Haunted Southern California: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Golden State

Stackpole Haunted Series

by Charles A. Stansfield Jr.

Is there a shadow over this sunny land of healthful vigor and natural abundance? This region includes the Central Coast, the San Joaquin Valley, and metropolitan Los Angeles and San Diego, where readers will encounter the spirits of gold prospectors, cowboys, Spanish padres, and movie stars, as well as the phantom camels of Fort Tejon, the shape-shifting witch of Tulare, underwater UFOs, ghosts aboard the "Queen Mary," and the tragic specter of Marilyn Monroe.

Genres: Paranormal, Folklore

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2009

Reviews

[Nomad · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was the last of my haunted history pile and I decided to end with a book about where I'm living currently. As a New Englad transplant to Sunny Southern California, the fall just doesn't have the oomph I'm used to. No crispness to the air, no proper Halloween weather in October and is frankly... just a disappointing place to be in September, October and November. However... the place has more than it's fair share of ghostly tales and haunted history. Thank you, Moses!

The state of California is huge and there really is a difference between Northern Cali and Southern Cali, both in climate and culture. For those wondering how the state is divided into both locations, this book on the haunts of southern California is comprised of the Central Coast, metropolitan Los Angeles, the mountain and desert regions, metropolitan San Diego and the San Joaquin Valley.

The central coast has lots of farmhand ghosts, tales of tragic migrant workers haunting the places they were killed, stories of Native Americans murdered for their land and other such haunts. LA is of course filled with Hollywood ghosts, including 2 places where the ghost of Marilyn Monroe is said to haunt. I guess she's as busy in the afterlife as she was in her real life. Lots of old glamour and tragic tales of thwarted ambition and love gone wrong. Also, lots of tales of suicide when the dream didn't work out. But, perhaps that is to be expected in such a dramatic location?

In the mountain and desert regions we have tales of ground so cursed that the dead can't rest and of course, the most haunted piece of real estate in the United States... supposedly. The Anza Borego Desert. Go for the fabulous desert vistas and stay for the ghosts, some of whom literally scream into the night air. The San Joaquin Valley has much the same sorts of ghosts and haunted history in the flavor of the desert and mountain regions.

Lastly we get to where I currently hang my hat: metropolitan San Diego. Which is apparently a haven for ghosts of tragic love. Whether it's of Spanish nobles, mission thwarted love between a Native Californian Indian and an anglo or Mexicans being denied the ability to love as they chose, this area seems to be where tragic and romance born hauntings saturate the very air. However, we also have the most haunted house in the United States here: The Whaley House, which gives tours in October. Sign me up for that this Halloween! Most humorous for me though is the ghost in my very own neighborhood. Apparently 3 streets over there is a house haunted by the ghost of a pet rabbit. I really need to drive by that place and take a picture.

All in all, southern California has enough haunted history to satisfy the most discerning of history buffs and even the true believer or two. Once again, I do not beleive in ghosts, but find these stories to be the folklore that tells a place's history in ways that reverberate for far longer than a mere history textbook.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically like a guidebook to notable haunted areas of SoCal. As California is a big state, there are numerous spots of strange and paranormal areas of activity. Standsfield details them in this work that covers the southern regions of California, with many of them located at or near Fresno, Los Angeles, & San Diego. Additionally, even the deserts have a haunted history. However, these details are more of an introductory, not fully in-depth into the background context. This would explain the short length of the book. And while he does provide a bibliography, the information he provides makes some of them harder to believe. However, I do commend him for bringing some of the more obscure hauntings on here while still giving us some recognizable locations in the process.