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| 0:00 | · | Hey everyone, welcome to Sidetrack |
| 0:01 | · | Adventures. This is Steve. |
| 0:04 | · | We are deep in the Mojave Desert, a |
| 0:07 | · | place filled with strange stories and |
| 0:09 | · | forgotten relics. And today we're going |
| 0:12 | · | to be visiting one of the weirdest of |
| 0:13 | · | them all, the Mojave Megaphone. |
| 0:17 | · | Nobody knows who built it, and nobody |
| 0:19 | · | knows why it's there. Some say it's art, |
| 0:23 | · | others think it's a leftover from a |
| 0:25 | · | secret military experiment, and a few |
| 0:27 | · | believe it is something else. entirely. |
| 0:33 | · | We are starting out today between |
| 0:34 | · | Barstow and Baker near the entrance to |
| 0:37 | · | Aftton Canyon. |
| 0:43 | · | This is the entrance to Aftton Canyon |
| 0:45 | · | off in the distance |
| 0:48 | · | and traveling under the bridge here is |
| 0:51 | · | the historic Mojave Road. |
| 0:54 | · | But we're going to be pretty much |
| 0:55 | · | heading in this direction following the |
| 0:57 | · | railroad tracks for a while. |
| 1:07 | · | In just a minute, we'll get away from |
| 1:09 | · | the actual tracks. We don't really want |
| 1:11 | · | to be driving here when a train shows |
| 1:12 | · | up. |
| 1:15 | · | This is the Union Pacific line, but it |
| 1:17 | · | was originally the Los Angeles and Salt |
| 1:19 | · | Lake Railroad. |
| 1:22 | · | But the reason we're traveling out here |
| 1:24 | · | today, the Mojave Megaphone, also known |
| 1:28 | · | as the Sentinel Enigma, |
| 1:30 | · | has puzzled travelers for decades. |
| 1:33 | · | Perched high on a lonely ridge, it |
| 1:36 | · | stares silently across one of the most |
| 1:37 | · | remote stretches of desert in |
| 1:39 | · | California. |
| 1:41 | · | No one knows exactly who built it, why |
| 1:43 | · | it's here, or what purpose it once |
| 1:46 | · | served. |
| 1:50 | · | As we'll see, this thing is pretty |
| 1:52 | · | remote and not exactly easy to get to. |
| 1:58 | · | Whoever put it there went through a lot |
| 2:00 | · | of effort. And that's part of what makes |
| 2:02 | · | it so mysterious because getting it out |
| 2:05 | · | here was no easy task. |
| 2:14 | · | This is the first train we've seen since |
| 2:15 | · | we've been out here. The railroad tracks |
| 2:18 | · | kind of cut the desert in half as there |
| 2:20 | · | aren't a lot of good places to get from |
| 2:22 | · | one side of the tracks to the other. |
| 2:26 | · | You may have to go miles in either |
| 2:28 | · | direction to find a crossing. |
| 2:34 | · | And when there's a rare crossing that |
| 2:35 | · | goes over the tracks, some of these |
| 2:38 | · | trains are quite long and you could be |
| 2:40 | · | waiting for a while to get to the other |
| 2:41 | · | side. |
| 2:48 | · | Luckily for us though, we don't need to |
| 2:50 | · | cross the tracks today. We'll be staying |
| 2:51 | · | on the south side of them. |
| 3:02 | · | But speaking of the railroad, the |
| 3:03 | · | railroad actually ties into one of the |
| 3:05 | · | theories about what the Mojave Megaphone |
| 3:07 | · | might be and why it's out here in the |
| 3:10 | · | first place. |
| 3:12 | · | Some people have theorized that the |
| 3:14 | · | Mojave Megaphone was actually built for |
| 3:17 | · | the railroad. |
| 3:21 | · | According to this theory, trains |
| 3:24 | · | carrying hazardous chemicals or fuel |
| 3:26 | · | would pass near here, and the Mojave |
| 3:28 | · | megaphone might have been used to |
| 3:30 | · | project a siren, a signal that a |
| 3:33 | · | dangerous train was on its way, or that |
| 3:35 | · | a spill had occurred somewhere down the |
| 3:37 | · | line. |
| 3:43 | · | But here's the problem. No records of |
