LAPA - Earlier this year, we spent several weekends exploring some of the neighborhoods and buildings around “old” Los Angeles – the area in and around which the city of Los Angeles was founded. Some amazing locations with a rich history can be found in this area, including Union Station, the Hall of Justice, the Sepulveda House and the oldest house in Los Angeles, the Avila Adobe. It was during this time, one building in particular across from Olvera Street caught our eye – the Pico House, located at 430 N. Main St, which is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles National Monument. We decided to arrange for a tour of the location to see if we could learn more about its history and perhaps, its hauntings.
When the Pico House (Casa de Pico) opened in 1870, it was the most luxurious hotel not only in Los Angeles, but also south of San Francisco. Built on the southwest corner of the Los Angeles Plaza (currently known as the “Old Plaza”), the Italianate style hotel designed by architect Ezra Keysor boasted indoor plumbing, opulent gas-powered chandeliers, a fountained courtyard, an aviary and a French restaurant. At that time, Los Angeles was a relatively small but growing city and the Plaza was the epicenter. Los Angeles was still in a transitional phase, 20 years after its incorporation as an American city after the ending of the Mexican-American war.
The streets around the Plaza were not only filled with businesses and elite members of society but they were also subject to a certain “wild west” lawlessness. Brothels, gambling halls and saloons were prevalent and many different cultures co-existed within a few blocks of each other under an atmosphere of racial tension. Vigilantism was not uncommon as vigilance committees or “lynch mobs” took to the streets, taking the law into their own hands.
Wealthy businessman and one time Governor, Don Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor under Alta California, built the Pico House with funds he obtained from selling off a portion of his land grants. The lavish new hotel was a success, upstaging it’s rival hotel, the Bella Union. But the success did not last long.
Racial tensions in the city came to a head with the Chinese Massacre of 1871, which occurred in and around the Calle De Los Negros adjacent to the Plaza and spilled into the Plaza as, by varying accounts, 18 to 23 Chinese men and boys were brutally murdered by an angry mob of whites and Mexicans. An employee of the Pico House at the time later recalled the scene: “The street was a madhouse of frenzied, armed men and terrified, stampeding horses. From the entrance of the Pico House I could see a mass of men flocking toward the Aliso street opening of Nigger’s Alley [sic] and heard a steady roar of guns. I remember one fellow, big, hatless and coatless, with bulging maniacal eyes as he ran passed us, brandishing huge butcher’s axes.”- (Michael M. Rice, I Saw the Wild West Tamed!, Los Angeles Times, May 13 1934, G12).
After the riots, and with the influx of people brought in by the railway, the town’s business center began to move southward and the neighborhood degenerated into seediness over a period of years.
Pio Pico was known for throwing lavish parties and being a heavy gambler as well as having a penchant for the ladies. His signature cane displayed an ivory female leg poised in the air. In addition to his extravagant lifestyle, the financial strain of some bad investments along with his falling victim to the fraudulent dealings of other businessmen helped contribute to his eventual loss of wealth.
As the neighborhood and his fortune declined, Don Pio continued to entertain at the Pico House for 10 years until 1880, when he lost his hotel to foreclosure. The building became a flophouse and spent many years in decline before eventually passing into California State hands in 1953. Today, the Pico House belongs to El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Monument and is both a California and National Historic Landmark.
Given the rich history of the building and the surrounding neighborhood, it is not surprising that some believe the Pico House may be haunted. As we learned on our tour, which included the three main floors, the inner courtyard, the basement and tunnels and the adjacent old Merced Theater, security staff have reported hearing mysterious footsteps from the upper floors late at night and seeing shadow figures leaning over the balconies of the inner courtyard. Perhaps Don Pio Pico himself is still entertaining guests in his beloved hotel. With regard to the living, tours of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District can be arranged here: El Pueblo de Los Angeles National Historic Monument.
-LMH
Check out LAPA's paranormal investigations. Layla and her team are a fantastic group. I highly recommend them...Lon
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Former California Cops Now Busting Ghosts
aolnews - Ever since William Jimenez was 11 years old, he could see dead people. He would see them walking down a sidewalk, inside a house or standing along the side of a road.
"At first it scared me to death," said Jimenez, 60, a retired detective. "Sometimes I'd see the whole body and other times just part of it. They'd be wearing clothes from the time period in which they died."
