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| Starvation Peak as seem from the intersection of Cow Path and B28A |
Or was it sometime around 1790 when Comanches attacked settlers, who took refuge atop the mesa? Or 1720 when Indians pursued by the Spanish army took refuge on the mesa? Or 1680 when Pueblan Indians chased priests to the top of the mesa?
In any case, the refugees slowly died of starvation atop the mesa. Or they escaped. Or were rescued. Or chose suicide over capture.
The mesa now called Starvation Peak was called El Cerrito de Bernal until a traveling reporter for the Detroit Free Press first documented the story in 1884. One variation of the story. As time went by, the number of people huddling atop the mesa grew from a handful to over 120. The details grew more gruesome. Maps changed the name of the peak.
No remains have been found. No nearby graves. No documented evidence. A historian did a thorough search and found no documentary evidence and concluded with his best Rumsfeldian logic that “it might have happened.” Even a psychic investigator found no evidence (but did find ghosts in Bernal).
Have you been atop a small mesa? Question: would you slowly starve to death or would you quickly die of dehydration? Another question: did Indians ever practice siege warfare?
OK, so it's a legend, not history. What can we learn from this legend?
That tourists and travel writers like stories unlike the stories from home?
I like the mesa and I like the name El Cerrito de Bernal. And if I'm going to complain about the legend, I need to create a better legend.
Next week. I'll get to it next week.