Whether you believe in ghosts or not, almost every region of the
world has its share of spirited spots. This month, with Halloween
coming upon us, let’s look at South Valley places said to have
haunts inhabiting them.
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, almost every region of the world has its share of spirited spots. This month, with Halloween coming upon us, let’s look at South Valley places said to have haunts inhabiting them.
Q. Are there any ghosts haunting Gilroy?
A. It seems the city has plenty of poltergeists – including one at Gilroy Gardens. The theme park has a small carousel in the Claudia’s Garden section, and a park employee (who also wants to stay anonymous) once told me that sometimes at night security guards find the ride playing its music and turning all on its own. When they check the power switch, they find it’s on the off position.
With all the tragic accidents that have occurred on Pacheco Pass Road over the years, that stretch of highway also has some alleged hauntings. Some locals claim seeing a woman in Victorian dress searching for her lost child along the busy highway. The sighting is sometimes accompanied by the thunderous rumble of an Old West stage coach rolling by pulled by a team of hellish horses.
Mt. Madonna County Park along Hecker Pass is also said to have a ghost or two dwelling in its redwood-covered terrain. A popular ghost story relates to the former summer home of Gilroy pioneer Henry Miller who was famous in the 19th century as “the Cattle King.” The once magnificent dwelling’s stone ruins still stand under the redwoods. On some mist-shrouded evenings, witnesses claim, a young girl rides a horse among the ruins and disappears into the fog. The apparition is said to be that of Miller’s 12-year-old daughter who apparently was thrown from a horse and killed at this spot.
Q. Are there any ghosts haunting San Benito County?
A. Historic downtown Hollister is said to have several ghost-inhabited buildings. The former National Bank building at the corner of San Benito and Fifth streets could possibly have some strange passageway to the spirit world, an anonymous Hollister resident once told me.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the upper floors of the building were used for medical and dental offices as well as single-person boarding rooms. No doubt, several people might have died there during these decades.
The Hollister resident once told me that while making repairs in the building several years ago, he experienced an inexplicable presence of “something” on the second floor. He started smelling cigarette smoke – even though there was no apparent source for this odor. Soon after, he heard footsteps just outside the room he was working in. When he went to check who might be there, he saw no one.
The man went through every room in the building and found no one was inside other than himself. He heard murmurs as if from distant voice. He called up the building’s manager to see if anyone else might be there and the manager told him that he was the only person working there that day.
When the handyman went into one certain room, things got weirder. He found he suddenly felt “super cold” even though the day’s temperature was warm. Suspecting the room might contain some eerie portal into the spirit realm, he returned to this room with a digital camera and started taking pictures of each wall. When he downloaded the photographs into his computer, he found that one of the pictures showed a strange light “flash” on the wall facing west. He adjusted it digitally and saw that the flash created a “vortex” of radiating circles which he believes are a glimpse of the ghosts.
Q. Does Morgan Hill have any ghostly hauntings?
A. Apparently, Morgan Hill residents have somewhat less contact with the spirit realm than people in other parts of South Valley have. The only haunted place I’ve ever heard about in Morgan Hill is the Scramblz Diner at 775 E. Dunne Ave.
At a Halloween party a couple of years ago, a woman who once worked as a waitress at the Lyon’s Restaurant (prior to it becoming Scramblz) told me she and other employees several times observed the ghost of a man who died of a heart attack at his booth table late one night. The man was a regular patron and perhaps enjoyed the restaurant so much, he chose to remain there in his afterlife. He was a friendly guy and well liked by the workers, so they the workers had no fear of him still hanging around the eatery, the former waitress told me.