Jimenez says he eventually learned to see his talent as a gift and has parlayed it into a ghost-hunting business along with two friends who are also retired investigators with the California Highway Patrol. The skills they used to bring suspects to justice are now utilized in determining whether buildings are haunted and, if need be, ridding them of unwanted spirits.
To date, Paranormal Investigative Technology has investigated about 100 sites including an abandoned ghost town, a fire station and individual homes.
"We were trained by the government to investigate," said Jimenez, who also worked dignitary protection guarding the governor and any head of state visiting California. "We were crime scene investigators and had to duplicate what happened. If someone got shot, you want to know which angle the bullet came in. With ghost hunting, we treat it like a crime scene. The ghost is the suspect. Want to know why he is there, how long he's been there and the purpose of being there."
Over the years, team members say they have been choked, thrown to the ground and pushed, and even suffered medical issues. They say most of the spirits they encounter are just seeking attention and are not evil, but it doesn't make it any less frightening.
"I still get scared," Jimenez admitted. "When you die, you take your personality with you. If you were a drunk, you're a drunk ghost. If you were a killer, you're a killer as a ghost."
The Beginning
Jimenez started his business as a hobby. When he met fellow CHP investigator Glen Mayernick in 2001, the pair decided to team up as ghostbusters on days they weren't working. It wasn't long before one of their superiors found out about their unusual pastime and ordered them to stop.
"Officers around us were afraid and bothered that we would talk about dead people, so they snitched us off to management," Jimenez said. "Management wanted to do an investigation to see if we were doing it for profit and on state time. I told a lieutenant that this is discrimination. We go ghost hunting; it's a hobby. You have people who go dune buggying and horseback riding, that's their hobby."
When the pair retired a few years ago along with a third investigator, they were free to seek out ghosts full time. At one point they were approached by two different television networks who wanted them to star in ghost-hunting shows. Jimenez said he declined after being told to embellish their findings to make the show more dramatic.
"They wanted us to pretend to be thrown against the wall and stuff like that," he said. "We try to debunk a lot of things; we don't take it for granted when someone says they see a ghost."
Haunted Navy Base
One of their biggest investigations has been the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station outside Los Angeles. Built in 1942 to aid in World War II, the facility includes a theater where USO shows were held. Most of the hauntings have taken place in that theater and in a now-defunct hospital nearby that includes a morgue in the basement.
Numerous people have seen a dark-haired woman in a nurse's uniform and hat roaming the halls of the hospital, said Jeff Hathcock, president of the Theater Guild and Southeast Civic Light Opera, which holds productions at the theater.
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"There have been multiple sightings by many people; I've seen her three times myself," Hathcock said. "So many people have seen her and describe her in same way. One Iraqi war veteran bailed out of a window and said, 'I'm not going back.'"
Hathcock says the nurse will shut lights on and off, close and lock doors, and make a racket when rock music is played in the building, only to quiet down when '40s music is substituted.
Over at the theater, apparitions have been more plentiful:
* A man in a projection room and on a balcony where a murder occurred earlier this year.
* A World War II-era sailor sitting in the back row.
* A black, smoky form in an aisle caught on film, and
* A pair of feet walking several inches off the ground behind a large wagon that was on the stage as a prop.
Jimenez and Mayernick said they saw a seat flip down as if someone was sitting in it.
"A lot of times the ghosts are curious," Jimenez said. "When we go to a location, we talk to them, tell them we're not there to bother them. We want to learn about them, and that puts them at ease."
Mayernick is more of a skeptic and handles the forensics. He is in charge of documenting their visits with photos, video, tape recordings and heat sensors.
While reviewing pictures from the base, he noticed the smoky apparition and also saw a white theater mask in the upper left-hand corner of a mirror. Neither of these was seen by the naked eye, so he went back to the theater to shoot the areas again, and they were not replicated in the second shot.
"I went through FBI training for forensics," Mayernick explained. "So when I look at stuff, I think, what do I have? I eliminate other sounds, voices, dirt on a lens, light. Then I say, 'I can't explain it, I don't know what it is.' For several years I've been doing this, I've seen some really strange stuff that I can't explain. That's why it's paranormal; there is no scientific explanation for it."
Other Investigations
Other investigations include a California fire station where a firefighter was being choked and a house where a rod-shaped light was flying around the room.
Then there was Calico Ghost Town, a county park in the desert on the way to Las Vegas where gift shop clerks were frightened by unexplained shadows, whispering, and items that would move by themselves.
