Desert Drifter, You forgot one important fact. As a Electronics Technician Communications in the US Navy and later engineer and college instructor, I knew that during WW2 communication was very much " not " as it is today using satellites, cell phones, etc. In order to pass messages over long distances then you need repeaters. The location you describe sounds like an ideal location for a repeater where the person receives messages and passes them both directions. We still use some repeater systems today that are automatic. Back then they usually needed people.
I thought it was odd this person needed a generator and figured the wires might be for a communications device. But maybe it was to power a radio or repeater. I know next to nothing about the subject. I am still wondering how the heavy objects were transported to the site. Not by one person on foot, I think.
Dang, you beat me to it! I was 36K (field communications) in the Army. You made some good points there, Jerry! Given the length of the hike out to the nearest road, and transportation of the era, it doesn't make sense for this guy to have been involved in direction-action type of spying. So, signals intelligence makes more sense to me.
Hey Jerry, that’s a great insight. I’m pretty clueless about how communications would’ve worked back then, so that is a really interesting possibility to ponder
A repeater station makes a lot of sense. Plus, someone acting as a passive observer could transmit data related to the scores of military aircraft moving around and through the area. Unit numbers from the aircraft as well as inventory of their discrete tail numbers give a lot of information. Just seeing the same aircraft over and over, then one day having a whole new set of aircraft numbers, says that the old ones have moved towards the war front.
I was a classmate to the daughter of one of the ranchers who found the site and know the persons who made the discovery, one of whom is still living, . I remember her reporting the discovery in our elementary school class and have been to the “ mystery house” twice. It truly remains a mystery.
Ralph Chynoweth was a boy when he found that cache and recounts the find on the Dec. 1 2020 episode of the Cowboy Stories podcast around the 46:21 min mark.
@@theandrewarellano I listened to that podcast earlier today. What an interesting guy! He mentions that the boxes and the cave door were padlocked shut and they had to force them open. He said the camp had been vacant long enough that the sun and heat had deteriorated the blanket and that it fell apart when touched. He also said he believed the uniform was German. And even though the law enforcement had promised him the single shot shotgun when they were done investigating, he never got it back from them.
My son and I are truly inspired by your videos. We love your journeys. We also love that you talk about hiking safety and meals on the trails. My son is 8, and I'm 44. We both have never hiked until watching your videos!!! Thank you ❤❤❤
Great video! I always love old war stories. Now I’ve got stories for you! 😂 My father-in-law was stationed in Deming, NM for a while and here at Ft. Huachuca. Every time I see that big, ol’ blimp go up, I think of him. His father was a territorial ranger here in AZ, liked Teddy Roosevelt a whole lot, and is buried in Arlington. I’m thinking we might want to sift through the photos and memorabilia and see what we can find! Now here’s the real fun! We bought our home from a Jewish family a few years ago and if walls could talk… well, I think these walls will tell their story. This house was designed and built by a German couple and their son. The husband and wife met during WWII. Both happened to be spies. She was spying for the French resistance and he was a spy for the allies. Sometime after the war they came to the US and got married. Eventually they ended up here in AZ and built this house. How we came to buy it is a story in itself! It was built in the 1970’s and everything in here was very good quality. When we bought it, pretty much everything was original to the house. The stove is the same model used in the old TV show Bewitched. Yes, it’s still working. There was an insane security system that apparently had been installed by the husband’s “spook friends”. I think we’re still finding remnants of it here and there. We did replace the white shag carpet, that was still white, with wood floors. We’ve done some minor upgrades. But we love our eccentric, retro house, that used to belong to spies.
My mom grew up in Santa Rita, NM. She told me a story of when she was a little girl in 1942-43 of a drifter passing through town. She said he was a magician and he had a German Shepard with him and would put on shows. One of his tricks was the dog could untie ropes tied around your hands without getting dog slobber on you. A months later he was arrested as a German spy. He was spying on the copper production from the Kennicot mine which eventually swallowed mom’s home town of Santa Rita. Mom said it was common for drifters to pass through looking for work in the mines.
In San Antonio, Tx there is a story about a German sympathesier who used a stone tower in NE of the city to spy on Randolph AFB to monitor planes and such
My grandfather tried to join the U.S. Army during the war, he figured he could land a job as an interpreter being he was Germanic and learned German at an early age. Since he was born on a Kansas homestead in 1929, he didn't get a birth certificate at birth. So he got a doctor to write one up, he lied about his age, saying he was born in 1926, so it would show he was 18 in 1944 so he could enlist. They told him to report to a camp for basic training. When he got there, MP's arrested him and beat him for being a German spy. They eventually released him as lying about his age wouldn't hold up in court as proof of being a spy.
The nearest identified military base you mentioned was "Camp Navajo". In reality this was the Navajo Ordinance Depot for storing military ordinance such as bombs and artillery shells. The Depot was next to old Route 66 about twenty miles west of Flagstaff. In 1943-1944 my dad worked as a civilian contractor for a concrete hauling company who helped build the ordinance depot. The civilian workers like us lived in "temporary" housing similar to army barracks made of plywood in Flagstaff near the city fair ground. I believe the housing is still in use. I doubt that any German spy team would have much interest in the Navajo Ordinance Depot during WWII since it primarily contained many large storage bunkers covered with dirt. There were also large buildings which stored critical war items such as feathers for pillows and bails of cotton for filling mattress. My dad also worked on building the military air fields south of Phoenix used to train pilots. He became friends with the head Army repairman whose job was to certify the B-25 bombers were suitable for use after repair service. My dad reported he once flew with the repairman up to the Grand Canyon at tree top level and when the bomber was suddenly dropped into the canyon it was the most awesome experience of his life. The bomber had a 100 foot communication antenna wire with a ball at the end but the ball was missing after the flight was over. Guess it got hung up in a Ponderosa pine tree. After the war my dad became a pilot and owned a Piper Cub which he flew all over southern Arizona.
> Please no AI.< Really enjoy your videos, but not the addition of creepy AI graphics. Your style in general is very down to earth and minimalist, anything AI generated is unnecessary and detracts from the overall "natural" ambience one gets taking a hike with you. Just your verbal description over film of the area you are exploring or actual cuts of archived film/written material to substantiate what you are explaining is enough (the newspaper article was an interesting read..why so many pajamas?). Cheers to AG1 for sponsoring you...hope you get more sponsorship in future, for hiking gear, dehydrated meals, etc.
Couldn't agree more. Was about to post something when I saw your reaction. The addition of genAI is not an improvement. It literally makes me question every static image that is shown here. I'm assuming at least some photos are real. But none of them can be trusted to be real since they could just as well be genAI.
Thank you to www4! I came here to mention that too. I love all of these videos - except for the AI bits. Not only do they call into question the validity of any other photos shown, but in many cases they are also very distracting. I'd rather focus on the beauty of your landscapes, the evidence you do find when presenting a mystery, and your otherwise high quality content.
Some observations. As a college student in the 70s, I worked as the night clerk for the FBI field office in Albuquerque. During WWII, NM was covered by the El Paso Office, and when AQ was established, all the files were transferred to New Mexico. Having lots of time at night, I went over all the interesting WWII-era files (and yes, there were strange things reported in the sky after the a bomb test). I never saw anything like what was reported in your video. I went on to have a long career in counter intelligence with the Bureau, and it wouldn't make sense for the Germans to set up an operation that would fit this narrative. Lack of priority targets, com issues (as described in the post below), and simply logistics keeping it supplied just wouldn't make it worthwhile. The Bureau pretty much had the German intel service wrapped up, too. My bet is that it was some mid-20th century off-gridder - but that's just speculation. Having backpacked throughout the area in my younger days, I totally love your work - it brings back great memories of a place that I most likely won't see again. Keep it up!
The biggest count against that story of the "German" spy is the local story about the man with the heavy German accent. No German spy would be sent out who could not blend in locally. He would have spoken an accent-free English that the locals would not have noticed as special and especially as foreign.
Thank you for taking the time to weave in important historical context. That kind of attention to detail (as well as zooming out to see the big picture) is what makes your channel great. 👍
More then likely this was the hiding spot of Georg Gärtner, a German Wehrmacht soldier of the Afrika Korp who escaped from Camp Deming New Mexico and was never recaptured
@@Princess_Celestia_ Georg Gärtner led quite a life, and hid himself well, but he did not spend any time out in this rocky desert. Maybe some one like him, even an American deserter of German descent.
First off, that was quality mortar, and a craftsman's job most likely done with the right tools. That mortar was in surprisingly good shape for eighty plus years age. And mixing batches of mortar requires a ready supply of water. That mortar was a quality mix. And on the age point, the door frame is a post-war manufacture. The winding handle gave it away. The metal 'shroud' found inside the cave was a fume hood. That lends itself to a number of possibilities.
Say if he was just a guy trying to avoid the camps, he likely returned to normal life as soon as the camps were shut down. People kept 'discovering' the place after 1945 and left their mark there as well.
" That mortar was in surprisingly good shape for eighty plus years age." ..................... that's what i thought - the mortar looks like it was done two weeks ago
I lived in the Az desert for 20 years. Luke airforce base and Yuma's army proving grounds are both 2 hrs from where I lived. BUT both entities flew over my town regularly on training, testing and practice maneuvers. You don't have to be near the bases, just where they fly or train for specific terrain
That's exactly what it is. That's a dynamite storage room that hikers use to now camp in from time to time. The mine just never really got off the ground when prices changed.
I lived in NM for 15 years. I love the Land of Enchantment. I am now in Utah. Was born and raised in San Diego. My soul feels at home in the desert and mountains.
