1942 Frank Critzer killed

In the early 30s, a middle-aged prospector with an interest in short-wave radio, staked a claim in the Giant Rock area. He knew well enough that if he could fashion a supported house under the giant rock then he would enjoy cooler temperatures in the summer and burn less fuel in the winter. He built a one-room subterranean home with a doorway facing west and a storage room toward the east. He attached a radio antenna to the top for better signal strength. His name was Frank Critzer who most folks avoided. He seemed a little strange. Besides, he had excavated under Giant Rock!

George Van Tassel had a special fascination with airplanes, which led him to obtain his pilot’s license while still a teenager. He dropped out of school after 10th grade and took a job at Cleveland Municipal Airport. He was offered a job in California by his uncle, Glen Paine, who owned a garage in Santa Monica. 

It was at that garage that Van Tassel met Frank Critzer, a German immigrant trying to make a living in the desert as a prospector. Van Tassel and his uncle befriended Critzer by repairing his car and stocking him with food and money for his journey. Critzer promised to cut them in on any future mining claims. 

A year or so later, Critzer wrote to Van Tassel and invited him to the area he’d been mining. Van Tassel and Paine drove to the remote location, where they discovered Critzer living under “Giant Rock,” reputed to be the world’s largest boulder. Critzer had excavated about 400 square feet of space under the rock and lived in the cool cavern year-around. Critzer appears to have had his own celebrity status as a cantankerous old goat that would shoot at you as soon as look at you. He had also met and heard tales from Reche.

Nothing more appears to have come of the coincidental visit. But during World War II, Critzer came under suspicion as a German spy, no doubt because of his radio hobby, and was killed in a botched law enforcement raid on his dwelling in 1942. Legend says that all his possessions were removed by the government. Some stories claim that a tear gas canister was lobbed in and ignited Critzer’s cache of dynamite. No one really knows the truth but the burned out room was closed and locked for years. The potential of Giant Rock remained a latent hope in Van Tassel’s mind for 15 years. 

http://www.lucernevalley.net/giantrock/