Our Mission
To bring the Real History of the Superstition Mountains to Life
We entertain and educate through stories and histories of actual events that occurred in the Superstition Mountains and surrounding areas. Our stories and histories are backed by research to be as accurate as possible. Many are first person accounts which increases the fun.
Additionally, we are capturing these first-person accounts
before they are lost.
Our People
Larry Hedrick
Larry has a great love of the southwest and the old cowboys and cowboy stories. Larry is also well known as a great source of knowledge and material on the old Southwest and he tells a good story. So, naturally, Charlie came to Larry for some of the early episodes of Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains YouTube channel. Larry has become a key member of the Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains team ever since and has contributed to many of the episodes.
Larry Hedrick is the co-founder of the Superstition Mountain Historical Society. Widely traveled, Larry came to Arizona in 1957 from his native state of Oklahoma, and settled permanently in the state in 1966.
Mr. Hedrick founded the Seventh Confederate States Cavalry and commanded it for many years. It was a popular historical organization that was selected to participate in Ronald Reagan’s Presidential inauguration in 1981. The unit has several TV documentaries and motion pictures to its credit, including a TV documentary on the Battle of Picacho Pass in Arizona. Extensive research went into the documentary, including unearthed information which cleared up much controversy about the military engagement at Picacho Pass. Larry’s research has been accepted by prominent Arizona historians.
Many of the episodes of Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains are interviews and stories by Larry from his extensive research and knowledge of the histories, stories and legends of the Superstition Mountains.
Larry is currently a producer of the “Mysteries of Superstition Mountain” video program.
Hank Sheffer
H. Henry Sheffer III or “Hank” as he prefers to be called is an accomplished musician, actor, stuntman, historian and public speaker as well as a free-lance writer and author. He has appeared in numerous celebrity and children’s charity events, on National television commercials and in major films. Included in his list of films is Peralta’s Deadly Gold, filmed for the Discovery Channel and Playboy Goes West , both filmed at the Apacheland Movie Ranch. The Arizona Dream, with Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway (Warner Bros), and Tombstone, with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, pretty Dana Delany and Sam Elliott (Hollywood Pictures & Cinergi Pictures Entertainment) were filmed here in Arizona.
Mr. Sheffer has lived in the shadow of the Superstition Mountain of Arizona for a very long time and has spent many serious hours exploring the mountain searching to uncover some of her many well-kept secrets. To date he has penned several major works: The Missing Link: a true accounting of Jacob Waltz and the Dutchman’s Lost Gold, The Secret of the Open Gate, a novel, and The Queen and Her Court: A true story about the Apacheland Movie Ranch. He has also contributed numerous articles for magazines and newspapers as well as several dime novel type historical pieces. He presently writes for “Arizona Real Country ” magazine and has been the featured speaker numerous times for the “Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains” historical series by Opal Images , Inc.
Hank has reiterated this old adage many times: “Success has never actually been a goal for me, but it sure has been an interesting and fun road to travel. . . .”
Charlie LeSueur
Charlie LeSueur and Dave Jones (Opal Images) had been discussing doing a series of videos on the Superstition Mountains since they met in 1993. Just as in much of the film industry, ideas can percolate for many years before they become real. In 2017, Charlie and Dave brought their ideas to fruition in the creation of Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains.
Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains relied heavily on Charlie’s experiences in film and especially western films to bring stories of the old west in and around the Superstition Mountains to life.
In 1992 Festival of the West in Scottsdale, Arizona, named Charlie as their official Q & A host which he held for its 22-year run. He has also hosted 100s of panels including Roy Roger’s 100th Birthday Celebration in Victorville, California, Dr. Buck’s Wild West Fest in Glendale, Arizona, Grass Valley Gold Rush Days in Grass Valley, California, Western Heritage Festival in Boise, Idaho, Spirit of the Cowboy in McKinney, Texas and The Billy the Kid Western Film Festival in Hico, Texas just to name a few.
In January of 2014, Charlie was named Arizona’s Official Western Film Historian and had his “boot prints” placed in cement and installed on the Apacheland Wall of Fame alongside prints of western stars who had once filmed there like, Peter Brown, Robert Fuller, Richard Boone and Ronald Reagan. He was also awarded a Fellowship of Western Arts at the prestigious Smithsonian affiliate, Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, where he has monthly presentations on the western film genre. Charlie also has several published books including the Riding the Hollywood Trail series on western film and television history.
Charlie passed on 11/10/2019
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Copyright © November 27, 2018 Opal Images
