Curtis Howe Springer

Who was Curtis Howe Springer?

Curtis Howe Springer was an American radio evangelist, self-proclaimed medical doctor and Methodist minister best known for founding the Zzyzx Mineral Springs resort located within Southern California's Mojave Desert. He was also the host of well-known evangelical syndicated radio programs that were broadcast throughout the United States for several decades.

Springer was in actuality neither a doctor nor a minister, and he described himself as the "last of the old-time medicine men." In 1969, the American Medical Association labeled him the "King of Quacks". In the early 1970s, the federal government discovered that Springer held no legal rights to the land where Zzyzx stood; consequently, he was evicted from the space and briefly imprisoned.