(GPS: N37° 44.990 W118° 59.015)
It is around this month of the year that if I have found anything I can relate to Halloween I like to put it up. This year it looks like I have three areas I investigated that are just spooky enough that I decided I will share them in the next two weeks. The one I am showing today I do not consider too spooky if you are there, but the history is.
Many pass this area when they are traveling just north of Mammoth, CA on HWY 395. What you see below is the southern portion of HWY 395 and the nothern road direction is just on the other side of the divide. This area is called Crestline. It is the area between Mammoth and the June Lake Loop or, if you go a little further, Mono Lake. Just for frame of reference for what is mentioned in the plaque below, if you head up another mile or so north on the road you pass Deadman Summit.
From the picture above, if you turn around looking west you encounter this plaque off the side of the road.
You can read what it says here. Click the plaque to get a bigger picture in your browser.
They found the remains of Robert Hume nearby, but his head was found near what we know today as Deadman Creek. That creek runs under where you see the guard rail in the picture below.
I do not have too much more to say on the history other than what the plaque above tells you. I have found very little about each incident other than the basic facts listed above. The question has always been, "Was there a serial killer nearby, or was this just a good ambush point?" I suspect it was the latter.In the picture above I wanted to point out Mt. Morrison. It is the mountain on the right with the impressive face giving it the name of "The Eiger of the Sierra." I showed it from the eastern side when I talked about Jimmy Stewart at Convict Lake a few months back.
The odd thing is the smoke in the picture. That is the rest stop area that has the plaque mentioning the "Lost Cement Mine" that was supposedly around there somewhere (GPS:N 37° 43.885 W118° 58.160) . When I went by there the place was blocked off, the police and some fire trucks were in there, and, of course, the place had a smoke smell. On my side of the road it smelled like someone had burned out their brakes; you know, that melted rubber smell. I do not know if that was related, and I never did find out what happened on that. I did see an ambulence flying down a summit grade about thirty minutes later. They may or may not have been heading to this rest area.
I put together some short videos of both the Legend of the Deadman plaque and the one that mentions the Lost Cement Mine (Fortunately, I visited it two days prior to the above incident so I did not have to deal with whatever the issue was there shown above).
Legend of the Deadman (Youtube Version)
Legend of the Deadman (Vimeo Version)