There were a lot of German immigrants immediately preceding (and some after) WWII--a lot of people saw what was going down with the little Mustache Man and wanted no part of it. Part of my own family fled Germany between WWI and WWII, and some just before he came to power. My grandmother told stories of running into problems with locals, due simply to her Germanic surname. There was one incident where the family was pretty much saved due to their neighbors' intervention. So, while it does seem like this might have been someone up to no good, it could also have been simply someone who'd had really bad experiences after immigrating here, or even possibly some mental illness involved, considering the lack of friendliness towards the local ranchers. Anyway, fascinating investigation, Andrew!
The city I currently live in was known as Berlin, nearby is London, Paris, etc. But with WW2 the name Berlin was changed to Kitchener and the population was heavily post WW 1 Germans and Mennonites. Giant distilleries and Beer manufacturing. So yes non nazzzi Germans lived in Canada and USA before WW2 and the mustache man.
No spy would place a large metal crate right out in the open like a billboard. So the crates were either camouflaged somehow or they weren’t too concerned about being caught. In addition, no spy would walk around in the open and let the locals see them and they sure wouldn’t speak with their motherland accent. An explanation for the serial numbers being removed is this was an AWOL soldier who stole military equipment and supplies and didn’t want it easily traced back to its origin.
@youtubesean: Spys don't usually walk around and stand out looking like spies. They look just like everyone else, AKA blend into their surroundings. It gives them the ability to "spy"! SMH
@@smithdog4770 because if you don't have a nation of origin uniform they shoot or hang you outright and considering all the effort put into that place there was probably more than one person. remember nobody found that place until 1953 and then by accident.
And no spy would present themselves as a reclusive eccentric to remain in an inconspicuous location for reasons you can't guess? The camo claim's rather absurd, as that would make the place stand out as abnormal if anyone got close. No spy would talk with a thick German accent when their mission doesn't include infiltration, you say? Duh, that's obvious, but that's why it might work in the right circumstances. The Purloined Letter. As for the deserter hypothesis, firstly, deserted from where? All we know about the uniform is that it was a uniform of some sort, so we can't assume it was military, since many professions featured uniforms at the time. I could go on, but you get the point. I'm not hear to say whoever actually was a spy, I'm just here to tell you the flaws in your reasoning, hopefully in an educational, non-hostile way.
Thank You D&D !!!! I am a disable gulf war veteran.... 5 Hernated discs and 2 total hip replacement with one complete revision after the left implant severely failed... They are the Metal on Metal type that had the failures so often causing severe issues.... That being said, I have absolutely depended on the very types of concentrated super-food powders all are much like your AG1, but I reviewed AG1 and it will be my go to source now... I am still alive today because of the very things you are showing like AG1... Recovering from severe surgeries requires the same nutrition that Meta-Hikers like you require.... Frankly if you were not using sups like AG1 you would very defiantly be grounded by now with every sort of joint injury and physical issue... D&D you sir are in fact living proof of the effectiveness of the sups you use... Honestly sir, Replace the food you now use now with processed garbage, and within the year you would require total replacements of both hips and both knees, and possibly ankles etc... With the Triathlete-Esque Mega-Hikes you do over Class 3+++ Trails, there can be no faking or substituting of garbage for the True Blue Real Deal.
what I really appreciate is that you put the items back in position that you found them, this means others with knowledge might be able to gain information also , either to back you up or to give another hypothesis of what it was. Which is great for the viewer to make up their own mind on something they will not see in real life. Thank you for this and thank you for your channel as a history buff and a um Aussie, nosy beaks lol.
I’ve always found that type of “clay” too silty. But mixed with a good bentonite base it could work. Bentonite is found close to volcanic activity. There are thousands of inactive volcanoes all over the southwest.
A lot of people don't know that the "Lost Dutchman" saga was named for a guy named Jacob Waltz who was German, and reportedly he was called "the Deutsche man", meaning "the German man". "Deutsche" is pronounced like "doych". You can see how it could easily be shortened to "dutchman". He died in 1891, so this couldn't have been him. But there were plenty of German immigrants in the southwest by then, and many of them were hunting for gold and other minerals. Has anybody bothered to look around that area for signs of mining activities?
Yes very true and another unrelated but interesting fact is that the plane hijacker D B cooper actually bought his ticket under the Dan cooper moniker it was a mistake by the news room that relayed d b cooper sounds unbelievable really. Where are you Dan cooper.
The wires don't look like Coax cable for an antenna. They were Cloth Covered which would indicate old power wires. Two wires would be for "Feed" and Return" from a power source - like a generator.
My family settled that region in mid to late 1800s. NOTE: In the 50s my Grandfather drove me to a flat Mesa about a mile long near Your pin point where the government tested rockets on a flat tracks. You can see it off of 15 near Hurricane turn off For another explanation is that the area sit between NEVADA AND UTAH used for ranchers and known where polygamist families farmed and lived occasionally harassed by the law in this time period. A different point of view I love all your presentations. Thank you.
I vote for reclusive oddball rather than a spy. Maybe he was of German ancestry and was afraid of getting put in jail like the Americans with Japanese ancestry so off to the wilderness he went.
As. Sniper in the 90's, I can tell you that I had a hold up with supplies that was sometimes over 3;days from where I was working. That's how you stay safe. Sometimes I was gone for up to 3 weeks. My supply drops were a day hike out. This was NOT a spy's shelter. This was at some point, someone's home.
The electrical cords are telling, as you would either need a battery or a generator to have any use of it and that's a serious task to hold up. Whoever was there had a pressing need for some sort of an electrical system, and a radio station suits the bill.
And who would be making these drops and from where? Add to this who would have been able to transport, unnoticed, that much material, build the site, and make it operational? I believe you with what you are saying, if it'd just been a hideout in a location that might already exist then sure, but it would have taken a lot of effort to build this place, so for me it's a US military site of some kind, for training or testing new equipment that you don't want your enemy being aware of.
Just a thought. Scraping the numbers off the thermometer would make sense if it were German, since it would read in metric degrees Centigrade rather than the more arcane, but ubiquitous Fahrenheit favoured by the USA, having said all that, I think the lack of serial numbers is more likely because a lot of the stuff "fell of the back of a lorry" (google it if you don't get that reference). As to the metal boxes. They have the look of being parts of old caravans, repurposed for static living. The whole things looks to me more like a miners camp, rather than a something from a spy movie. As to the uniform, surplus uniforms were cheap and plentiful in the wartime and post war. If you want cheap durable clothing, head off to the army surplus store.
You bring up some good points. I get the free items that "fell off a lorry" (truck). By that you mean they were lifted by someone when no one was looking. Many people after war times took advantage of low prices on durable goods that were surplus. Military clothing made good work clothes. No serial numbers means no proof this is your stolen generator.
"Striking distance" to a military base may not be the best question to ask. A better question would be how many miles from the nearest 5 to 12 MHz shortwave radio receiver does a ww2 spy with a portable 30 watt radio transmitter ( such as a WW2 AN PRC 1 suitcase transmitter-receiver) need be to not draw attention to authorities? In this case, being 100 to 200 miles away from a military base or town would be pretty much ideal to minimize the risk of a transmitted shortwave radio signal being blatently loud and obvious. After about 50 miles the groundwave signal is going to be pretty weak, but the skywave signal will travel considerable distances. Also, the spy may send relatively short radio transmissions to signal something like "mission accomplished" or other brief replies to information gathering assignments. Much more radio time would likely be devoted to listening for incoming instructions from the motherland or listening to US radio signals of interest for information gathering from sources that were several hundred miles away (first skywave bounce). A superhetrodyne receiver of that era would have an internal oscillator with little or no unintended signal suppression and it would be very desireable to minimize that oscillator signal detection by authorities---especially since it could leak out on the same antenna used for transmitting. So being in the middle of nowhere would be ideal to use a radio receiver for hours at a time with a minimal chances of detection by US authorities. Keep in mind that US amateur radio operators were not even legally allowed to listen to the shortwave radio bands with their equipment during WW2 for security purposes as well as making it easier for authorities to track down illegal short wave radio receivers in operation. Other online information on this site suggested there was a windmill generator, light and hot plate found at the site. If the windmill was 50 - 100 feet away from the transmitter-receiver, the common wire from the windmill generator could be used as an effective counterpoise wire to function as "ground" for a separate random wire transmitting and receiving antenna in the 50 -100 foot range. You do not need a sophisticated antenna for effective shortwave radio communication. Basic wire antennas 25 or 30 feet above ground is enough and they could be easily taken down and stored when not in use. A desolate location could also be ideal to use very long "beverage" wire antennas that were low to the ground for improved reception in the shortwave bands. Under favorable radio conditions, a 30 watt morse code signal could be heard several thousand of miles away. Or other spy stations in South or Central America several hundred miles away could be easy and routine communication paths. Maybe there is a broken radio tube or three lying in the ground out there---glass or ceramic wire antenna insulators----pieces of bakelite insulators---seems like a place to thoroughly search with a good metal detector..... Thanks for the video that was very intriguing !
I very much disbelieve the spy story. Spies don't carry uniforms with them, and a .22 rifle is good only for hunting vermin. And he (whoever he was) must have had tons of local help to cart all that metal, the cement for the mortar and other essentials like food and fuel (fuel for what?) up there, miles and miles from nowhere. Also, burning a wood fire in your cave would mean smoke escaping through the chimney, and that's not conducive to hiding out. On top of that any German spy would have been selected for his excellent command of American English. As others have pointed out, those tin and steel crates would have been as hot as ovens in the summer sun. Nah, another case of people's imaginations and paranoia running away with them. But fascinating video, all the same!
I haven’t heard of that location for 60plus years . My Grandfather who was and American of German descent told of an uncle who defected as the war started and made it Utah . And live in the middle of nowhere because he knew the German POW’s would kill him if the war ever caught. And placed among them. I don’t know much more. Thanks for listening.
