Outsider architect photo gallery of Thunder Mountain

2/22/2006 7:13:37 PM - Boing Boing

Mark Frauenfelder: Tinselman posted about a bizarre survivalist compound in Imlay, Nevada dubbed Thunder Mountain.

Frank Van Zant's vision was sparked when he heard the prophecy of a medicine woman: "In the final days there shall rise up a place called Thunder Mountain." She also told him that only those who lived at Thunder Mountain would survive the coming apocalypse. Van Zant wasted no time; he changed his name to Chief Rolling Thunder Mountain, moved his family to the desert in Imlay, Nevada, and began to build his monument.

At age 69 Van Zant committed suicide because he had finally completed his masterpiece.