J. C. Brown

J. C. Brown was a self-styled geologist and mystic who convinced many residents of Stockton, San Joaquin Co., California in the late spring of 1934 that he could led them to the treasury vaults of the "Lost Race of Lemuria" that were hidden in the Cascade Mountains, only to disappear when the day appointed for the expedition's beginning came around.

Lemuria Treasure Hunting, Ltd.
In late April 1934, Brown began lecturing before meetings that were hosted at the home of John Root, a retired printer and farmer, in Bours Park, Stockton. He reputedly told the gathered audience that "while working for the Lord Cowdray Mining Co., of London in 1904 he discovered a tunnel in the Cascade Mountains" that was "lined with tempered copper and relics of gold" and led into "gold-filled rooms" where the "skeletons of a giant race" of Lemurians were scattered. These claims expanded to include reference to "glass aeroplanes, vegetables grown 2500 feet underground by reflected moon-light, and radium guns that blast enemies from the earth," and a kidnapping conspiracy orchestrated by an unnamed commercial group that wanted to take the treasure for themselves.[SI] The promises of gold were powerful enough to draw in upward of eighty people, some of whom, it was reported, quit their jobs and sold off their assets to finance involvement in a planned expedition to the site of the gold hoard, all hoping to profit from the Lemurian treasure.

However, at the day appointed for the expedition to be mounted, Brown disappeared. Root, the host of the meetings, would later claim that Brown had stolen a ring and a watch from his home before departing Stockton, and it was reported that Brown - or someone matching his description - had been sighted in Lodi, some sixteen miles north of Stockton, but had hitched a ride out of town before he could be apprehended by local police.