@@ichthus1890 If it was German, it would have been mentioned. Why would Nazi Germany send a guy with a German military uniform and a thick German accent to spy on America? What is the problem with you people
I wait eagerly, looking forward to each one of your posts. I’m a mom, in nursing school, working full time as well. So I’m very busy all the time. Your videos give me peace and a sense of adventure I will one day fulfill. THANK YOU
One of those wires was COAXIAL - SMALL CONDUCTOR IN THE MIDDLE WITH A SHIELD BETWEEN THE OUTER INSULATION AND THE INSULATED SMALL CONDUCTOR. - this kind of wire is only used for circuits dealing with high frequencies, like RF (radio frequency) applications ; a transmitter or receiver.
I also noticed the coaxial nature of the wire, suggesting that it was a lead for a radio antenna of some type. A ground plane antenna would have been virtually undetectable. The presence of a generator, batteries and fuel cans support the possibility of this being used as some sort of radio station. Could it have been a weather observatory?
"How about the site's proximity to military bases?" In WW2, there were military bases and camps EVERYWHERE. The need to recruit, train, and equip millions of soldiers required it. Then add the need to produce all the equipment we sent to England and Russia to help in their war efforts..... A person would have a hard time finding a place to camp that was not near to at least a few military institutions.
Desert Drifter, thank you for going out to explore this place. It's a bit different than most of your videos, and that's okay. The regions you go out exploring into, to share its history with all of us have so many layers of life times of history. There is more to be found yet still today, in my opinion. I thank you for covering this time throughly, not just this one place. The internment camps the American Japanese were put into were so wrong. My mother had friends from her high school days taken away. Many of these people when released, had no homes anymore. I truly look forward to your videos each week. It'll be fun to see where you take us in the next one. P.S. My aging mother loves your videos. Some days, it's tough to find anything she wants to watch. Yet when I put your newest video on to watch, she lights right up!
My bet is that those containers were probably dropped off on pallets using parachutes. It's possible that the spy was interested in the numbers and types of aircraft spotted. He also could been monitoring radio communications and relaying whatever relevant information that he collected. The thing is that if he radioed too much the military would have triangulated his position and would have quickly nailed him. With that in mind, he might have been a person who relayed important information coming into, or going out of the country via shortwave radio. Last thought, he also could have been a "safe house" for agents on the run or for agents coming into the country.
This is very different than your usual treks, but I enjoyed it immensely! I found the cave and metal box fascinating, and your narrative was so informative. The drone shots of the surrounding area were spectacular. You certainly left us with something to ponder. Thanks for another great adventure, Andrew. Stay safe and drift on! 😊
the steel containers are housings for a generator to generate electricity at the casemates in cornwerder sand (the netherlands), they were also there, there is still one in the museum
Which way was the hillside facing? Depending which high frequency band a person was on, the hillside facing a certain direction is like a natural reflector on an antenna. Having been a Ham radio operator since the early 70’s, I know that a simple dipole on a hillside or ravine that faces Germany could reach them using the atmospheric bounce of the ionosphere. In addition, why were the boxes metal? Makes me think the boxes might have been part of the antenna system but that’s reaching for it. If a spy wanted to communicate directly to Germany, that’s a place that could have done it.
Desert drifter: “you shouldn’t disturb the ancient ruins of bygone civilizations, so the others can enjoy them” also desert drifter: “let’s go inside this 80 year old bunker and play with everything”
My dad took me there as a kid back in the 70s..He knew about it because he went there while in the Army so there is an Army report aswell The Army did think it was a spy hideout and they had much help "they" that was his words why it was there , speculation was to blow hoover dam which provided much irrigation water and most of the west coast electricity. I remember the place being in better shape and there was a fourth stucture over the hill..thanks for the memories...keep up the good hunting...try the Egypian cave in the GC (my birth place) heard two first hand accounts about that............ cfc
Very interesting. So are you saying that your father told you that the army believed a spy was stationed there to be involved with sabotaging the hoover dam? That's insane if true.
@butter.demon1 Insane yes. In WWII the concept of strategic bombing was par for the course. Collateral damage was hardly given a second thought. The RAF Destroyed Westkapelle during the Battle of Walcheren Island. I think if Germany had the means they would have bombed US cities and blown dams. But it's just pure speculation.
Not a secret, this place is on AllTrails and maps these days and another RUclipsr just visited it a few months ago. Boy scout troups go there to explore.
He may not have been spying on bases, but providing aid to escaped P.O.W.’s. There were 700-800 P.O.W. Camps in the four corners states. That metal crate looks like a German generator & radio shack. Many were captured on the soviet front in WW2. As an Ex M.A.R.S operator I speak from experience when I say… Solar propagation requires strange hours in order to get through with distance through the ionosphere.
I watch every video you post, but never comment. I guess it's only right to at least say hi.. So, hi from Finland! And I'm glad you got a sponsorship deal for this video. I'm very familiar with AG1 as I tend to take a deep look at companies advertised by the channels I follow. They pay good money, but I sadly have zero faith in the product itself. They're extremely overpriced, lack efficacious doses of nutrients and they use proprietary blends which is always a huge red flag. In fact, 49 out of the 72 total ingredients come with zero information regarding their dosage. That's outrageous for a "health product", because to achieve any desired effect, you need to know how much to take. In my eyes, AG1 is ultimately just an overhyped cash grab with good marketing behind it. Quite frankly, I did feel a little sad seeing you endorsing it so openly.
I seriously doubt it has anything to do with German spies but its more plausible to say it was a hiding place for escaped German prisoners of war, that place must seem like paradise compared to being in a prison camp.
My uncle was a counter spy against Germany during WWII. He took the place of a German spy who was captured in NYC. He spent the entire war feeding the Germans false information. My mother used to visit him, as she lived in NYC during a portion of the war. She said they could never meet in the same place twice, and always had to take circuitous routes to their meetings, never the same way home as the way she went. His expoits are public and can be found in numerous books about the FBI during WWII. I never met him.
My dad was in the air force from 1948 until 1953, the end of the Korean conflict. He was stationed at what we know now as Area 51. He said when the Korean conflict started, they reopened a remote location that was built during WWII. It was in Utah and access was through the area complex by heavy military vehicles only or on occasion aircraft. He hated scorpions even though we didn't have any in Indiana due to the once abandoned base was crawling with them and it was part of his duty to clean up the base for future classified use. That cave looks like it was used as a radio shack (not the store). In one aerial shot of the larger metal box, it looks like there was a loop of wire in a tree. Maybe the spies were collecting radio traffic? Later, it was used by a hermit that was living there. If found by the authorities during the war, they would have collected the radio equipment and possibly shot the spies.
Hey Andrew .. love the channel, less keen on the AI thumbnails (or AI generated responses). Your measured and considerate style is a real tonic and the videos always something to look forward to. Please do keep 'em coming.👍👍👍 Nothing says hidden nazi lair like a so**ing great swastika on the door. As Herr vonSmallhausen mournfully responded*, when asked "Is this the secret headquarters of the Gestapo?" ...... "It vas". ('Allo 'Allo, BBCTV ... and vonSmallhausen did everything either mournfully or creepily.)
I am a ham operator, and like one if your other followers thinks, it could have a spot to receive and relay information by radio on a predetermind schedule. There were such sites also in the eastern coast mountains. Enjoying you explorations.
@ederwin9189 Thanks! That was my idea and comment.😊😍I had a relative who used one as his favorite pastime, communicating with people around the world! I think it was similar to social media of that day, if you were able to use one!
The metal piece in the cave looks like a range hood for over a stove. Very interesting. I won't discount the possibility that it was a US citizen who due to the phobia against those of Japanese and German background, he, suffering from his own phobias hid out. In Boone NC there was an old hermit that lived in the woods of the mountains for years but would come into town for supplies. This was in the early 2000's when my daughter went to college there. I even saw him from time to time. Who knows. But thanks for taking us along, be safe and God bless.
17:43 Yes, it's definitely a hood fan housing, without the motor, light socket and electrical connections. Top vented, in this case. Looks like it rarely gets windy around those parts.
@@E.lectricityNorth I just wanted to say, your videos are entertaining, your photography is really good, and good for you for the physical challenges of getting to these places. Imagine a time when someone huddled down in that cave for whatever reason. There is something oddly romantic and mysterious about it. Keep up the good work.
There were WWII POW Camps in the SW...maybe an escaped soldier? Maybe a German defector or a German living in the US at the start of WWII and did not want to find himself in an internment camp. Many ideas...
The fundamental problem with an escaped soldier is how they would get all the equipment in the first place and secondly how to transport out there. If you find a hidden camp built with stuff you can find at the location, it could be a reasonable explanation. The rock wall looks to be held together with concrete, I would expect stacked stone that might have local mud in between if it is someone that escaped. Then and the problem of getting the large metal boxed out there. If it has anything to do with WWII my guess would be it is a US installation likely for testing if a spy outpost like that would work or as a training location.
Well, I can personally tell you that my ex wife's German born grandfather was one of countless German / American Nazi collaborators. Factory workers, butcher, bakers and more communicated with the "old country" through the German American Clubs. I was shocked when shortly before his death he proudly displayed his German Medal for his efforts. 😢 As millions of Americans were united in the war effort these traitors lived in our midst.
Two men. Each given a small shelter, hauled by pickup truck to the site. Flashflood took out one so they set the other up on rocks. They then built the second shelter in the cave. Yes those are fuel cans, probably kerosene. And yes that was an old 7 up bottle but probably newer than 1945. The wires were for the generator. Target: Hurricane Mesa supersonic research center.
Great presentation. Has anyone suggested that this "Hermit" was a former German soldier who just wanted to be as far away from the horrible memories of War?
