Results: The True Story and Legends in the Wild, Wild West ** Part Nine ** Superstition Mountain is a prominent mountain and regional landmark located in the Phoenix metropolitan area of Arizona, immediately east of Apache Junction and north of Gold Canyon.

Early on during the Spanish Conquest, Conquistadors such as Francisco Vazquez de Coronado (1535) came to the American southwest (New Spain) in search of gold trying to locate, Montezuma's Seven Cities of Cibola. Later on came a long list of early and newly appointed Dons of Spain who also made forays into the Prima Alta looking for riches. The region was inhabited by the Apache Indians, who considered Superstition Mountain to be sacred ground, as it was home to their Thunder God. The Apache; however, refused to help them, telling them that if they dared to trespass on the sacred ground, the Thunder God would take revenge upon them, causing tremendous suffering and horrible deaths. The Indians called Superstition Mountain the "Devil's Playground." But the Spaniards were determined and began to explore. Almost immediately, men began to mysteriously vanish, to the point that warnings were given to never stray more than a few feet away from the rest of the group. Still, more men disappeared only to be found dead later, their bodies mutilated and their heads cut off. In fear, the conquistadors finally fled, refusing to return to the mountain, which they dubbed Monte Superstition. The legends had begun. Have you ever visited Superstition Mountain State Park?

A century and a half later, having heard of the rich gold to be found in the Superstitions, Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino, whose objective was to establish missions and Christianize the Indians, was lured by the tales. In the first decade of the 1700s, he began to explore the region, finding several sources of gold. Though it is not known if he found the fabled Dutchman's Mine, his forays did produce the coveted shining metal, adding more fuel to the legend of gold in the Superstitions. However, these expeditions further enraged the Apache, who then began to prey on all trespassers. During Kino's time other Missionaries' in California and Mexico were jealous and suspicious of Kino because, while they were poor and struggled his missions were rich and flourished, they said he had a secret gold mine from which he took rich gold and funded his missions and rancheros amassing 50 thousand head of cattle making him the Southwest's first mega – rancher. Kino's – Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson unlike other missions in California was both massive and opulent, and still stands today. From this base he easily could have worked a gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. Much of the truth has laid obscured in old Spanish, Jesuit and Catholic Church documentation, including maps, expedition journals, and diaries and in many cases with those buried in long ago lost and forgotten graves. People have been searching for clues to the elusive gold mine. Have you ever visited a Spanish Mission Complex, many of them have been converted into businesses today, for example in Sedona a former mission is the Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village?

Then later the Mexicans including the powerful Peralta family made forays to the area from Sonora and are believed to have had 18 gold mines in the Supers. Their last expedition to carry gold back to Mexico occured in 1848. According to legend, the large party was ambushed by Apaches, and all were killed except for one or two Peralta family members who escaped into Mexico. This area is known today as the Massacre Grounds. A number of other people were supposed to have known the mine's location or even to have worked it. Numerous maps have surfaced over the years, only to become lost or misplaced when interested parties pressed for facts. Men who claimed to have found the Peralta mine were unable to return to it or some disaster occured before they could file a claim, all adding to the lore of a "lost mine." As human bones were found in a different location, do you think they were killed somewhere else, or do you think animals could have moved the remains.

A doctor from Illinois, Doctor Abraham Thorne, provided his service to treat the indigenous people of the Southwest. After he had spent many years in their midst, the Apache Elders decided to reward his selfless service with gold. In the year 1870, with his consent, they blindfolded him and took him on a 20-mile trip to an unknown location piled with gold ore. They removed his blindfold and let him take away as much as he could carry. Thorne sold the ore for $6000 and became a wealthy man. Later, he remarked that he had noticed a towering rock formation nearby, but otherwise remained clueless about the whereabouts of the place. Many people took the landmark to be the Weaver's Needle but had no luck finding any gold nuggets in its vicinity. Does it surprise you that the indigenous people, the Apaches were not interested in the gold for themselves, however realized it had value and use it to repay the Doctor for his kindness?

Jacob Waltz comes along — a Germany-born prospector who, according to Grunge, was mistaken as being Dutch. Based on the report from Prairie Ghosts, the general take on this story is that he, along with a miner by the name of Jacob Weiser, was given a map to the treasure site by the surviving Peralta whose life the two are reported to have saved. Jacob Weiser worked the mine and allegedly hid one or more caches of gold in the Superstitions. Most stories place the gold in the vicinity of Weaver's Needle, a well known landmark. Weiser was killed by Apaches, or according to some, by Waltz himself. Although the speculation and uncertainty surrounding the validity of these stories does contribute a great deal to the mystery of the Superstition Mountains, the slew of disappearances and even deaths of those who have gone searching for its treasures adds a great deal of eeriness to it. Do you think, Jacob Waltz killed his partner?