Famous Mineral Water Co.

Famous Mineral Water Co. sells four different types of bottled "Crazy Water."

In the early 1900s, thousands from all over the world came to drink the healing waters of Mineral Wells.

The Palo Pinto town, an hour west of Fort Worth, was one of the biggest health resort towns in the country. Over 200 water pavillions boasted cures for whatever ailed you.

Today, an abandoned high rise hotel and two wells, which still pump what some claimed was precious liquid and long ago made Mineral Wells famous, is all that's left of the water boom.

"One is 360 feet deep," said Carol Elder as she opened a cob-webb encrusted well shack. "One is 110 feet deep...It still has the same minerals and the same effects that it did 100 years ago."

Elder and her family bought the "Famous" wells about eight years ago planning to turn it into a tourist trap or reception hall.

Instead, they said they were suprised too see just how many people looking to heal continued to belly up to the water bar and drink.

"I definitely notice a difference in my skin and hair when I drink it," said customer Jane Baldwin.

While Laura McCrain takes it for reflux, Jim Stevens said he orders it in gallons to give to his wife and grandson.

"She mixes in a little bit of the deep well mineral water in with his chocolate milk," he said. "[It] keeps him regular."

Town legend has it that a woman suffering from dementia once drank the water and was then cured of her disorder, which was how it came to be known as "Crazy Water."

Elder claims Crazy Water naturally contains minerals, including lithium, used to treat several conditions. Lithium is still prescribed even for manic depression and bi polar disorder.

News 8 took some crazy water to a modern-day laboratory and had it tested to see if what's on the label really is in the water.

"What they say is on label is what they've got," confirmed John Corn, director of Armstrong Forensic Laboratory in Arlington.

Among other minerals, scientists verified lithium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, floride and natural bicarbonate. The bicarbonate is the same thing in acid indegestion medicine, according to the lab results, but it's all natural.

In fact, medical experts say minerals absorb better in the body when in their purist form.

FDA rules forbid water bottlers from making unproven claims about curative powers, but Elder said they can't dispute what drinkers are saying.

"At this point, we have several hundred people that drink it for different things and not all those people are...crazy," she said.

While she said she was in a lot of pain, Lottie Eubanks said she certainly hasn't ever been crazy.

"I don't know how long it was before I noticed that I had no little arthritis knots on my fingers," she said of drinking the water. "I could again wear my rings, and I didn't have any pain."

She said all it took was a daily glass of Crazy Water #4, which contains the highest mineral content, to make what ailed her history.

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com