It's definitely possible especially back then. A German soldier that found a way to desert without capture.. I still lean towards either someone post war that had the fear of nuclear winter pounded into their head and was preparing, but even more likely I believe it's more of something like around area 51 now but technology has made it all remote, where back then it was a radar installation and was manned by one possibly two people.. No telling but it's definitely fascinating. Don't recall if he ever says what type of military uniform it was.. May have to watch it again. I love this stuff though..
The crates look like military drop crates. Something like this would have been flown into a secluded area during the night to avoid detection. If you ask me, being 250 miles from a base sounds more like a contingency plan to avoid detection, and have a rendezvous point for extraction as well. From a surveillance perspective the location isn't ideal, but from a point of operation perspective, the location is very ideal. Just as in this video you grew skeptical due to the distance, it seems as if this location is very ideal. Pretty cool video, thanks for sharing.
At this time in history, there was also the interest in finding possible sources of Uranium for the Manhattan Project. Generators, battery storage, lookout structures, etc., would have been needed and what ruminants you and others seem to have found. Perhaps a Geiger Counter could confirm this possibility.
He may have been a communications intercept opertator. Or a aircraft type and count recorder. The Germans were baffled by the US Army's use of Navajo language for messaging. He may have ventured into Navaho settlements to try and pick up the language. Thank you for your investigation into this fascinating piece of history.
The fact that a few Japanese immigrants of Ni'ihau, a small island in the Hawaiian islands, helped a Japanese pilot who had crashed during the attack on Pearl Harbor try to contact his fleet caused a great deal of the hysteria around the trustworthiness of all Japanese immigrants.
About 20 years ago in the Kingston Mt. Range near Death Valley, we saw an Asian man In a hi tech service van. Multiple antenna etc. From that Becks Spring view at about 6000' , you could see, hear & smell China Lake bombing range . Your story of a German spy felt Very feasible. Good work , love your excursions especially when I see Creosote bushes. Carry on . Phillip
Nazis were notorious for looking for artifacts and possibly treasure. They may not have been in that place to spy on military bases, but could have been looking for something else in the desert.
Judging by the terrain, and that vent pipe that you found underground, I think that this may be a small, independent uranium mine. The walled off cave would be used to store explosive material, the reason for the wires is likely to power a fan for ventilation. The smoke resins on the ceiling have probably been there since native times. The metal shacks would be a shelter with penetrations cut for a chimney, air vents. I find many places like this that don't show up on any mining, or historical data. Guys like me would just dig it out of the mountains and sell it to bigger mines at cost. The missing serial numbers are probably because....well...a lot of those guys worked at mines, and wanted to start their own. They stole shit from work all the time. That doesn't happen anymore. Every miner is reputable and honest these days though
For a spy hideout it would be too far away from everything in my opinion. You want to blend in, not stand out in the desert. And for a repeater station as mentioned here, would you choose a guy that is obsessed with "no numbers"? A guy that should forward most likely encrypted messages?
Thanks. I was wondering what’s going on. 2 videos in a row… That is good to know. I was planning on getting a new computer, guess I’ll need to hurry on that
@@Desert.Drifter I suggest a Macbook Pro. It will make your editing job a bit easier and somewhat less time-consuming. Keep up the good work. Love your videos!
That metal thing in the cave looked like a smoke hood for a kitchen stove. I bet that's what those wires were for and I'd also bet that it didn't work very well. I'd guess that would be why whoever was staying there moved into the packing crate. Just a guess though.
Those distances to bases are tiny for a receiver to pick up military communications. It's entirely plausible to have been a listening station. The reception would have been excellent.
Yep. Love it. All the useless, divisive, and censored content on youtube now, it's nice to watch something low key, still gets your brain thinking but it's not just manufactured content just to get you to click on it. Just one guy, rolling through places no one rarely goes just so we can all get to see it too.. I really enjoy it.
Here in Canada it is known the German military established at least one weather station in Labrador during WWII. As the War of the North Atlantic waged on, they collected & radioed weather data to help German u-boats avoid storms & be better at anticipating the convoy movements of the thousands of cargo ships supplying Britain. At the time Labrador was even more sparsely populated than today.
In my experiences with the FBI I was frustrated. Right after 9/11/2001, I went to their office to talk to them about some suspicious activity that I had witnessed. They seemed arrogantly unkind to me. Now, if there is trouble, I just go to the local police through 911. They are not much better. :(
Maybe he scratched off the numbers on the thermometer because he used celsius and had marked the celsius lines with something that had worn off by the time someone found it.
Seconding the comment about the creepy AI images - please no more AI. They definitely harm the quality of the video. It was distracting enough that I paused the video to see if anyone in the comments were bothered by it too, (normally your videos keep my attention). I enjoy seeing your footage from the places you go, and even the occasional real historical photo/illustration/map/news article. But AI is distracting and unnecessary. Thanks for hearing us out, looking forward to seeing what you explore next!
The metal boxes appear repurposed surplus items judging by the oddly shaped window. Disassembled, they and other building materials would likely by transported there by pack mule, (as they were still used by prospectors in that era) then reassembled on site. Line of sight repeaters (UHF/VHF) would need to be on a peak or a tower to be effective, and this site was in a lower area that was blocked by the higher terrain shown in the background. Radio equipment wasn't easily portable at that time, so the logistics of transporting them to a peak would be tough. High freqency might work from there, but theres no evidence of a tower or any radio equipment having been found. It has every appearance of a hermits home, with cool food storage in the blocked off cave. Uniforms could be bought surplus inexpensively after the war, but would not be a great disguise for a spy. KM6WVK, General class amateur radio operator.
Arithmophobia is the extreme fear of numbers. Some people fear certain numbers, such as “unlucky” number 13. Others fear all numbers. Arithmophobia can significantly interfere with daily life. People with the phobia may have a hard time holding certain jobs, paying bills or managing a budget
Desert Drifter, You forgot one important fact. As a Electronics Technician Communications in the US Navy and later engineer and college instructor, I knew that during WW2 communication was very much " not " as it is today using satellites, cell phones, etc. In order to pass messages over long distances then you need repeaters. The location you describe sounds like an ideal location for a repeater where the person receives messages and passes them both directions. We still use some repeater systems today that are automatic. Back then they usually needed people.
I thought it was odd this person needed a generator and figured the wires might be for a communications device. But maybe it was to power a radio or repeater. I know next to nothing about the subject. I am still wondering how the heavy objects were transported to the site. Not by one person on foot, I think.
Or they were also monitoring US military radio transmissions in the region on top of being a repeater station.
Dang, you beat me to it! I was 36K (field communications) in the Army. You made some good points there, Jerry! Given the length of the hike out to the nearest road, and transportation of the era, it doesn't make sense for this guy to have been involved in direction-action type of spying. So, signals intelligence makes more sense to me.
Hey Jerry, that’s a great insight. I’m pretty clueless about how communications would’ve worked back then, so that is a really interesting possibility to ponder
A repeater station makes a lot of sense. Plus, someone acting as a passive observer could transmit data related to the scores of military aircraft moving around and through the area. Unit numbers from the aircraft as well as inventory of their discrete tail numbers give a lot of information. Just seeing the same aircraft over and over, then one day having a whole new set of aircraft numbers, says that the old ones have moved towards the war front.
I was a classmate to the daughter of one of the ranchers who found the site and know the persons who made the discovery, one of whom is still living, . I remember her reporting the discovery in our elementary school class and have been to the “ mystery house” twice. It truly remains a mystery.
How interesting. Did you ever hear if the ranchers who made the discovery really found some sort of military uniform?
Ralph Chynoweth was a boy when he found that cache and recounts the find on the Dec. 1 2020 episode of the Cowboy Stories podcast around the 46:21 min mark.
That’s interesting love to hear more on this.
Thanks for providing this local’s insight! Love to know the story is alive and well
@@theandrewarellano I listened to that podcast earlier today. What an interesting guy! He mentions that the boxes and the cave door were padlocked shut and they had to force them open. He said the camp had been vacant long enough that the sun and heat had deteriorated the blanket and that it fell apart when touched. He also said he believed the uniform was German. And even though the law enforcement had promised him the single shot shotgun when they were done investigating, he never got it back from them.
My son and I are truly inspired by your videos. We love your journeys. We also love that you talk about hiking safety and meals on the trails. My son is 8, and I'm 44. We both have never hiked until watching your videos!!! Thank you ❤❤❤
Aw I love that. So glad that my videos inspired you to get out there and make memories with your son ❤
Great video! I always love old war stories. Now I’ve got stories for you! 😂 My father-in-law was stationed in Deming, NM for a while and here at Ft. Huachuca. Every time I see that big, ol’ blimp go up, I think of him. His father was a territorial ranger here in AZ, liked Teddy Roosevelt a whole lot, and is buried in Arlington. I’m thinking we might want to sift through the photos and memorabilia and see what we can find!
Now here’s the real fun! We bought our home from a Jewish family a few years ago and if walls could talk… well, I think these walls will tell their story. This house was designed and built by a German couple and their son. The husband and wife met during WWII. Both happened to be spies. She was spying for the French resistance and he was a spy for the allies. Sometime after the war they came to the US and got married. Eventually they ended up here in AZ and built this house. How we came to buy it is a story in itself! It was built in the 1970’s and everything in here was very good quality. When we bought it, pretty much everything was original to the house. The stove is the same model used in the old TV show Bewitched. Yes, it’s still working. There was an insane security system that apparently had been installed by the husband’s “spook friends”. I think we’re still finding remnants of it here and there. We did replace the white shag carpet, that was still white, with wood floors. We’ve done some minor upgrades. But we love our eccentric, retro house, that used to belong to spies.
