About this site

The King of Quacks is the companion site to C. V. Wooster’s forthcoming narrative history of the same name. It is published by Taciturn Studios LLC.

What we do

We tell the true story of Curtis Howe Springer (1896–1985) and Zzyzx, California, and the wider history of radio quackery, mining law and the eastern Mojave. Our articles are long-form and original, and each ends with its sources.

More desert history from C. V. Wooster

When the Birds Go Silent is a novel of the Mojave War of 1858–1859, told from both sides of the Colorado River. Mrs. Orcutt’s Driveway is the true story of a widow at Newberry Springs, on old Route 66, whose driveway stood in the path of Interstate 40.

Editorial standards

• Every fact is sourced. We prefer primary records such as federal court opinions, government agency pages and contemporary newspapers, and we name secondary sources when we use them.
• We say when sources disagree. For example, Springer’s acreage (12,800 acres by his own account, “several hundred acres” in the 1974 court opinion) and his station count (221 U.S. stations per the Los Angeles Times, “over 300” per the NPS).
• Quotations are brief and attributed.
• Corrections. If you find an error, contact us and we will fix it and note the change.

Images and AI

Photographs are public domain or used under Creative Commons licenses, with credits beside each image and on our media credits page. The homepage film and some illustrations are AI-generated artistic interpretations. They are labeled as such and depict no real people. No authentic public-domain photograph of Springer was available to us, so none is shown.

Independence

This site is not affiliated with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the California State University or the Desert Studies Center. We earn money from display advertising and Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.