Editing Mount Shasta (section)

=== Legends ===
{{Main|Legends of Mount Shasta}}
[[File:Sunrise on Mount Shasta.jpg|thumb|Sunrise over Mount Shasta]]
The lore of some of the [[Klamath Tribes]] in the area held that Mount Shasta is inhabited by the Spirit of the Above-World, Skell, who descended from heaven to the mountain's summit at the request of a Klamath chief. Skell fought with Spirit of the Below-World, Llao, who resided at [[Mount Mazama]] by throwing hot rocks and lava, probably representing the volcanic eruptions at both mountains.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oe.oregonexplorer.info/craterlake/history.html |title=History of Crater Lake |publisher=Oregon Explorer |access-date=2012-04-21 |archive-date=2019-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226011051/http://oe.oregonexplorer.info/craterlake/history.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Italian settlers arrived in the early 1900s to work in the mills as stonemasons and established a strong Catholic presence in the area. [[Mount Shasta, California|Mount Shasta City]] and [[Dunsmuir, California]], small towns near Shasta's western base, are focal points for many of these, which range from a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monastery ([[Shasta Abbey]], founded by [[Houn Jiyu-Kennett]] in 1971) to modern-day Native American rituals. A group of Native Americans from the [[McCloud River]] area practice rituals on the mountain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/inthelightofreverence/|title=In The Light of Reverence|website=POV|publisher=Public Broadcasting Service|access-date=2017-09-05|archive-date=2017-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820185407/http://www.pbs.org/pov/inthelightofreverence/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mount Shasta has also been a focus for non-Native American legends, centered on a hidden city of advanced beings from the lost continent of [[Lemuria (continent)|Lemuria]].<ref name=lemuria>{{cite web|url=http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/lem/index.htm|title=The Origin of the Lemurian Legend|website=Folklore of Mount Shasta|publisher=College of the Siskiyous|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919063057/http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/lem/index.htm|archive-date=2012-09-19}}</ref> The legend grew from an offhand mention of Lemuria in the 1880s, to a description of a hidden Lemurian village in 1925. In 1931, [[Harvey Spencer Lewis]], using the pseudonym Wishar S[penle] Cerve,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cerve|first1=Wishar S.|title=Lemuria, The Lost Continent Of the Pacific|date=1931|publisher=[[AMORC]]|at=title page|url=https://f5db1a33c5d48483c689-1033844f9683e62055e615f7d9cc8875.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/Lemuria%20-%20Wishar%20Cerve.pdf|access-date=2021-09-28|archive-date=2022-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327082340/https://f5db1a33c5d48483c689-1033844f9683e62055e615f7d9cc8875.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/Lemuria%20-%20Wishar%20Cerve.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Melton|first1=J. Gordon|author-link1=J. Gordon Melton|title=Religious leaders of America: a biographical guide to founders and leaders of religious bodies, churches, and spiritual groups in North America|edition=2nd Revised |date= March 1999|publisher=Cengage Gale|isbn=978-0810388789|page=332}}</ref> wrote ''Lemuria: The Lost Continent of the Pacific'', published by [[AMORC]], about the hidden Lemurians of Mount Shasta that cemented the legend in many readers' minds.<ref name=lemuria /> A 1941 novella by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Lost Legacy]], drew on these legends and portrayed the mountain as the home of a community of peaceful and powerful "adepts" who had the goal of advancing the human race.

According to [[Guy Ballard]], while hiking on Mount Shasta, he encountered a man who, introducing himself as the [[Count of St. Germain]], is said to have started Ballard on the path to discovering the teachings that would become the [["I AM" Activity]] religious movement.<ref>{{cite book| title=Encyclopedia of Sacred Places |date= 2011}}</ref>

In August 1987, believers in the spiritual significance of the [[Harmonic Convergence]] described Mount Shasta as one of a small number of global "power centers".<ref>{{cite web | title = Harmonic Convergence | publisher = [[College of the Siskiyous]] | year = 1989 | url = http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/har/index.htm | access-date = 2010-03-31 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100527184532/http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/har/index.htm | archive-date = 2010-05-27 }}</ref> Mount Shasta remains a focus of "[[New Age]]" attention.<ref>{{cite web | title = Legends: Ascended Masters | publisher = [[College of the Siskiyous]] | year = 1989 | url = http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/bib/B17.htm | access-date = 2010-03-31 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100330040045/http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/bib/B17.htm | archive-date = 2010-03-30 }}</ref>

In 2009, a group of hikers were making their way up Mt. Shasta when they reported seeing a flying humanoid creature with batlike features. They described what they saw as a man “stocky as Hulk Hogan, with leathery wings fifty feet from one end to the other and the face of a bat.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ropers |first=Jesse |date=19 March 2022 |title=Batsquatch! A Brief History of a Local Cryptid |url=https://pacsentinel.com/batsquatch/ |access-date=3 January 2025 |website=The Pacific Sentinel}}</ref> Despite the conflicting details, both accounts have been added to the legend of Batsquatch as additional proof.

in 2024, a 20-foot bronze statue of the Virgin Mary was built in the Ski Park. The statue was built in memory of Ray Merlo, husband and business partner of the Ski Park's owner, Robin Merlo. Ray Merlo passed away from cancer in 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 2024 |title=Mt. Shasta Ski Park Mother Mary statue completed |url=https://kobi5.com/news/mt-shasta-ski-park-mother-mary-statue-completed-259399/ |access-date=3 January 2025 |work=[[KOBI Television (Channel 5)]]}}</ref>