*@**9:09** Geologists everywhere are going to see that red peak and grab their gold mining tools.*
You should do a video about your house and the stories
My mom grew up in Santa Rita, NM. She told me a story of when she was a little girl in 1942-43 of a drifter passing through town. She said he was a magician and he had a German Shepard with him and would put on shows. One of his tricks was the dog could untie ropes tied around your hands without getting dog slobber on you. A months later he was arrested as a German spy. He was spying on the copper production from the Kennicot mine which eventually swallowed mom’s home town of Santa Rita. Mom said it was common for drifters to pass through looking for work in the mines.
So. Cool.
My guess is he wasn’t a spy, it was all made up but the US government.
Very interesting. Thanks a bunch.
In San Antonio, Tx there is a story about a German sympathesier who used a stone tower in NE of the city to spy on Randolph AFB to monitor planes and such
My grandfather tried to join the U.S. Army during the war, he figured he could land a job as an interpreter being he was Germanic and learned German at an early age. Since he was born on a Kansas homestead in 1929, he didn't get a birth certificate at birth. So he got a doctor to write one up, he lied about his age, saying he was born in 1926, so it would show he was 18 in 1944 so he could enlist. They told him to report to a camp for basic training. When he got there, MP's arrested him and beat him for being a German spy. They eventually released him as lying about his age wouldn't hold up in court as proof of being a spy.
The nearest identified military base you mentioned was "Camp Navajo". In reality this was the Navajo Ordinance Depot for storing military ordinance such as bombs and artillery shells. The Depot was next to old Route 66 about twenty miles west of Flagstaff. In 1943-1944 my dad worked as a civilian contractor for a concrete hauling company who helped build the ordinance depot. The civilian workers like us lived in "temporary" housing similar to army barracks made of plywood in Flagstaff near the city fair ground. I believe the housing is still in use. I doubt that any German spy team would have much interest in the Navajo Ordinance Depot during WWII since it primarily contained many large storage bunkers covered with dirt. There were also large buildings which stored critical war items such as feathers for pillows and bails of cotton for filling mattress. My dad also worked on building the military air fields south of Phoenix used to train pilots. He became friends with the head Army repairman whose job was to certify the B-25 bombers were suitable for use after repair service. My dad reported he once flew with the repairman up to the Grand Canyon at tree top level and when the bomber was suddenly dropped into the canyon it was the most awesome experience of his life. The bomber had a 100 foot communication antenna wire with a ball at the end but the ball was missing after the flight was over. Guess it got hung up in a Ponderosa pine tree. After the war my dad became a pilot and owned a Piper Cub which he flew all over southern Arizona.
> Please no AI.<
Really enjoy your videos, but not the addition of creepy AI graphics. Your style in general is very down to earth and minimalist, anything AI generated is unnecessary and detracts from the overall "natural" ambience one gets taking a hike with you. Just your verbal description over film of the area you are exploring or actual cuts of archived film/written material to substantiate what you are explaining is enough (the newspaper article was an interesting read..why so many pajamas?). Cheers to AG1 for sponsoring you...hope you get more sponsorship in future, for hiking gear, dehydrated meals, etc.
I agree.
Thanks for the feedback!
Couldn't agree more. Was about to post something when I saw your reaction. The addition of genAI is not an improvement. It literally makes me question every static image that is shown here. I'm assuming at least some photos are real. But none of them can be trusted to be real since they could just as well be genAI.
Thank you to www4! I came here to mention that too. I love all of these videos - except for the AI bits. Not only do they call into question the validity of any other photos shown, but in many cases they are also very distracting. I'd rather focus on the beauty of your landscapes, the evidence you do find when presenting a mystery, and your otherwise high quality content.
This. Very weird. Your content is amazing and does not need AI. It’s a distraction and not in a good way.
Some observations. As a college student in the 70s, I worked as the night clerk for the FBI field office in Albuquerque. During WWII, NM was covered by the El Paso Office, and when AQ was established, all the files were transferred to New Mexico. Having lots of time at night, I went over all the interesting WWII-era files (and yes, there were strange things reported in the sky after the a bomb test). I never saw anything like what was reported in your video. I went on to have a long career in counter intelligence with the Bureau, and it wouldn't make sense for the Germans to set up an operation that would fit this narrative. Lack of priority targets, com issues (as described in the post below), and simply logistics keeping it supplied just wouldn't make it worthwhile. The Bureau pretty much had the German intel service wrapped up, too. My bet is that it was some mid-20th century off-gridder - but that's just speculation. Having backpacked throughout the area in my younger days, I totally love your work - it brings back great memories of a place that I most likely won't see again. Keep it up!
I also think was for an off gridder
Thanks for sharing your perspective Mark!
The biggest count against that story of the "German" spy is the local story about the man with the heavy German accent. No German spy would be sent out who could not blend in locally. He would have spoken an accent-free English that the locals would not have noticed as special and especially as foreign.
If a story is told over and over, usually things are added to it that were not in the original story.
Thank you for taking the time to weave in important historical context. That kind of attention to detail (as well as zooming out to see the big picture) is what makes your channel great. 👍
Very interesting! I think the inhabitant was a resourceful oddball rather than a nefarious spy.
More then likely this was the hiding spot of Georg Gärtner, a German Wehrmacht soldier of the Afrika Korp who escaped from Camp Deming New Mexico and was never recaptured
@@Princess_Celestia_ Georg Gärtner led quite a life, and hid himself well, but he did not spend any time out in this rocky desert. Maybe some one like him, even an American deserter of German descent.
First off, that was quality mortar, and a craftsman's job most likely done with the right tools. That mortar was in surprisingly good shape for eighty plus years age. And mixing batches of mortar requires a ready supply of water. That mortar was a quality mix. And on the age point, the door frame is a post-war manufacture. The winding handle gave it away.
The metal 'shroud' found inside the cave was a fume hood. That lends itself to a number of possibilities.
Say if he was just a guy trying to avoid the camps, he likely returned to normal life as soon as the camps were shut down. People kept 'discovering' the place after 1945 and left their mark there as well.
" That mortar was in surprisingly good shape for eighty plus years age." ..................... that's what i thought - the mortar looks like it was done two weeks ago
The quality of the mortar was the very thing that caught my eye...........
I lived in the Az desert for 20 years. Luke airforce base and Yuma's army proving grounds are both 2 hrs from where I lived. BUT both entities flew over my town regularly on training, testing and practice maneuvers. You don't have to be near the bases, just where they fly or train for specific terrain
That just looks like an old miner's camp. No spy would bring a uniform.
That's exactly what it is. That's a dynamite storage room that hikers use to now camp in from time to time. The mine just never really got off the ground when prices changed.
@@dogmaerased6939 I posted a question asking if there was a mine nearby.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre comes to mind.
They didnt say what the uniforms were did they? Could have been a german spy with an american uniform?
Yeah but nazis really loved to show off their shit. So who really knows
I lived in NM for 15 years. I love the Land of Enchantment. I am now in Utah. Was born and raised in San Diego. My soul feels at home in the desert and mountains.
There were a lot of German immigrants immediately preceding (and some after) WWII--a lot of people saw what was going down with the little Mustache Man and wanted no part of it. Part of my own family fled Germany between WWI and WWII, and some just before he came to power. My grandmother told stories of running into problems with locals, due simply to her Germanic surname. There was one incident where the family was pretty much saved due to their neighbors' intervention. So, while it does seem like this might have been someone up to no good, it could also have been simply someone who'd had really bad experiences after immigrating here, or even possibly some mental illness involved, considering the lack of friendliness towards the local ranchers. Anyway, fascinating investigation, Andrew!
My thoughts also. I had a coworker whose family changed their surname from Remboldt to Rembold when WWII started.
Exactly, saw what they did japanese Americans and thought nope I'm hiding.
@@ronharrison8978 Yep, our family changed the spelling of our name as well, to "Americanize" it a bit.
The city I currently live in was known as Berlin, nearby is London, Paris, etc. But with WW2 the name Berlin was changed to Kitchener and the population was heavily post WW 1 Germans and Mennonites. Giant distilleries and Beer manufacturing. So yes non nazzzi Germans lived in Canada and USA before WW2 and the mustache man.
@@joywebster2678 I was thinking of Berlin/Kitchener and a lot of families around there. My partner told many stories of Ontario.
the AI generated cowboy images are creepy and depressing.
No spy would place a large metal crate right out in the open like a billboard. So the crates were either camouflaged somehow or they weren’t too concerned about being caught. In addition, no spy would walk around in the open and let the locals see them and they sure wouldn’t speak with their motherland accent.
An explanation for the serial numbers being removed is this was an AWOL soldier who stole military equipment and supplies and didn’t want it easily traced back to its origin.
@youtubesean: Spys don't usually walk around and stand out looking like spies. They look just like everyone else, AKA blend into their surroundings. It gives them the ability to "spy"! SMH
yeah his behavior sounds more like a soldier with severe ptsd
Right and why would a Spy be sent to a country with a uniform that would identify them? That made me think he was a deserter too.
@@smithdog4770 because if you don't have a nation of origin uniform they shoot or hang you outright and considering all the effort put into that place there was probably more than one person. remember nobody found that place until 1953 and then by accident.
And no spy would present themselves as a reclusive eccentric to remain in an inconspicuous location for reasons you can't guess? The camo claim's rather absurd, as that would make the place stand out as abnormal if anyone got close. No spy would talk with a thick German accent when their mission doesn't include infiltration, you say? Duh, that's obvious, but that's why it might work in the right circumstances. The Purloined Letter.
As for the deserter hypothesis, firstly, deserted from where? All we know about the uniform is that it was a uniform of some sort, so we can't assume it was military, since many professions featured uniforms at the time. I could go on, but you get the point. I'm not hear to say whoever actually was a spy, I'm just here to tell you the flaws in your reasoning, hopefully in an educational, non-hostile way.
