False Summits: A History Podcast about the American West

Mason Orlando - Jess Leigh - Marcelo Aguilar

The American West has been capturing the imagination for hundreds of years. Hollywood being one of its biggest promoters it gave it an almost mythical status in minds worldwide. Depicted as a rough and tumble place but with a bit of grit and termination on could achieve love and prosperity. Dose the realty hold up to the image?  And if so, does it the same ring true today? Dive into the blurry side of the American West with this darkly comedic history podcast. Join Mason Orlando, Jess Leigh, and Marcelo Aguilar as they explore the wild, weird, grim often terrifying events that create what the American West is today.  From bizarre outlaws and forgotten massacres to eccentric hermits and religious followers attempting to create utopia, this podcast takes a sharp, absurdist twist on Western American history. With a blend of dark humor, historical insight, and a dash of heathy commentary, each episode we cover weird, unsettling, and sometimes hopeful stories that may challenge your conception of the wild West.

  1. Dope Lake 77

    10/01/2025

    Dope Lake 77

    Let us know what you think Mason tells the tale of what happed when a plan with 6000 pounds of weed crashed in the mountains of Yosemite National Park in the late 1970s.    Sources: The Legend of Dope Lake: by Greg Nichols of in Men’s Journal. https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/what-to-do-in-chamonix-in-summer The 1977 Yosemite Dope Lake incident by Hikerdelic  https://hikerdelic.com/blogs/news/the-1977-yosemite-dope-lake-incident Photo: Rick Schloss Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    29 min
  2. Operation W*****k

    08/23/2025

    Operation W*****k

    Let us know what you think This week Marcelo takes us thru a dark chapiter in American History, the grotesquely named immigration law enforcement initiative “Operation W*****k” that used military style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants, often ignoring residential or citizen status. Eerily like the headlines of today, we will explore the motivations of those who created and carried out the constitutionally questionable act and the repercussions it had on the communities, economies, and families of those displaced.  #WesternHistory #TexasHistory #NewMexico, #ArizonaHistory #CaliforniaHistory #USHistory #immigranthistory #Chicanohistory #DeportationHistory #FalseSummitsPod #Eisenhower #JosehMaySwing Sources Los Angeles Times. “Operation Begins With Swift Roundup of Aliens in Pre-Dawn Sweep.” June 18, 1954. San Antonio Express. “In the Loma Park sector, several informants tipped off authorities to an entire family suspected of entering illegally. All members were removed by 5 a.m.” July 22, 1954. El Paso Herald-Post. “WETBACKS FLOOD BORDER – Roundup Imminent.” June 16, 1954. Kelly Lytle Hernández. *Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol*. University of California Press, 2010. Mae M. Ngai. *Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America*. Princeton University Press, 2004. Juan González. *Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America*. Penguin Books, 2011. Matt García. *A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900–1970*. University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Oral History of José Ángel Gutiérrez. University of Texas Libraries Archives. U.S. House Appropriations Committee. Testimony of General Joseph Swing. 1954. Congressional Record. Remarks by Congressman Jack Anderson. 1954. Diocese of Corpus Christi Archives. Letter from Father Raymond G. Vonnahmen. 1954. League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). National Newsletter. August 1954. Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    48 min
  3. Dangerous Dandy Ben Thompson

    08/01/2025

    Dangerous Dandy Ben Thompson

    Let us know what you think This episode Mason tells the gang the story of gunman, gambler, and onetime lawman Ben Tompson. A contemporary of Bat Masterson and adversary of “Wild Bill” Hickok, learn how this native Englishman came to make the American South his home as he gambled and shot his way into the History Books. #WesternHistory #KansasHistory #TexasHistory #OutlawHistory #LawmanHistory #BenThompson #TrueWesternhistory #Gunfighter #FalseSummitsPod Sources: Time to Die By Thomas C. Bicknell and Chuck Parsons https://truewestmagazine.com/article/time-to-die/ BEN THOMPSON 1843-1884: OLD WEST GUNFIGHTER AND AUSTIN CITY MARSHALL By Matt Braun https://knottingley.org.uk/history/ben_thompson.htm The Life and Legacy of Ben Thompson: Gunfighter and Lawman By: Tom Bicknell and Anne Beck https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/thompson-ben The Life of John Wesley Hardin By John Wesley Hardin https://books.google.com/books?id=jLM-AAAAYAAJ&q=john+wesley+hardin#v=snippet&q=bull&f=false Outlaw Tales of Kansas By Sarah Smarsh & Robert Barr Smith https://archive.org/details/outlawtalesofkan0000smar   Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    34 min
  4. Bishop Koyle’s Dream Mine

