| Title HAUNTED PLACES IN SACRAMENTO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Author TROY C. DICK American River College, Geography 350: Data Acquisition in GIS FALL 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Abstract This project focuses on Haunted Places in the Sacramento area. For each haunted area I included a brief ghost story connected to the location and what type of haunting the locations has. Creating a list of haunted places I created a database in MS Access with the addresses of the haunted location, Geocoded those locations on a TIGER file of Sacramento roads Using ArcMap 9.1, showed the Spatial Distribution of the haunted locations and what type of haunting it is. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Introduction When you hear Ghost Stories you usually hear of old places like on the East Coast of the United States for example Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Also on TV you might have seen shows like “America’s Most Haunted Places” on the Travel Channel, or “Ghost Hunters” on the SciFi Channel. These shows focus on mainly haunted places on the East Coast and some places on the West Coast. Have you ever wondered what Haunted Places might be here in the Sacramento area? Another question is what type of haunting might these places have? For example an Intelligent haunting a person may see a ghost and have doors opening and closing on there own. In this project I will answer these questions. I will find haunted places in the Sacramento area with the use of the Internet, books, and people. I will also travel to some of these places, get pictures, and find out what type of haunting a place has. My goal in this project is to have a list of some of the haunted places in the Sacramento area, a brief description of the ghost story connected with the place, and what type of haunting a place has. ArcMap 9.1 will be used to spatially display where the haunted places are located in the Sacramento area and what type of haunting it is. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Background There was an Author by the name of Dennis Hauck who did write a book titled “Haunted Places”. This book did have several locations of haunted places in the Sacramento area and also other places. This book also had the ghost stories connected to those locations. This book was very helpful when finding locations and ghost stories in the Sacramento area. Another source of information that had haunted location and stories in the Sacramento area was the website: http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm395389.html. This website had location that weren’t listed in the book “Haunted Places” and Haunted Places had some location that were not listed on the website. There are some other website like http://theshadowlands.net/places/california2.htm also had a list of haunted place in the Sacramento area with a ghost story to the location. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Methods At the beginning of my research for haunted places in the Sacramento Area, I first used search engines like Yahoo and Google, which found several websites which had a list of haunted places all over the United States and even here in the Sacramento area. I was very surprised on the number of haunted places in the Sacramento area. Next I visited the Sacramento Central Library and read some books that had a list of haunted places in the Sacramento Area. While there I did talk to a lady that worked at the Central Library and found out that the 2nd floor of the Library in the Sacramento Room is haunted. While reading and looking on the internet I did compile a list of places that are in the Sacramento Area that are reported to be haunted with a ghost story to go along with the haunted location. After I did make a list of the haunted location and got the addresses, I went to some of the reported haunted locations and took pictures of the location. Also I did attend one of the special events at the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery on October 28, 2005 at 7:30pm. It was a guided tour where they told about how some people buried at the City Cemetery were murdered. Some pictures were taken in the Cemetery and I got some strange images on film. With the list of address I created a database from scratch in MS Access to geocode the haunted locations on a road shapefile map of Sacramento County. Some location didn’t give an address. I have included the stories for those places but it will not show up in the map. While on the internet I was able to find some websites that explained what a haunting is and the different types of haunting there are. The TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) website was very useful when looking for information on how to explain the different types of hauntings. TAPS is the same group that does the show "Ghost Hunters" on the Sci-Fi channel. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results
Before we start looking at Ghost Stories in the Sacramento area we must first understand what is actually a “Haunting” and what are the different types of hauntings. This is what the TAPS website defines as a haunting. Haunting: The manifestation of a ghostly presence, or presences, attached to a specific locale. Hauntings can be categorized into four (usually) distinct types, these being Intelligent (responsive), Poltergeist (likely initiated by pent-up stress on a subconcious level), Residual (replay) and Demonic (non-human origin). -(TAPS) TYPES OF HAUNTINGS
