The history of Shafter's Green Hotel and its ghosts.

The Green Hotel, located in Shafter, California, has a rich history dating back to the early 1900s. Originally known as the Shafter Hotel, the building was constructed in 1913 and served as a popular stopover point for travelers along the Southern Pacific Railroad. The hotel was later purchased by the Green family in 1945, who renamed it the Green Hotel and operated it as a family-owned business for over half a century. 

During its heyday, the Green Hotel was a hub of activity in the small town of Shafter. The hotel's bar and restaurant were popular gathering spots for locals and visitors alike, and the hotel's 32 rooms were almost always occupied. In the 1950s, the hotel even played host to famous guests such as Clark Gable and Carol Lombard, who were traveling through the area. 

Today, the Green Hotel still stands as a testament to Shafter's rich history. Although the hotel is no longer operational, the building has been beautifully restored and now serves as a popular venue for weddings, events, and photo shoots. The hotel's unique architecture and vintage charm continue to draw visitors from all over California and beyond, and the Green Hotel remains an important landmark in the town of Shafter.

Along with its rich history, the Green Hotel in Shafter, California is also rumored to be haunted. There have been several reports of strange occurrences and apparitions within the hotel's walls. Some guests have reported feeling a cold presence or hearing unexplained noises, while others have claimed to have seen the ghostly figure of a woman dressed in white roaming the halls. 

Legend has it that the woman in white is the ghost of a former guest who died under mysterious circumstances at the hotel. Others believe that the hotel's bar is haunted by the ghost of a man who was killed in a fight many years ago. Despite these eerie tales, however, the Green Hotel remains a popular destination for those seeking a glimpse into the history of Shafter, and many visitors still flock to the hotel in hopes of experiencing a supernatural encounter.

The Legend of the Tyler Street House

I remember when I first started getting serious about ghost hunting and this happened to coincide with me getting access to the internet for the first time. Here I had the world (as it was) at m fingertips and I started to search for haunted places in the area. And thanks to one of the very first paranormal themed websites called the Shadowlands.net I found several in the area, including one titled the Tyler Street House.

According to the site the Tyler Street House was a modest home that has been the scene of terrifying poltergeist activity since the mid 80's and continues to this day. The site goes on to say the house has had over 22 different occupants since the phenomenon started. Some have been said to report seeing red eyes peer out through closets and darkened bedrooms. Objects were seen to fly off countertops. It even got a bit gruesome when a bludgeoned body of a cat has been find several times in an upstairs closet despite the owners at the time not having any pets.

What I find interesting is that twenty two years later this same story is still repeated verbatim. It's almost as people have copy and pasted over the years. Now I am partly to blame as I originally wrote about it back in 2010 here but even then I mentioned my misgivings about the stories there. I had had the chance to investigate the location back in 2001 and 2007 and nothing happened. Granted it is hard to say whether the place is active or not based off just two investigations, but researching the history helped to lend to me believing the place is not. For one there is no second floor so I am not sure how there could be a second floor closet where the corpse of an animal can be found. Anyone seeing a photo of the house would realize it's only one story and this part of the legend should disappear. But it hasn't. Why?

Remember when we were kids and there was the story of an abandoned house being haunted? No one knew why but they KNEW it was haunted because their friend had told them and why would they lie? Well it's kind of the same here. The story gets repeated over and over and no one questions it because why would they? They want a haunted house story and here it is. 

I still wonder about the rest of the story. Where did the red eyes and and flying objects come from? The flying objects definitely sound like poltergeist activity but the red eyes I do not know. I really wish I knew where this story came from, but like with most legends its hard to pinpoint the genesis of it. 

Will this legend die? Well no, especially with me writing about it again. It's fascinated me over the years as to why it endured even though the story hasn't changed. Will it change now? Probably not. It's one of the many urban legends that permeates Fresno and those never really go away.

The Lone Pine Mountain Devil

 Anyone who knows me knows I love local cryptid stories (the Fresno Nightcrawlers being the best example) and love how each state seems to have it's own folklore surrounding a cryptid of some sorts. Some can argue that Bigfoot is California's "official" cryptid and I'm not here to disagree with that completely, but want to introduce a lesser known cryptid native to California, and one not too far from Central California.

I'd like to present to you the Lone Pine Mountain Devil.