"We did a five-year investigation where we would go out every week," Jimenez said. "We went through every building and outside the town in the mines. Acres and acres. Hundreds of ghosts are still there. We told them that they were dead and a lot of them knew, but they said, 'We like it here.'"
Both Jimenez and Mayernick say they were knocked to the ground in different instances while investigating the mines. Jimenez said one of the episodes involved a spirit who was a miner cheating his partners out of a stash of gold and thought the group would snitch him off.
Jimenez said he communicated with the miner that they weren't there to harm him and established a type of truce with the spirits not to bother the employees.
Then when Mayernick started going over the evidence later, he found something equally as bizarre. The tape was sent to the Smithsonian Institute, where a linguist said the language was an ancient Mayan dialect and the translation was, "Come closer, I want a better look at you," Mayernick said.
Thriving Business
Word of mouth and police connections have turned Paranormal Investigative Technology into a thriving business that now includes Mayernick's daughter, who also has the ability to communicate with spirits, Mayernick says.
It's taken a toll, since four out of the five members now have back and neck problems after dealing with some locations that have had some particularly nasty spirits.
"I'm the only one who doesn't, so I'm kind of waiting for the shoe to fall," Mayernick said.
The group doesn't take any money but says they conduct their investigations in order to help people -- both living and dead.
"The living have entities in their houses, and the dead want to find eternal peace," Jimenez said. "Many times we've found the dead are lost spirits, confused, scared, and they need a guide to show them the way to the light. And that's us. Others choose to stay behind."
Some things the group won't handle including something like an abandoned prison where the spirits aren't affecting anyone, or anything involving demons.
"You have to be specially trained to deal with demons; they can make you miserable the rest of your life," Jimenez said. "I tell (clients) they need to get a demonologist or a Catholic priest. I've never encountered a demon.
"Usually ghosts are just defending their territory," he added. "A lot of them just want to scare you, they don't want you around. Only about 1 or 2 percent are just evil."
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Community College Offers Paranormal Investigation Courses
kokomoperspective - The subject of the paranormal is something which intrigues almost everyone from any background. It seems as though people have a desire to want to learn more about the subject and find a reason or explanation for the events which may take place. Ivy Tech Community College is offering two Paranormal Investigation courses, one in Kokomo and the other in Peru through the Kokomo Region of the Department of Workforce and Economic Development.
This class is meant to explore the world of the paranormal in a way that one may not have considered before. This course consists of much self-discovery and exploration into the area of the paranormal. Participants will be led into the world of the paranormal through the guidance of Al Taylor, who is the PR director of Indiana Ghost Trackers. Participants will learn the code of conduct and safety along with proper instruction on how to use paranormal equipment. The course ends with an investigative field trip.
The first section of the course is in Kokomo from Oct. 5-26 from 6:30-9 p.m. The second section of the course will take place in Peru from Oct. 7-28 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Both courses are, in essence, the same, although the second starts a few days later in Peru. The cost to enroll for these classes is $75. The only requirement is that participants must be 16 years of age of older. Participants can choose to pay in person or by phone after registration. To register and pay online go to: www.ivytech.edu/actnow/registernow.html. It should be noted that if choosing to pay online, the participant will be asked to pay at the time of purchase.
Ivy Tech previously offered a Paranormal Investigation course from April 22-May 13 in Kokomo. The previous course also was headed by Taylor and it taught various investigative techniques along with learning about electronic voice phenomena (EVP) and paranormal photography in depth. It should be noted, however, that students are not required to take the previous course. It is a course that is open to anyone who wants to know more about certain paranormal activity. For more information about this course, please contact Chad Lewis who is the Continuing Education Coordinator for the Kokomo region.
Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region’s Department of Workforce and Economic Development provides high-quality, cost-effective, short-term, career-relevant training solutions aligned with the needs of today’s employers as well as short-term, noncredit, personal enrichment classes for Hoosiers who understand that learning doesn’t have to end with a degree.
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Hauntings in Gratz Park
chevychaser - Lexington, KY - Living in a house with "unexplained" (some would say "paranormal") activities, this historian has no trouble understanding there just might be a parallel world that, from time to time, might intrude on what we consider our reality.
Until last year, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation conducted its "Gratz Park Ghost Tails and Tours," which chronicled several unexplained occurrences over the years within about a three block area. If these events are believable, and no one has posited otherwise, Lexington enjoys what must be one of the world's greatest concentration of spirits.
