Welcome to Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains I'm Larry Hedrick where we bring
the past into the present for our future viewers today we have another great story by Hank Sheffer
so who the heck is this guy Ludwig Grath Rosencrans and why do I feel like I'm
supposed to know something about him well first off everyone out here around the Superstition
area knew him as Doc they just knew him as Doc he was another one of those ones who was interested
in gold and he searched for the precious if not elusive metal all over California
But ultimately he wound up in Arizona over at Mojave Desert up near Bradshaw in 1946.
he was convinced that he could find the lost Peg Leg mine it wasn't until a short while later that
he moved down to the Superstition Mountain area and this is where he became known as the sage of
the Superstition Mountains if that mind the Lost Peg Leg sounds familiar it should you may have
seen our whole video devoted to Adolf Ruth that search had led him into getting hurt very badly
over in California and he wound up with a crippled leg that followed him until the day of his death
which incidentally happened right here in the Superstition Mountains in 1930.
now let's have a look at where Doc Rosencrans came from he was quite an interesting fellow
Ludwig G Rosencrans was born in Lada Washington his father was a Veterans Administration doctor
was constantly on the move and for young doc he Americanized his name from Rosencrantz to
Rosencrans to make life a little easier for him in those days rosencrans remembered living on a
Hupa Indian Reservation and growing up he also lives at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Maryland
then he was off to Chicago and finally Memphis Tennessee he definitely did get around
now he attended the Southern College over in Memphis for a while but he decided that
college wasn't his cup of tea so he moved on from there and he moved to California in 1935 where he
planned to strike it rich that was his ultimate goal that's what he was going to do he was going
to strike it rich but now while in California he also took a turn at Hollywood he played the part
of a burgundy soldier in a film called If I Were King the film starred Ronald Coleman and Francis d
and was released in 1938. Doc said I didn't hit Hollywood by a storm as a matter of fact
Hollywood actually hit me by storm I was in and just that quick I was out
after that Doc became acquainted with Billiards he moved on down into LA and became quite a hustler
in a pool hall down there in fact it was located at Sixth and Union streets and he became known as
the sixth and Union Street dock he was that good a shooter and then came December 7 1941.
Doc remembered that date pretty well from the pool hall he had no money and he was
just Stone Cold broke well now we are learning that doc was a pretty Diversified young fellow
we learned that and that happened to him very early on it is now March of 1942. it hadn't
taken long before Doc found himself drafted into the United States Army Air corps there
was no Air Force at the time that didn't happen until after the war in 1948. his basic training
took place at Shepherd field in Texas he then went to radio school at Barksville field in Louisiana
from Radio school he was assigned to the 17th bomber group and for those of you who know your
history that was General Jimmy Doolittle's group and Rosencrans was assigned to him as a radio man
a short while later doc was reassigned as a writer to the army public relations department
he wrote for the Stars and Stripes while in the military public relations job during World War II
Doc sent many interviews of enlisted men and the officers to their Hometown newspapers all across
the country and as a public information writer he also toured the Austrian concentration camps of
Madraheesen he told the stories of Hitler's Nazi party and their atrocities against humanity his
vivid descriptions of those horrible death camps were printed in newspapers all across the United
States doc carried the horrors of what he saw in those camps with him for the rest of his life
it soured him on the human race and it's probably what caused him to retreat from society altogether
now after three years dark rows and crafts was discharged from the United States Army
at Camp Atterbury in Indiana after a brief visit with his family he then returned to California
so now we know something about the early years of this man
as mentioned earlier doc always believed very strongly that he could find the lost paid leg mine
he also believed equally strongly that he would need a dirigible to do it mm-hmm well we didn't
have any dirigible here in Arizona he even spoke with a dirigible captain about his scheme
the captain politely told him to give it up and this is when he decided to stay in Arizona
Doc finally settled into a cabin he built along the Apache Trail about seven miles
Northeast of Apache Junction this location was the claim owned by a Mrs Sena Lewis it
was her insistence that doc billed his cabin and followed the lazy dot claim in his own name
I have found no information further than that about Mrs Sena Lewis she was no relation as
near as we can tell to the Lewis the Beatrice and Alfred Lewis of the Bulldog mind family
settled in his cabin along the Apache Trail he turned to prospecting and writing
his first small book was titled Spanish gold and the lost Dutchman mine
the first edition was published in 1949. the second the second edition was published in 1953
his book so enraged the pious contemporary Lost Dutchman expert Barry storm that storm stood dark
for copyright infringement the lawsuit was a bunch of Hui it was a bunch of crap but it served its
purpose unfortunately doc was discouraged from ever publishing another work of his
it's kind of ironic that the the story The Lust For Gold movie was based on Barry Storm's book and
it came out in 1949 of course that couldn't have anything to do with nothing I guess I don't know
however that is not to say that doc did not continue to write
but not all of his writing was about gold or treasure or that sort of thing his personal
notebooks were filled with quips of witticisms and satirical statements more about life and
death and such than anything else rosencran's last manuscript was titled the kingdom of reality
It Was Written but never published it described life itself and what he believed eventually
happened to the soul it was so very complicated and analytical and it attempted to explain the
unknowns about the philosophical being of the author himself and the impact that his
War years experiences had placed on him and now as if all that wasn't enough for one man's go around
there was yet another interesting turn of events that doc tried to get in on
this time might finally just turn out to be the very one that would put those riches he
had dreamed about for so long within his reach realistically he never had a chance
because of those deep-rooted philosophies of his the James Kidd estate case looked like it might
just be the ticket he was looking for the whole episode turned out to be pretty complicated if
not just plain convoluted here's what that story was all about James Kidd was a copper
prospector who literally disappeared in the superstitions in 1949. he was never found as
fate would have it he wasn't even officially declared dead until 18 years later in 1956.
