Rural Mysteries of the North Fork Polygon

Poly-Blog of Mystery
2004-2005 Archives

This page contains the 2004-2005 archive of second-hand descriptions of disturbing sightings and happenings in the North Fork Polygon.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

2004-2005
News - Reports - Updates - Discoveries

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• December 31, 2005



New Years Eve Flood: We posted pictures of Coyote Creek going over the Crother Road Bridge taken at 8:00 a.m. on December 31, 2005. More...




• December 30, 2005

Top-6 Most Mysterious Mysteries of 2005: A look back on the year that was a riddle wrapped in an enigma dipped in a Sudoku...

• December 20, 2005

Year End Book Round-up: Just in time for a Happy Winter Christmas, we made a list of four locally authored books released in 2005...but we only checked our list once.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• December 12, 2005

  

Tree Ranch Review: On December 5, 2005 we made a first time visit to a little known tree farm located between Weimar and Eden Valley. Read our top-7 reasons why the Carol Holben Christmas Tree Farm is our new favorite Christmas tree farm.

• December 1, 2005

Miracle Update: The Colfax Record reports that a glowing vision of the Virgin Mary continues to appear on the wall of a local church 15 years after the first sightings in 1990.

• November 30, 2005

Field Report: On November 19 and 27, 2005, our mountain bike field unit explored two "new" trails. Aproaching from different directions, each trail leads to a group of strangely-textured rocks in Christian Valley. One rock has 19 holes that have been ground, or blasted, or melted, or drilled into the surface.

The route leading to the site follows these trails: a reverse Buggy-whip, to a half-Winchester, to William Court, to Halsey Forebay Dam Trail, to the Arthur-view section of the Upper Bowman Canal. On the return trip along the Meadowgate section of the Bear River Canal, we also hiked down to a seldom-seen waterfall.

Contributing photo-journalist Dave-O snapped these telling photos:

• Possible Acorn Grinding Rock
• Halsey Horizontal Waterfall
• Never-before-seen-from-this-angle Waterfall

FYI: No one has yet photographed the Native American acorn grinding rocks in Meadow Vista.

Note: Also on this date, the R.M. of the N.F.P. Web site was visited by it's 1000th open-minded truth-seeker!.

• November 25, 2005

Rural Mysteries of the North Fork Polygon moved to a new Web address:

www.ruralmysteries.com

They did.

• November 22, 2005

Field Report: On November 11, 2005, contributing photo-journalist Richard-o ventured to the Indian Creek Waterfall near the North Fork American River at Yankee Jim's Road. We received the following pictures, which almost speak for themselves:

• Polygonian Pictographs
• Possibly Africanized Ladybug Swarm

Of special mysterious concern is the fact that no other humans were observed during the day's exploration.

FYI: View the Colfax beetle swarm sighting of 2003.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• November 19, 2005

Iowa Connection: One of the strangest tragedies to ever occur in the history of the Auburn Foresthill Bridge was reported in an Iowa newspaper.

• November 18, 2005

Awesome Acorn Anomaly of '05: News, photos, and theories on the 2005 acorn crop have been posted on the Bent and Twisted Trees page.

• November 14, 2005

  

UFO-like Sighting: Contributing photo-journalist Daved was "tending" his Weimar artichoke garden when he noticed that a lunar comand module had recently "crash-landed" in his neighbor's yard. Here's the actual email sent to Rural Mystery investigators:

"NOV 11 - I was down in my garden today, when I heard some noises below me.- what I saw made me run and get my camera! A lunar module-like UFO had appeared near my neighbor's pond! There was a news crew there interveiwing the alien! Then there was about 2 hours of missing time and it hurt to sit down! What a day!" --- Dtr

By the next morning, the Unidentified UFO-like Object (UULiO) was gone. This serves as an important reminder to always tuck your shirt in as soon as you see something unusual. Since aliens almost always forget to tuck your shirt back in, you'll at least know if anything happened.

• October 31, 2005

Spooky Halloween Stories: In 1981, on Halloween eve, five high school students went in search of the legendary Native American burial grounds allegedly located on Sugar Pine Ridge in Meadow Vista. As they approached what they thought was the secret cemetery, they were suddenly surrounded by bright lights and police dogs. Now an upscale housing development has been built on this very site.

More scary mysteries:

• Each fall, the Polygon Ghost Deer pass through small communities, sometimes pausing to lurk in the corner of your lawn, just out of site.
• The Curse of Coyote Mountain has brought terror to at least three recreationalists.
• There is a rumor of a haunted children's insane asylum but you probably shouldn't read about it.



