Teddi Beres
10/15/2023 The Murder Mine Manes Intro
(Theme music plays)
Mysterious by Tom Aldrich
freemusicarchive.org/music/tom-aldrich/underscore/mysteri...
Soul Sleuths intro, voice over plays over intro montage of explorations.
Paranormal. Supernatural. Otherworldly. Mysterious.
Unexplained.
There are those who shrug off these words.
There are those who find these words irresistible.
If you are watching, you are among the latter. You are people with inquisitive minds, adventurous hearts, and courageous souls.
Together, we will explore places that some say are inhabited by restless spirits, demons, or creatures of unknown origin.
Our team of believers and skeptics seek to unite science and mysticism
in our quest to produce empirical evidence that some things may exist on
the boundaries of what we regard as reality.
Welcome to Soul Sleuths, where "investigation is just the beginning."
PART ONE
(dissolves to Soul set where Nica and Hammer sit on white throw cloth-covered armchairs)
Hammer: I'm actually looking forward to this trip.
Nica: You are?
Hammer: It's a gold mine. What's not to love?
Nica: Shootouts, hangings, robberies, murder, and madness. (Hammer nods enthusiastically) Tonight, we will dig into the dark history, and try to determine if the Manes of Murder Mine are real.
Hammer: Mah-naze? What does that mean?
Nica: It's Latin. It's what the ancient Romans called the spirit or shade of a dead person.
Hammer: What have the ancient Romans got to do with this mine?
Nica: (smiles, and a voiceover accompanies images) In 1853, two brothers, Samuel and Caleb Wiccheberg were panning for ore samples in a series of California rivers, creeks, and streams, when they found some interesting traces. Following the small stream into a series of caves, they discovered a quartz vein containing gold. They purchased the land, announced their discovery, and that mine eventually produced about 200,000 ounces of gold, and 100,000 ounces of silver. By itself, the gold would be worth about 300 million dollars. A tiny town of mostly miners and their families sprang up near the mine, and it was dubbed, Wiccheberg.
Hammer: (back in studio) Obviously,
Nica: Obviously.
Hammer: Now I'm thinking of everything I could do with 300 mil.
Nica: A lot.
Hammer: I'm bringing a pickax.
Nica: (snort/laughs) You can't -- Somebody still owns that mine. You can't just go digging around in there.
Hammer: Then why go?
Nica: For the ghosts, remember?
Hammer: (sighs) Sure. Ghosts. (Nica shakes her head and chuckles) I'm still bringing a pickax. (Nica snort/laughs)
Cut to EXT-DUSK-WICCHEBERG
Nica, Hammer, Philly, and Edi are wandering around in front of dilapidated partial structures.
Hammer: There's never much left of these places, is there?
Nica: The gold ran out in the late 1880s, and so did the miners.
Philly: They abandoned it all, leaving it open to the elements. Collapse is inevitable, as Nature reclaims the land. (everyone does a slow turn on Philly)
Nica: I told you not to read, Call Of the Wild before we came here.
Philly: I didn't. (pause) I watched the movie. (everyone makes disparaging comments, jibes, waves a hand at him, turns away) What? The Disney version, so I wouldn't freak out.
Edi: Disney shouldn't make you so morbid, dude.
Philly: You don't actually pay attention to those movies, do you?
Nica: As you can imagine, gold and silver brings out the worst in the people who chase it, and Wiccheberg was rife with thievery, gunfights, and drunken brawls. Knowing they needed to protect their mine, the brothers hired a small group of outlaws called The Deadeyed Diablos.
Hammer: Tell me you have a small penis without telling me you have a small penis. (everyone laughs)
Rebus: (voice from behind the camera) I have a feeling that didn't work out well.
Nica: Yes, and no. The Diablos probably contributed as much to the crime as they deterred it, but the number of gunfights, thefts, and drunken brawls did decrease.
Edi: I guess that's good.
Nica: Hangings basically took their place, as far as contributing to deaths.
Edi: I guess that's less good.
Nica: The Diablos were, at best, vigilantes, so it was safe to say that some innocent people might have gone to the Hanging Rock along with the guilty.
Philly: Hanging Rock?
