The Clara Nevada – An Accident or Murder?

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Episode 66: The Clara Nevada — Accident or Murder?

 

No saga of the Alaska Gold Rush would be complete without a touch of the mysterious.  Every rush has its eerie events, and the Alaska Gold Rush was no exception. Perhaps the most perplexing incident of that era was the saga of the Clara Nevada. Here was a tale of greed, robbery, and murder, along with a ghostly re-visitation. But it was more than that.  It is also one of the largest successful robberies in American history combined with the third largest mass murders in American history as well, surpassed only by the  Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the 911 attack on the World Trade Center.

 

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Coming Soon!

 

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

______________________________________________________

Meet Steve Levi, Your Host for Episode 66: The Clara Nevada — Accident or Murder?

 

Steve Levi is a 70-something writer in Alaska. He specializes in the impossible crime and the Alaska Gold Rush.  An impossible crime is one in which the detective must figure out HOW the crime was committed before he can go after the perpetrators.  As an example, in THE MATTER OF THE VANISHING GREYHOUND, the detective must figure out how a Greyhound bus with four bank robbers, a dozen hostages, and  $10 million can vanish off the Golden Gate Bridge. Steve’s books can be seen at www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi and www.steverlevibooks.com. He also does two historical uploads a week.  Send Steve your email, and he will include it in the mailings.

 

 

Portlock: The Silent Shore

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Episode 65: Portlock: The Silent Shore

The moss grows thick here. Thick enough that your footsteps don’t make a sound as you walk through what used to be Portlock. The beams of the old cannery jut up from the undergrowth like the ribs of some enormous beast, weathered gray and soft with rot. You can still see where the buildings stood—the school, the houses, the post office—but nature has been patient. Forty years patient. The alders have grown tall through floorboards. The salmonberries have claimed the doorways.

It’s quiet here. The kind of quiet that makes you notice your own breathing.

This is Portlock, Alaska. Or maybe I should say this was Portlock. Because while the place still exists—the bay still curves in that same protected crescent, the mountains still rise sharp and snow-covered behind—the life that once filled it is gone. Every last person who called this place home walked away. And they never came back.

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This podcast is sponsored by Author Masterminds and the Readers and Writers Book Club. 

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

__________________________________________________

Meet Evan Swensen, your host for Episode 65: Portlock: The Silent Shore

Meet Evan Swensen, your host for Episode 61: Ghosts in the Goldfields.

Evan Swensen, book publisher, editor, author, and Author Masterminds charter member, along with his wife, Lois, publishes books by authors worldwide. He has been the publisher and editor of Alaska Outdoors magazine and producer of Alaska Outdoors television show and outdoor videos, and host of Alaska Outdoor Radio Magazine. He has been an Alaska resident since 1957.

As a pilot, he has logged more than 4,000 hours of flight time in Alaska, in both wheel and float planes.  He is a serious recreation hunter and fisherman, equally comfortable casting a flyrod or using bait, or lures.  Evan has been published in many national magazines and is the author of five books and publisher of more than 1,000 books by other authors.

Evan claims to have the best job in the world; he gets up in the morning, puts on his fishing vest, picks up his fly rod, kisses his wife goodbye, tells her he’s going to work—and she believes him.

Author Masterminds: https://authormasterminds.com/evan-swensen

Author Masterminds One Last Cast book: https://authormasterminds.com/details/XLxrX

One Last Cast on Amazon: https://bit.ly/3H0OzTo

One Last Cast short video: https://youtu.be/2wzwWmim-2g

Alaska Outdoors https://alaskaoutdoorsmagazine.com.

Alaska Outdoors Blog: https://alaskaoutdoorsmagazine.com/blog/

Alaska Outdoors Videos: https://bit.ly/37xjUzl

 

 

 

 

The Mysterious Grand Canyon

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Episode 64: The Mysterious Grand Canyon

Since well before the “Americans” discovered the magnificent Grand Canyon, the incredible geologic formation has been shrouded in mystery. The Hopis—who live there on the southern escarpments of Black Mesa in eastern Arizona–are one of the oldest living cultures in documented history, with a past stretching back thousands of years. The Hopi trace their ancestry to the Ancient Puebloan and Basketmaker cultures, which built many stone structures and left many artifacts at the Grand Canyon and across the area of the present day Southwestern United States. Little is known about that mysterious culture beyond what they left behind.

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Grab your copy of this epic trilogy.

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Share your Alaska photos and tales at the Explore Alaska Facebook Event!

Visit our Facebook Event: Explore Alaska from June 16 to June 30 and share your tales and post photos of Alaska.
_________________________

This podcast is sponsored by Author Masterminds and the Readers and Writers Book Club. 