• October 4, 2005

Treetennas on the Move: Pictures taken on September 6th are just back from the lab. Another strange tree with metalic bark has been observed in Weimar between Hwy. 80 and the Weimar Country Store! That makes three robo-trees sighted in the area, including the killer tree in Clipper Gap and the Frankentree spotted in Applegate.

• September 8, 2005

  

Auburn Man Captures UFO On Film: This sighting is also know as the Mid-May UFO of '03.

More Unidentified UFO-like Objects

• September 1, 2005

The Amazing Auburn Airship of 1896: The parallel with the 'flying saucer' flap of the late 1940s and early 1950s is remarkable...

"On that first night it was seen by dozens of people. Most saw only a light. Others made out a dark cigar shape behind the light ... on November 22, 1896, the 'mystery airship' came back... During the next few days the airship was sighted all over California. The peak night was November 25, when it appeared in eleven places around the state, including Auburn, Chico, Fresno, Hayward, Napa, Oakland, Pasadena, Petaluma, Sacramento, San Lorenzo and Visalia ... " More...

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• August 30, 2005

Ghost Train: The world's largest steam locomotive is being tracked from space en route towards the North Fork Polygon.

• August 13, 2005

Persied Meteor Storm: On the night and morning of August 11 and 12, two shifts of our special research team were on look-out for "shootin' stars" during the annual persied meteor shower. At times the meteors streaked accross the dark moonless sky at more that 1 per minute. The brightest fireball was sighted at 3 am, briefly lighting up the tree tops and trailing a thin ion trail that could be seen for a full minute after the meteor flash. Fortunately, no one was injured...this time.

• August 8, 2005

The Curse of Coyote Mountain: Four recreationalists suffered mysterious injuries soon after being falsely accused of trespassing on Coyote Mountain near Weimar:

1. A local bicyclist was accosted and later broke his collar bone;
2. A local equestrian was yelled-at and later broke her leg;
3. A hiker was given a mean-spirited lecture and then later sprained his ankle;
4. A mountain bike adventurist was verbally lambasted and later his car tipped over.

Some say the best way to break a curse is to confront it head on by always being polite, picking up litter, and encouraging others to hike on historic trails and right-of-ways at every opportunity.

• July 23, 2005

Limestone Laboratory: The Cool Mountain Quarry has been in the news a lot this year, so we raised its mystery/cult status to 'level yellow'. More...

• July 16, 2005

Mystery Solved: The recent positive I.D. of the Bowman Mystery Flower has raised more questions than answers. More...

• July 05, 2005



Polygon Praised for Preservation of Open Space and Irony: On June 24, 2005, Placer County was named one of the nature-friendliest places in America! This prestigious environmental recognition was awarded for the county's pro-active, bi-partisan, collaborative approach to preserving open space. More...

Later that same day, a local Congressman reneged on a previous flood control deal and reintroduced a long-dead plan to submerge thousands of acres of open space in the American River Canyon. More...

Then a few days later, a Placer County Supervisor forced a vote to eliminate funding for open space during the June 28 Board meeting.




• June 26, 2005

Actual Acorns Knocked from Actual Oak Tree During Actual Earthquake

Earthquake Shakes North Fork Polygon: On June 26, 2005 at 11:45 am, CAFIWAM residents once again felt the ground move. The 4.8 magnitude earthquake was located only 50 miles east of Colfax, causing leaves and baby acorns to fall from oak trees in Meadow Vista. More...

• June 18, 2005

Curious Cloven Ponderosa Pine Trees: At least 99.99% of all pinus ponderosa trees grow vertical from base to top, with all branches connected perpendicular to a single straight trunk. Oddly, Volley Road in Meadow Vista is home to at least a dozen rare Ponderosa pines that fork and then sometimes split again. Adding enigma to mystery, the road itself actually forks around two of the bisected pines. Preliminary field tests have found no evidence that these are "robo-treenennas". More...

• May 26, 2005

Senseless Felling: Sometime during the 1st week of April 2005, someone or something cut down a healthy 200-year old cedar tree across Placer Hills Road from Simpson Ranch, blocking a popular Meadow Vista hiking trail. No one knows who did it, or why, or how this vile act was executed without detection! Two months later this mystery is still unsolved. Possible motives include: the misguided hero complex of someone thinking the tree was going to fall on the road; or a desire to inconvenience hikers; or a desperate attempt to retrieve something valuable from the upper reaches of the tree. More...