or maybe it was as the superstitions would have it rumors continued to circulate that the old man was
still alive of course kids remaining family wanted no parts of that there was way too much money
involved so the case of course just like today went to trial at the Superior Court in Arizona
judge Robert L Myers received more than 150 petitions from various spiritual organizations
declaring they were the best fit to fulfill kids wishes the media had a field day of course it
labeled the trial the the soul trial or at times the ghost trial of the century
well judge Myers finally awarded the money to the Barrow Neurological Institute of Phoenix
unfortunately for them on appeal a higher Court granted the money to the American
Society of physical research the money was used to investigate death dead visions
or near-death experiences all in all the court case had taken up a total of 26 years to complete
so what was it in that will that got doc gross and crafts so excited
here is how it actually read and why it caused so much hoopla now I'm going to
read this for you word for word because the old man didn't write things quite right all the time
he wrote this is my first and only will and is dated the 2nd of January 1946.
I have no errors and I have not married in my life and after all my funeral expenses have
been paid and a hundred dollars given to some preacher of the Gospel to say farewell that my
grave sell all my property which is all in cash and stocks with EF Hutton and Company over here
in Phoenix some of the safety deposit box and have this balance money go into research or some
scientific proof of a soul of the human body which leaves after death I think in time there can be a
photograph of a soul leaving the human at death and it was signed James Kidd will and testament
well now several things came to light the estate that was supposedly worth a half a
million dollars was actually only worth two hundred and seventy thousand dollars
and nobody got any pictures there was no film at 11. as they say there's a bummer
the James Kidd Venture had proved to be a lost cause for Doc just like everything else
but that is not to say that he never went and searched for real Earthly treasure
over the years he did make numerous trips into the mountains he spent time on blacktop Mesa
Lewis Ridge and East Boulder Canyon in search for the lost Dutchman mine
time and again he was denied his ultimate Quest he never found anything Doc souls hack had a certain
amount of nostalgia and magnetism about it and it just seemed to attract people from everywhere
and make no mistake doc always had the welcome mat out
of course there was that little secret that he had under the floorboards under the mat by the front
door there were two rattlesnakes and they would Buzz every time he'd stomp his foot on that map
now that's a bit of a hard starter I'd say especially if you didn't know they were there
but even so it didn't keep people away visitors and friends came to sit in his old shack
to talk about the lost Dutchman Mine the superstitions politics religion or their own ideas
about life in general people making their way to Doc's cabin included everybody from movie stars
Olympians politicians musicians School teachers police officers and members of the worldwide press
the man had an amazing talent for wit that often dazzled everybody who was in his presence
that is what gained him the moniker Sage of the superstitions
well now my story is just about run its course Ludwig Doc Rosencrans is gone
he passed away on April 7th in 1986 in the Phoenix Veterans Hospital
he was buried with full military honors the chances of another one like him showing up anytime
soon are pretty much slim to none especially here at the superstitions now every once in a while the
the folks over at Falcon Field put aircraft in the air from a bygone era whenever I hear the war of
B-25 echoing off the soups it brings to mind old Doc rosencrans in the final estimation perhaps the
treasure doc so desperately sought was never meant to be in the form of treasure or golden riches
he may have been a lot richer than even he thought possible without ever even realizing it
no matter how dark may have looked at it today for us it's just another one of those Mysteries of the
Superstition Mountains thank you for watching this episode of Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains