According to the legend and the radio surveys,
the underground city was laid out in the shape of a lizard,
with its tail under the Main Library at Fifth and Hope.
In the summer and fall of 1933, a Los Angeles mining engineer
named G. Warren Shufelt was surveying the L.A. area for deposits
of oil, gold and other valuable materials, using a new device
which he had invented. Shufelt had designed and built a radio-directed
apparatus which he claimed was able to locate gold and other
precious resources at great depths. He believed that the radio
device worked on a newly discovered principle involving electrical
similarities of matter which had the same chemical, physical
and vibrational character.
His device appeared to consist of a large pendulum suspended
in a cylindrical glass case which was housed in a black box
with compasses on it. The pendulum would trace a line directly
from a piece of ore broken from a vein to the vein it was
originally taken from. Hair taken from a test subject would
lead investigators to the person who had donated the hair
sample. It was said to have worked even at a distance of many
miles.
Although he would not tell exactly what was in the box, Shufelt
believed that by tuning into the individual frequency of a
particular material, he could locate similar matter. He believed
that the emanations and gravitational factors of matter influenced
the pendulum and that, in principle, no two separate things
were exactly alike. Shufelt was extremely puzzled when one
day, while taking readings near downtown Los Angeles, his
instruments showed him what seemed to be a pattern of tunnels
which led from what is now the Public Library in the heart
of L.A. to the top of Mount Washington and the Southwest Museum
to the north in Pasadena.
He proceeded to draw a map and had it copyrighted. What he
discovered appeared to be a well planned underground labyrinth
with large rooms located at various points, and deposits of
apparently man made gold in the chambers and passage ways.
(click below image)
Some of the tunnels ran west for 20 miles under the Santa
Monica Bay, which he believed were only used for ventilation.
Unfortunately, Shufelt had no idea that they were connected
to the older ruins of an even greater city which was covered
by the Pacific Ocean thousands of years ago during a tremendous
earthquake and subsequent flood.
The subterranean complex he had discovered was used for emergencies
and was only designed to accommodate 5,000 people or less.
Food supplies of imperishable herbs were stored in sufficient
quantities which would enable the survivors to live underground
until it was safe to come back to the surface. Valuable personal
belongings and utensils were also brought into the complex
along with historical records and gold treasures.
During his research, he met a Hopi Indian named Chief Little
Green Leaf, who told him about the legend of an ancient race
of "Lizard People". The legends said that about
4,000 to 5,000 years ago, an enormous meteor shower fell on
the western coast covering an area hundreds of miles wide.
Winslow crater in northern Arizona is only one of the pieces
that fell from the sky at that time.
Thousands of people were killed, their crops wiped out, dwellings
destroyed, and the forests set on fire. The surviving members
of the medicine lodge, which had remained on the west coast,
met to make plans for constructing safe areas. The sentinels
of the sky gave their warning that it was time to enter the
shelters and seal the shafts behind themselves. They were
forced to go underground to save them selves from a gigantic
meteor shower which devastated most of the west coast of the
US.
The "Lizard People" of Los Angeles survived the
meteor shower, but were killed by natural gas leaking into
their bunkers. Shufelt believed that they had built 13 such
underground facilities in different areas for such a purpose.
One was located in the eastern section of Arizona in a small
town called Springerville and was only discovered recently.
Another was located under a hill which was surrounded by a
curving ridge of mountains like the middle of a horse's hoof.
This is exactly the type of terrain seen in downtown L.A.
in the area that is now the Board of Education, which is built
over the ruins of the old Willis Estate on top of Fort Moore
hill. Shufelt and his partner Chief Little Green Leaf were
both convinced that the ancient legends and the readings from
Shufelt's mystery machine were true.
They decided to obtain a permit to sink a shaft down into
the ruins of the subterranean city. They located a vacant
lot at 518 North Hill Street, directly above one of the largest
rooms. On 21st February 1933, the County Board of Supervisors
approved a contract with Rex McCreary, Warren Shufelt and
Ray Martin to search for buried treasure there. The permittees
were to bear all expenses, to leave the property in its original
condition, and to share 50% of all discoveries and treasure
with the city of L.A.
The county originally only allowed them to dig up to depths
of 50 feet for fear of cave-ins. On 27th March 1933 they requested
additional time and depths on their permit, believing that
the labyrinth of tunnels was at least 1,900 feet in length,
with rooms containing 9,000 square feet which contained valuable
gold treasure in at least 16 places.
On 10th April 1933 the contract was renewed. By the end of
November in 1933, the main shaft was at a depth of 200 feet.
Shufelt was determined to drill to a depth of 1,000 feet if
necessary. On 29th January 1934, the first stories regarding
the legend of the "Lost Land of the Lizard People"
made the L.A. newspapers. By this time, one of the five shafts
was already 250 feet deep.
According to the legend and the radio surveys, the underground
city was laid out in the shape of a lizard, with its tail
under the Main Library at Fifth and Hope, and the body extending
Northeast, with the head being at Lookout and Marda near North
Broadway. The key room to the city was located under Second
and South Broadway. The legends state that the key room is
the directory to the rest of the city, and to the historical
gold record tablets. These gold tablets were slabs of gold,
4 feet long and 14 inches wide.
The tablets were believed to contain the records of the origins
of the human race, and the history of modern man in the Americas,
including details regarding the history of the mysterious
Mayan people. Shufelt's radio-wave machine mapped the rooms
and tunnels as subsurface voids, with the gold slabs as dark
areas, showing perfect geometric angles.
The rooms, seven of which occurred within an area of six
square city blocks, varied in size from 23' x 23' to 34' x
42'. The room below the first shaft was 31' x 42', and the
key room was the smallest. Water had seeped into some of the
tunnels, and several of the rooms including the largest were
flooded. Shufelt was prepared to use divers to explore the
submerged areas when they finally broke into the subterranean
city. Chief Little Green Leaf claimed that the "Lizard
People" had been able to predict earthquakes and that
he had also been able to do so.
He had accurately predicted the destruction of the Long Beach
quake on 10th March 1933, a month in advance. He believed
that it was easy for anyone to tell 96 hours in advance when
an earthquake was coming, because the needle on a compass
would become demagnetized and refuse to point north. By the
beginning of February 1934, the first shaft had reached a
depth greater than 250 feet and was still being dug, despite
difficulty caused by the water encountered in its path.
Several newspaper articles featured updates on the project.
Shortly after all the media attention was focused on this
search for the lost city under L.A., the project was suddenly
stopped and abandoned. On 5th March 1934, the shafts had been
filled in and the contract with the city was canceled. Neither
gold nor any other treasure was ever turned over to the County
of Los Angeles.
Mr. Arche Dunning of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
stated in December of 1947 that,
"It is quite possible, of course, that the supposed
labyrinth really exists. But in view of the fact that the
overlaying area is the immediate Civic Center area where an
important building program is to be carried out, including
federal, state, county and city building, there is little
probability of any further excavations."
This is really not a true statement because it is necessary
to excavate many hundreds of feet into the ground before a
high-rise building can be constructed. Also, one should consider
that sewage systems are all underground. And let's not forget
the new Metro Rail System, which rises up from many feet below
the Civic Center before it speeds commuters on their way.
Long ago even the Chinese dug tunnels around the area which
is now the train yard.
These red brick subsurface tunnels were used for their safe
passage, from one end of Old Chinatown to the other and are
now an historic landmark found preserved at Alvera Street.
It is quite possible that there is another city below the
L.A. Civic Center which only a small number of people have
access to. The question is, who?