| 3:46 | · | such a system exist. And as we'll see |
| 3:48 | · | when we get out to it, the structure |
| 3:51 | · | doesn't match any known design for |
| 3:52 | · | railroad sirens. |
| 3:55 | · | Plus, it really isn't that close to the |
| 3:57 | · | railroad. You'd think if it was a |
| 3:59 | · | warning, they'd put it closer. |
| 4:07 | · | My guess is it's probably not a warning |
| 4:08 | · | horn, but something else entirely. |
| 4:17 | · | We've just come to a spot where you can |
| 4:18 | · | see the road had been paved at one time. |
| 4:26 | · | This is called Crusero, and this is |
| 4:28 | · | where the Union Pacific and the Tonapa |
| 4:30 | · | and Tidewater railroads met. |
| 4:36 | · | For a while, there was a small town |
| 4:37 | · | here. It had a post office, a telegraph |
| 4:40 | · | station, and a few hearty people who |
| 4:43 | · | called this blistering outpost home. But |
| 4:46 | · | when the Tonapawa and Tidewater shut |
| 4:48 | · | down in the early 1940s, the trains |
| 4:51 | · | stopped meeting here and the town died. |
| 4:56 | · | And looking around, there's not much |
| 4:57 | · | evidence that anything was ever here. |
| 5:00 | · | Though some of these streets are still |
| 5:02 | · | labeled on the map, such as Main Street |
| 5:04 | · | and First Street, |
| 5:09 | · | but other than this grid of roads in the |
| 5:11 | · | middle of nowhere, you would never guess |
| 5:14 | · | a town was right Here. |
| 5:39 | · | There are a few cement blocks over here. |
| 5:42 | · | probably what's left of the railroad |
| 5:44 | · | sighting for the Tonopah and Tidewater. |
| 5:48 | · | Maybe this sign could give us a little |
| 5:49 | · | bit more information, but I don't think |
| 5:52 | · | we'll be reading it today. |
| 5:59 | · | But you can still make out the old |
| 6:00 | · | railroad bed here. |
| 6:05 | · | I looked to see if I could find any |
| 6:07 | · | photos of the old sighting here, but |
| 6:09 | · | unfortunately I wasn't able to find |
| 6:10 | · | anything. |
| 6:15 | · | You can see the Union Pacific line here. |
| 6:17 | · | After the Tonopon and Tidewater crossed |
| 6:19 | · | the Union Pacific, it would continue |
| 6:21 | · | south from here. And its southern |
| 6:23 | · | terminus was the town of Lello, |
| 6:27 | · | which isn't too far from here. I believe |
| 6:29 | · | there were only two or three other stops |
| 6:31 | · | between here and Lello. |
| 6:35 | · | But since this was the intersection of |
| 6:36 | · | two major railroads, as you could see, |
| 6:38 | · | this was a pretty big sighting here. |
| 6:42 | · | But we need to head a little bit further |
| 6:44 | · | south to those mountains in the |
| 6:46 | · | distance. |
| 7:19 | · | And we finally arrived. There it is up |
| 7:22 | · | on the hill up ahead. |
| 7:24 | · | The mysterious Mojave Megaphone. |
| 7:34 | · | Let's go ahead and climb up and get a |
| 7:36 | · | closer look at it. |
| 7:41 | · | There is some sort of cross over here. |
| 7:43 | · | Looks like it says JFW and dirt bag |
| 7:46 | · | crew. |
| 7:52 | · | It looks like there's a little bit of a |
| 7:53 | · | trail here. |
| 7:57 | · | As you can see, it's not exactly easy to |
| 7:59 | · | get up there, which just adds to the |
| 8:01 | · | mystery. |
| 8:04 | · | Getting back into the theories of what |
| 8:07 | · | this could be, this part of the Mojave |
| 8:10 | · | has seen just about every kind of |
| 8:11 | · | testing you can imagine. Weapons |
| 8:14 | · | testing, flight experiments, even secret |
| 8:17 | · | training grounds going back to World War |
| 8:19 | · | II. |
| 8:21 | · | Some people think this megaphone might |
| 8:24 | · | have been an acoustic monitor, maybe |
| 8:27 | · | something to measure shock waves from |
| 8:28 | · | explosions or the sonic booms of test |
