Emily Chan
He filed a mining claim on 12,800 acres in the Mojave and established Zzyzx. He chose the name so that it would be the “last word in health.”
Zzyzx consisted of a cheap hotel, a dining hall, a lecture room, a library, a goat farm, a pool house, and rabbit rooms.
At the resort, Springer sold 27 different miracle cures and declared that the natural spring was a hot spring, which was a lie.
He discreetly installed heating pumps to warm the water. Zzyzx became a major tourist destination, drawing in crowds of visitors.
Over the course of 30 years, he sold over four million packages of his so-called treatments, including Antediluvian Herb Tea and Hollywood Pep Cocktail.
By the late 1960s, Springer’s operation began to crumble. He was still raking in business, but complaints from customers about the efficacy of his treatments increased.
The IRS and the FDA also accused him of tax evasion and false advertisement. Finally, in 1974, the Bureau of Land Management forced him off the property.
While Springer had mining claims to the land, he did not have the right to occupy and develop it. He was given 36 hours to evacuate.
The whole case exposed him to be a phony, and he spent a couple of months in jail for his crimes. Afterward, he spent the remainder of his life in Las Vegas.
In 1976, California State University took over the Zzyzx complex, converting it into a Desert Studies center for students and researchers.
Today, Zzyzx is open to the public. Visitors can walk around the site, observing the ruins of the site’s past.
