I grew up listening to my family tell ghostly tales of haunted places. The catch was that these spooky dwellings were right in my hometown of Monterey. In honor of Halloween, here are my favorite seven haunted places in Monterey County.
1. Naval Post-Graduate School (formerly Hotel Del Monte) University Circle #M10, Monterey
The Hotel Del Monte was known to be the grandest and classiest on the West Coast. It was built in 1880, thanks to businessman Charles Crocker who helped fund the construction. Legend is that the ghost of Mr. Crocker haunts the Main Building, known as Herrmann Hall. Gardens and secret passage ways wrap around the beautiful building.
Charles Crocker’s ghost has been seen countless times throughout the hotel. Many strange occurrences, such as moving objects, banging bread trays, shattering glasses, taps on employees’ shoulders, and the antique elevator moving by itself, are said to be due to Mr. Crocker’s restlessness.
Busboys came into the hall banquet room one morning to start setting up and to their horror found a full set of coffee cups dangling on one of the massive chandeliers! The chandelier was only accessible by a tall ladder, and there was no sign of one nearby. It remains a mystery even to this day.
2. The Stokes Adobe (Restaurant 1833) 500 Hartnell Street, Monterey
This Monterey landmark was built in 1833 and later sold to James Stokes, a British sailor who passed himself off as a pharmacist. Many people mysteriously died in his care, including Governor Jose Figueroa. Stokes later died tragically in the home. From 1890-1948, a socialite named Hattie resided there and passed away in the old adobe. A team of paranormal experts was only able to discern clumps of fog in Hattie’s room. Even to this day, sightings of Stokes himself, wandering the halls in his white coat are common.
The old adobe houses the popular Restaurant 1833, and each room is decorated such as it would look many years ago. Workers are still quick to offer up a story about the haunts that surround them each day. The bar menu includes two sections for “Elixirs” and ‘House Remedies” such as Death in the Afternoon and Serial Killer.
3.The Carmel Mission 3080 Rio Road, Carmel
The mission was built directly adjacent to an ancient American Indian burial ground in 1770. The mission buildings and lands were secularized by the Mexican government in 1833 and had fallen into disrepair by the mid-19th century.
By 1851 the Mission was abandoned and dilapidated. A visitor, perhaps looking for something to steal, strolled into the sanctuary where Father Junipero Serra, the Missions’ founder was buried. The prospective thief suddenly tripped as he reached the altar and slammed down to his knees. This became a reoccurring event, even though the stones leading up to the altar are flat and smooth. The story of the “tripping stone” was that casual visitors who did not show proper reverence would be tripped to land on their knees directly above Father Serra’s final resting place.
There is said to be several spirits haunting the Mission, including the ghost of a dog that is heard but not seen. The spirit of Father Junipero Serra has also been observed walking around with a candle at night and occasionally appears inside the chapel on New Year’s Eve. The ghost of a young American Indian boy has also been spotted walking around the exterior of the Mission in the dead of night.
4. Point Sur Lighthouse 37028 Hwy 1, Big Sur
This lighthouse built in 1889 is the only complete turn-of-the-20th-century light station open to the public in California. One might find any number of lost souls there including a station keeper’s wife, the spirits of the sailors of a dozen ships that wrecked close by or two men killed in 1935 when the USS Macon went down at the point. The lighthouse used to be extremely isolated and only accessible via ship.
More than twenty ghosts are said to reside in or around the Point Sur Lighthouse. Many sightings and strange happenings have occurred. There is a sad tale of a lightkeeper’s adult son who died of consumption. (Tuberculosis). Workers have sighted a tall man in dark blue, 19th-century clothing, hanging around the lighthouse. They have told tales of cash registers ringing and spitting out tons of tape, even while unplugged.
Ghost Hunters visited the point and all witnessed hearing a little girl singing outside the lighthouse and even recorded the eerie event. Julie Nunes, a docent, and ghost hunter had mentioned that this same little girl’s singing among other voices has been heard for many years.
Any brave souls over the age of six are invited to the lighthouse for moonlight, ghost hunt, and Halloween tours. Check www.pointsur.org for hours and tour information.
5. Los Coches Adobe Highway 101 and Arroyo Seco, Soledad
Originally built as a Rancho in 1843, Los Coches Adobe has been a Wells Fargo Station Agent office, post office, stagecoach stop and finally a brothel where the Madame was said to be a mass murderer.
Many locals have spotted a ghostly lady in black walking the grounds and have heard the screams of trapped miners coming from an old well. Some trespassers reported that they had seen a man in the trees right next to the old adobe. The spookiest tales yet are from workers who have recently looked after the abandoned adobe. Three different men tell hair-raising stories of how a dark shadow haunts them and follows them home.
A couple of years ago several men from Ghost Hunters dared to set up their equipment inside the adobe at night. They each experienced a feeling of being “hypnotized” while inside. Each of them recanted night terrors and nightmares when they returned to their homes–a creepy souvenir from their visit in Monterey County.