The Lone Pine Mountain Devil is said to be a winged creature that is a distant cousin of the Jersey Devil. Early accounts from priests who were traveling in the area describe small "winged demons sent from the depths of hell"

Lone Pine itself is a small town about 100 miles due east of Fresno with the population of roughly 2000 or so people. But here's the kicker, it's a four hour drive. Why you ask? Because the quickest way to drive there is to head south to Bakersfield then head east to Tehachapi and then back up to Lone Pine itself. Scenic route indeed.

 

For whatever reason the creature seems to inhabit this area and witnesses have described it as a large furry creature with several wings. It has razor like talons and numerous venomous fangs. The cryptid is said to attack it's prey by first hitting the chest and then the head of it's target. Most predators eat the meat of its prey whereas the Mountain Devils are said to prefer only the soft cartilage of the face and sometimes torso and completely ignore the rest of the carcass and leave it to scavengers.

Could this be an actual creature or nothing more than another folk tale? It's description lacks classification as my first thought was perhaps some sort of reptile but the fur and multiple wings rule that out. Could it be the descendant of some sort of undiscovered dinosaur? Or is there a small pack of some unknown creature roaming the southern Sierra Nevadas preying on those that wander to close it where it lives?

All I know is I think a road trip is in order. I'm curious what the town's folk have to say about this local legend.

Is Disney California Adventures haunted by the ghost of a little girl?

The entrance to Disney California Adventures. - Photo taken by me Oct. 2012

Most of you that know me personally know of how great my love/obsession with Disneyland is. Since 2012 I have been there multiple times. I even wrote something on the ghosts of Disneyland which I really need to revisit sometime soon. So imagine my surprise when I was told of a new story, this time across from the original park at Disney's California Adventures. 

@thedavidvaughn

Reply to @el_gorio #greenscreen how are we all seeing the same Disneyland ghost girl FOR REAL???

♬ original sound - David - Disneyland Tips

My friend Michele shared with me the above Tik Tok video of someone claiming that multiple people have unknowingly seen the ghost of a little girl at California Adventure. He had stated in an earlier video that he was at the lockers as you first enter the park and saw a little girl out of the corner of his eyes. Turning to look she suddenly wasn't there. He was accompanied by his sister and she had the same experience. Current and former cast members started to comment they had seen her too, one former member who used to work one of the candy stores in DCA even told a story on how he was working late one night and on his walkie talkie he could hear security calling out a little girl being seen in different parts in the park and could even be seen on camera. 

@thedavidvaughn

##duet with @cheify9 The Disneyland ghost girl spotted by security in California Adventure ##disneyland ##ghosts

♬ original sound - Anthony Reyes32313

So multiple have claimed to see this little girl in different parks at different times and even when the park is closed, but is this really a ghost and if so where is there any data to back this up? Doing a bit of digging on the Disneyland forums I found a post from someone that a little girl was killed in the old Disneyland parking lot some time in 1985. If true this would make sense as Disney's California Adventure was built over the old parking lot. Doing a quick Google search I was able to find out that this story was indeed true and that sadly around September 15 1985 a seven year old girl was crushed by a tour bus from Santa Barbara. Apparently she was trying to cross the lot with a relative and somehow fell into the side of the bus. Sadly the poor thing was ran over by the rear wheels of the bus and was killed. The link to the original article can be found here.

So now we have a confirmed death and numerous sightings of a little girl wandering the park by multiple witnesses. This has me wondering, does she not know she is dead and in a state of confusion is looking for the relative that was with her when she died? Or does she know that she is and instead wanders the park, eternally enjoying the place as a little kid? One thing is for sure is that numerous people have seen her and Disneyland may not just be the happiest place on earth but one of the most haunted.

Also you can find me here on Tik Tok. I'm trying to add old videos and will be posting some new ones as well.

Is Fresno County's town of Friant a paranormal hotspot?

Millerton Lake which is near Friant, CA. Is this location a paranormal hot spot?
Photo courtesy of Rennett Stowe from Flickr.

I know it's been A WHILE since I have written anything. Given the past year and a half it's been hard to really go anywhere but hopefully that will be changing soon. Still I was itching to write something as it's been over two years and since then I had focused more on social media and let this site lay fallow, something I want to fix. So I decided to check out the National UFO Reporting Center for any local sightings but with a different focus, not on the newness of the sightings, but the location.

