In Northern California, there is a place that is notorious for the quality marijuana grown there. Humboldt County is also where more people go missing than anywhere in California. The county's geography is a large aspect of this scary statistic with stunning redwood forests, rivers, and steep mountains. Missing person filers can be found on almost every telephone pole and in the windows of corner stores.
Almost 60% of marijuana grown in the United States comes from Humboldt County. The popular cannabis industry draws in people looking to make money trimming marijuana plants for farmers, who most of the time are growing the plant illegally. This started to change after California passed the legalization of marijuana, but some farmers are still involved in the black market. This legality issue leads to potentially dangerous situations for people looking for work in this underground business.
The small town of Alderpoint is where even the local law enforcement will agree that the town has a culture of violent lawlessness and certain residents live by their own rules. The police are often escorted by masked men on ATVs with shotguns strapped to their back when entering the Rancho Sequoia area of Alderpoint which is also known as Murder Mountain.
During the 60s and 70s decades, a lot of people traveled to Alderpoint to get away from mainstream society as well as experiment with recreational drugs. It was during this time that people started to smoke cannabis, which was mostly used by the hippie counterculture, and engage in weed consumption at events, with groups of friends, and at large gatherings. This culture is what inspired people to move to Alderpoint in more recent years.
Netflix has a show titled "Murder Mountain", which is a great mini-series to watch if you find the time. It begins by telling the story of one of Murder Mountain's most notable missing persons, Garret Rodriquez. Garret came to Humboldt County from San Diego to work on a marijuana grow. His father reported him missing on April 25, 2013. A few months after he went missing, Garret's truck was seen in June. On December 1, 2013, some human remains were discovered in a shallow grave on private property, after some private investigators received an anonymous tip about Rodriquez's supposed grave site. Eventually, the remains were confirmed to be Garret's and he was declared a victim of a homicide.
The legend of the Alderpoint 8 is related to Garret's body being found. The story goes that a group of vigilantes knew where Garret had worked and decided to confront his "employer" who allegedly gave up information after being threatened and shot a couple time gave up Garret's location and how he died. Despite this story, the local law enforcement never tried to contact the man who allegedly knew everything about the crime because they have no justifiable cause to believe he was involved. In my own opinion I feel like if human remains are found on someone's property, that should warrant an interview at least, but as of now, the Garret Rodriquez's homicide case is still open and unsolved.