Below is the definition of the different type of Hauntings. I found another type of haunting that TAPS didn’t mention which is called a Portal Haunting. Since 4 areas in Sacramento fit this haunting type, I decided to include it to the list of types of hauntings. RESIDUAL HAUNTING : The most common style of a human haunting is a residual haunting. A residual haunting is like having an impression made in time. The entity may seem to be lost in a time warp. The spirit really isn't even there, only the energy is. In most cases people may here screaming or crying due to the violence factor that may have caused this traumatic event to happen. People may also hear the sounds of footsteps walking on the stairs or through hallways. Typically the repeated event is whatever the person who left the energy behind did often or an significant event that they remember happening to them. It is almost like it the energy has become part of the dwelling that they once occupied on an every day basis. These haunting styles always seem to happen in the same place every time. There is usually very little you can do on this style of a haunting except make the family who is having these problems understand what is going on and explain to them that they are in no danger due to the energy not being controlled by the person who left it behind. There is no actual entity present in this style of haunting, and the energy that was left behind is just like a video playing the same scene over and over again. Even though it is not aware that people are there, it can still be a scary and emotional situation to the people who have to deal with it happening in their home. It may happen every night or every week or even every year. It is the most frequent haunting investigators will come across in their cases. An investigator will tell you there is nothing they can do about this style haunting and they are correct. People need to either except what happens and learn to deal with it, or move on. (Jason, TAPS) INTELLEGENT HAUNTING: In this style of haunting the entity or entities are aware of their surroundings. Most of the time you will find that these spirits are not confined to one spot, they can move around freely. Also, they will acknowledge the existence of human beings and even try to communicate in certain ways. They are limited in what they can do. Most of the time they only move very light objects but they have been known to move objects up to around 10 lbs. They are looking for people to notice them but they end up scaring people a great deal instead. Usually, between the hours of 11pm and 4am are the times that the entities can more efficiently manifest themselves, due to this time period being the darkest hours of the night. Most of the time are not strong enough to show themselves during the daylight because it takes too much energy to make themselves visible. Think of it like this, if you were to turn on a flashlight during the daytime you would hardly notice the light, but if you were to turn it on in the dead of night, the light would be clearly visible. This is how spirits work as well. If they use too much energy during the day they will be too weak to show themselves at night. These spirits can be benevolent or mischievous, depending on the reason that they are haunting a location, and there are several reasons. They may be haunting it because it was once their home and they want you to leave. They may be there because they've found that a child is able to see them so they feel noticed and are willing to stay around for this fact. There may be some kind of artifact that they are staying with and following due to some emotional bond with it. They also may be looking for something or someone. They may even not be willing to except that they have died. Whatever the reason may be, they are there and they do not want to leave. Now comes the hard part, ridding a house of them. They are not inhuman entities which we will get to later, so religious provocation will not be effective in riding the area of them. You are, as they are, limited to what you can do. (Jason, TAPS) POLTERGEIST HAUNTING: Poltergeist is from a German word meaning noisy spirits. Reports of poltergeists date back to Ancient Roman times. The activity that takes place will start off with knocks, bangs, and furniture starting to move around by itself. Then, the activity will become more intense, manifesting itself through voices and even the appearance of full apparitions. Furniture may slide across the room and beds may shake. Many shows and movies are based on this is a style of haunting because it tends to be the most terrifying and rarest type of haunting that occurs. Most of the time, in the case of a poltergeist, the haunting circles around a female in her teen years. Some of these cases seem to be caused by the female unknowingly controlling the energy around herself. Some cases happen around people that are stable and in the right mind space. This haunting is hard to classify due to certain situations. No two are ever really the same. Most of the time you will find that one person in the household seems to be more affected by the haunting than anyone else. It may seem that most of the activity doesn't happen unless that certain person is present. Usually, the activity appears to stop when that person leaves the home. The majority of the time poltergeists are experienced by several people, but again they seem to center around one certain person. This person may be highly stressed as of late or maybe this person has gone through some type of extreme emotional situation. If this is the case, see that the individual involved gets some medical care, and soon afterwards the poltergeist will subside. When it is not the teenager that is manifesting activity there are usually several spirits in the area. The spirits appear to pool their energy together in order to become strong enough to move larger objects and make more noises. In order to remedy the situation, you need to find the root of their anger so that they can pass over and leave you in peace. On most poltergeist cases they will disappear with out any warning, just as they appeared. Certain times it may stop within a few