GILROY
– Halloween is the day we celebrate the strange and the bizarre,
facing our darkest fears of the unknown realms. And ghost stories
are a favorite part of the holiday, helping us to deal with the
greatest of all unknowns – what happens to us after we die.
GILROY – Halloween is the day we celebrate the strange and the bizarre, facing our darkest fears of the unknown realms. And ghost stories are a favorite part of the holiday, helping us to deal with the greatest of all unknowns – what happens to us after we die.
Like almost every locale, the South Valley has its share of phantasmagorical happenings and haunted homes. Ghosts seem to abound in the region, reminding residents that spooks always are just around the corner in their unearthly domain. Whether a person believes in ghosts or not, the stories about these weird occurrences are always fun to recount during the Halloween season.
Take a quick glance over your shoulder. You might happen to catch a glimpse of a spirit reading this article along with you. Boo!
The Old Gilroy Hotel
The building at 7365 Monterey Road once was known as the Gilroy Hotel and was a prominent location for the town’s elite to meet. Two specters of the other world are said to make this building their haunting realm.
According to the local legend, one of the ghosts is a woman in her twenties and the other is a sad-looking little girl. During the heyday of the hotel, a man entered the hotel and raped and killed the two guests. The woman is seen at the top of the stairs, and the little girl is seen in the hallway.
Sometimes late at night, people who know the building say occupants hear the sound of footsteps passing through the halls. When they take a look to see who is there, the hallway is empty.
People also have reported hearing an electric piano’s keys struck. The peculiar detail is, the musical instrument is not plugged into the wall outlet. Electric lights go on and off, some people have reported, and doors rattle violently as though someone is locked inside and desperately is trying to get out.
The child is sometimes seen looking out the window, according to some witnesses, and an employee of the building said he felt a cold touch on the back of the neck on one occasion. When he turned around quickly to see who it was, he found he was alone. He had no doubt he had been rubbed by one of the ghosts.
Bonfante Gardens
A ghost possibly dwells among the rides of Bonfante Gardens. According to one park employee who wished to remain anonymous, the spook prefers to create its spectral mischief at the small children’s carousel in Claudia’s Garden.
By day, the little merry-go-round is an innocent-looking amusement set among the plants and waterfalls of the scenic byway. As calliope music plays, carved angel heads look down on laughing children riding along on the menagerie of beautifully crafted animals. But after the sun sets and the park visitors go home, a phantom is believed to come out of the shadows of the carousel.
“It comes out at night when the park closes,” the employee said. “The guards check on the carousel and leave the area. And then a while later, they hear the music of the carousel. When they come back, no one is there.”
The guards do not like to spend much time around the creepy carousel, the Bonfante Gardens employee said.
Pacheco Pass
The South Valley’s Pacheco Pass is one of the deadliest roads in the county. Over the years, many people have died on this “blood alley” in horrible traffic accidents. So it’s little wonder there are several stories of a ghost haunting Highway 152 just east of Gilroy.
One story tells of a woman who was struck by a semi-truck. Occasional reports describe the woman appearing in the passenger seat of the vehicle, screaming in terror. And then she and the phantom truck vanish into thin air without a trace.
Another similar story recalls the nineteenth-century days when Pacheco Pass was a stagecoach road connecting Santa Clara Valley to the San Jouquin Valley. There have been many sightings of a Victorian-dressed woman searching for her child along the road. Witnesses of this apparition say they hear the thunderous rumble of a stage coach rolling by and the snorting breaths of hellish horses. Could the Victorian woman have been the victim of a traffic accident a hundred or so years ago?
Mt. Madonna
Another Victorian ghost supposedly haunts Mt. Madonna County Park just off Hecker Pass west of Gilroy. The story began in 1850 when Henry Miller steps off the sailboat in San Francisco. He came to seek his fortune in the California Gold Rush with only $6 in his pocket. Through hard work and industry, Miller made a fortune in the cattle business. He bought land throughout California, Nevada, Oregon and Mexico and eventually controlled more than 14.5 million acres, an area larger than Belgium.
The kindly gentleman made his home and headquarters in Gilroy, enjoying visits to the redwood-covered mountains west of the community. Eventually, he built a $250,000 mansion near what is now the Mt. Madonna County Park headquarters, and spent many summer days with his family and friends enjoying the cool beauty of the setting. The estate included a 3,600-square-foot ballroom for entertaining, as well as tents for the many guests who attended his famous barbecues to which everyone – friends and strangers alike – were invited.
Miller died Oct. 4, 1917, and the family later donated the Mt. Madonna land to the county for a public park. The mansion is now nothing but cement foundation ruins surrounded by the encroaching forest. But the forest area and the ruined mansion are said to be haunted by Miller and his daughter Nellie.
For decades, witnesses claim to have seen the cattle baron’s daughter riding a horse through an open field. Legend has it the woman was killed on the site while riding a horse. She fell from the animal when it was startled by some sudden sound and she broke her neck in the tragedy. The ghostly visions of the woman on horseback are usually sighted when the thick fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean enshrouds the forest of the park.
Park employees reported that one man called the headquarters and said he saw a strange site late one night while he and a friend drove down Pole Line Road, which cuts through the park. The unidentified man said that about the bewitching hour of midnight, as they passed through the park, the two men had seen a girl in a long white “prom dress” walking among the trees.
It was an unusual sight, and as the two men slowed down to get a better look, the young girl mysteriously vanished like mist into the night.
Martin Murphy’s Ghost
Morgan Hill also has a ghost story involving one of its pioneering families. It’s a tale of local history with a surprisingly comical twist that would serve as a plot for an eerie “X-Files” episode.
In 1844 Martin Murphy Sr., and his family were in the first group to cross overland by wagon across the plains to California. They were part of the Murphy-Townsend-Stephens party which crossed the Sierra divide by way of the Truckee River (a route now used by skiers along Interstate-80).
Murphy and his large clan of Irish sons and daughters eventually settled in Santa Clara Valley. The Murphy’s started buying many acres of land in the Morgan Hill and San Martin area. One of Murphy’s son, Martin Murphy Jr., spent many hours helping his father develop the family ranch in the area. Eventually, Murphy Jr. purchased 5,000 acres of the Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas in what is now Sunnyvale.
Murphy Jr. worked hard in raising cattle and growing orchards and built his fortune up to about $5 million – a good sum in the 1800s for an illiterate immigrant who could only sign documents with an “X.” When Murphy, Jr. died on Oct. 20, 1884, all of California paid tribute to the pioneer.
The city of Sunnyvale grew around the land that once served as the Irish rancher’s home. Locals claim that Murphy Jr.’s ghost haunts the region and, of all places, the Sunnyvale Toys “R” Us store. This store was built on the location of Murphy’s horse stables where he loved to spend much of his time tending his animals.
A friendly ghost reportedly haunts the store and the local legend gained national exposure in an episode of the “That’s Incredible!” TV show. The spook allegedly moves toys, drops lunch boxes on customers or caresses their hair, turns on lights and faucets and whispers in people’s ears, “I hate crowds.”
One employee claims to have met the Irish apparition in the stock room.
It could well be Murphy’s spirit, as the California pioneer is said to have an Irish mischievousness in his character.
