Bodie and Masonic

Marker at the Bodie Site

July 30'th: Our new "old" truck was heading down the highway. We had a leaking right-rear tire, an all too-hastily packed truck and we left far later than we had planned. It was myself (Jon), Renee and Karen heading into the fast approaching twilight as we finally pulled into Bridgeport at about 7:00 PM with little time to find the camp of Masonic.

We refueled and then followed the map coordinates and general directions to find the dirt road to take us into the outback and we quickly found the first deserted mine structures with plenty of open mine shafts and tunnels. There was a rather stale feeling to the place and we have yet to analyze the evidence from that stop, but we did get good photos and enjoyed wandering amongst the timbers, feeling the air from the open mine tunnels with blasts of wind so cold it made you shiver in the warm desert air.

We continued on, in a race to beat the twilight and finally had to make a choice about going forward of following a road that was not described in the map. I trusted my instincts and soon, we had found our destination. Masonic was before us with quaint little structures and we camped in a wide spot in the road to get a good view of the night sky and to do our investigation for the night.

The plaque describing Masonic read as follows:

Although Gold was discovered here in 1860, it was not until about 1900 that Joseph Green staked the Rich Jump Up Mine. On the fourth of July, 1902, J.S. Phillips of Pittsburg, with partners J.M. Brian and Caleb Dorsey made an exciting find and called it the Pittsburg Liberty to honor  a birthplace and a date. Fraternal background determined the name to be attached to this camp, which eventually evolved in three sections knows as Lower, Middle and Upper town. By 1908, Masonic promised to be one of the major mining camps of the West. But the yellow metal followed no pattern. Rich pockets were found and exhausted. Then Phillips broken body was found at the bottom of a shaft. Was it a slip or, was treachery afoot that night? The ghosts of Masonic have many secrets.

Plaque dedicated September 12, 1970. Bodie Chapter of E Clampus Vitus. Mono Country Board of Supervisors.

We did a couple of EVP sessions. One in the late night at about 10:30 PM and another the next morning. The EVPs can be heard on our team evidence  folder.

Investigator entering one of the many buildings at Bodie

Bodie was more challenging. We had to cut things short due to one team member getting sick and we ended up staying overnight in Bridgeport before returning the next morning. We did get some EVP work done, but it was of dubious value due to the sheer number of people milling about at the site.

What was noted is that we found out that an underground power line runs right through the main part of the town and can give false readings on EMF detectors for those not aware of this. It is an extremely odd fluctuating pattern and we traced it for quite a ways on the main drag through town. We also tested the full spectrum camera and became familiar with it's controls and field performance. We are editing the video to upload to the Youtube channel and will have that up later tonight.

More to come as we finish the evidence analysis but we did want to share what we caught  and keep the evidence coming :>) Photos to be uploaded this week.

All in all, a good investigation and we had fun!