days, other times it may take years. You may never know the reason that it happened. Most people are just happy to see it go and that's enough for them. By understanding why it was there in the first place helps you to understand how to keep it from ever coming back again. Knowledge is the key in protecting yourself in this world. (Jason, TAPS) Portal Hauntings: The idea of a "portal" or a "doorway" to another dimension is not a new one--though it may be a wild one. These doorways may provide access for entities to enter our world. They may be the spirits of people who've died, or they could be something else altogether--perhaps otherworldly beings from another dimension? One of the most common locations for these "doorways" seems to be in cemeteries. As a rule, most cemeteries are not haunted, but recently, ghost hunters have collected dozens of anomalous photographs taken in graveyards. There seems to be no explanation why many of these cemeteries would become haunted unless they provide access for spirits, or entities, to pass from one world to the next. It is possible that these sites were "haunted" long before a cemetery was located there. It is also possible that the psychic draw of the area was what caused our ancestors to locate a cemetery there in the first place. Native Americans chose their burial grounds in this manner, although they did it consciously. They found a place to bury and honor the dead that they felt was more closely connected to the next world. (Hauntings, URL:http://wintersteel.homestead.com/Hauntings.html ) Demonic Haunting: Demons are one of the known inhuman entities out there. Fortunately, they are a rare occurrence. They are usually very easy to identify as long as they are not hiding. When it is a demonic haunting you typically notice a revolting stench similar to rotted flesh or sulfuric acid. They often let loose a growl that sounds like it is coming from everywhere at once. They like to make contact by pushing, shoving, hitting, and even scratching. The whole air in the affected area will feel thick like fog and the temperature will drastically change, typically becoming warmer. These creatures are very strong, unlike human spirits, and they don't mind showing it. There have been cases where people have been thrown through the air and even attacked. Apparently, their main goal is to break down a person's free will in order to make way for possession. This can take days, months or years, but time is of no concern to them. They have a hatred for mankind that dates back to the days of God and Lucifer. They have lived for millennia and will be here long after we are gone. So, you must understand that though you may be able to get these creatures to leave a dwelling with religious provocation you will never destroy them. They could go to the next place down the road if they choose to and most likely they won't because distance is not a problem for these creatures. They could go from Maine to California on a thought. They can take on any form they wish, but mostly commonly it is a half man, half animal form. They will have the head of an animal, the torso of a man, and the hairy legs of an animal. When they are approached by an investigating paranormal team they may feel threatened and appear in a human form to keep the home from being blessed and stop the use of religious provocation. During an investigation you need assess the situation more by what happened before you arrived than what is actually going on during the time you are there. Demons are capable of changing form right in front of you from a human form to an inhuman form. They neither male nor female, but then can change that to meet their needs. People mostly see demons as black masses standing in doorways or near rooms. Sometimes they are called shadow devils. If you feel like you have a demon in your home I would recommend getting help from a well known paranormal group as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence when dealing with these creatures. (Jason, TAPS) Below are the Ghost Stories of Haunted Places in the Sacramento Area. Some I have included a picture of the haunted area. Click the thumbnail for a Bigger Image. American River: One of Sacramento’s most famous ghosts is the phantom of a young man sighted on a public beach along this river. The ghost’s age is estimated at about twenty years, and his apparition has been reported numerous times over the last fifty years. His identity has never been established, but he is thought to be the sprit of a man who drowned in the swift currents here. (Hauck, 8) Type Of Haunting: Residual Biba Restaurant: This restaurant is on the second floor of a 150 year old structure known as the Old Tavern Building. But in the 1800’s, it was more than a tavern, and popular bordello occupied the space where the restaurant now sits. Employees have heard the sounds of a late night party on that floor when no one is around, as well as unexplained problems with phones and appliances, and some customers reported seeing the ghost of a woman in old fashioned clothing in a large mirror that used to hang behind the bar. The ghost is thought to be the spirit of a prostitute named “Mary,” who was murdered by a client in the 1890s.(Hauck, 8) Mary is now buried at the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery. Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Biba Restaurant.
California State University: The CSUS Theater on this 288 acre campus is haunted by the ghost of a young man who died in an accident during construction of the building. He fell from the second floor and was impaled on the steel girders of the unfinished site. His presence has been felt near the elevator that runs between the Scene Shop and the Costume Shop, on the Catwalks, and in the Lightbooth.(Hauck, 8) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the CSUS Theater.
