Searching for William Randolph Hearst’s Mystical Mountain Retreat

The Story of Wyntoon, on the Slopes of Mount Shasta, Is the Stuff of Myth—Which May Be the Point of the Place

Wyntoon can’t possibly be real, right?

It’s preposterous to think that William Randolph Hearst needed a second summer retreat to get away from the ultimate California retreat, his castle at San Simeon.

It strains credulity to imagine a party-throwing media tycoon building a super-quiet, Bavarian-style village along a remote river on Mt. Shasta’s southeast slope.

And the longstanding tales—offered by visitors and residents, including Hearst’s longtime companion, Marion Davies—of Wyntoon as even more beautiful, comfortable, and magical than Hearst Castle are simply unbelievable.

If a place like Wyntoon really existed, wouldn’t every Californian know …