    07/19/2025

    Bishop Koyle’s Dream Mine

    Let us know what you think In this episode, Mason tells the story of John Hyrum Koyle. A prominent member of the church of latter-day Saints whose prophetic dreams caused him and his believers to build a mine based on Koyle’s visions. Dubbed the Dream Mine, Koyle promised it would not only yield treasures for the church to use in the end times, but also unearth lost relics that would unlock unknown dimensions of the Mormon faith. Eventually the Bishop’s is mine and visions would put him and his “Dream Miners” in opposition to the leadership of their Church. #WesternHistory #UtahHistory #LDSHistory #MormonHistory #DreamMine #JohnKoyle #BishopKoyle #SalmUtah #FalseSummitsPod Resources: THE DREAM MINE STORY by Norman C. Pierce 1958 https://www.ourhollowearth.com/DreamMineStory.pdf Utah History Encyclopedia Dream Mine Jay M. Haymond https://web.archive.org/web/20170909015113/http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/mining_and_railroads/dreammine.html 5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Three Nephites https://www.ldsliving.com/5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-three-nephites/s/87111 By Katie Lambert Preparation for the Second Coming By Elder Dallin H. Oaks Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2004/04/preparation-for-the-second-coming?lang=eng Utah’s Dream Mine still has thousands of stockholders, supporters Katie England  Daily Herald https://www.heraldextra.com/news/2018/jul/29/utahs-dream-mine-still-has-thousands-of-stockholders-supporters/ THE MUDDY MISSION Susan Lyman-Whitney https://www.deseret.com/1992/1/30/18965085/the-muddy-mission-br/ The Century Old ‘Dream Mine’ That’s Yet to Produce Gold Kaushik Patowary https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/11/the-century-old-dream-mine-thats-yet-to.html Fully Invested: Taking Stock in Utah County’s Dream Mine By Kevin Cantera https://sunstone.org/fully-invested-taking-stock-in-utah-countys-dream-mine/?ref=reliefmine.com The Dream Mine Story: Mormonism’s Most Expensive Revelation [Mormonism Live 231] https://radiofreemormon.org/2025/05/the-dream-mine-story-mormonisms-most-expensive-revelation-mormonism-live-231/   Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    49 min
  5. Stagecoach Mary Fields: 'Stagecoach Mary: The Saint with a Shotgun'

    07/04/2025

    Stagecoach Mary Fields: 'Stagecoach Mary: The Saint with a Shotgun'

    Let us know what you think In this episode Marcelo tells the impressive the Story of “Stagecoach” Mary Fields. When it came to stagecoach driving, Mary, a hard drinking, cigar smoking, shotgun welding badass was in a league of her own and who later became America’s first Black Woman postal worker on one of Americas toughest routes through the Montana territory in the late 1890s.  #USHistory #MontanaHistory   #WesternHistory #BlackHistory  Durrett, Deanne Stillman. *Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West* - Haarsma, Eileen M. *Black Women of the Old West* - U.S. Postal Service Historical Archives - Montana Historical Society Oral History Project - *Unladylike2020* (PBS documentary) - Ursuline Sisters Archives of Toledo, OH - Cascade Courier obituaries, December 6, 1914 - Montana Women's History Resources, Montana Historical Society - Star Route Records, U.S. National Archives - "Mary Fields, Pioneer Mail Carrier" – Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Vol. 34 Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    45 min
  6. The Impossible Railroad!!! The San Diego & Arizona Railway, Last Transcontinental Railway completed in the US!

    06/20/2025

    The Impossible Railroad!!! The San Diego & Arizona Railway, Last Transcontinental Railway completed in the US!

    Let us know what you think Mason takes the gang on a ride through the history of the planning, construction, and operation of the only transnational railroad in North America.  Learn about how San Diego City founder John D Speckles secretly conspired with southern pacific railroad man Edward Harriman to build the long-awaited line from San Diego to Yuma. What started as a practical idea, turned into battle against nature as construction crews slowly carved the line through a desert mountain landscape facing both the elements and at times hostile revolutionaries to complete 146-mile line. Find out why from almost opening day the line faced a constant struggles against the harsh desert climates and economics of a changing world.   #Californahistory #Railroadhistory #SanDiegohistory #Westernhistory #sandiego&Arizona railway #Southernpacificrailwaymuseum #Johndspreckels # EdwardHarriman #Carrizogorge #GoatCanyonBridge  Sources: The Imposable Railroad  KPBS San Diego 1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id2y3eT5dC8   The Imposable Railroad All Around Nevada/ by Howard Goldbaum                    https://allaroundnevada.com/impossible-railroad/ History of the San Diego and Arizona: San Diego’s “Impossible Railroad” Railway Historical Society of San Diego/ by Richard V Dodge  https://www.psrm.org/sda/   John D. Spreckels (1853-1926) The San Diego History Center https://sandiegohistory.org/archives/biographysubject/spreckels/   Well There's Your Problem | Episode 139: The Impossible Railroad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeHO8g0hDRM   Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    1h 2m
  7. Under the Shadow of the Hood: When Denver fell to the KKK