| 8:31 | · | flights. |
| 8:35 | · | Others think it was used to relay |
| 8:36 | · | warning sirens across the desert, maybe |
| 8:39 | · | part of an early warning network for |
| 8:41 | · | chemical weapons testing. |
| 8:44 | · | As we saw with Crusero, that settlement |
| 8:47 | · | was there until the 1940s. So, if there |
| 8:49 | · | was some sort of World War II era |
| 8:52 | · | testing going on, there was a settlement |
| 8:54 | · | not too far from here. |
| 8:58 | · | To me, that all sounds far-fetched. |
| 9:02 | · | But then again, so does a giant metal |
| 9:05 | · | megaphone bolted to a mountain in the |
| 9:07 | · | middle of nowhere. |
| 9:14 | · | Whoever carried it up here had to carry |
| 9:17 | · | it over this kind of terrain. |
| 9:20 | · | And each section of it weighs over 300 |
| 9:23 | · | lb. |
| 9:30 | · | As far as this thing having something to |
| 9:32 | · | do with the military, there's no |
| 9:34 | · | paperwork, no photos, and no sign the |
| 9:37 | · | military ever had anything right here. |
| 9:42 | · | So, another idea is that this is some |
| 9:44 | · | kind of survey or signaling device. |
| 9:49 | · | If you look at old maps, this ridge |
| 9:52 | · | lines up almost perfectly north to |
| 9:54 | · | south. |
| 9:57 | · | Though, it doesn't look like the rocks |
| 9:58 | · | that it's bolted to line up the same |
| 10:00 | · | way. |
| 10:07 | · | I just checked. It's about 15 degrees |
| 10:10 | · | off north to south. |
| 10:19 | · | But looking inside the megaphone, |
| 10:22 | · | there's a metal crossbar that almost |
| 10:24 | · | looks like a sight. |
| 10:38 | · | Here you can see the welding job on this |
| 10:40 | · | thing. Not exactly the best welding ever |
| 10:43 | · | done. And the two halves are bolted |
| 10:46 | · | together. |
| 10:53 | · | And here we can see where the megaphone |
| 10:55 | · | is bolted into the boulders. |
| 11:06 | · | Some people think this might have been |
| 11:07 | · | used as a fixed point for a |
| 11:09 | · | triangulation or to mark a boundary, but |
| 11:13 | · | nobody's ever been able to figure out |
| 11:14 | · | what it's supposed to line up with. |
| 11:32 | · | And of course, there are some people who |
| 11:34 | · | take the mystery even further, saying it |
| 11:37 | · | was built to send or receive signals |
| 11:40 | · | from UFOs. |
| 11:47 | · | I would hope that aliens who could |
| 11:49 | · | travel across the stars could do a |
| 11:51 | · | better welding job than this though. But |
| 11:53 | · | then again, who are we to understand the |
| 11:55 | · | minds of aliens? |
| 12:06 | · | It looks like unfortunately some people |
| 12:08 | · | have shot the Mojave megaphone as well. |
| 12:16 | · | If nothing else, there is a pretty great |
| 12:18 | · | view from up here. But then again, when |
| 12:21 | · | you're up here and you see all this |
| 12:23 | · | emptiness, |
| 12:25 | · | you know there is no way this was a |
| 12:28 | · | siren to warn anyone of anything because |
| 12:31 | · | there is no one around here to warn. |
| 12:43 | · | This area is just so remote and even the |
| 12:46 | · | railroad and the old settlement of |
| 12:48 | · | Crusero are miles from here. |
| 13:00 | · | Another thing working against a lot of |
| 13:02 | · | the theories out there about the |
| 13:04 | · | megaphone is it doesn't seem to be as |
| 13:06 | · | old as people think. |
| 13:10 | · | The mystery itself wasn't even really |
| 13:12 | · | known until the early 2000s. |
| 13:16 | · | Desert magazine, which famously covered |
| 13:18 | · | everything big and small in the Mojave, |
| 13:22 | · | doesn't appear to have ever even |
| 13:23 | · | mentioned the megaphone before it |
| 13:25 | · | stopped publishing in 1985. |
| 13:29 | · | A mystery like this doesn't seem to be |