Thank You D&D !!!! I am a disable gulf war veteran.... 5 Hernated discs and 2 total hip replacement with one complete revision after the left implant severely failed... They are the Metal on Metal type that had the failures so often causing severe issues.... That being said, I have absolutely depended on the very types of concentrated super-food powders all are much like your AG1, but I reviewed AG1 and it will be my go to source now... I am still alive today because of the very things you are showing like AG1... Recovering from severe surgeries requires the same nutrition that Meta-Hikers like you require.... Frankly if you were not using sups like AG1 you would very defiantly be grounded by now with every sort of joint injury and physical issue... D&D you sir are in fact living proof of the effectiveness of the sups you use... Honestly sir, Replace the food you now use now with processed garbage, and within the year you would require total replacements of both hips and both knees, and possibly ankles etc... With the Triathlete-Esque Mega-Hikes you do over Class 3+++ Trails, there can be no faking or substituting of garbage for the True Blue Real Deal.
Thank you so much for your service: I honor you
You’re a hero and we thank you for your sacrifices.
We honor all Veterans and those in active service.
🥳🇺🇸💯
At 17:28 that sheetmetal looks like a stove hood.....homemade. nice stone work whoever did it.
nice welds.
what I really appreciate is that you put the items back in position that you found them, this means others with knowledge might be able to gain information also , either to back you up or to give another hypothesis of what it was. Which is great for the viewer to make up their own mind on something they will not see in real life. Thank you for this and thank you for your channel as a history buff and a um Aussie, nosy beaks lol.
That cracked dry earth indicates clay. The natives gathered clay to make pots, etc from sites like that. Love your channel. This was a unique one.
I’ve always found that type of “clay” too silty. But mixed with a good bentonite base it could work. Bentonite is found close to volcanic activity. There are thousands of inactive volcanoes all over the southwest.
A lot of people don't know that the "Lost Dutchman" saga was named for a guy named Jacob Waltz who was German, and reportedly he was called "the Deutsche man", meaning "the German man". "Deutsche" is pronounced like "doych". You can see how it could easily be shortened to "dutchman". He died in 1891, so this couldn't have been him. But there were plenty of German immigrants in the southwest by then, and many of them were hunting for gold and other minerals. Has anybody bothered to look around that area for signs of mining activities?
Yes very true and another unrelated but interesting fact is that the plane hijacker D B cooper actually bought his ticket under the Dan cooper moniker it was a mistake by the news room that relayed d b cooper sounds unbelievable really. Where are you Dan cooper.
The wires don't look like Coax cable for an antenna. They were Cloth Covered which would indicate old power wires. Two wires would be for "Feed" and Return" from a power source - like a generator.
positive and negative DC to batteries.
My family settled that region in mid to late 1800s. NOTE: In the 50s my Grandfather drove me to a flat Mesa about a mile long near Your pin point where the government tested rockets on a flat tracks. You can see it off of 15 near Hurricane turn off For another explanation is that the area sit between NEVADA AND UTAH used for ranchers and known where polygamist families farmed and lived occasionally harassed by the law in this time period. A different point of view I love all your presentations. Thank you.
I vote for reclusive oddball rather than a spy. Maybe he was of German ancestry and was afraid of getting put in jail like the Americans with Japanese ancestry so off to the wilderness he went.
Exactly what I was thinking.
It could be . .
me too thats my thoughts
I was thinking the same thing
They were Americans of Japanese descent. Do people call you British?
As. Sniper in the 90's, I can tell you that I had a hold up with supplies that was sometimes over 3;days from where I was working. That's how you stay safe. Sometimes I was gone for up to 3 weeks. My supply drops were a day hike out. This was NOT a spy's shelter. This was at some point, someone's home.
The electrical cords are telling, as you would either need a battery or a generator to have any use of it and that's a serious task to hold up. Whoever was there had a pressing need for some sort of an electrical system, and a radio station suits the bill.
And who would be making these drops and from where? Add to this who would have been able to transport, unnoticed, that much material, build the site, and make it operational? I believe you with what you are saying, if it'd just been a hideout in a location that might already exist then sure, but it would have taken a lot of effort to build this place, so for me it's a US military site of some kind, for training or testing new equipment that you don't want your enemy being aware of.
Just a thought. Scraping the numbers off the thermometer would make sense if it were German, since it would read in metric degrees Centigrade rather than the more arcane, but ubiquitous Fahrenheit favoured by the USA, having said all that, I think the lack of serial numbers is more likely because a lot of the stuff "fell of the back of a lorry" (google it if you don't get that reference).
As to the metal boxes. They have the look of being parts of old caravans, repurposed for static living. The whole things looks to me more like a miners camp, rather than a something from a spy movie. As to the uniform, surplus uniforms were cheap and plentiful in the wartime and post war. If you want cheap durable clothing, head off to the army surplus store.
I was wondering about the odd shaped windows. An old box truck box seems to be the best fit.
Also too, a dial type of thermometer can be used as a rudimentary barometer. If the guy was broadcasting short wave, this was useful info. for range.
I agree.
Hmm, that didn’t even cross my mind about the thermometer, but that’s a great theory. Who knows?
You bring up some good points. I get the free items that "fell off a lorry" (truck). By that you mean they were lifted by someone when no one was looking. Many people after war times took advantage of low prices on durable goods that were surplus. Military clothing made good work clothes. No serial numbers means no proof this is your stolen generator.
"Striking distance" to a military base may not be the best question to ask. A better question would be how many miles from the nearest 5 to 12 MHz shortwave radio receiver does a ww2 spy with a portable 30 watt radio transmitter ( such as a WW2 AN PRC 1 suitcase transmitter-receiver) need be to not draw attention to authorities? In this case, being 100 to 200 miles away from a military base or town would be pretty much ideal to minimize the risk of a transmitted shortwave radio signal being blatently loud and obvious. After about 50 miles the groundwave signal is going to be pretty weak, but the skywave signal will travel considerable distances. Also, the spy may send relatively short radio transmissions to signal something like "mission accomplished" or other brief replies to information gathering assignments. Much more radio time would likely be devoted to listening for incoming instructions from the motherland or listening to US radio signals of interest for information gathering from sources that were several hundred miles away (first skywave bounce). A superhetrodyne receiver of that era would have an internal oscillator with little or no unintended signal suppression and it would be very desireable to minimize that oscillator signal detection by authorities---especially since it could leak out on the same antenna used for transmitting. So being in the middle of nowhere would be ideal to use a radio receiver for hours at a time with a minimal chances of detection by US authorities. Keep in mind that US amateur radio operators were not even legally allowed to listen to the shortwave radio bands with their equipment during WW2 for security purposes as well as making it easier for authorities to track down illegal short wave radio receivers in operation.
Other online information on this site suggested there was a windmill generator, light and hot plate found at the site. If the windmill was 50 - 100 feet away from the transmitter-receiver, the common wire from the windmill generator could be used as an effective counterpoise wire to function as "ground" for a separate random wire transmitting and receiving antenna in the 50 -100 foot range. You do not need a sophisticated antenna for effective shortwave radio communication. Basic wire antennas 25 or 30 feet above ground is enough and they could be easily taken down and stored when not in use. A desolate location could also be ideal to use very long "beverage" wire antennas that were low to the ground for improved reception in the shortwave bands. Under favorable radio conditions, a 30 watt morse code signal could be heard several thousand of miles away. Or other spy stations in South or Central America several hundred miles away could be easy and routine communication paths.
Maybe there is a broken radio tube or three lying in the ground out there---glass or ceramic wire antenna insulators----pieces of bakelite insulators---seems like a place to thoroughly search with a good metal detector..... Thanks for the video that was very intriguing !
I think I just graduated from electronics college.😅😅
Do I qualify for an upgraded radio license now?!! 😅
I very much disbelieve the spy story. Spies don't carry uniforms with them, and a .22 rifle is good only for hunting vermin. And he (whoever he was) must have had tons of local help to cart all that metal, the cement for the mortar and other essentials like food and fuel (fuel for what?) up there, miles and miles from nowhere. Also, burning a wood fire in your cave would mean smoke escaping through the chimney, and that's not conducive to hiding out. On top of that any German spy would have been selected for his excellent command of American English. As others have pointed out, those tin and steel crates would have been as hot as ovens in the summer sun. Nah, another case of people's imaginations and paranoia running away with them. But fascinating video, all the same!
Doubts here too. But the .22 subsonic is one of the best rounds for close work silencers.
Depends. A spy not in uniform can be executed. A spy in uniform is magically a soldier that must be treated as a prisoner of war.
"doubts" is a weak word for "absolute baseless theory and clickbait", but agree
@@ronsimpson143 true
Darn, guess the 8 pt buck i killed with a .22 was a figment of my imagination....whatever.
Possibly just some harmless person who didn't want to be dragged into a mad war that meant nothing to him.
I haven’t heard of that location for 60plus years . My Grandfather who was and American of German descent told of an uncle who defected as the war started and made it Utah . And live in the middle of nowhere because he knew the German POW’s would kill him if the war ever caught. And placed among them. I don’t know much more. Thanks for listening.
Possibly an AWOL situation?
What about the military uniform that was found? I don't recall him saying whether it was German or not.
@@ichthus1890 If it was German, it would have been mentioned. Why would Nazi Germany send a guy with a German military uniform and a thick German accent to spy on America? What is the problem with you people
@@ichthus1890Army surplus clothing.Cheep and hardwearing and good for out door living.
I wait eagerly, looking forward to each one of your posts. I’m a mom, in nursing school, working full time as well. So I’m very busy all the time. Your videos give me peace and a sense of adventure I will one day fulfill. THANK YOU
One of those wires was COAXIAL - SMALL CONDUCTOR IN THE MIDDLE WITH A SHIELD BETWEEN THE OUTER INSULATION AND THE INSULATED SMALL CONDUCTOR.