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

__________________________________________________

Meet Carl Douglass, your host for episode 64: The Mysterious Grand Canyon.

My pseudonym as an author is Carl Douglass, adopted as a means of telling stories with gripping realism—the truth of which would not bring trouble to my door. My writing of gripping, realistic fiction began after I was obligated to retire from the private practice of neurosurgery due to sudden blindness in my left eye from a retinal detachment which caused loss of stereoscopic vision. I carried with me decades-long knowledge of doctors, hospitals, and institutions of higher learning, including some less than laudatory information. My military experience during the years of the recent unpleasantness in Vietnam also gave me considerable insight. Both of those lengthy experiences provided true grist for the mill of my writing, but neither of them need to connect the stories to the lives of the real people and places where the stories took place. In that sense, I know too much and have no wish to incriminate or to bring harm or embarrassment to real individuals or institutions. My rich and varied life has provided even more fodder to feed my mind and contribute realism to my written work. In my time, I have had to work due to lacking a sugar daddy. I have been a grease monkey, a lumber mill and forest worker, a lifeguard, a slaughterhouse worker, a diener in a morgue, a lab rat, an academic writer, a medical officer in a mental hospital, a naval officer and surgeon, a brig doctor, and a deep diving officer. I have been the husband of one fine wife, the father of four children—one deceased—eleven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. All of them have enriched the depth and breadth of my storytelling.

 

 

What Happened on the Edmund Fitzgerald

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Episode 63: What Happened to the Edmund Fitzgerald?

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

of the big lake they called Gitchee Gumee

The lake it is said never gives up her dead

when the skies of November turn gloomy

Gordon Lightfoot’s lyrics memorialize the tragedy of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, but the mystery remains – what sunk the great ship?

Sources:

Stonehouse, Frederick. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Avery Color Studios, Inc. Gwinn, Michigan. 1977.

Charles River Editors. The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Loss of the Largest Ship on the Great Lakes. Kindle

Schumacher, Michael. The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald: Eyewitness Accounts from the U.S. Coast Guard Hearings. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, MN. 201___________________________

Now Available

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Explore Alaska with the Readers and Writers Book Club.

Visit our Facebook Event: Explore Alaska from June 16 to June 30 and share your tales and post photos of Alaska.

______________________

This podcast is sponsored by Author Masterminds and the Readers and Writers Book Club. 

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meet Valerie Winans, your host for Episode 63: What Happened to the Edmund Fitzgerald?

Valerie Winans is a graduate of Northwestern Michigan College, a retired state government manager, and a former campground host in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Valerie is the author of four books: Alaska’s Savage River: Inside Denali National Park and Preserve, Road Trip with Remington Beagle: Michigan to Alaska and Back, and A Hero’s Journey: Life Lessons From A Dog And His Friends, and The Extraordinary Life of Edwin B. Winans: From the Stampede for Gold in California to the Capitol of Michigan. A writer of both fiction and non-fiction, her books are written to inform and entertain readers of all ages. She currently resides with her husband in Traverse City, Michigan. More information can be found at www.valeriewinans.com.

 

 

Where’s Joe?

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Episode 62: Where’s Joe?

The endless supply of larger-than-life characters in Alaska makes the state fertile ground for reality television shows and movies based on true stories. If you made a list of the strong, fascinating individuals in the history of this vast state, though, Joe Vogler would rank near the top. Picture a sharply dressed man, wearing a fedora, a bolo tie, and a plaid flannel shirt while he stands in front of a group of rowdy people and proclaims his controversial opinions in a booming voice.

Sources

Brenan, Tom. Cold Crime. 2005. Epicenter Press. Death of a Maverick.

Coppock, Michael. “On Joe Vogler, an independent Alaska.”March 14, 2008. Juneau Empire.

Ice Cold Killers. Season 2, Episode 6. “Guns, Gold, and Murder.”

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Check out the Author Masterminds Website

________________________________________________________________

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

___________________________________________

Meet  Robin Barefield, your host for Episode 62:  Where’s  Joe?

Robin Barefield lives in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, where she and her husband own a remote lodge. She has a master’s degree in fish and wildlife biology and is a wildlife-viewing and fishing guide. Robin has published six novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge, and The Ultimate Hunt. She has also published two non-fiction books: Kodiak Island Wildlife and Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. She draws on her love and appreciation of the Alaska wilderness as well as her scientific background when writing.