| 13:32 | · | something they would have overlooked. |
| 13:44 | · | In my research, I tried to find the |
| 13:46 | · | earliest possible mention of the Mojave |
| 13:48 | · | Megaphone that I could find. And the |
| 13:50 | · | farthest back that I was able to find |
| 13:52 | · | anything was 1990. |
| 13:55 | · | And this is where if you want the Mojave |
| 13:57 | · | Megaphone to remain a mystery to you, |
| 14:00 | · | you should probably stop watching. |
| 14:03 | · | Long before anyone had called this the |
| 14:05 | · | Mojave Megaphone, in December 1990, the |
| 14:09 | · | Desert Dispatch newspaper in Barstow, |
| 14:11 | · | California, printed an article titled |
| 14:14 | · | Mojave Desert Holds Many Secrets, and |
| 14:17 | · | one of those secrets was called The |
| 14:20 | · | Drum. |
| 14:24 | · | The article goes on to quote a Bureau of |
| 14:26 | · | Land Management ranger who states that |
| 14:29 | · | he had met the maker of the drum, what |
| 14:31 | · | is now called the Mojave Megaphone, a |
| 14:34 | · | year earlier and that he brings up skins |
| 14:36 | · | to make drum heads and wires it to a |
| 14:39 | · | generator powered amplifier. |
| 14:46 | · | The article also confirmed that this was |
| 14:48 | · | brought up by hand, which certainly |
| 14:51 | · | shows some dedication. |
| 14:57 | · | Unfortunately, the article doesn't |
| 14:59 | · | mention the creator's name, but unless |
| 15:01 | · | the ranger was making up the story for |
| 15:03 | · | whatever reason, it appears that this |
| 15:06 | · | was built to be a drum. |
| 15:10 | · | Why this spot was chosen and why they |
| 15:12 | · | did it is still a mystery. But at least |
| 15:15 | · | despite what the History Channel might |
| 15:17 | · | say, we could be pretty sure that aliens |
| 15:20 | · | didn't build this. |
| 15:30 | · | And if we bang on it, we can see how it |
| 15:32 | · | would make a pretty good drum or a bell. |
| 15:46 | · | While the Mojave Megaphone probably |
| 15:48 | · | wasn't part of a secret military |
| 15:49 | · | experiment, a railroad warning system, |
| 15:53 | · | or a device to communicate with aliens, |
| 15:55 | · | it still remains a fascinating mystery. |
| 15:58 | · | Considering the effort it took to build |
| 16:00 | · | it and place it here, and the fact that |
| 16:03 | · | its creator has stayed anonymous ever |
| 16:04 | · | since, |
| 16:06 | · | it's still one of the most intriguing |
| 16:08 | · | sites in the Mojave. |
| 16:22 | · | Of course, after saying that, I don't |
| 16:24 | · | know how well it shows up on the camera, |
| 16:26 | · | but almost directly in line with the |
| 16:28 | · | Mojave Megaphone, there is something in |
| 16:31 | · | the distance that looks to be man-made. |
| 16:33 | · | So, I guess real quick, we have to go |
| 16:35 | · | check that out. |
| 16:48 | · | We've made it to the area where it |
| 16:50 | · | looked like there was something man-made |
| 16:51 | · | that the Mojave megaphone was pointing |
| 16:53 | · | to. The Mojave Megaphone is back in this |
| 16:56 | · | direction. |
| 16:58 | · | And when we turn around here, yeah, |
| 17:00 | · | there was something man-made here. There |
| 17:03 | · | is a tractor with a no trespassing sign |
| 17:05 | · | and some trailers. |
| 17:12 | · | Well, unless the builder of the Mojave |
| 17:14 | · | Megaphone knew that in the future |
| 17:16 | · | there'd be a tractor and some trailers |
| 17:18 | · | here, I don't think it's pointing to |
| 17:20 | · | anything. So, that's our look at the |
| 17:23 | · | mystery of the Mojave Megaphone. Thank |
| 17:25 | · | you so much for watching. If you enjoyed |
| 17:27 | · | the video, please give it a thumbs up, |
| 17:28 | · | consider subscribing, and we'll see you |
| 17:30 | · | next |