Franklin Boulevard Victorian: There is a large house on this busy boulevard that keeps the owners from moving away. Every time that family attempts to sell or rent the house, pipes start bursting, the furnace bellows black smoke through all the heating vents, red liquid oozes from the woodwork, brown blotches appear on the walls, pipes spray water, huge cracks would open around door jams or some sort of other calamity befalls the prospective buyers while they are touring the property. Then, after they leave, things are back to normal. In 1991, a realtor and two clients fled the house after hearing screams coming from the basement and then being overcome by foul odors and an ice cold wind. Photos taken to sell the house shown a non-existent candelabra and mantel clock in the living room. The apparition of an elderly lady has been seen, and once an elderly man was seen sitting quietly on the daughter’s bed. The house was built in 1924 by a couple unable to have children, though the husband fathered one out of weblock and brought it home. His wife treated it badly and it is her presence that still haunts the home. Former local television reporter Betty Vasquez set up a séance at the house to try to help the owners, but it did not work out.(Hauck, 9) Type Of Haunting: Residual Frio House: The Former home of KXTV news anchor Alan Frio was haunted by the ghost that appeared like clockwork every Saturday night at 2AM. The transparent image of a blue man would appear in the bedroom and knock things off the nightstand or turn on the radio. The apparition once appeared in the middle of the afternoon and awoke Frio from a nap. The former owner experienced the same kind of paranormal activity, as did two more families after the Frios moved out in 1984.(Hauck, 9) Type Of Haunting: Residual Maydestone Apartment Building: Stories of hauntings of this old building on the corner of 15th and J Street have been circulating for many years. Tenants have reported cold spots and odd electrical problems, as well as feeling an unseen presence wandering through the apartments. No investigation has ever been made and the spirit remains unidentified.(Hauck, 9) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Maydestone Apartment Building.
Martinez House: A 100 year old Victorian on H Street has been considered haunted for some time. The trouble seems to have started three weeks after Mrs. Lillian Martinez and her family moved into the remodeled house in 1973. Sounds of crashing glassware and noises of a struggle in the kitchen started late at night, but nothing was there. The 15 year old Angie began seeing a gray and white cat fade in and out of reality. Upstairs, a “painting presence” started following people around and later materialized as the ghost of an Oriental man wearing a white coat. The ghost of a woman wearing a yellow flower print dress was also seen by Lilly Monica, Tyrone, and Diana Martinez. Husband Julio reported the ghosts of two children hiding in doorways. Rumors of a family murder in the house have never been confirmed, but other tenants down through the years reported similar activity.(Hauck, 9-10) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Martinez House.
Old Governor’s Mansion: This is a house that does not want its story told. Maybe something in the stately Victorian home’s “personality” just makes it more reserved than other buildings, but whatever is causing it, investigators run into all kinds of odd complications and weird setbacks when trying to report on the goings on here. Television and radio reporters, psychics, authors, and paranormal investigators all tell stories of odd equipment failures, confused schedules, and purloined notes, garbled or erased tapes, and other obstacles to telling the story of this house. Nonetheless, the ghosts here still walk about and icy cold spots remain at places in the where people died.(Hauck, 10) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Old Governor's Mansion.
Old City Cemetery: Of the 36,000 people buried in this historic graveyard, several are thought to walk the earth again. One alleged ghost is railroad engineer William Brown, who died on September 26, 1880 after saving hundreds of lives. Because someone had thrown the wrong switch, his train headed onto a ferry wharf that led directly into the San Francisco Bay. He was able to unhitch the passenger cars from his locomotive just before it plunged into the water. When they dredged the engine out of the Bay, they found Brown still grasping the controls in a last minute bid to brake the machine. The ghost of May Woolsey contacted her parents and told them she was not yet dead but waiting for them on the Other Side. The 12 year old girl died in 1879 from encephalitis. In 1979, a trunk of her toys and other “secret things” was found behind a wall in her home. Old City Cemetery officials are still marveling at the bodies of John Wesley Reeves and his daughter Ella. When they were exhumed from their 90 year old iron coffins, caretakers were amazed to find them in perfect condition. Their smooth skin had its natural color and their clothing was like new. The unmarked grave of a Sacramento prostitute named Maria, knifed to death by one of her clients in the 1920s, is graced by the statue of a handless angel donated by one of her admirers, a San Franciscan physician. One Old City grave contains the remains of over 800 victims of the cholera epidemic in 1850. Three other graves contain 452 “misplaced pioneers”.(Hauck, 10-11) Reports of several apparitions including a couple dressed in black, a pit bull who follows visitors around the cemetery and suddenly disappears, and a little girl seen playing near the headstone of a deceased child. The cemetery is closed at night except for occasional guided tours and is well known for its numerous hauntings.(Haunted Places) Type Of Haunting: Portal Below are Three Picturs Taken at the Old City Cemetery.
