Home

Stories by State

Stories by Category

Our Books

Our Film Clips

Contact Us

Submit your own Story

Online Mailing List

Links

WeirdNJ.com

Weird U.S.

Promote Your Page Too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Mist of Casa Grande Mountain

While it seems somewhat harmless during the day, the desert can become a very scary place after dark. The hunting animals come out to seek and catch their prey. The rocky, uneven landscape becomes challenging to the experienced hiker. Outside the big cities, desert temperatures can decrease dramatically overnight. Such conditions seem to invoke all sorts of strange and inexplicable occurrences, one of which appears to be that of the unusual Black Mist said to hang around Casa Grande Mountain, located in the town of Casa Grande between Phoenix and Tucson.

Visitors to the park describe the mist as appearing at nighttime on the roads around the base of the mountain. Dark and ethereal, it follows anyone it discovers in the area. Stop and it will engulf you, plaguing you with terribly uneasy feelings.

Several theories try to explain what causes this phenomenon, though none quite fit the bill. The nearby Elsy Pearson shooting range could be the culprit, as older firearms tend to give off lots of smoke when discharged. Alternatively, the rural desert and the dusty nature of its flat and relatively treeless landscape could be the cause.

Because the area was originally home to the Hohokam Indians, some believe the mist is in some way related to the ancient civilization. After all, their complete and unexplained disappearance by about 1100 A.D. is just as big a mystery as the Black Mist itself. Plus, many of the tribe's ruins are still preserved in the area, including some whose purpose remains undetermined. Perhaps the Black Mist is linked somehow to an ancient practice whose effect lingers on.

These theories exist to try and explain what has yet to be understood by locals and by those who study the area. Yet, a shadowy, floating mist that reportedly has a mind of its own seems to defy logical explanations.

The stories of the Black Mist have been passed around for years, and they continue to be told not only for their entertainment value, but because of the notion the desert is a living and mysterious place that should be respected. It seems if the desert is not treated with reverence, it can be just as vicious as the animals that inhabit it. –Trevor Freeman

Missed the Mysterious Mist

For as many supernatural legends as I've researched, I'm disappointed to say I simply don't have an absorbing personal ghost story to tell. I've visited plenty of sites reported to be haunted, but for some reason, I've never seen an apparition. I guess they just don't find me appealing. Which is OK, since I'm fairly certain the feeling would be mutual.

Yet, I felt I owed it to myself to try as much as possible to witness the Other Side. And when I found myself near Casa Grande Mountain one night, I decided an investigation into the mysterious Black Mist would be a perfect opportunity.

Plus, I figured that, compared to a regular ghost, the Mist wouldn't be quite as scary, having no face. In retrospect, I'm not sure that's true.

Ready to be engulfed, I soon ended up on a dirt road running along the mountain's base, a rather eerie course that was every bit of dark, quiet and lonely. I locked my doors repeatedly. There was no light and no sign of civilization, save for a semi-trailer-size bail of cotton and a guy on a four-wheel ATV who likes to zip through the darkness and scare the crap out of people.

As much as I tried, however, I couldn't summon any vapor. I drove at varying speeds. I got out and walked around. I even taunted the mist verbally … something about its mother being a steam cleaner. But it was a no-show.

The only fog I did encounter was when I zipped around the peak's southern tip and the road practically dissolved beneath me into a fine, chalky powder. I hit the brakes before I got stuck, and having stupidly rolled the window down, I was instantly engulfed in a white cloud that settled on everything in the car. I hadn't found the Black Mist of Casa Grande Mountain, but I did discover his albino brother. –Wesley Treat

Weird Arizona

 

© copyright Weird NJ inc