I found a few that occurred over in Friant by Millerton lake. Now you are probably asking yourself why I picked Friant, and here is why. I've been reading a lot the past year on different theories about UFOs, ghosts, cryptids, etc. and came across the idea of a place that is considered "thin". This is an old (think pre-Christian) Irish concept of where the veil between worlds is thin. Now you are probably asking yourself "Ok but why Friant and UFOs?" Well I am glad you asked that. There is a theory out there with some paranormal researchers that UFOs, cryptids, ghosts, etc. are all from the same place so to speak. Ever hear of Skinwalker Ranch? That place has everything and is considered to be a thin place. And I think Friant is also one of those. And here's why.

Remember the story I wrote about Lost Lake and the ghosts that haunt the place plus the weird creature that was supposedly seen in the water? Right near Friant. Remember the story of the phantom police officer on Friant Road? Yep, that's another. Oh remember that poor woman who was found amnesiac wandering near Millerton thinking she was a mermaid? Also Friant. And let's not forget the numerous sightings of large fish or some other strange creature swimming in the waters of Millerton Lake.

So we have all these weird things around this one location? But no UFO sightings right? Well that's where the before mentioned National UFO Reporting Center comes into play. I was able to find two sightings reported sightings around the Friant area. Now I know these are only two sightings within the last twenty years of so, but imagine all the UFOs that weren't reported either because people didn't know how or weren't aware of a way to report these sightings.

That said below are the two reported sightings. Both were of strange lights seen in the skies. I have included the text from the original reports as well as the link to them.


Reported: 8/1/2018 6:19:06 PM 18:19
Location: Friant, CA
Shape: Light



Summer of 2017, Friant, California… On the Madera side of Millerton, there is a dead end in which families can set up BBQ's and a dock for people with boats. It was approximately 9:40 when my boyfriend and i noticed people hanging out on the dock enjoying the stars.

We decided to walk down to the dock and do the same. When we got to the dock we sat down for a few moments to wait for the other people to leave so we could sit at the very end. Eventually they left and we sat on the end. Just looking into the sky discussing our relationship problems no more than two minutes into the conversation we notice a light flying smoothly threw the sky, not fast like a jet and not slow like a airplane.. It just glided vertically through the sky and before we knew it, it zoomed up into the sky horizontally and just disappeared. As it zoomed up to disappear it didnt just move at a crazy speed its almost if it just faded up into the sky. We could depict what it was, we were ! so shocked we couldn't bring our minds the the thought of us actually sighting a ufo. Crazy part is, you'd think we'd be so stoked and tell our family, but its as if the whole moment slipped our mind cause we never brought up… i'm a strong believer so how could something like this just slip my mind til this year of 2018? How did i not instantly react and pull out my phone? It's like being stuck in the moment made us forget what was really happening…

Link.


Reported: 9/25/2012 11:40:00 AM 11:40
Location: Friant, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:5 minutes
Flying colors in the middle of nowhere.

I was driving down the road which was empty at the time and looked up at the sky because I saw pretty colors which were red, green and blue

At first I thought it was a reflection of something but quickly noticed it wasn't. I pulled over so I could get a clean clear picture because it was so close and my phone froze, which has never happened before.

By the time my phone unfroze it was gone.

And I don't do drugs or drink and I wasn't sleepy, it was not my imagination playing tricks on me.

Link.

Back to the thin theory and why I think Friant is one of these places. It's rare to have the trinity of paranormal in the same area (Bridgewater Triangle in Southeast Massachusetts is another). I know I have been saying this but I definitely need to explore this area some more, specifically Lost Lake. But I wouldn't be surprised if the town of Friant has some stories. And lets not forget that the original town of Millerton lies at the bottom of the lake ever since the dam was built. Now no one died due to the flooding but I wonder what lies at the bottom of the lake? That said the area is definitely a place I need to revisit soon and hopefully it won't take me another two years to write about it.

Former keepers are said to haunt Monterey Lighthouse

Being President's Day weekend and needing to get out of Fresno for a bit, I decided to head to Monterrey for the day and go to a favorite place  there called The Crown and Anchor.

Don't get me wrong the place is fantastic, but I can't justify driving two and a half hours there and back just for some food so I began to search for something to do besides the typical “go to the aquarium and Cannery Row” trip. While searching for haunted places  I haven’t been to yet (because that’s how I am) I came across Point Pinos Lighthouse in nearby Pacific Grove. Perfect. A plan was formed

Leaving on a dreary and rainy Saturday (perfect lighthouse visiting weather if you ask me), and made it to Pacific Grove a little past 1:00 pm. The rain had stopped but it was still cloudy and the surf below was active with rather large waves, indicative of the next storm that was coming. I walked up to the light house marveling at the view it had.

