Mount Shasta is one of those fabled, legendary locales where mysterious tales have been handed down since before time as we know it began. Like the Bermuda Triangle or Stonehenge, there is a magic associated with this mountain in Northern California that has mystified and enchanted not just the local Native-American populace but also thousands of a certain kind of believer-the kind that believes in miracles.

"The Mysteries of Mount Shasta," hot off the presses from Timothy Green Beckley of Inner Light/Global Communications, is a wonderful anthology of many different kinds of writings that focus on the paranormal peak. It is divided into six sections that approach the story of Mount Shasta from a variety of perspectives.

"The Mysteries of Mount Shasta" also revisits some of the disappearances of the rich and famous. While most people generally agree that Jimmy Hoffa, for instance, was rubbed out by his own cohorts in organized crime, there is still an interesting follow-up story in his case. Over the years since Hoffa went missing in 1975, a succession of Mafia hit men have claimed it was they who did the job. Certainly they can't all be telling the truth, but the reader will still enjoy the various scenarios by which the deed may have been done.

The opening section deals with some of the basic history of the mountain and how it came to attract such an awed following. Included is an introductory chapter by Tim Swartz that quite nicely sketches in the origins of belief in a psychic connection between mountain and the people who have lived on its slopes. He also talks about a repository of information on Mount Shasta which has been collected and archived by a university in Weed, California.

Which ties in with a chapter written by Timothy Cridland, who presents an overview of articles from the "Los Angeles Times," going back all the way to the late 19th century, that demonstrate how seriously the straight press used to take stories of Mount Shasta, even when they involved paranormal elements like the ancient Lemurians (the Pacific Ocean equivalent of Atlantis) and bizarre alternate theories for the origin of mankind. Cridland also relates the story of traveling businessman Edward Lanser, whose 1932 article on his supernatural experiences while stopping near the mountain was also given a sympathetic treatment by the "Los Angeles Times." Lanser was a well-known Southern California socialite, and would have nothing to gain by appearing "kooky" in the press.

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