East Lawn Cemetery at 43rd and Folsom: This is the site of the record for mass burials in Sacramento. It is where one 60 by 70 foot plot contains 4,685 bodies removed from the old New Helvetia Cemetery, which is now the site of the Sutter Middle School at Alhambra and J street.(Hauck, 11) Some people have claimed to have seen apparitions in this area. Type Of Haunting: Portal Below are Three Picturs Taken at East Lawn Cemetery.
Old Sacramento: Frightening phantoms have been reported in the maze of tunnels that run underneath this section of Sacramento. The tunnels date from the period of 1864 to 1877, when buildings and streets were raised an entire story to protect them from flooding. Between the retaining walls, an underground maze of tunnels resulted, enclosed from about by wooden sidewalks. Before long, the tunnels were being used as opium dens and hideouts for criminals. The owners of nine of the restored buildings got together and hired a professional parapsychologist to free them of one troublesome demon.(Hauck, 11) Rumor is that the tunnels are now sealed off.(Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the original floor level of Sacramento before it was raised up one story.
Perrault House: America’s hotspot for poltergeist activity in 1964 was the small woodframe home of Dorothy Lunsford and her 17 year old son, Jerry Loftin. Owner Hector Perrault had to keep round the clock vigil on the house to keep it from being destroyed by the unseen presence. Fires started on the furniture for no reason. Light bulbs burst in their sockets, 60 fuses were blown for no apparent reason, and bottles exploded. Objects, including a heavy purse and telephone, floated in mid-air. One sure sign it was haunted: cats were terrified of the place.(Hauck, 11) Type Of Haunting: Poltergeist Below is a picture of the Perrault House.
Pocket Area: Some homes in this section of Sacramento are built on top of an old Portuguese cemetery, while others border an earthen levy that was built over Indian burial grounds. Many of expensive new homes are haunted by strange phenomena, but houses located on the north edge of the area are haunted by ghost of an old Indian chief. Tara Pierce reports that family members and guests at her home have encountered the apparition ascending a staircase. Sometimes the plodding sounds of his footsteps late at night.(Hauck, 11) Type Of Haunting: Portal Puente Boarding House: This Sacramento landmark is where Dorothea Puente murdered seven of her elderly guests to collect their social security checks in the 1980’s. She buried most of the men in the backyard, and pathology evidence suggest they were not all dead when she did it. In her testimony, Puente commented several times that she kept seeing one of the men long after he was dead, and later residents reported an abundance of paranormal manifestations. Tenant Maria Orozco and her family reported ghostly presences shaking their beds at night, a bothersome presence in the kitchen, doors opening by themselves even when locked, and the sounds of slow footsteps.(Hauck, 11-12) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Puente Boarding House.
Records: This used record store is haunted by the ghost of a very old woman dressed in black Victorian dress with white ruffled collar. In 1993, according to owner Ed Hartman, she appeared to a customer who was rifling through posters and told him to get out of the store because he was making too much noise. When he said he was leaving and said “Have a nice day” she replied with a strange “Uhh Ahh” like it was her last breath. The owners have named the ghost Gertrude. Strange noises and doors slamming on windless days startle customers, but Gertie the Ghost only materializes in the basement sales area, which was once at street level. The building was originally a saloon, and singer Al Jolson once dined there. Later it became a woman’s store. In 1998, another presence starting showing up in the basement. According to manager Mark Cary, the apparition of a young man in his 20s is now appearing.(Hauck, 12) Type Of Haunting: Intelligent Below is a picture of the Record.
Sacramento Theatre Company: This 50 year old building is full of ghosts. A male ghost is encountered here so frequently that employees nicknamed him “Pinky”. In 1991, three clairvoyants uncovered five more spirits. Two phantasms appeared in the upstairs, stage left dressing room. One was a very sad Hungarian woman who wanted to be a famous actress but never succeeded. The other was a tall, thin man with a mustache, who wears a beret and an ascot. He has been identified as a man named Joe, who used to help around the building and was always impeccably dressed. In 1994, investigators recorded unexplained footsteps crossing the McClatchy Mainstage and photographed numerous infrared anomalies in the Stage Two area.(Hauck, 12) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Sacramento Theater Company.