• April 27, 2005

New Books Shine Light on Dark Corners of Polygon: Here's more information on the recent release of three locally authored books:

Nature Noir by Jordan Fisher Smith (Web Site - Auburn Journal Review) - A rangers-eye perspective of the mysterious undercurrents of the American River canyons...

Take a Hike by Bob Griffis and Evan Jones (Web Site - Auburn Journal Review) - A guide book to secret historical trails and not-so-trails in and around the American River canyons...

Georgetown Hiking Trails: Trying to Get Lost Off the Divide by Tom Petersen - A guide book to exploring some of the more remote areas of the Georgetown Divide area..

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• April 15, 2005

Who Put the 'WAM' in CAFIWAM? The Weimar Institute, located in Weimar, offers at least 16 miles of awesome trails! However, this 450 acre hot spot also offers robot attacks, twisted trees, a secret cemetery, a 3-story haunted tree house, strange night lights, and a giant rope swing.

Warning: Do not attempt to investigate this area alone or without proper training.

• April 10, 2005



Tunnel Zero Has No Tracks! A team of investigators returned to the Clipper Gap/Lake Theodore Vortex to explore the mysterious trackless train tunnel.

Our mountain bike unit found evidence of recent primitive humanoid habitation and excretions at the northeast tunnel entrance. They plan to return with the necessary safety equipment and attempt a traverse of the entire tunnel at a later date.

Unlike other train tunnels, 'Tunnel Zero' is more rough-hewn, shaped like a horseshoe or keyhole, and is missing the rails and ties! Not even Central Pacific Railroad can confirm why it was constructed in 1873, 4 years after completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, and then abandoned at an unknown later date.

This is also the first tunnel that Thomas Stevens encountered in his 1887 bike ride around the world.

Note: No track fires were observed on this day.

Update: On January 22, 2006, our mountain bike investigative unit returned.

• April 6, 2005

Roadside Attraction: We made the mistake of visiting the Giant Gorrilla of Colfax!

• April 2, 2005

Legend: When thunder over Clipper Gap spelt death and destruction! [More]

• March 30, 2005

Coincidence: After reviewing the timelines, we realized that a recent Bigfoot sighting near Highway 80 and Cisco Grove occurred near the location of the 1964 alien robot attack exactly 11 days prior to the August 27, 2004 discovery of Colfax Comet Maccholz !

• March 25, 2005

News: The Bull and the Bear are returning to Colfax! Mel and Thayrn are restoring the historic sculpture of battling behemoths.

Part I | Part II

• March 3, 2005

Ghost Deer and Beetle Swarms: Recently submitted photos have been added to the the Sick and Twisted Animal Gallary.

• February 25, 2005

The Esoteric Fraternity of the North Fork Polygon: The NFP has attracted more that it's share of enlightened fellowships. One of our most notorious and mysterious local orders was the Esoteric Society. They moved here from Boston in 1891 and established a prolific publishing company of alternative theosophic books. One of their best sellers was Solar Biology, by Hiram Butler. Another local society, E Vitus Clampus, recently emplaced a plaque describing the history of what is now called the Esoteric Fraternity:

"Originally established in the City of Boston in 1887 by Hiram E. Butler and brought to California in 1891, the Esoteric Fraternity was originally known as the Esoteric Publishing Co. Its publication, the Bible Review, was concurrent with the Christian Herald, the most widely circulated religious publication in the world. The original property was purchased from railroad magnate Leland Stanford in 1892 and was augmented by a land grand from President Grover Cleveland. This grant included the property now known as "Our Lady of the Oaks". Many of the buildings date from the 1890's using bricks formed from the property’s rich clay and fired using the manzanita indigenous to the area. Legal problems forced the company to change its name to the Esoteric Fraternity and for some time sold shares of stock as the Esoteric Commonwealth. The residents of the property, who were given monastic names by Mr. Butler, seldom number more than a dozen at any one time and probably no more than forty throughout its' existence."

• February 18, 2005

The Secret of the Myth of the Legend of Cape Horn: Is there a conspiracy to prevent the exposure of the cover-up of the truth? This rocky mystery has been added to our Strange and Shattered Geology page.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• February 11, 2005

World's Shortest Endurance Event: On April 13, 2003, Auburn became the self-proclaimed "Endurance Capital of the World". In 2005, to celebrate endurance athletes like Thomas Stevens, Auburn is sponsoring a new endurance challenge in which participants can win a commemorative pin by walking or riding about 1/3 of a mile per day.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• February 4, 2005