Nica: (nods and points, camera follows to where she's pointing, where a massive boulder is poised on a rise over the mine and town, silhouetted against the setting sun) There's a path up the rise, behind the boulder. A ring was set into the boulder, a rope tied to it, and the accused would be pushed off the top of the boulder (her finger points slowly down, the camera following), and they would fall the 20 feet, to just in front of the mine opening, their necks snapping.
Hammer: I guess that's a pretty quick way to go.
Nica: There are stories that sometimes their heads would pop off.
Edi: What?
Nica: And sometimes the rope would be a little too long and their feet would hit the ground, breaking their ankles and legs first.
Edi: Holy crap.
Nica: Sometimes that slowed their descent enough that their necks didn't break, so they'd hang there, feet, ankles, and legs shattered, choking to death.
Hammer: So, not an exact science.
Nica: Not so much. Like I said, The Diablos weren't good people.
Philly: Doesn't say much for the people who hired them, either.
Nica: You don't know the half of it. (switches to voiceover images of vintage photographs of the brothers, and other things she talks about) For some people, a lot of gold isn't enough, they need to have all of the gold. Samuel and Caleb were those people. They were paranoid, turning one of the caves in the mine into their living quarters, so they could be on constant guard over their gold, and watch each other's every move.
Rebus: (vo) That's healthy.
Edi: (vo) They lived in the mine?
Nica: (vo) According to local stories, yes.
Edi: (vo) But, where would they ... you know? Did they have a bathroom in there? (people laugh)
Hammer: (vo) It was the 1800s. They didn't have much in the way of indoor plumbing.
Philly: (vo) Probably had another cave with a latrine.
Hammer: (vo) Or just squatted over a bucket. (everyone makes grossed out sounds while she laughs)
Nica: (as the scene returns to live recording) That's one of the few remaining buildings that still has a portion of it standing. (points, camera follows the point to a decrepit building) It was the pony stable.
Edi: Ponies!
Philly: Don't tell her about ponies, Nic. It's not gonna have a happy ending.
Edi: Why? What happened to the ponies?
Nica: Donkeys were commonly used to pull mining carts, but the brothers came from a coal town, and they used pit ponies. The brothers preferred them to donkeys.
Edi: Poor ponies and donkeys, working in mines.
Nica: At least the ponies got to get out of the mines, daily. Samuel and Caleb eventually stopped coming out, altogether.
AllExceptNica: Samuel and Caleb eventually stopped coming out.
Nica: All of you suck. (they all chuckle) The brothers fought constantly, each was sure the other was hoarding gold in a secret cache, and one day, Samuel died in a suspicious mining accident. Supposedly, a rock dislodged from the roof of one of the tunnels, striking him on the head, killing him.
Hammer: Which could happen.
Nica: True. Before the 1920s, miners wore soft caps made of cloth or canvas, with a leather brim, and lamp bracket to hold their lights. Cloth versus rock, rock wins.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) Could a rock fall far enough from the ceiling of a mine tunnel, to get enough velocity going to kill you?
Nica: A dentist in town kept a journal of the goings-on, and most stories are based on his, and other people's diaries, and the dentist mentioned that there was suspicion that Caleb killed Samuel, but there weren't any witnesses. And since the Diablos worked for Caleb, not even one of their kangaroo courts was held.
Edi: Oo! They had kangaroos, too? (Philly puts an arm around her shoulders and leads her away to the ruins of the stable, chatting quietly)
Nica: Some say, Samuel's ghost had its revenge, because about a month after Samuel's "accident," an earthquake triggered a collapse, trapping, and probably killing, Caleb, and a few Diablos who were meeting with him that night.
Hammer: Probably?
Nica: The rear portion of the mine was too unstable after that. It's been closed ever since.
Hammer: So, those people could have survived, been trapped, and no one went in to save them?
Nica: Well, the general feeling in the town was that Caleb was a murderer, and no one was fond of the Diablos.
Hammer: Rough justice back in the day.
Nica: (chuckles) Don't bash your brother's head in with a rock.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) Allegedly.
Nica: Allegedly. (looks around) We'll be setting up camp, here, and going into the mine.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) Is that safe?
Hammer: We've got hardhats, and the portion we'll be entering is short, and well-maintained.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) According to--?
Nica: According to the current owner. (claps her hands together) Let's get set up before we lose all the daylight.