Stanford Mansion: Another haunted Sacramento governor’s mansion is this 19,000 square foot, 13 fireplace, Italianate mansion, which served as home to three governors but is named for Leland Stanford, inaugurated governor of California in 1862. The governor’s son Leland Jr., died of typhoid fever when he was only fifteen years old. His father was devastated and overcome with grief. Then one night, his son appeared to him and asked him to rededicate his life to founding a university to educate young men. After visiting and evaluating several famous colleges, Leland Stanford completed his task in 1891 with the opening of the university that bears his name today. A multimillion dollar restoration schedule to be completed by the year 2000 is bound to stir up some ghostly activity in this ornate edifice.(Hauck, 12) Type Of Haunting: Intelligent Below is a picture of the Standford Mansion.
Woodlake Park: This area is one of Sacramento’s most haunted neighborhoods. The homes are mostly middle-class and range from 50 to 60 years old. All look quite harmless from the outside, but more residents report paranormal phenomena here than any other area of the city. Psychics investigating the hauntings believe most stem form an old tribal burial grounds that lies underneath the development. The area is off Arden Way along Royal Oaks Drive in Sacramento. The center of the activity is the 2000 block of Royal Oaks Drive in Sacramento.(Hauck, 13) Type Of Haunting: Portal Below is a picture of the sign of the 2000 block of Royal Oaks Drive.
Sacramento Room of the Central Library on the 2nd floor: Sometimes it feels & sounds like someone is at the back of the room in the California section. The staff often hears the sound of Mylar rustling, most of the time it sounds like someone shelving or pulling out books. Also sounds like someone is in the copy room, when no one is back there. There will be a staff member look for a book & they will not find it the shelf, then another staff person will look for it & the book will not be there, then another will look & it will be there. They have had up to four people looking, then someone will finally find it in its proper place, the exact place everyone else has looked several times. Two witnesses heard & saw one of the glass doors close. The doors sometimes swing open naturally, but never close. One employee working in the office a little before 7am and heard the wooden shutters on the door leading into the copy machine area rattle. Thinking it was a custodian entering he initially paid it no mind until he realized he had not heard the front door, which was locked, open. Acquainted with the stories surrounding the Sacramento Room and having had prior experiences in the building he wasn’t surprised to discover no one there. A complete walk through the room found it completely empty. Subsequent conversations with custodian Caroline revealed that no employee had been in that area at that time.(Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Central Library.
Crocker Art Museum: Reports of feeling a presence, hearing squeak of the floor boards, and seeing the apparition of a man.(Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of the Crocker Art Museum.
Delta King River Boat – Theater: An old paddle wheel boat docked at Old Sacramento, now used as a theater and restaurant. The theater is haunted by the ghost of the original captain. Employees have seen him sitting in the balcony during productions, foot steps are heard above deck, a glass of water spilled by unseen force the sound board in the sound booth. (Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Intelligent Below are Three Pictures of the Delta King River Boat docked at Old Sacramento.
Freeport Factory: It is said that the Freeport Factory is haunted by workers that died on the job. If you are able to open a door into the factory make sure you hold on or the door will swing shut and lock on its own. You can also hear the laughter of little children as if they were playing in a playground.(Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Residual Iceland: The original owner and builder of Sacramento’s oldest ice skating rink still makes his rounds at night. “Pops” Kerth, father of former Sacramento City Councilman and former mayoral candidate, Rob Kerth, wanders the dark, cold rink at 4am, just as he always did, making certain all is well.(Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is a picture of Iceland.
Jackson and Bradshaw: The house was built Pre-Gold rush. Reports of children crying, screaming, whispering, items moving on their own, and various reports of shadows moving about the rooms.(Haunted Places) Type Of Haunting: Residual Below is the picture of the house near the intersection of Jackson and Bradshaw.
