Nevada

1Water Babies of Cave Rock Told story

Water monster · Cave Rock (De ek Wadapush), east shore of Lake Tahoe, Douglas County · first reported traditional · also called De ek Wadapush water beings

In Washoe tradition, powerful beings called Water Babies live in all bodies of water, and Cave Rock on Lake Tahoe's Nevada shore is an especially important place for them. The Washoe call the rock De ek Wadapush and regard it as sacred, a place to be avoided by everyone except Washoe healers. Highway tunnels were blasted through the rock in 1931 and 1951. The Washoe compared this to bombing a church, and floods in the Carson Valley after each blasting were blamed on the angered Water Babies. After years of conflict over climbing bolts and graffiti, the Forest Service upheld a climbing ban in 2008, and the rock is now protected as a Traditional Cultural Property. This is a living belief, not a monster story.

• 1931 and 1951On the record Tunnels for the lakeside highway were blasted through Cave Rock. Washoe people linked later flooding in the Carson Valley to the Water Babies' anger. Source: fs.usda.gov

Visiting: Climbing on the rock is banned; please respect it as a sacred site.

2Ong, the Man-Eating Bird of Lake Tahoe Told story

Winged · Lake Tahoe · first reported traditional · also called Ong

Long before anyone talked about Tahoe Tessie, the Washoe people told of Ong, a giant bird that preyed on people around Lake Tahoe. In a well-known telling, a young man gathering obsidian near the lake was carried off by Ong. He killed the bird by throwing sharp stone flakes down its throat, then used one of its wings as a boat and a feather as a paddle to get back to shore. The Washoe visited Tahoe in the warm months and are said to have kept watch for Ong. It is a traditional Washoe story and is retold here only in outline.

3Red-Haired Giants of Lovelock Cave Told story

Humanoid · Lovelock Cave, south of Lovelock, Pershing County · first reported 1883 in print · also called Si-Te-Cah

Lovelock Cave is a real archaeological site, famous for 2,000-year-old duck decoys, the oldest known. It also anchors a legend. In her 1883 book Life Among the Piutes, Sarah Winnemucca told a Northern Paiute account of enemies with reddish hair who ate people and were finally trapped in a cave and destroyed with fire. After guano miners uncovered artifacts in 1911 and excavations began in 1912, the story was reworked by later writers into tales of giant red-haired skeletons. The BLM describes the cave as a place Native people used for shelter and storage for thousands of years, with human remains up to about 4,000 years old. Some artifacts have been returned to Nevada tribal nations.

• 1883On the record Sarah Winnemucca, a Northern Paiute author, published the tradition of red-haired cannibal enemies trapped in a cave and killed by fire. Source: folkbestiary.com
• 1911-1912On the record Guano miners found artifacts in the cave; formal digs began in 1912 and went on, off and on, into the 1960s. Source: blm.gov

Visiting: Lovelock Cave Historic Site (BLM), about 18 miles south of Lovelock via a dirt backcountry byway; free, with a self-guided trail.

4Tsawhawbitts, the Jarbidge Giant Told story

Humanoid · Jarbidge Canyon, Elko County · first reported traditional · also called Jarbidge Monster

The remote town of Jarbidge, deep in a canyon in far northern Nevada, takes its name from a Shoshone legend. Tsawhawbitts was a fearsome giant who lived in the canyon and caught people, carrying them off in a big basket to eat. When gold prospectors arrived in 1909, they borrowed the name and mangled it into 'Jarbidge.' The strike became the last major gold rush in the American West, and the town also saw the last stagecoach robbery, in 1916. Some tellings describe Tsawhawbitts as an evil spirit rather than a giant.

• 1909On the record Prospectors named the camp after the Shoshone giant, rendering the name as Jarbidge. Source: travelnevada.com

Visiting: Jarbidge town and the Jarbidge Wilderness, reached by long gravel roads.

5Area 51 and the Extraterrestrial Highway On the record

Other · Groom Lake; Rachel; State Route 375 · first reported 1989 (Lazar claims) · also called Groom Lake, Dreamland

Area 51, a secret Air Force test site at Groom Lake north of Las Vegas, is the center of America's alien folklore. In 1989 Bob Lazar told a Las Vegas TV station he had worked there trying to copy the technology of alien spacecraft. His claims have never been backed by records, but they turned the base into a legend. State Route 375 nearby was named the Extraterrestrial Highway, and the tiny town of Rachel became a stop for UFO watchers.

• 1989On the record Bob Lazar went on Las Vegas television claiming he worked on alien craft at a site near Area 51. Source: folkbestiary.com

Visiting: Extraterrestrial Highway (SR 375) and Rachel; the base itself is closed and its boundary is enforced.

6Nevada Triangle On the record

Other · Sierra Nevada region between Reno, Las Vegas and Fresno · first reported modern

The Nevada Triangle is a modern legend about a stretch of the Sierra Nevada and western Nevada where small planes go down or vanish. Nevada Public Radio has reported the often-repeated figure of about 2,000 aircraft lost in the region. The best-known case is adventurer Steve Fossett, whose small plane crashed in 2007 after taking off from a Nevada airstrip. Some connect the zone to Area 51. Climatologist Kelly Redmond of the Desert Research Institute explained the crashes as weather and terrain: winds crossing the range create violent downdrafts, small planes lack the power to escape them, and steep canyons leave little room for error.

• 2007On the record Steve Fossett's small plane disappeared after a flight from a Nevada airstrip; the crash became the region's most famous loss. Source: knpr.org