Beginning with the trust's own Hunt-Morgan House, the park bounded by Market and Mill streets between Second and Third, as well as some adjacent areas, is a veritable celebration of otherworldly activities. At the time the house was built in 1814, funerals were a family affair, there being no funeral homes as we know them. The women of the household were responsible for dressing the body of a dead loved one, which was then put on display during the time leading up to the funeral, typically in the front parlor where friends and family could pay their last respects. A genre of "funeral furniture" existed, including one designed for summer use, with wicker to provide airflow around the body, as well as troughs below to hold blocks of ice.
Ma'am Bette was the Morgan family's trusted nanny (a kind word for enslaved domestic). She had a particularly strong relationship with her young charges among the Morgan children. Sometime after her passing (the word "death" does not apply), one of the children became seriously ill. No ministrations could comfort the child, who lingered at death's door. Just as the family had given up all hope, a presence was seen near the child – one wearing Ma'am Bette's signature red shoes. The Morgans, not known for any irrationality, firmly believed that their beloved Ma'am Bette had returned from the grave to tend to the child, who completely recovered.
A few doors up the west side of the park, another, though sinister, presence has been observed. The address is 215 N. Mill St., but the structure has been reoriented and faces Third Street now. Known as the Maria Dudley House, it was built in 1879 in a Victorian style completely at odds with the other houses in the neighborhood. In more recent times, a boy was found in a rear room, suffering from a broken arm after falling over a stair railing. When asked how it happened, he claimed someone or something picked him up and threw him over the banister. A disturbing "presence" has subsequently been felt in the house. Even the dog was reluctant to go into that portion of the house.
Crossing Third and entering the ground floor of Transylvania University's Old Morrison Hall, we encounter a strange room for a college building: a crypt. Here lie the remains of two individuals. To the left is "Bon Fils," a pseudonym used by a nobleman who had escaped the terror after the French Revolution and landed a professorship at the college. To the right, a tablet reads "Constantine Rafinesque," the name of the storied botany professor famous for his "curse" placed on the school in 1825. He later wrote that he left "the College with curses on it and [president Horace] Holly [sic]…." Two years after Holley fired Rafinesque, the president himself was fired by his board and died at sea of yellow fever. Two years after that, the main administration building at the center of Gratz Park was destroyed by fire.
Truth be told, the body lying here is not that of Rafinesque, but of one Mary Ann Passamore, whose body was mistakenly removed from a potter's field in Philadelphia instead of Rafinesque's. The mistake was not discovered until tests were run several years ago that determined the body was female. A search of the Pennsylvania burial records confirmed Passamore's presence in the tomb.
(Don't get your Hallowe'en hopes up about the name of the university. It's Latin for "across the woods" and is the original settlers' name for the geography we know as Kentucky.)
Back down the east side of Gratz Park, one house is said to be haunted by the spirit of a Union soldier killed during the War Between the States. Robert Peter, a Transylvania medical professor who served as the Union Surgeon General during the war, lived in the c. 1812 house at 228 Market St. Perhaps this is the ghost of one of Dr. Peter's less fortunate patients.
At the southeast end of the block on the corner of Market and Second stands the Bodley Bullock House, which served as the Union headquarters in Lexington during the war (directly across the park from that hotbed of Rebel activity, the Hunt Morgan House). Today, it is a popular location for weddings and receptions. Many a hapless bride has received her wedding picture proofs, only to discover the presence of an apparition standing behind her on the grand spiral staircase. It's said to be the spirit of teetotaler Miss Minnie Bullock, who would be scandalized by the socializing going on in her former home.
One block east at the corner of Second and Upper sits the Gratz Park Inn. The main part of the structure was built for the Lexington Clinic when it opened its doors in July 1920. It was converted to a hotel in 1988, but some remnants of its use as a hospital remain, including the scuppers in the basement morgue. Other remnants include at least three spirits of former patients who met their demise here: John, who displays a sense of humor in his haunting; Little Annie, a quiet apparition who plays with her doll in the third floor hallway; and "The Lady in White" who is constantly looking for someone or something.
That makes at least seven spirits and a curse all within sight of a school named Transylvania. This time of year, you don't have to make up stuff like that.
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Additional Paranormal Articles
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Paranormal team investigates sites
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