Original Endurance Polygon of the World: On April 22, 1884, Cyclist Thomas Stevens set out from Oakland, California to be the first person to ride a bicycle across the United States (he eventually rode his bicycle around the world). As he prepared to cross the Sierra that spring, a severe snow storm forced him to spend several nights in Clipper Gap before he could continue along the railroad tracks and eventually through the snow sheds over Donner Summit. In Paragraph 20 of Chapter 1, he enters the North Fork Polygon. Here's a few excerpts from his journal:

"... Before reaching Auburn, I pass through "Bloomer Cut", where perpendicular walls of bowlders loom up on both sides of the track ... My hostelry at Clipper Gap is a kind of half ranch, half roadside inn, down in a small valley near the railway; and mine host, a jovial Irish blade of the good old "Donnybrook Fair" variety, who came here in 1851 ... and I am told he has been fighting wild bore in the chaparral ... As we stand in the barn-door Barney eyes me suspiciously, and then looks at his master; but luckily for me his master fails to give the word ... So I pull out on Monday morning and take to the railway-track again, which is the only passable road since the tremendous downpour of the last two days. The first thing I come across is a tunnel burrowing through a hill ... This morning I follow the railway track around the famous "Cape Horn", a place that never fails to photograph itself ..." - Thomas Stevens, 1887, Around the World on a Bicycle, Pages 7-9.

You can read his original 1887 journal in it's fascinating entirety at Logoi.com. Also see the Wikipedia article on Thomas Stevens.

• February 1, 2005

Strange News: We received notification that this Web site is now linked from four others:


• Natalie's Barn and Breakfast
• Meadow Vista Trails Association
• Echo Valley Ranch Supplies
• Club Courtyard

You can also find this Web site on Google by searching for "North Fork Polygon" or "Monster Poison Oak" or "Warping Foresthill".

• January 26, 2005

The Missing Overpass: Heading eastbound on I-80, the Clipper Gap/Meadow Vista overpass is exit no. 125 and the next interchange at Applegate is exit no. 128. But wait ... what happened to exits 126 and 127?! This is the same stretch of I-80 where the California Highway Patrol reported seeing a UFO in December 1963.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• January 22, 2005

  

The Clipper Gap UFO of December 1963: We were recently forwarded a true story of two local highway patrol officers who reported seeing an unidentified flying object in December 1963 as they were passing through the Clipper Gap/Lake Theodore Vortex. This huge object gave off a white glow which pulsated light to dark, approximately once per second. The following is the text of the actual Auburn Journal news report:

AUBURN, Placer Co. - An unidentified flying object, looking like the moon and giving off a pulsating white glow, was spotted west of here and was sighted as far away as San Francisco.

Highway Patrolmen R. L. Pfeiffer and R. L. Gudge made the first report at 4:09 A.M. yesterday, stating they were near Clipper Gap, traveling toward Auburn, when they observed the object for approximately 90 seconds.

Officers in Sacramento and residents of the bay area also said they saw it at the same time.

During the sighting, officers in the two counties kept radio contact. Pfeiffer and Gudge described the UFO as about the size of the moon in the first quarter, with the crescent giving off a white glow and pulsating white to dark approximately once per second.

The object was about in line with Sacramento, approximately 20 to 25 degrees above the horizon and was moving from left to right. It. was traveling slowly, according to the officers, who estimated it covered about 10 degrees in the 90 seconds and left a faint smoke or vapor trail.

Here's a sampling of other mysterious events that also occurred, by coincidence, in December 1963:

• Dec 8 - Three fuel tanks exploded when a jetliner, struck by lightning, crashed near Elkton, Maryland. 81 people died. This was the only case of a lightning caused crash.
• Dec 9 - Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped. Frank Sinatra Sr. ransomed his kidnapped son, Frank Sinatra Jr., for $240,000.
• Dec 14 - The Baldwin Hills dam in Los Angeles, Ca., broke. The released water destroyed 65 homes and left 5 people dead.
• Dec 26 - Beatles released "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There."

More Unidentified UFO-like Objects

• January 20, 2005

Last of the Polygonians: We responded to the following mysterious email:

"I believe I am 25 percent Polygon. Do I qualify for any Native Polygon Federal grants? I am looking for funding for a corner vending cart to sell pork chops on a stick."

"Certain government agencies are suspected of monitoring this Web site. We'll post your query and let you know if we get a response. Depending on which 25% of you is Polygonian, there may be some assistance available."




Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• January 18, 2005

  

When Hummingbirds Attack: A Meadow Vista resident discovered a sharp-beaked bird waiting in ambush when he returned to his kitchen for a second cup o' joe. Thankfully, this amazing but true story has a "happy ending". Includes amazing but true photo!