- this kind of wire is only used for circuits dealing with high frequencies, like RF (radio frequency) applications ; a transmitter or receiver.
Maybe a ham radio, whose antennae wouldn't be easily seen out in the wilderness?
I also noticed the coaxial nature of the wire, suggesting that it was a lead for a radio antenna of some type. A ground plane antenna would have been virtually undetectable. The presence of a generator, batteries and fuel cans support the possibility of this being used as some sort of radio station. Could it have been a weather observatory?
"How about the site's proximity to military bases?" In WW2, there were military bases and camps EVERYWHERE. The need to recruit, train, and equip millions of soldiers required it. Then add the need to produce all the equipment we sent to England and Russia to help in their war efforts..... A person would have a hard time finding a place to camp that was not near to at least a few military institutions.
Desert Drifter, thank you for going out to explore this place. It's a bit different than most of your videos, and that's okay. The regions you go out exploring into, to share its history with all of us have so many layers of life times of history. There is more to be found yet still today, in my opinion.
I thank you for covering this time throughly, not just this one place. The internment camps the American Japanese were put into were so wrong. My mother had friends from her high school days taken away. Many of these people when released, had no homes anymore.
I truly look forward to your videos each week. It'll be fun to see where you take us in the next one.
P.S. My aging mother loves your videos. Some days, it's tough to find anything she wants to watch. Yet when I put your newest video on to watch, she lights right up!
Make sure your mom is getting plenty of AG1 so she can keep watching these videos for a long time 😉
My bet is that those containers were probably dropped off on pallets using parachutes. It's possible that the spy was interested in the numbers and types of aircraft spotted. He also could been monitoring radio communications and relaying whatever relevant information that he collected. The thing is that if he radioed too much the military would have triangulated his position and would have quickly nailed him. With that in mind, he might have been a person who relayed important information coming into, or going out of the country via shortwave radio. Last thought, he also could have been a "safe house" for agents on the run or for agents coming into the country.
Not really sure what to think, but glad you went there and checked it out for us.👍🚗
This is very different than your usual treks, but I enjoyed it immensely! I found the cave and metal box fascinating, and your narrative was so informative. The drone shots of the surrounding area were spectacular. You certainly left us with something to ponder. Thanks for another great adventure, Andrew. Stay safe and drift on! 😊
That steel box sitting on the rocks would be like an oven in the sun geez
AG-1 ROCKS ! AND SO DOES DESERT DRIFTER !! He always rocks the Park !!
Yep, crushed rocks!
the steel containers are housings for a generator to generate electricity at the casemates in cornwerder sand (the netherlands), they were also there, there is still one in the museum
Which way was the hillside facing? Depending which high frequency band a person was on, the hillside facing a certain direction is like a natural reflector on an antenna. Having been a Ham radio operator since the early 70’s, I know that a simple dipole on a hillside or ravine that faces Germany could reach them using the atmospheric bounce of the ionosphere. In addition, why were the boxes metal? Makes me think the boxes might have been part of the antenna system but that’s reaching for it. If a spy wanted to communicate directly to Germany, that’s a place that could have done it.
I remember hearing stories about a POW camp for German soldiers in central AZ. One German POW worked on the family ranch every day near Cottonwood.
Yes, could have been a POW escapee hid out there.
It was at Papago Park in Phoenix. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Papago_Park it is a nice place to visit
Desert drifter: “you shouldn’t disturb the ancient ruins of bygone civilizations, so the others can enjoy them” also desert drifter: “let’s go inside this 80 year old bunker and play with everything”
My dad took me there as a kid back in the 70s..He knew about it because he went there while in the Army so there is an Army report aswell The Army did think it was a spy hideout and they had much help "they" that was his words why it was there , speculation was to blow hoover dam which provided much irrigation water and most of the west coast electricity. I remember the place being in better shape and there was a fourth stucture over the hill..thanks for the memories...keep up the good hunting...try the Egypian cave in the GC (my birth place) heard two first hand accounts about that............ cfc
My aunt was born at G.C. in 1941.
Very interesting. So are you saying that your father told you that the army believed a spy was stationed there to be involved with sabotaging the hoover dam? That's insane if true.
@butter.demon1 Insane yes. In WWII the concept of strategic bombing was par for the course. Collateral damage was hardly given a second thought. The RAF Destroyed Westkapelle during the Battle of Walcheren Island. I think if Germany had the means they would have bombed US cities and blown dams. But it's just pure speculation.
Not a secret, this place is on AllTrails and maps these days and another RUclipsr just visited it a few months ago. Boy scout troups go there to explore.
He may not have been spying on bases, but providing aid to escaped P.O.W.’s. There were 700-800 P.O.W. Camps in the four corners states.
That metal crate looks like a German generator & radio shack. Many were captured on the soviet front in WW2. As an Ex M.A.R.S operator I speak from experience when I say… Solar propagation requires strange hours in order to get through with distance through the ionosphere.
I watch every video you post, but never comment. I guess it's only right to at least say hi.. So, hi from Finland!
And I'm glad you got a sponsorship deal for this video. I'm very familiar with AG1 as I tend to take a deep look at companies advertised by the channels I follow. They pay good money, but I sadly have zero faith in the product itself. They're extremely overpriced, lack efficacious doses of nutrients and they use proprietary blends which is always a huge red flag. In fact, 49 out of the 72 total ingredients come with zero information regarding their dosage. That's outrageous for a "health product", because to achieve any desired effect, you need to know how much to take. In my eyes, AG1 is ultimately just an overhyped cash grab with good marketing behind it. Quite frankly, I did feel a little sad seeing you endorsing it so openly.
man's gotta eat
@@somechrisguy Was just going to post, "everybody gotta eat"...
If that is the case. He might need to listen to the finn.
yea stuff is green thats about the extent of benefit.
Hi Finland.
Love your adventures and background info given on them 😊
I'm waiting for the one where he hikes through the desert near Roswell, New Mexico.
@@scottbreseke716 I vote for the Sandia Mts NM!
We'll never see that video, or him again.
@Alloneword-cp2xw I heard there's Friendly Beings out there, are you saying I heard right?
I saw that one...he died, of course.
I live in Roswell, not much close to Roswell, good hiking 15 minutes out
I seriously doubt it has anything to do with German spies but its more plausible to say it was a hiding place for escaped German prisoners of war, that place must seem like paradise compared to being in a prison camp.
Definitely a very strange story!! No mention of radio receivers or antenna. Thanks for the adventure.
My uncle was a counter spy against Germany during WWII. He took the place of a German spy who was captured in NYC. He spent the entire war feeding the Germans false information. My mother used to visit him, as she lived in NYC during a portion of the war. She said they could never meet in the same place twice, and always had to take circuitous routes to their meetings, never the same way home as the way she went. His expoits are public and can be found in numerous books about the FBI during WWII. I never met him.
The us military put that container there as an observation or radiation measurement point for nuclear weapons testing
This sounds very plausible.
My dad was in the air force from 1948 until 1953, the end of the Korean conflict. He was stationed at what we know now as Area 51. He said when the Korean conflict started, they reopened a remote location that was built during WWII. It was in Utah and access was through the area complex by heavy military vehicles only or on occasion aircraft. He hated scorpions even though we didn't have any in Indiana due to the once abandoned base was crawling with them and it was part of his duty to clean up the base for future classified use.
That cave looks like it was used as a radio shack (not the store).
In one aerial shot of the larger metal box, it looks like there was a loop of wire in a tree. Maybe the spies were collecting radio traffic? Later, it was used by a hermit that was living there. If found by the authorities during the war, they would have collected the radio equipment and possibly shot the spies.
love the little touch of asparagus!
Right?! 😂
Hey Andrew .. love the channel, less keen on the AI thumbnails (or AI generated responses). Your measured and considerate style is a real tonic and the videos always something to look forward to. Please do keep 'em coming.👍👍👍
Nothing says hidden nazi lair like a so**ing great swastika on the door.
As Herr vonSmallhausen mournfully responded*, when asked "Is this the secret headquarters of the Gestapo?" ...... "It vas".
('Allo 'Allo, BBCTV ... and vonSmallhausen did everything either mournfully or creepily.)
Please leave the AI crap out. This just destroys any authenticity of the video in my humble opinion
I am a ham operator, and like one if your other followers thinks, it could have a spot to receive and relay information by radio on a predetermind schedule. There were such sites also in the eastern coast mountains. Enjoying you explorations.
@ederwin9189 Thanks! That was my idea and comment.😊😍I had a relative who used one as his favorite pastime, communicating with people around the world! I think it was similar to social media of that day, if you were able to use one!
The metal piece in the cave looks like a range hood for over a stove. Very interesting. I won't discount the possibility that it was a US citizen who due to the phobia against those of Japanese and German background, he, suffering from his own phobias hid out. In Boone NC there was an old hermit that lived in the woods of the mountains for years but would come into town for supplies. This was in the early 2000's when my daughter went to college there. I even saw him from time to time. Who knows.
But thanks for taking us along, be safe and God bless.
That is my hunch, too.
Exactly what I saw too on the range hood cover, and I don’t think that was from the 40’s. Cool cave though!
17:43 Yes, it's definitely a hood fan housing, without the motor, light socket and electrical connections. Top vented, in this case. Looks like it rarely gets windy around those parts.
@@E.lectricityNorth I just wanted to say, your videos are entertaining, your photography is really good, and good for you for the physical challenges of getting to these places. Imagine a time when someone huddled down in that cave for whatever reason. There is something oddly romantic and mysterious about it. Keep up the good work.
The AI images need a disclaimer too.