Nica: Bailey
Hammer: Arc
Edi: Teddi
Philly: Seth
Rebus: Erebus
10/15/2023 The Murder Mine Manes Intro
(Theme music plays)
Mysterious by Tom Aldrich
freemusicarchive.org/music/tom-aldrich/underscore/mysteri...
Soul Sleuths intro, voice over plays over intro montage of explorations.
Paranormal. Supernatural. Otherworldly. Mysterious.
Unexplained.
There are those who shrug off these words.
There are those who find these words irresistible.
If you are watching, you are among the latter. You are people with inquisitive minds, adventurous hearts, and courageous souls.
Together, we will explore places that some say are inhabited by restless spirits, demons, or creatures of unknown origin.
Our team of believers and skeptics seek to unite science and mysticism
in our quest to produce empirical evidence that some things may exist on
the boundaries of what we regard as reality.
Welcome to Soul Sleuths, where "investigation is just the beginning."
PART ONE
(dissolves to Soul set where Nica and Hammer sit on white throw cloth-covered armchairs)
Hammer: I'm actually looking forward to this trip.
Nica: You are?
Hammer: It's a gold mine. What's not to love?
Nica: Shootouts, hangings, robberies, murder, and madness. (Hammer nods enthusiastically) Tonight, we will dig into the dark history, and try to determine if the Manes of Murder Mine are real.
Hammer: Mah-naze? What does that mean?
Nica: It's Latin. It's what the ancient Romans called the spirit or shade of a dead person.
Hammer: What have the ancient Romans got to do with this mine?
Nica: (smiles, and a voiceover accompanies images) In 1853, two brothers, Samuel and Caleb Wiccheberg were panning for ore samples in a series of California rivers, creeks, and streams, when they found some interesting traces. Following the small stream into a series of caves, they discovered a quartz vein containing gold. They purchased the land, announced their discovery, and that mine eventually produced about 200,000 ounces of gold, and 100,000 ounces of silver. By itself, the gold would be worth about 300 million dollars. A tiny town of mostly miners and their families sprang up near the mine, and it was dubbed, Wiccheberg.
Hammer: (back in studio) Obviously,
Nica: Obviously.
Hammer: Now I'm thinking of everything I could do with 300 mil.
Nica: A lot.
Hammer: I'm bringing a pickax.
Nica: (snort/laughs) You can't -- Somebody still owns that mine. You can't just go digging around in there.
Hammer: Then why go?
Nica: For the ghosts, remember?
Hammer: (sighs) Sure. Ghosts. (Nica shakes her head and chuckles) I'm still bringing a pickax. (Nica snort/laughs)
Cut to EXT-DUSK-WICCHEBERG
Nica, Hammer, Philly, and Edi are wandering around in front of dilapidated partial structures.
Hammer: There's never much left of these places, is there?
Nica: The gold ran out in the late 1880s, and so did the miners.
Philly: They abandoned it all, leaving it open to the elements. Collapse is inevitable, as Nature reclaims the land. (everyone does a slow turn on Philly)
Nica: I told you not to read, Call Of the Wild before we came here.
Philly: I didn't. (pause) I watched the movie. (everyone makes disparaging comments, jibes, waves a hand at him, turns away) What? The Disney version, so I wouldn't freak out.
Edi: Disney shouldn't make you so morbid, dude.
Philly: You don't actually pay attention to those movies, do you?
Nica: As you can imagine, gold and silver brings out the worst in the people who chase it, and Wiccheberg was rife with thievery, gunfights, and drunken brawls. Knowing they needed to protect their mine, the brothers hired a small group of outlaws called The Deadeyed Diablos.
Hammer: Tell me you have a small penis without telling me you have a small penis. (everyone laughs)
Rebus: (voice from behind the camera) I have a feeling that didn't work out well.
Nica: Yes, and no. The Diablos probably contributed as much to the crime as they deterred it, but the number of gunfights, thefts, and drunken brawls did decrease.
Edi: I guess that's good.
Nica: Hangings basically took their place, as far as contributing to deaths.
Edi: I guess that's less good.
Nica: The Diablos were, at best, vigilantes, so it was safe to say that some innocent people might have gone to the Hanging Rock along with the guilty.
Philly: Hanging Rock?