Sand Cove Park: Ghost lights appear from time to time. A woman’s voice saying “Te papa” near the Sacramento River. Sight was probably an Indian Burial Ground or Mine Shafts. (Unsolved Mysteries) Type Of Haunting: Residual Old City Cemetery--Part 2: Below are three pictures taken at the Old City Cemetery on October 28, 2005 a little after 7:35pm. It was during a special event at the Old City Cemetery. The event was called Lantern Tours. While at the event my mom took 3 pictures with a 35mm film camera. Notice the strange lights in the picture. After researching what I saw on film I went to the TAPS website and found out that the lights are called "Plasma Lights" or “Vortices” . This is a definition of Vortices from the TAPS website. Vortices: Vortices, or vortexes, are another impressive form of evidence although it is not actually evidence of the paranormal, more like evidence of the potential for paranormal activity. When the word vortex is mentioned people envision a bright white or jet black strip across the frame. These picture are never more than some sort of strap or material in front of the lens. We have noticed that these phenomena NEVER occur on our video cameras, because they don't have straps. Even a black camera strap will appear white when the reflective nylon of the strap is illuminated by the flash of the camera. A true vortex is a gathering of natural energy into strips or "channels" or even just the amazingly rapid movement of a ball of energy. These occur in nature in such places as Brown Mountain in North Carolina where they are called "Plasma Lights". Once again, they can be present without paranormal activity. They just tend to be present around locales that report paranormal activity. (TAPS) If you look closely at the 2nd picture near the woman in white you might see what looks like a man in a civil war era uniform sitting in a chair looking to his right. I did take the film to Ritz camera to see what they might have thought caused the strange images. They said it could be shutter speed. So the strange images could have been a result of shutter speed or Vortices. The first set of pictures are what my mom took at the Cemetery. The second set of pictures are from the TAPS website. Notice how the string of lights are similar. Below are Three Picturs taken at the Old City Cemetery.
| Figures and Maps Below is a map showing the Spatial Distribution of Haunted Places in the Sacramento Area. I have also color coded each location to indicate what type of haunting that location has. I was only able to Geocode the locations I had addresses to. Please click on the map to see bigger map.
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| Analysis This project was a complete success. I was able to make a list of haunted places in the Sacramento area, I was able to get a ghost story connected to that location, and what type of haunting that location had. Also I was able to make a map showing the Spatial Distribution of haunted places in the Sacramento area. The part I wasn’t able to do was to get an exact address for every haunted place in Sacramento. There were only 6 out of the 25 haunted places that I wasn’t able to get an address to. Those places I wasn’t able to Geocode on my map. A majority of the project was a success. The Geocodeing of haunted locations was difficult. I had to go to the ARC main campus GIS lab and spent several hours trying to find a roads file that I was able to successfully Geocode. Some files put certain locations in the wrong area of Sacramento. Once I was able to find one that Geocoded correctly everything else went smoothly. Traveling to the several locations to get pictures was fun and interesting. I did learn a lot more about the history of Sacramento when researching the Ghost Stories in the Sacramento area. I never knew that Sutter Middle School was built on what used to be New Helvetia Cemetery. Also finding weird images on film was an interesting part of this project.
| Conclusions In this project I was able to answer the question what haunted places are in the Sacramento area. I was able to make a list of those haunted places and where they are located. I was able to get a ghost story to connected to those locations and what type of hauntings a place might have. I was able to take pictures of some of the haunted locations in the Sacramento area. I was also able to make a map showing the Spatial Distribution of haunted places in the Sacramento Area. For further research I would like to return to the Old City Cemetery on a night near Halloween and see if I can get on film more unusual images. Just to see if I can get on film what I got the last time. Then compare the sets of photos and see if there are any similarities and/or differences.
| References Ghost Hunters Date Accessed: November 10, 2005. URL:http://www.scifi.com/ghosthunters/ Hauck, Dennis W, 1996. Haunted Places, Pages: 9-13. Haunted Places: In California, Date Accessed: November 14, 2005. URL: http://theshadowlands.net/places/california2.htm Hauntings, Date Accessed: November 15, 2005 URL:http://wintersteel.homestead.com/Hauntings.html Hawes, Jason. Get to Know your Ghosts - Demonic Haunt. Get to Know your Ghosts – Poltergeists. Get to Know your Ghosts - Intelligent Haunt.Get to Know your Ghosts - Residual Haunt. TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society), Date Accessed: November 10, 2005. URL:http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/ TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society), Date Accessed: November 10, 2005. URL: http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/ Unsolved Mysteries, HAUNTED PLACES IN CALIFORNIA: SACRAMENTO – SYLMAR. Date Accessed: November 15, 2005. URL: http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm395389.html
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