Incredible find and it is fascinating to imagine what occurred there.
Thanks for another great adventure! ❤ Be safe.
There were WWII POW Camps in the SW...maybe an escaped soldier? Maybe a German defector or a German living in the US at the start of WWII and did not want to find himself in an internment camp. Many ideas...
The fundamental problem with an escaped soldier is how they would get all the equipment in the first place and secondly how to transport out there. If you find a hidden camp built with stuff you can find at the location, it could be a reasonable explanation. The rock wall looks to be held together with concrete, I would expect stacked stone that might have local mud in between if it is someone that escaped. Then and the problem of getting the large metal boxed out there.
If it has anything to do with WWII my guess would be it is a US installation likely for testing if a spy outpost like that would work or as a training location.
Well, I can personally tell you that my ex wife's German born grandfather was one of countless German / American Nazi collaborators. Factory workers, butcher, bakers and more communicated with the "old country" through the German American Clubs. I was shocked when shortly before his death he proudly displayed his German Medal for his efforts. 😢 As millions of Americans were united in the war effort these traitors lived in our midst.
Congrats on your inevitable 350,000 subscribers!
Two men. Each given a small shelter, hauled by pickup truck to the site. Flashflood took out one so they set the other up on rocks. They then built the second shelter in the cave. Yes those are fuel cans, probably kerosene. And yes that was an old 7 up bottle but probably newer than 1945. The wires were for the generator. Target: Hurricane Mesa supersonic research center.
Great presentation. Has anyone suggested that this "Hermit" was a former German soldier who just wanted to be as far away from the horrible memories of War?
or former spy?
It's definitely possible especially back then. A German soldier that found a way to desert without capture.. I still lean towards either someone post war that had the fear of nuclear winter pounded into their head and was preparing, but even more likely I believe it's more of something like around area 51 now but technology has made it all remote, where back then it was a radar installation and was manned by one possibly two people.. No telling but it's definitely fascinating. Don't recall if he ever says what type of military uniform it was.. May have to watch it again. I love this stuff though..
@@robertbraun7155 In Utah?
@@cliftontorrence839 or Bills mafia during Jim Kelly days...
The crates look like military drop crates. Something like this would have been flown into a secluded area during the night to avoid detection. If you ask me, being 250 miles from a base sounds more like a contingency plan to avoid detection, and have a rendezvous point for extraction as well. From a surveillance perspective the location isn't ideal, but from a point of operation perspective, the location is very ideal. Just as in this video you grew skeptical due to the distance, it seems as if this location is very ideal. Pretty cool video, thanks for sharing.
I'm so happy I found your channel while scrolling... Love watching them
At this time in history, there was also the interest in finding possible sources of Uranium for the Manhattan Project. Generators, battery storage, lookout structures, etc., would have been needed and what ruminants you and others seem to have found. Perhaps a Geiger Counter could confirm this possibility.
13:39 hey thats a generator housing
He may have been a communications intercept opertator. Or a aircraft type and count recorder. The Germans were baffled by the US Army's use of Navajo language for messaging. He may have ventured into Navaho settlements to try and pick up the language. Thank you for your investigation into this fascinating piece of history.
I'm always suspecting that Road Runner and Wiley Coyote are going to run by really fast at any moment.
That's why he always packs his ACME full size slingshot and TNT... 😂
Had to comment here. You used my nickname😊
They are there.
Meep Meep!
ACME delivers any where!!
The fact that a few Japanese immigrants of Ni'ihau, a small island in the Hawaiian islands, helped a Japanese pilot who had crashed during the attack on Pearl Harbor try to contact his fleet caused a great deal of the hysteria around the trustworthiness of all Japanese immigrants.
About 20 years ago in the Kingston Mt. Range near Death Valley, we saw an Asian man In a hi tech service van. Multiple antenna etc.
From that Becks Spring view at about 6000' , you could see, hear & smell China Lake bombing range .
Your story of a German spy felt Very feasible.
Good work , love your excursions especially when I see Creosote bushes.
Carry on
. Phillip
AG-1 IS AMAZING! DESERT DRIFTER DOES IT TOO! The park is always rocked by him!
Nazis were notorious for looking for artifacts and possibly treasure. They may not have been in that place to spy on military bases, but could have been looking for something else in the desert.
That’s a domesday preper military style building .. we hade lots of people who went to live in the desert because fear of a Atomic War in the USA
yes!!! thank you! it’s most likely cold war era!
Definitely more likely..
If they were worried about Atomic stuff. They would have gotten a lot farther away. All those deserts were testing grounds at one point.
@@shaynejenkins446 exactly.
@@shaynejenkins446 Probably more worried about an enemy attack on cities, not Govt. testing.
Judging by the terrain, and that vent pipe that you found underground, I think that this may be a small, independent uranium mine. The walled off cave would be used to store explosive material, the reason for the wires is likely to power a fan for ventilation. The smoke resins on the ceiling have probably been there since native times. The metal shacks would be a shelter with penetrations cut for a chimney, air vents. I find many places like this that don't show up on any mining, or historical data. Guys like me would just dig it out of the mountains and sell it to bigger mines at cost. The missing serial numbers are probably because....well...a lot of those guys worked at mines, and wanted to start their own. They stole shit from work all the time. That doesn't happen anymore. Every miner is reputable and honest these days though
The sheet metal inside the stone structure is hood that goes above a stove.
I came here to say that too.
I see you beat me to it. Bravo!!
One of the photos shows it hanging over the door as an awning I think.
For a spy hideout it would be too far away from everything in my opinion. You want to blend in, not stand out in the desert. And for a repeater station as mentioned here, would you choose a guy that is obsessed with "no numbers"? A guy that should forward most likely encrypted messages?
Not sure if you already figured it out, but the green artifact(s) after rendering are possibly an indication your graphics card is beginning to fail.
noticed this as well
Saw it, too.
Thanks. I was wondering what’s going on. 2 videos in a row… That is good to know. I was planning on getting a new computer, guess I’ll need to hurry on that
@@Desert.Drifter I suggest a Macbook Pro. It will make your editing job a bit easier and somewhat less time-consuming. Keep up the good work. Love your videos!
@@chrisackerley1842 Depends on the software he uses, an AMD powered PC might be better with more cores, and possibly an Nvidia GPU.
I just LOVE going on these adventures with you!! Thanks so much!!!
That metal thing in the cave looked like a smoke hood for a kitchen stove. I bet that's what those wires were for and I'd also bet that it didn't work very well. I'd guess that would be why whoever was staying there moved into the packing crate. Just a guess though.
17:45 Agreed! Definitely a hood for a ventilator. The two squares on the back (or top) are where two squirrel cage blowers would mount.
Those distances to bases are tiny for a receiver to pick up military communications. It's entirely plausible to have been a listening station. The reception would have been excellent.
I love that he's always somewhere in the dessert driftin and cruisin
When does he work? Is he filthy rich? 🤔
Yep. Love it. All the useless, divisive, and censored content on youtube now, it's nice to watch something low key, still gets your brain thinking but it's not just manufactured content just to get you to click on it. Just one guy, rolling through places no one rarely goes just so we can all get to see it too.. I really enjoy it.
Here in Canada it is known the German military established at least one weather station in Labrador during WWII. As the War of the North Atlantic waged on, they collected & radioed weather data to help German u-boats avoid storms & be better at anticipating the convoy movements of the thousands of cargo ships supplying Britain. At the time Labrador was even more sparsely populated than today.
As much as I love your videos, please don't commercilaze them too much! The wilderness is better without commercial intrusion!
In my experiences with the FBI I was frustrated. Right after 9/11/2001, I went to their office to talk to them about some suspicious activity that I had witnessed.
They seemed arrogantly unkind to me. Now, if there is trouble, I just go to the local police through 911. They are not much better. :(
Maybe he scratched off the numbers on the thermometer because he used celsius and had marked the celsius lines with something that had worn off by the time someone found it.
Seconding the comment about the creepy AI images - please no more AI. They definitely harm the quality of the video. It was distracting enough that I paused the video to see if anyone in the comments were bothered by it too, (normally your videos keep my attention). I enjoy seeing your footage from the places you go, and even the occasional real historical photo/illustration/map/news article. But AI is distracting and unnecessary. Thanks for hearing us out, looking forward to seeing what you explore next!
Hello Drifter, thanks for posting these videos. You rock !
The metal boxes appear repurposed surplus items judging by the oddly shaped window. Disassembled, they and other building materials would likely by transported there by pack mule, (as they were still used by prospectors in that era) then reassembled on site. Line of sight repeaters (UHF/VHF) would need to be on a peak or a tower to be effective, and this site was in a lower area that was blocked by the higher terrain shown in the background. Radio equipment wasn't easily portable at that time, so the logistics of transporting them to a peak would be tough. High freqency might work from there, but theres no evidence of a tower or any radio equipment having been found.
It has every appearance of a hermits home, with cool food storage in the blocked off cave.
Uniforms could be bought surplus inexpensively after the war, but would not be a great disguise for a spy.
KM6WVK,
General class amateur radio operator.
Such a stunning landscape, truly breathtaking! I already know after the first few seconds that this will be a great video 😍
That first arroyo where his car is driving in was amazing/otherworldly..
This was a really cool video!! Loved it! Interesting!
Stop with the clickbait thumbnails, you are losing credibility.
It wasn’t. He put a question mark on the title and told a story about a rumor.
Arithmophobia is the extreme fear of numbers. Some people fear certain numbers, such as “unlucky” number 13. Others fear all numbers. Arithmophobia can significantly interfere with daily life. People with the phobia may have a hard time holding certain jobs, paying bills or managing a budget
Thank you. Your videos are eagerly awaited and a high point of my week. I'm 70 and love adventuring through your lense.
Same for me.