Re: Dutchman & government conspiracy Request
Chuck Crawford and the Holy Grail
By Ralph Henderson
As told by Emory Taylor and Rick Gwynne
There are about as many stories of treasure in the Superstition Mountains as there are people who have sought the treasures through the years. Tales of Aztec treasure, Spanish treasure, Jesuit treasure, Peralta treasure, Lost Dutchman treasure, lost mines, and buried stage coach loot ale the stuff these tales are made of. They have been the source of countless books, coffee shop gossip and the life long pursuit of many characters who have inhabited the mountain over the years. Some of these characters and their adventures are as colorful as the treasure legends themselves. These stories of
enormous treasures and fabulous wealth and sonic of the characters that sought them are at best a stretch of the imagination, however that is what makes a good legend. There always seems to be just enough hearsay and actual evidence discovered to keep the legends alive, yet not enough to solve the mysteries of the many maps, stones, treasures, and family secrets they pertain to. Such is this s-tory told by Emory Taylor and Rick Gwynne.
Emory, a talented writer and prospector, along with Rick Gwynne, another long
(See Crawford on Page 4)
Chuck Crawford and the Holy Grail
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time local prospector and treasure hunter in the Apache Junction area, have been putting the archives and biography of Chuck Crawford together since his death in 2007. Emory has written a trilogy of Chuck’s exploits, which can be found online at
www.triologhrecthirteens.com
Chuck Crawford was a local prospector, well known to the Superstitions since the 1970s. Chuck, like many before him, led a colorful existence and spent some time in jail. Chuck often played the part of “Black Ban” at one of the local dinner theaters and was involved in many local bar fights, actual gun fights, and was accused of intimidating many a prospector he felt was getting “too close.” He was considered a prime suspect in the death of Dennis Brown at one of his mining claims near the Burns Ranch, one o the many areas Chuck prospected.
In spite of Chuck’s reputation as a local personality, he did find some success in his prospecting and filed many claims in the area through the years. the most notable being the Chciyl Ann claims located in La Barge Canyon. These valuable claims eventually led to a lengthy Court battle with the Forest Service, resulting in them invalidating his claims on June
10, 1986.
One of his lesser known discoveries was a possible Knights Templar or Amethyst treasure on the old Bums Ranch off Peralta Road just east of Gold Canyon. As part of his biography on Chuck Crawford, Emory Taylor did some research on the Templars and learned that a German sect of Templars possessed some Holy Stones, black and violet crystals, half quartz, half amethyst, that they considered to be the Holy Grail. These stones could be used to commune with divine powers. In the German Templar tradition, the Holy Grail is not a cup, but a black and purple stone on which writing appears and then disappears, and from which voices emanate. In a story told by Otto Rahn, a German investigating the “Parzvial,” one of the three epic poems of the German Grail cycle, while in southern France in the l930s he was shown an ancient trail along which is a lake of dark waters called the “Lake of the Trout” The lake is located in what legend considers by the Cathars to be the “Cradle of Thunder.” Rahn was financed by Heinrich Himmler, RcichsfuhrerSS of Nazi Germany. Himmler sought the German Grail, for the alter at the SS Church at Wewelsburg Castle.
Taylor’s research also revealed some of these stones may have come to North America with the Sinclairc —Zeno expedition in 1398 and gradually migrated west. A 1566 map called “The Zaltiere Map” drawn by a Templar descendant sl& map of North America that depicts the area that would become Arizona and the
(See Crawford on Page 6)
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Superstition Mountains and a nearby settlement of Chuco. The features on this map can clearly be matched to the features on a modern day map.
Thus begins the legend of Henry Bums and the Apache Indians. Th this story, The Thunder Grounds are supposedly located somewhere between the Burns ranch and the upper La Barge Box Canyon. A spirit with a loud booming voice emanated from a black and purple quartz. The Apaches took some of it to Henry Bums, hoping he could understand the voice, and waning to show him the Thunder Grounds, because they thought it had something to do with white people. The Apaches eventually traded the —black and purple quartz to Henry Bums, who hid the rock in a small cave behind a false wall of mortar on his ranch. It is rumored that the Apaches often came to Henry Burns with “things” they had acquired on their raids; Burns, who had been kidnapped by the Apaches as a child and lived with them until he was an adult, would then sell the items in town and settle up with the Indians later. The Burns ranch is said to be on a location he spent time at while in captivity.
In a narrative given to Emory Taylor by Chuck Crawford prior to his death, one day he was traveling an ancient trail he had discovered in the Superstitions. The Apaches were afraid of this trail because it crossed their Thunder Grounds. On this trip Chuck claimed he ran out of water and was rescued by an angel who guided him to a pool of water with a trout swimming in it. He then claimed to have found a black and purple bar near the pool of water. Crawford claimed there were strange voices emanating from the bar speaking in a foreign language. He took the bar to his Cheryl Ann claim and buried it there. Crawford would then commune with God at his Deity claim, which was on the cliff face that the Cheryl Ann butted up against. It was from these communions that Crawford came to believe he received an ordainment as God’s messenger. He never spoke of the Knights Templar, but revealed to Emory that you had to he a high spiritualist, an initiate of 72 degrees to use the purple stone to commune with God. No one but Chuck seems to know what a 72 degree initiate was or is.
Years later in 1993, Crawford filed his ‘Thank You” claims on the Bums ranch which arc now held by Emory Taylor and Rick Gwynne. Bert Morrison, a former security guard of Crawford’s tells a story of Crawford searching the area for a cave that supposedly held an old stagecoach that had been robbed by bandits. The bandits supposedly had hidden the coach in a cave then collapsed the cave on it. Crawford never discovered its location, but he did Locate a small cave that contained the stockpile of black and purple The rock wall at Burns Ranch
The Treasure Tree
stockpile of black and purple quartz placed there by Henry Burns many years ago. All three of these stories bear remarkable semblance. Are they just stones, or is it too much of a coincidence to ignore9 I guess each will have to reach his or her own conclusions like any good legend forces you to do. The Apaches certainly knew nothing of the Knights Templar and their Holy Grail. It is doubtful Henry Burns ever had
(See Crawford on Page 12)
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any information about them and if Chuck Crawford was aware of the Templars or the Indians he certainly never mentioned it to anyone. Some of the Quartz traded to Henry Burns by the Apaches and re-buried by Chuck Crawford is now in the possession of Emory Taylor and Rick Gwynne, having been found by them using Chuck’s directions. The bulk of the Amethyst treasure remains unfound.
There is believed by many to be nine unfound treasures left to be discovered on the old Bums ranch. To reach the old ranch site take Peralta road past the Peralta subdivision four miles, it is now nothing hut a nice shady area a short distance down a road to your right next to a wash. Remember, do not hike in the heat of the day, and take plenty of water and a friend with you. Remember it’s summer, and water is far more valuable than gold. Any accident without someone with you can turn deadly in a hurry.