    05/23/2025

    Under the Shadow of the Hood: When Denver fell to the KKK

    Let us know what you think 🎙️ This episode, we delve into a dark and unsettling chapter of Colorado history — the era when the Ku Klux Klan created a shadow government that infiltrated Denver’s City Hall and eventually reached the State Capitol. We explore the societal and economic conditions that made it possible for a secret terrorist group of the 1870s to be born again in 1916 as a fraternity— and how, by the 1920s, they seized power with the aid of Freemasons, Woodsmen, and other fraternal organizations  But the so-called Invisible Empire wasn’t invincible. We break down how internal corruption, scandals, and rising public opposition brought the Klan’s Colorado reign to a swift and dramatic end.  Discretion Advised: sensitive topics #WesternHistory #ColoradoHistory #DenverHistory   #BenjaminStapleton #JohnGalenLocke #BrownPalaceHotel #TabletopMountain  #PhilipVanCise #PhilHGoodstein #LindaGordon  Sources:  The second coming of the KKK : the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American political tradition By Linda Gordon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34082146-the-second-coming-of-the-kkk In The Shadow of the Klan: When the KKK Ruled Denver 1920-1926 Phil H. Goodstein https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2158055 Stapleton accused of paying off history museum to remove family’s KKK past from exhibit By: Madeleine Schmidt https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2018/04/stapleton-kkk-past-paying-off-history-museum/8585/ “Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty”: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson By Abbott Kahler https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-wasnt-very-pretty-the-rise-and-fall-of-dc-stephenson-18935042/ Woodrow Wilson: “It is like writing history with lightning.” Quote or No Quote? By: Joe Coohill/Professor Buzzkill https://professorbuzzkill.com/2017/08/30/qnq-29/ Colorado Under the Klan By James H. Davis https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2023/12/06/colorado-under-klan The Klan in Charge: They Said It Couldn't Happen Here, but It Did By Alan Prendergast https://www.westword.com/news/gangbuster-kkk-klan-denver-mayor-da-van-cise-stapleton-16438675 Ben Stapleton Joined Ku Klux Klan for Political Power, Historian Says By Conor McCormick-Cavanagh https://www.westword.com/news/ben-stapleton-used-kkk-to-gain-power-in-denver-11727640 Episode photo from Westward   Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    1h 11m
  8. Weird Roadside Attractions of the West!! Vol I

    04/25/2025

    Weird Roadside Attractions of the West!! Vol I

    Let us know what you think In this episode, we’re taking a break from murderous outlaws and lawmen to bring you along to three strange roadside attractions in the West! 🛣️✨ 📍 Marcelo gives us the spooky scoop on the Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas 🦎🔮 📍 Mason explores the quirky Desert View Tower in Jacumba, California 🏜️🌬️ 📍 Jess ties it all together with the eerie tale of the infamous Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada 🤡🏨 We hope you’ll join us and enjoy the strange ride! 🚗💨 If you like what you hear, don’t forget to leave a review ⭐ or a like ❤️ — preferably both! It helps us a lot! 🙌 #DesertViewTower #MuseumOfWeird #ClownMotel #RoadsideAttractions #OffbeatMuseums #WesternHistory 🧭🎧 Thanks so much for listening!!!!! Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!! Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!! We would love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com Music Provided by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    59 min
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The American West has been capturing the imagination for hundreds of years. Hollywood being one of its biggest promoters it gave it an almost mythical status in minds worldwide. Depicted as a rough and tumble place but with a bit of grit and termination on could achieve love and prosperity. Dose the realty hold up to the image?  And if so, does it the same ring true today? Dive into the blurry side of the American West with this darkly comedic history podcast. Join Mason Orlando, Jess Leigh, and Marcelo Aguilar as they explore the wild, weird, grim often terrifying events that create what the American West is today.  From bizarre outlaws and forgotten massacres to eccentric hermits and religious followers attempting to create utopia, this podcast takes a sharp, absurdist twist on Western American history. With a blend of dark humor, historical insight, and a dash of heathy commentary, each episode we cover weird, unsettling, and sometimes hopeful stories that may challenge your conception of the wild West.

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