• January 16, 2005

Killer Trail Field Report: Our Mountain Bike Field Unit posted 31 photos from several recent research expeditions through the Assassin's Trail System (AKA Hermit Hut Reverse Traverse), which combines the Old Vore Mine, Upper Codfish Traverse, Hermit Hut Bypass, Assassin's, Nose Dive Connector, and the Boole Traverse trails. The total point-to-point off-road distance of this trail system is about 6 miles.

• January 11, 2005

The Face of the Polygon: Notice the similarity between the infamous "Face on Mars" and an aerial photograph of Lime Rock/Robbers Roost. Could this mean that Mars was once visited by Polygonians?

The Resemblance is Uncanny You should also take time to study pictures of the "Happy Face on Mars"

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• January 7, 2005

Near Miss: Comet Machholz (discovered in Colfax by a Colfax astronomer usning a Colfax telescope) passed close to the Pliedes Star Cluster on this day. A little too close.

• January 5, 2005

Evidence: The staff of Working Stiff Comics has provided another artist rendition of the Weimar Robot Attack. Thanks, Craig!

• January 1, 2005

Killer Trail: We recently learned that the Assassin's Trail in the Applegate area is named after a disturbing event in Polygon history. A rural cucumber farmer was apparently killed by the Russian Mafia in 1972 while gardening in an isolated meadow on the rim of the North Fork of the American River.

One version of the story alleges that a sharp-shooter committed the assassination from 100-yards away. Another version claims that the gardener was murdered with a poison-tipped umbrella. A third claims he was shot 6 times with a 9 mm revolver. In still another version, the assassin also shoots the the victim's dog.

In any case, the fact that the culprit was never apprehended makes for a very mysterious trail that is rapidly gaining in popularity.

• December 14, 2004

Sighting: Another robot was observed on the Foresthill Bridge.

• December 10, 2004

Frankentree: We noticed on this date that the trees closest to the Robo-Treetenna in Clipper Gap were recently decapitated!! The upper 20 feet of three adjacent trees were cut or chopped off! We previously documented that adjacent trees had already been damaged by the mysterious tree which now seems to be growing in strength and courage.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• November 31, 2004

Headless Horsepower: A driverless vehicle was seen for a second time on I-80 between Clipper Gap and Christian Valley. Both reports were of a red Jeep SUV traveling at or below the speed limit with no visible driver or passengers.

• November 19, 2004

Sighting: On the 14th anniversary of the Colfax Thanksgiving Miracle, we posted the original 1990 newspaper clippings. We also added a Web counter to count Webs.

• November 10, 2004

Evidence: We found the long lost artist rendition of the North Fork Fur Carp and posted it on our Sick and Twsted Animals page.

• November 5, 2004

Flashback: On the 150th anniversary of the Great Iowa Hill Bear and Panther Fight, we posted a link to the original promotional poster.

• October 31, 2004

Sighting:We found a Web site that tells of a haunted children's insane asylum located in Meadow Vista. Scroll down to the seventh story on the linked page:

"This site, which now lies deep in the woods, was once a mental institution for many "crazy" children in the 1930s. There is also a hospital associated with the abandoned cabins that lies 10 miles away. The children, who were violent or depressed, were sent here for treatment. Children who misbehaved were strapped to the beds with belts and beaten until they were unconscious. Many the children were killed and due to this cruelty, the facility was closed and the gate around the hospital's perimeter was chained closed. Many have seen not only lights in the windows, but shadows of children as well."

• October 1, 2004

Parable: On the second anniversary of this infamous prank, we posted this two part legend about a professional scientist who takes his mom to work, and his colleague who unwittingly attends a "Halloween party".

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

• August 27, 2004

Sighting: Colfax astronomer Don Macholz discovered a new comet from Colfax using his Colfax telescope.

• August 16, 2004

Sighting: A Bigfoot was spotted by a retired Marine, fireman, and state police officer near Interstate 80 and Cisco Grove. More details...

• August 3, 2004

Squirrel Terrorists? A notorious Gang of Squirrels are responsible for a rash of recent power outages.

• July 17, 2004

Incident Report: Two mountain bikers (Randy and Dave-O) observed a mysterious fire between the rails of the train tracks while attempting to ride through the Clipper Gap/Lake Theodore Vortex. The flames reached three feet in height before the cyclists were able to smother the fire with dirt, gravel, and energy drink from their water bottles. They just happened to be very near the mysterious trackless train tunnel.

Click here to return to the 2006 Polyblog of Mystery.

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