that they had filmed a part of the movie Stand By Me (based on Stephen King’s novella, The Body) about an hour away. What part? The train bridge scene! We drove there only to find out that the rails had been rerouted. While there were no tracks on the land, the bridge was still in great shape, however, it had been blocked off on either end. Likely, to prevent people like Shannon and I from recreating one of our favourite scenes.