Curtis Howe Springer picked the name Zzyzx for his Mojave Desert health spa as a gimmick to make it “the last word” in health, according to San Bernardino County. The name rhymes with “Why-sik.” The hot spring was an imitation, too: Springer used boilers to heat several pools, the county said.
Springer called himself “the last of the old-time medicine men,” per PBS SoCal. He used titles such as “Reverend, M.D.” and Dean of Greer College, but he never attended a university or medical school, the outlet said. In 1969, the American Medical Association gave him the title “King of Quacks.”
In 1944, Springer filed mining claims on 12,800 acres of federal land, according to California State University, Fullerton. He had no plans to mine gold, PBS SoCal said. San Bernardino County lists the claim as 12,000 acres.
On the claim, Springer built a mineral-springs resort with a two-story castle for paying guests, concrete cottages, a pool, a chapel, and a man-made lake called Tuendae, PBS SoCal reported. A free shuttle carried guests from Los Angeles. He also promoted the spa on a syndicated radio program that was carried at one point by 221 stations in the U.S. and 102 more abroad, the SBC Sentinel reported.
The resort drew health-conscious Christians for nearly three decades. Stays were free, though guests were urged to donate, per Digital Desert.
The Bureau of Land Management began legal proceedings in the 1960s to close the resort and evict Springer for violating mining laws, according to Cal State Fullerton. The facility closed in 1974. All That’s Interesting reported that Springer was forcibly removed on April 11, 1974, and had 36 hours to leave.
Springer later retired to Las Vegas, per the National Park Service. California State University took over the site in 1976 and now runs a Desert Studies Center there. The county said the man-made pond that Springer once stocked still holds a protected habitat for the Mohave tui chub and desert pupfish.
Springer was not the only person to draw crowds with something that was not what it seemed. In 1869, George Hull sold most of the Cardiff Giant for $23,000, and many visitors paid 25 cents to see the statue and accepted is as a petrified human being, Archaeology reported.
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