The Superstition Mountain is an Arizona mountain range shrouded in rumors and legends about lost gold and its curse.
Once upon a time, the Hohokam Indians lived in these parts. They turned the desert into fertile fields, creating an irrigation system hundreds of kilometers long that Americans still use today. Their culture was one step ahead of other tribes in construction, which is why some Arizona cities formed on Indian ruins.
For centuries, the Hohokams considered themselves the rightful owners of these lands, but with the arrival of foreigners, everything changed. In the XVI-XVII, the white people began to press the Indians and they retreated into the mountains, which they knew like the back of their hand.
During the early "gold rush" there were rumors about seven gold-bearing cities, which seemed to be somewhere in the interior of the continent. Greedy glances scoured the map and the suspicions of some seekers fell on the possessions of the Indians.
The first to come to this idea was the Franciscan monk Fray Marcos de Nisa. On the basis of his conclusions, in 1540, the army of Francis Vasquez de Coronado visited these lands. The lack of new information about the fabulously rich cities and skirmishes with the Indians forced the military leader to return with nothing. But on this the ardor of the Spaniards did not subside.
Later there were rumors that uninvited guests visited the Hohokam tribes. They gained confidence in them, gained access to gold mines and began to send the mined precious metal overseas to the Spanish king.
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After 200 years, due to a difficult political situation, the Spaniards had to leave the gold mine. They say that before leaving, they intimidated the Indians so much that they vowed not to reveal the secret of the gold mines to anyone else. Since then, the Indians have sacredly kept the precious ore. According to legend, in the Mountains of Superstition, in the places of the largest accumulation of gold, there is an entrance to the sacred grotto, leading to the otherworldly Lower World, where the spirits of the Indians live.
In 1846, the German Jacob Wels emigrated to the United States in the grip of the gold rush. Like most easy-money lovers, Jacob was attracted to gold mines. Overseas, he quickly found a companion - the same gambling gold digger, his compatriot and namesake Jacob Weissner. A pair of gold diggers went to Arizona, where they set out to find gold. The adventurers went to the Mountains of Superstition, and for a long time there was no news from them.
One day Jacob Wels appeared in a local town with a sack of gold. According to him, he and Weisner managed to find the treasures of the Indians, but as soon as they began to fill the bags with nuggets, vengeful spirits appeared. The ghosts killed his companion and almost sent him to the next world. Jacob Wels miraculously escaped, taking one of the bags with him. The German said that exceptional luck would not be repeated a second time, and he would never return to that place and, in order not to take sin on his soul, would not tell others about it.
A few years later, Jacob met a certain Julia Thomas. She gained confidence in him, and the German let slip that he not only had money, but also a map indicating the place where a lot of gold could be found.
In 1891, Wels died of pneumonia and Julia, without hesitation, went in search of a mine. Soon she returned empty-handed and badly battered. The woman claimed that she faced the ghosts of the dead miners, whom she initially took for hostile competitors. Julia's group shot at the ghosts, but they were not afraid of the bullets. All accompanying gold diggers were killed, and she was left alive as a warning to the others. Doctors declared Julia Thomas to be crazy.
Since then, everyone who approached the solution to the gold mines disappeared in the mountains, and after a while their bodies cut, shot or decapitated were found. At the same time, death overtook precisely those daredevils who were sure of the success of finding wealth.
The last known case occurred in 2010. Three Americans from Utah came to the Mountains of Superstition specifically to search for the very mine that Jacob once discovered. They left their belongings at the hotel and disappeared. Since they did not answer any mobile calls or walkie-talkies, the relatives raised the alarm. A search expedition was carried out, but nothing was found except for an empty car at the foot of the mountains. In 2011, their bodies were accidentally found in one of the gorges. Either the tourists fell off a cliff, or someone threw them off - a mystery. Rumor has it that the ancient curse of the Indians to this day guards the entrance to the treasury.