The lighthouse itself was small but cozy. And I soon found out it was still in operation and was the oldest operating lighthouse on the Pacific Cost. Walking inside I was met by a pleasant docent and she began to tell the history of the place.

Built between 1853-1854 the Point Pinos Lighthouse was one of eight commissioned by Congress to be built on the West Coast. Charles Layton was the first keeper and arrived with his wife Charlotte, and family in 1854 and watched over the house until the lens for the lighthouse was installed and lit on February 1, 1855. Sadly his tenure as keeper would last less than a year. While part of a posse searching for local outlaw Anastasio Garcia, Charles was shot in the stomach and a few days later he succumbed to his wounds.

Without a lighthouse keeper, the people of Monterey suggested that Charlotte be made keeper as she was familiar with the upkeep of the lighthouse, plus she had her children who she needed to take care of. In the first part of 1856 she was appointed keeper of the lighthouse and became the first woman keeper on the west coast.

Charlotte wasn’t the only female keeper in the history of the lighthouse. In 1893 Emily Fish became its keeper. She was recently widowed and her son-in-law was able to get her the position at the lighthouse. For over twenty years she took care of the lighthouse and added to its grounds by bringing in soil so she could add landscaping such as trees, hedges and bushes, and grass to its sandy locale. It was said the 92 acre station had cows, horses, and chickens roaming it by the time she was done. Finally in 1914, and her health failing, Emily had to retire as keeper, ending one of the longest tenures there.

Over the years Point Pinos Lighthouse had thirteen keepers from 1855 until 1964 when the US Coast Guard took over. Today the city owns the property with the Coast Guard tasked with upkeep of the light itself. Everything is automated but it seems that some of the former keepers still like to tend to things there.

Charles Layton’s ghost has been said to have been seen wandering the area where the light is kept on the third floor, tending the light or polishing the windows of the copula as well as doors seemingly open and close on their own.

Emily Fish is also said to haunt the lighthouse and it seems she is seen more throughout the house. She has been spotted wandering the second floor of the house, specifically where her bedroom used to be as items wind up missing or are misplaced. Others have heard the swishing of skirts going by them as they catch a scent of the perfume Emily would wear.

 As I mentioned I had discovered that the lighthouse was rumored to be haunted by both Charles and Emily. After exploring for a bit I found one of the docents and asked if there was any truth to this. Figuring I would get the reaction I get here at home of “There are no ghosts here, please stop asking.” I was a bit surprised at her reaction. She said she hadn’t seen anything or heard of anything but admitted that she didn’t believe in ghosts anyways and that if there was something there she wouldn’t see it. Still we talked for a good fifteen minutes about Emily and all the things she had done for the lighthouse when I heard a grumbling sound.

No it wasn’t a ghost, it was my stomach telling me it was time to go eat lunch. I thanked the docent for the talk and she said that one of the other docents would know more but was out to lunch and I should stop back by some time. After a quick stop to the gift shop where I picked up two new ghost books on Monterey and then headed to the Crown and Anchor for lunch. Which I recommend to anyone who visits Monterey, the food is fantastic and the atmosphere fun. And try the sticky toffee pudding. It’s life changing.

Is the Point Pinos Lighthouse haunted? It’s hard to say. I was there for maybe an hour and talked to one person who worked there. She was surprised by the stories but they had to have come from somewhere. The author who wrote the two local books I bought didn’t mention the lighthouse in either, but I still plan on contacting him. Perhaps when he wrote the books he wasn’t aware of the stories. I really wish I had a chance to talk to the docent that was out to lunch and see what she thought and knew. I guess that warrants a second trip back to Monterey. And not just for sticky toffee pudding.

I took more photos but didn't want to post them all here so I saved them to this album if anyone wants to see.

Ten years later, revisiting the first story on Weird Fresno

Ten years ago today I started something new. At that time Facebook wasn't the juggernaut it is today and Twitter was just taking off. Myspace still reined the interwebs and it seemed everyone and their mother had a blog, and Fresno was no exception. Inspired by the numerous blogs that were popping up I decided to create one about one of my biggest passions. The paranormal.