Robin invites you to join her at her website: https://robinbarefield.com, and while you are there, sign up for her free monthly newsletter about true crime in Alaska. Robin also narrates a podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. You can find it at: https://murder-in-the-last-frontier.blubrry.net

 

Ghosts in the Goldfields

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Episode 61: Ghosts in the Goldfields

Alaska has always been a land of extremes—untamed, ruthless, and seductive to those who believe they can master its wilderness. It has lured explorers, trappers, and fortune seekers into its vast and treacherous landscapes for centuries. Many never returned, but those who did were forever changed by the unforgiving land, where survival depended on grit, resourcefulness, and a willingness _to endure hardships few could imagine.

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Check out the Author Masterminds Website

________________________________________________________________

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

___________________________________________

Meet Evan Swensen, your host for Episode 61: Ghosts in the Goldfields.

Evan Swensen, book publisher, editor, author, and Author Masterminds charter member, along with his wife, Lois, publishes books by authors worldwide. He has been the publisher and editor of Alaska Outdoors magazine and producer of Alaska Outdoors television show and outdoor videos, and host of Alaska Outdoor Radio Magazine. He has been an Alaska resident since 1957.

As a pilot, he has logged more than 4,000 hours of flight time in Alaska, in both wheel and float planes.  He is a serious recreation hunter and fisherman, equally comfortable casting a flyrod or using bait, or lures.  Evan has been published in many national magazines and is the author of five books and publisher of more than 1,000 books by other authors.

Evan claims to have the best job in the world; he gets up in the morning, puts on his fishing vest, picks up his fly rod, kisses his wife goodbye, tells her he’s going to work—and she believes him.

Author Masterminds: https://authormasterminds.com/evan-swensen

Author Masterminds One Last Cast book: https://authormasterminds.com/details/XLxrX

One Last Cast on Amazon: https://bit.ly/3H0OzTo

One Last Cast short video: https://youtu.be/2wzwWmim-2g

Alaska Outdoors https://alaskaoutdoorsmagazine.com.

Alaska Outdoors Blog: https://alaskaoutdoorsmagazine.com/blog/

Alaska Outdoors Videos: https://bit.ly/37xjUzl

 

 

 

Mysterious Area 51 andThe Skunk Works

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Episode 60: Mysterious Area 51 and The Skunk Works

In the mid-1980s, I was involved in a civil trial in Lancaster, California. Both sets of attornies came from Los Angeles. One of them was openly scornful of the northern part of LA county where the trial was being held. He loved LA with its chewable air, and Hollyweird. During voir dire, he took exception to the answers given him by several potential jurors. The Q & A went like this:

Q-What kind of work do you do.

A-I can’t say.

Q-Why not?

A-I can’t say.

Q-Where do you work?

A-I can’t say.

Q-How many people work where you work?

A-I can’t say.

Q-What can you say?

A-Nothing… about work.

“Your honor, please instruct the juror to cooperate.”

“Mr. Conrad, just accept my word and direction that I know where they work and what they do. You do not need to know. Go onto a different set of questions.”

He muttered but went on. Everyone else in the courtroom had a very good idea of where those people worked: either at Area 51 or the skunk works, places as secret and mysterious as the dark side of the moon or the Manhattan Project. Many actual employees of Area 51 listed their occupations where legally required as “Nuclear energy.” One retired brigadier general always responded that he repaired typewriters in Las Vegas during his stint in the Air Force.

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Join the Readers and Writers Book Club for a Spring Fling Facebook Event and Explore the Haunted Harding House: April 15 – 29

________________________________

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

________________________________________________________________

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

___________________________________________

Meet Carl Douglas, your host for Episode 60: Mysterious Area 51 and The Skunk Works

My pseudonym as an author is Carl Douglass, adopted as a means of telling stories with gripping realism—the truth of which would not bring trouble to my door. My writing of gripping, realistic fiction began after I was obligated to retire from the private practice of neurosurgery due to sudden blindness in my left eye from a retinal detachment which caused loss of stereoscopic vision. I carried with me decades-long knowledge of doctors, hospitals, and institutions of higher learning, including some less than laudatory information. My military experience during the years of the recent unpleasantness in Vietnam also gave me considerable insight. Both of those lengthy experiences provided true grist for the mill of my writing, but neither of them need to connect the stories to the lives of the real people and places where the stories took place. In that sense, I know too much and have no wish to incriminate or to bring harm or embarrassment to real individuals or institutions. My rich and varied life has provided even more fodder to feed my mind and contribute realism to my written work. In my time, I have had to work due to lacking a sugar daddy. I have been a grease monkey, a lumber mill and forest worker, a lifeguard, a slaughterhouse worker, a diener in a morgue, a lab rat, an academic writer, a medical officer in a mental hospital, a naval officer and surgeon, a brig doctor, and a deep diving officer. I have been the husband of one fine wife, the father of four children—one deceased—eleven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. All of them have enriched the depth and breadth of my storytelling

