On a recent night in Jacumba Hot Springs, a town of 500 people south of San Diego along the Mexican border, 120 people gathered in the roofless, abandoned bathhouse off Old Highway 80. Devotees of Desert Oracle Radio, they were there to listen to Ken Layne’s live performance of his cult-famous radio show.
This essay was adapted from the Alta newsletter, delivered every Thursday.
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A yellow crescent moon and Cassiopeia sparkled above as we sat in the warm glow of the candlelit ruin. The man to my left told me he’d driven an hour from San Diego and that he’d drive the winding highway home after the show. The couple on my right had flown in from Washington State and were staying next door at the newly renovated Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel. The Washington gentleman opened his blazer to reveal his copy of Desert Oracle no. 2, a pocket-size field guide that he’d stuffed in his inner lining for Layne to sign. I explained that I had seen Layne live at the Theatre 29 in Twentynine Palms right after lockdown when we still had to wear masks. This should give you a sense of the commitment of Layne’s fans, who’d gathered in this isolated place to hear mythic tales of desert life that Layne has been spinning since launching in 2017.
“I have a very obsessive audience,” Layne told me in between large bites of skirt steak an hour before showtime. “I have people who write me 5-to-10-page handwritten letters.” He ordered a vodka martini, up with an olive, and explained that performing live is one of his favorite things to do. “When I’m looking into people’s faces and eyes, especially at nighttime with fire, a very primal thing kicks in and people are entranced. If I said, ‘We are all going to take a walk into the highway in traffic,’ a certain number of people would go.”
This could be due to Layne’s hypnotic baritone, especially as set to the mysterious music of RedBlueBlackSilver he uses to accompany his radio and live shows. Back at the bathhouse, the moment the crowd heard the eerie prerecorded piano and familiar coyote howls of his intro, we all fell silent. Moments later, Layne walked onto the stark stage in his three-piece minister suit, stroking his philosopher’s beard, and said, “Welcome to night church, friends.” The audience erupted with laughter.
“How’s the sound out there? Too loud? Too quiet?” The audience shouted back conflicting answers all at once, to which Layne replied, with expert comic timing, “That’s just what I wanted to hear.”
As the music grew more suspenseful, Layne began one of his signature campfire-style monologues, mixing local folklore, the paranormal, and true crime. On this night, as in his recorded stories, Layne weaved each of these threads into a seamless narrative, holding his audience rapt with every twist and loop. He told us of a rare big-cat sighting that had happened to him 45 years earlier on a Sunday drive with his family and the tragic disappearance of seven-year-old Leticia Hernandez that happened in 1989 while Layne was a reporter for the Blade-Citizen in Oceanside and working with psychic John Monti.
In 1991, when Hernandez’s skull was found and her dental records confirmed, Layne rummaged through Monti’s yellow legal pads and realized he had been writing the name “Paula” over and over again but thought it was a dead end. As Layne told it, Hernandez’s remains would be found in the brush near Pala, California, an hour and 44 minutes from where we’d gathered. Monti had been closer than anyone thought, but Hernandez’s killer has never been found.
A raven’s caw signaled a shift in the show, and Layne opened the stage to anyone who wanted to share a two-minute ghost story. No one moved. “Don’t worry. It’s low light and no one is going to judge anything except your weird experience and why you had it,” he deadpanned. A brave soul walked to the stage. “Welcome, sir!” Layne bellowed.
After the story, Layne asked, “What you saw, did it look like a solid person?” The man replied, “It was absolutely as real as you and me.”
The applause at the end of the night was for Layne, to be sure, but could have also been for the very idea of gathering together for a communal experience in an old bathhouse under the stars. The desert can be a lonely place, but Layne’s storytelling has created a community of curious, open-minded fans. His tales invite listeners into his world while making a space for them to share theirs.
After the show, a line of 50 people deep waited on the back patio of the hotel, copies of Desert Oracle in hand. Layne chatted with each person, signing and selling books well past the witching hour, a generous minister tending to his flock after night church.•
Desert Oracle Radio airs live on Z107.7 FM in Joshua Tree and the Mojave High Desert on Friday nights at 10 p.m. Pacific time and streams wherever you get podcasts.
Jennifer Lewis is the editor in chief and publisher of Red Light Lit, a small press and reading series established in 2013. She is the author of the short story collection The New Low, published by Black Lawrence Press.