I didn't really know how to write then (some say I still don't) nor did I know how to research and my main source of any legend was the internet. Still I had something no one else did and little did I know how big it would get. So in honor of ten years of crazy weird things I wanted to revisit my first story. The Watts Valley Wolf Ape.

Before I get into the main sighting, and were the creature got it's name, a brief history of the legend of the creature is in order.

There are legends of the creature coming over the Bearing Straight when the first Native Americans migrated to this land and even coexisted with them and cave drawings that were found depicted a strange creature with long grey hair with an ape like face and human-like hands and feet. It also seemed to be always sick looking, coughing and foaming at the mouth for some reason. Legend calls it the Devil Ape or Devil Fang but with the last recorded sighting it started being called the Watts Valley Wolf Ape, named after where it was seen.

The first known sighting in the twentieth century was by the legendary photographer Ansel Adams. He was visiting Yosemite and while camping a pack of the creatures came upon his tent. Alone and terrified he stayed until they finally went away. 

Another, more terrifying story involves a lone creature entering a single room school house in the southern part of the valley (rumored to be near Hanford) and began harassing the students and teacher. To protect themselves the students piled up their desks and climbed to the safety of the rafters. The teacher was able to lock themselves safely in a nearby closet. Apparently the creature had smelled the children's lunches and tore through the desks to get them. When it finally had it's fill, it left. 

One of my favorite stories tells the tale of a local preacher that shot one of the creatures some time in the 1950's claiming it to be a "pet of Satan". He hung it up on the church walls. For several weeks it hung until the smell became too much. The preacher was able to sell it to a traveling circus. Here's the creepy part. With the money he made he went up to San Francisco dreaming of starting his own church up there. Sadly his dreams were not meant to be and he was murdered soon after arriving. His body was so badly disfigured that it took months to identify him. People whispered he was cursed for killing the creature.

Not much more was seen of the creature. A long haired creature was seen at Bass Lake in the 1990's. This could have been a bigfoot sighting (which is no less incredible) but the creature was said to walk on all fours, which was one of it's main characteristics. 



So I have to say that I heard this story on the radio (RIP KRZR 103.7) and was unable to find out who the witness was. I was able to write down most of the story and reconstruct it. I fixed the structure of the story so it reads better but it still is the same.


The most recent and detailed story was recanted on a local Fresno radio station. There were two witnesses, a man and his uncle, who were hunting for garnets near Watts Valley Cemetery when a strange looking creature came out of the bushes. The creature was described as six foot long, grey mangy hair and dog like with a face like a baboon and with eyes that were flat on its face like a human’s. It opened its mouth but only a moan escaped and then made a strange sound like a cough. Both witnesses began to run from the creature as it began to chase after them. For some reason the man threw his lunch at the creature but this only stopped it momentarily. It continued to chase them over the hills and the two witnesses jumped over fence after fence and ran through pastures trying to escape the creature. Cows fled as it chased the two men. Finally they found themselves in the Watts Valley Cemetery and hid behind several tombstones, hoping to lose the beast. Unfortunately it caught their scent and started to come towards them when, in a moment of genius, the uncle threw some cinnamon flavored chewing gum near the beast hoping the scent would distract it. It worked and the beast was momentarily occupied. Soon after that a caretaker for the small cemetery arrived and offered to give the two men a ride back to their car several miles away. All three watched the strange creature for a few more minutes in the safety of the caretaker’s truck before it went away.



The question remains, even after ten years, is what was this? Crazed dog, bigfoot, werewolf, or some freak genetic experiment run amok have all been theorized. I wish I knew. If the story is true then whatever they saw was terrifying. But I have to ask this: why haven't there been any more sightings since? If the history of the creature has even a kernel of truth to it you think there would have been more sighting since. I've never been to Watts Valley, though I do know the area. Part of me wants to take a trip up there one weekend and visit. I just have to make sure I bring some cinnamon gum to protect myself.


So that was my first story, pretty much how I originally told it. Just fixed up the grammar and structure a bit to let it read better. I can't believe I've been doing this for ten years now. I've wrote about everything from crazy things at Lost Lake, giant catfish at Millerton, UFO sightings all over Fresno, to ghosts haunting some of Fresno's most historic locations. Not sure what the next ten years will be but I can't wait to see what it will be. Thank you to everyone who has read one of my stories over the years. It truly means a lot.