 

 

 

The Hex Hollow Murder

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Episode 59: The Hex Hollow Murder

Picture this: late November, 1928. York County, Pennsylvania. The trees are bare, clawing at a gray sky, and the air’s thick with the kind of chill that seeps into your bones. In a little farmhouse tucked away in Rehmeyer’s Hollow, a man named Nelson Rehmeyer is going about his evening. He’s tall, quiet—a farmer and a healer known to the locals. But not everyone sees him as a friend. Some whisper he’s more than a man who knows herbs. They say he’s a pow-wow doctor—a conjurer of spells, a wielder of hexes. And in a world where superstition runs as deep as the roots of the old oaks, that’s a dangerous reputation to have.

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Join the Readers and Writers Book Club for a Spring Fling Facebook Event and Explore the Haunted Harding House: April 15 – 29

________________________________

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

________________________________________________________________

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

___________________________________________

Meet Mary Ann Poll, your host for Episode 59:The Hex Hollow Murder.

Mary Ann Poll is the author of five Supernatural Thriller novels, Ravens Cove, Ingress, Gorgon, Dullahan, and Andalusia Forest.

Sign up to subscribe for free information about upcoming events at www.maryannpoll.com and check out her podcast Real Ghost Chatter.

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The Mystery of the First Broken Arrow

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Episode 58: The Mystery of the First Broken Arrow

Fat-Boy Bomb

The U.S. military defines a “Broken Arrow” as an “unexpectedent involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon.” The first Broken Arrow event occurred in 1950 during a mission from Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Questions still surround this event and the mystery of what happened to the B-36 aircraft and the Mark IV atomic bomb it carried.

Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada
Sources
Adams, Sharon. “The lost nuke of British Columbia.” January 26, 2022. Legion.
Clearwater, John M. “The first one to get away.” November/December 2004. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Liefer, Gregory P. Chapter 12: “Broken Arrow.” 2011. Anchorage, AK. Publication Consultants.
Roos, Dave. “’Broken Arrow’: When the first U.S. atomic bomb went missing.” January 13, 2020. History.

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What Would You Do if Someone was Hunting You?

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Check out the Author Masterminds Website

________________________________________________________________

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

___________________________________________

Meet Robin Barefield, your host for Episode 58: The Mystery of the First Broken Arrow

Robin Barefield lives in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, where she and her husband own a remote lodge. She has a master’s degree in fish and wildlife biology and is a wildlife-viewing and fishing guide. Robin has published six novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge, and The Ultimate Hunt. She has also published two non-fiction books: Kodiak Island Wildlife and Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. She draws on her love and appreciation of the Alaska wilderness as well as her scientific background when writing.

Robin invites you to join her at her website: https://robinbarefield.com, and while you are there, sign up for her free monthly newsletter about true crime in Alaska. Robin also narrates a podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. You can find it at: https://murder-in-the-last-frontier.blubrry.net

 

 

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With all the Chaos Surrounding it, How Was the Alaska Railroad Ever Built?

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Episode 57: With all the Chaos Surrounding it, How Was the Alaska Railroad Ever Built?

One of the greatest mysteries in Alaska – even though it is quite visible to the naked eye – is the Alaska Railroad. Every year, more than 400,000 visitors to Alaska ride the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Fairbanks with a stop in Denali National Park.  And it is not a modest railway. It has 656 miles of track and carries 5.11 million tons of freight annually. It has only been owned by the State of Alaska since 1985, but before that, it was the only federally owned and operated railroad.

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_______________________________

 

Check out the Author Masterminds Website

________________________________________________________________

Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club

___________________________________________

Meet Steve Levi, your host for Episode 57:

With all the Chaos Surrounding it, How Was the Alaska Railroad Ever Built?

 

 

Steve Levi is a 70-something writer in Alaska. He specializes in the impossible crime and the Alaska Gold Rush.  An impossible crime is one in which the detective must figure out HOW the crime was committed before he can go after the perpetrators.  As an example, in THE MATTER OF THE VANISHING GREYHOUND, the detective must figure out how a Greyhound bus with four bank robbers, a dozen hostages, and  $10 million can vanish off the Golden Gate Bridge. Steve’s books can be seen at www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi and www.steverlevibooks.com. He also does two historical uploads a week.  Send Steve your email, and he will include it in the mailings.