'When John Muir first caught sight of it, "I was fifty miles away, afoot, alone and weary," he wrote in 1874, "yet all of my blood turned to wine and I have not been weary since."
'A tale written a few years later by a teenager from Yreka, just northwest of the mountain — a story of advanced beings living in a crystal city beneath the mountain — cemented Shasta's otherworldly reputation.
'The mountain has been touted as the site of an energy vortex that allows passage into the metaphysical dimension; the birthplace of a spiritual foundation whose adherents believe they can ascend to the eternal realm; and a hot spot for UFOs that hide in the clouds and enter the mountain's core through mystery "portals."
'Newer to the repertoire are sightings of Bigfoot (the word serves as both singular and plural, like fish and sheep), believed by some to conceal themselves by passing into a fifth dimension.
'"Mt. Shasta has always had a spiritual drawing, but it's getting more and more popular," said Karen Anderson, a supervisor in the town's visitors bureau, who estimated that a fourth of the area's tourists come for that reason.
'To assist seekers from around the globe, the bureau's website includes a list of energy healers. Shops carry crystals for the "spiritual pilgrim." Drop-in channeling sessions are held each Sunday at a spiritual center. Guides lead soul-cleansing treks up the mountain in all seasons.
'Among them is Ashalyn, as she is known. Her Shasta Vortex Tours also offers spiritual journeys into Telos, the sparkling refuge said to lie beneath the mountain, inhabited by lanky beings who fled the sinking continent of Lemuria 12,000 years ago.
'Pins on a map in Ashalyn's office mark her customers' home countries: Japan's cluster is the densest, as Mt. Fuji is thought to be Shasta's sister sacred mountain. Russia, Latin America and China show more recent activity.
'Although nonbelievers abound here — as Anderson said, "We're a normal town. We have a hospital. We have a grocery store" — a number of them have seen things they can't explain.
'In 2008, the Mount Shasta Herald reported that five people claimed to have witnessed a jellyfish-like craft that hovered noiselessly over neighboring McCloud, with what appeared to be a fire raging inside it.
'"I really don't believe in flying saucers," lifelong resident Dick Cary told the newspaper, "but I do know that something weird was happening."'
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