In southeastern California, Death Valley, is known as one of the hottest and most inhospitable places on planet earth. In this region, for centuries, legends have been told of an underground city, one that is massive spanning miles and housing vast amounts of treasure. In this post we explore accounts of this elusive underground city and whether it could exist.
On the surface, it seems completely illogical and implausible that any civilization would choose to inhabit this region. But we know several have and this region has been inhabited for thousands of years by tribes such aa the Timbisha and the Northern Paiute.
Several Californians as well as Native American tribes have recalled visiting this remarkable subterranean city. The Paiute Tribe for centuries has called this city “Shin-au-av”, which translates to “ghost land”.
While the Paiute get credit for naming this mysterious city, there are three other fascinating accounts from people who allegedly mistakenly found the caves.
First Account
The first comes from Dr. F Bruce Russell This account was told to a man Howard E Hill of LA.
Dr Russell, a retired physician, was said to have discovered a series of complex tunnels deep below Death Valley in 1931. He along with Dr. Daniel S. Bovee, a former archaeologist, accidently found these caves when digging.
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According to Russell, he was sinking a shaft in a mining operation when the soil gave way and he fell into a cave. There they found a catacomb of tunnels leading in all sorts of ways.
As Russell and Bovee began walking through the tunnels, they were astonished to find three massive skeletons of men.
Russell stated that the giants were around 8-9 feet tall. The skeletons appeared to have clothing possibly from something like sheepskin. Russell did note the animal skin didn’t appear to be anything alive today. There were several artifacts in the room that resembled possibly Egyptian as the men saw something similar to hieroglyphics carved in the wall as well.
The two men believed they found the burial place of the tribe’s hierarchy as well. In this room they found artifacts and the bones of animals, such as elephants, tigers and possibly saber-toothed tigers.
Russell stated that he and Bovine had only explored some of the tunnels and that they estimated about 180 miles of tunnels existed in Death Valley and that these catacombs stretched into Southern Nevada.
As fascinating as their story was, the archaeology community did not believe them and had no interest in the matter.
Despite this, Dr. Russell did find a group of investors willing to finance their dig. However, Russell could not find his way back to the mine shaft and the underground city. Russell didn’t give up and was determined to find it again. Strangely though, on another attempt to find it he and Dr. Bovee disappeared. A few months later, Russell’s car was found in Death Valley.
What happened to the men is a matter of debate. Some believe it was car trouble. Others say they fled, although it’s not clear if they made off with the money or would have profited much. Some believe they found the city again, and either got lost inside or perished somehow inside.
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Second Account
The second account of the city come s from an old prospector named White. In the 1920’s White said that he was searching for gold near the Wingate Pass in the southwest region of Death Valley. He was searching in an abandoned mine shaft when the floor of the mine gave out. White fell into a labyrinth of underground tunnels. He began exploring the tunnels, and discovered chambers that were lit with a greenish-yellow glow. He couldn’t determine the source of the light, but he did find hundreds of mummified humans remains, and they all wore odd leather clothing. White says he came back to the caves twice, once with his wife and another time with his mining partner, Fred Thomason.
After White’s story got out, a Paiute Indian, named Tom Wilson came forward with his own story. Allegedly, Wilson’s grandfather spoke of finding the hidden city under Death Valley quite often. Wilson noted his grandfather’s account sounded similar to White’s. Wilson’s grandfather had discovered the tunnel system via a cave. He walked through the tunnels for several miles until he came upon a subterranean city where a group of fair-skinned people resided. They wore strange leather garments and spoke a language he had never heard. He claims that the entire city was illuminated by greenish-yellow lights that had no source. He also said the residents of the city were friendly and offered him food. Oddly, he had never seen this type of food before. When he returned above ground and told his story, very few people believed him. However, when Wilson heard of White’s story and he noticed the similarities, he started to believe that his grandfather had found the elusive subterranean city.
Third Account
The third account comes from a book, the 1932 book Death Valley Men. This was written by an old prospector named Bourke Lee. In the book, Lee mentions an underground city located in the Panamint Mountains of Death Valley.
In his tale, two men named Jack and Bill were exploring near Wingate Pass when one of them fell through the bottom of an old mine shaft.
The partner followed into what was described as a natural underground cavern. The pair allegedly followed a tunnel some 20 miles northward into the heart of the Panamint Mountains. As the two men walked through the tunnels, they eventually reached ancient underground rooms where they allegedly found several perfectly preserved human mummies. The mummies had thick armbands and held gold spears. Further in the caves, one of the cavern rooms was lit up by a system of lights fed by subterranean gases, and the rooms were filled with treasure.
The men claimed to have found large statues of solid gold, stone vaults, drawers filled with gold bars and gemstones.
After finding this treasure, the men grabbed some of it and headed out through the tunnel. They made their way up and out the eastern slope of the Panamint Mountains. The men had planned to show the treasure to archaeologists, so they could get funding and retrieve more of it. However, allegedly the treasure was stolen by a friend and when the men tried to find the opening to the tunnels again, they could not find it
Jack and Bill said that a recent rainstorm had altered and rearranged the landscape.
These men, determined to find it, were last seen climbing the Panamint mountains and were never heard from again.
Cold this Underground City in Death Valley Exist?
While the three earlier stories are certainly fascinating, the name “Shin-au-av” comes from the Paiute Tribe and this group is said to have told stories of the city for centuries. They consider the subterranean city to be portal to the underworld. In Paiute culture, a Chief Followed His Dead Wife into the Underworld. There, the Chief was given instructions to patiently watch the dancers and wait until his wife danced by. Once he saw his wife, he was instructed to not look back as he headed toward the surface. he carried her away and walked through the underground passages until they reached the surface. However, the chief turned around and in an instant his wife was gone. The Chief returned to the surface world and told everyone he met about his adventure.
The interesting stories raise the question does this underground city exist or could it. Skeptics will quickly point out that all the people alleged to find the underground tunnels couldn’t find their way back. While this certainly seems suspicious, we should point out it also seems odd that in two of the stories the explorers went back determined to find the caverns. Although some say they could have had ulterior motives, such as securing more funding. However, it does seem a bit odd that in both cases the men disappeared with no trace.
One interesting thing regarding these stories and an underground city in Death Valley is that it seems completely plausible a civilization would do this. In fact, one could argue it is more probable that cities in that region should be underground as this would help keep a more moderate climate, living under the ground.
Death Valley, which is around 3000 square miles, is said to routinely have temperatures over 120F due to reasons like its sparse vegetation and being surrounded by several high mountain ranges. The valley seldom receives rain.
As some people would say it would be too hard of a task to take on in the heat, it could be the case an ancient tribe found natural caverns and added space to them.
There is precedent for large underground cities too. Derinkuyu is an ancient multi-level underground city in Turkey. The subterranean city of Derinkuyu was built in the Byzantine era, sometime around the 7th and 8th century and it’s believed the city was built as protection from Arab Muslims during the Arab-Byzantine Wars. The city itself is truly remarkable, being multilevel, able to house 20,000 people and extending 280 feet underground.
Today with such a massive area in Death Valley and such dangerous conditions in the area, not many are willing or even allowed to go out and explore this dangerous area. Perhaps one day someone will stumble into the caverns and this time write down the GPS coordinates.
