The East Bay Mystery Walls

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For more than a century, people in the Bay Area — and especially the East Bay — have puzzled over the existence of stone walls scattered on ridges from near San Jose north through the Berkeley Hills. Sometimes the walls are built in long straight lines. Sometimes they form angles. Occasionally you’ll find rectangular or circular constructions. "Who built these things? How long ago? And why?" asked listener Eric Haven. It's a tougher question to answer than you might imagine, but reporter Dan Brekke does his best. Learn more Uncovering the Real Story Behind the 'East Bay Mystery Walls' Video: The Real, True Story of the Mystery of the East Bay Walls (YouTube) Sign up for the Bay Curious newsletter Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Paul Lancour, Christopher Beale, Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED. We start today's episode hiking in the East Bay Hills near Berkeley.
0:11.1	Reporter Dan Brecky is searching for something
0:13.5	that's baffled locals for more than a century.
0:17.2	The only thing that's assumed is they're ancient.
0:20.3	Scrambling up the steep trail with him is Eric Haven.
0:23.6	This week's question-asker.
0:25.1	But no one knows how ancient.
0:26.9	Like does it go back hundreds of years?
0:29.4	Does it go back thousands of years or older.
0:33.0	Errik's an artist.
0:34.4	He writes and draws graphic novels.
0:36.9	And he was once a producer on the TV show, Mythbusters.
0:40.3	About maybe another 100 yards or 50 yards that way.
0:43.0	Eric and Dan beat their way through some tall grass and come upon what they've been hunting for.
0:48.0	Cool.
0:51.0	A stone wall stretching more than 100 feet.
0:55.0	Aw-inspiring?
0:57.0	It is. Well, I wouldn't say awe-inspiring.
0:59.0	Unless you know how old this is and that no one knows where it came from. Actually it just
1:06.6	looks like an old stone wall. Just a pile of rocks two or three feet high but
1:11.4	shrouded in more than a century of mystery and speculation.
1:16.6	No one knows who built it.
	...

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