Nica: (nods and points, camera follows to where she's pointing, where a massive boulder is poised on a rise over the mine and town, silhouetted against the setting sun) There's a path up the rise, behind the boulder. A ring was set into the boulder, a rope tied to it, and the accused would be pushed off the top of the boulder (her finger points slowly down, the camera following), and they would fall the 20 feet, to just in front of the mine opening, their necks snapping.
Hammer: I guess that's a pretty quick way to go.
Nica: There are stories that sometimes their heads would pop off.
Edi: What?
Nica: And sometimes the rope would be a little too long and their feet would hit the ground, breaking their ankles and legs first.
Edi: Holy crap.
Nica: Sometimes that slowed their descent enough that their necks didn't break, so they'd hang there, feet, ankles, and legs shattered, choking to death.
Hammer: So, not an exact science.
Nica: Not so much. Like I said, The Diablos weren't good people.
Philly: Doesn't say much for the people who hired them, either.
Nica: You don't know the half of it. (switches to voiceover images of vintage photographs of the brothers, and other things she talks about) For some people, a lot of gold isn't enough, they need to have all of the gold. Samuel and Caleb were those people. They were paranoid, turning one of the caves in the mine into their living quarters, so they could be on constant guard over their gold, and watch each other's every move.
Rebus: (vo) That's healthy.
Edi: (vo) They lived in the mine?
Nica: (vo) According to local stories, yes.
Edi: (vo) But, where would they ... you know? Did they have a bathroom in there? (people laugh)
Hammer: (vo) It was the 1800s. They didn't have much in the way of indoor plumbing.
Philly: (vo) Probably had another cave with a latrine.
Hammer: (vo) Or just squatted over a bucket. (everyone makes grossed out sounds while she laughs)
Nica: (as the scene returns to live recording) That's one of the few remaining buildings that still has a portion of it standing. (points, camera follows the point to a decrepit building) It was the pony stable.
Edi: Ponies!
Philly: Don't tell her about ponies, Nic. It's not gonna have a happy ending.
Edi: Why? What happened to the ponies?
Nica: Donkeys were commonly used to pull mining carts, but the brothers came from a coal town, and they used pit ponies. The brothers preferred them to donkeys.
Edi: Poor ponies and donkeys, working in mines.
Nica: At least the ponies got to get out of the mines, daily. Samuel and Caleb eventually stopped coming out, altogether.
AllExceptNica: Samuel and Caleb eventually stopped coming out.
Nica: All of you suck. (they all chuckle) The brothers fought constantly, each was sure the other was hoarding gold in a secret cache, and one day, Samuel died in a suspicious mining accident. Supposedly, a rock dislodged from the roof of one of the tunnels, striking him on the head, killing him.
Hammer: Which could happen.
Nica: True. Before the 1920s, miners wore soft caps made of cloth or canvas, with a leather brim, and lamp bracket to hold their lights. Cloth versus rock, rock wins.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) Could a rock fall far enough from the ceiling of a mine tunnel, to get enough velocity going to kill you?
Nica: A dentist in town kept a journal of the goings-on, and most stories are based on his, and other people's diaries, and the dentist mentioned that there was suspicion that Caleb killed Samuel, but there weren't any witnesses. And since the Diablos worked for Caleb, not even one of their kangaroo courts was held.
Edi: Oo! They had kangaroos, too? (Philly puts an arm around her shoulders and leads her away to the ruins of the stable, chatting quietly)
Nica: Some say, Samuel's ghost had its revenge, because about a month after Samuel's "accident," an earthquake triggered a collapse, trapping, and probably killing, Caleb, and a few Diablos who were meeting with him that night.
Hammer: Probably?
Nica: The rear portion of the mine was too unstable after that. It's been closed ever since.
Hammer: So, those people could have survived, been trapped, and no one went in to save them?
Nica: Well, the general feeling in the town was that Caleb was a murderer, and no one was fond of the Diablos.
Hammer: Rough justice back in the day.
Nica: (chuckles) Don't bash your brother's head in with a rock.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) Allegedly.
Nica: Allegedly. (looks around) We'll be setting up camp, here, and going into the mine.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) Is that safe?
Hammer: We've got hardhats, and the portion we'll be entering is short, and well-maintained.
Rebus: (voice from direction of camera) According to--?
Nica: According to the current owner. (claps her hands together) Let's get set up before we lose all the daylight.
Nica: Bailey
Hammer: Arc
Edi: Teddi
Philly: Seth
Rebus: Erebus