Olivas Adobe Family Ghosts

Located south of Ventura, California near Highway 101 is an adobe home built by Don Raymundo Olivas in 1841.

Ranch house at Rancho San Miguel.

Olivas was given 2,250 acres from a land grant by the Mexican Governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado in appreciation for his service in the Mexican Army.

He called his new home Rancho San Miguel. In 1849 he had a second story built onto his home-- making it a one of a kind in the region. He and his wife, Teodora had 21 children.

Teodora Olivas

Being the wealthiest cattle rancher in Alta, Don Raymundo held fiestas at his home that often lasted 3 to 4 days. But this attracted undue attention, the result was bandits rounded the family up and held them captive as they looked for valuables.

In one version of this story, it is stated Don Raymundo sent a servant with a box containing gold coins worth upwards of $75,000. This servant buried it while Don Raymundo stalled.

Unfortunately, when this servant returned the robbers killed him, before finding out the location, so to this day no one has ever found where this gold is hidden.

When Don Raymundo died in 1879, his land was parceled off to his heirs. By 1899, the property was no longer owned by the family.

Max Fleischaman

Front view of Olivas Adobe.

In 1927, Max Fleischman—of the yeast and butter fame—bought the ranch house and restored it. When he died in 1972 he gifted the property to the city of Ventura.

The Olivas Adobe was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The home is run as a museum today and tours are offered on the weekends.

Employees, volunteers and visitors all feel the old home is haunted.

The most active ghost is a female known as the Lady in Black. Many feel this spirit dressed in black mourning is the ghost of Don Raymundo’s wife, Teodora.

Numerous witnesses have spotted her ghost over the years. She is often seen pacing back and forth. She is active both day and night. She is spotted in various rooms and on the upper porch at the rear of the house. Witnesses have watched as she disappeared in mid-stride.

It is stated she wrings her hands nervously—a throwback to the time she and her family were held captive by bandits. It is said they ruthlessly ripped her earrings out.

Nicolas Olivas

Another ghost seen is that of a man with a beard. His face * is seen hovering outside a second story window. It resembles, Nicolas Olivas, Don Raymundo’s eldest son.

This ghost is spotted looking in at the room that once was the “Children’s Room.” This window is 16 feet above the ground and has no ledge or balcony attached to it. Some speculate he is looking for his finger—chopped off by the bandits.

The ghost of a little girl has also been seen in the home--it is believed she was Nicolas' daughter, Rebecca. On one Halloween over 100 people witnessed her at the same time.

Rebecca Olivas 

* In 2004, Richard Senate the manager of Olivas Adobe who is a ghost hunter captured this bearded face angrily peering into this window on his digital camera.

The Lady in Black has also been seen gazing out of this same window onto the courtyard below. She has startled more than one visitor.

Volunteers at the museum report hearing footsteps going up the stairs and on the floorboards above. When these sounds are investigated no one is ever found.

Other activity includes rocking chairs in the home moving on their own and the dolls in the Children's Room have been moved around overnight when the home is closed.

The following 5-minute video is Richard Senate talking about the ghosts that have been captured in EVPs and photos in the Olivas Adobe. 

Here is another more recent video Senate did about this haunting.

Maid of the Mist: A False Legend, Part l

Thousands of tourists from all over the world have boarded “Maid of the Mist” boats at Niagara Falls in order to get a closer look at the falls.

Maid of the Mist tour.

When this corporation based out of New York began these tours in 1846 they capitalized on a local legend entitled the “Maid of the Mist” that had been told since the 17^th century. They even named their boats after it.

When they told this tale on their inaugural voyage it was considered to be fact. Up until recent years, this tale was still told on a recording that played on these tours.

The Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee * or Iroquois people had a major problem with this story being told. For this tale known more specifically as The Legend of Lelawala misrepresented their culture and traditions.

Recently, the president of the Maid of the Mist Corp. agreed to stop playing this tale on his boats when Seneca Nation members with other Haudenosaunee support threatened to protest his company if they did not stop promoting this incorrect version of the tale to its customers.

* Haudenosaunee is said “Ho dee noes ho nee” meaning-- People Building a Long House.

Long House

A False Legend

The man most to blame for this false tale was Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He was a European explorer that made contact with the Iroquois in 1679.

He traded his knowledge on guns and ammunition in exchange for the Native people giving him information on agriculture, hunting and gathering techniques.

In his writings about his visit with the Haudenosaunee he mentions that they practiced “human sacrifice.”

Young pretty maidens were sent to their deaths in a canoe over Niagara Falls. He states he witnessed this firsthand.

He writes that he watched as a virgin maiden--a chief’s daughter named Lelawala was chosen as that years’ sacrifice--this was to appease a God that was killing off the Indians.

At the last moment the chief changed his mind and darted after her in his own canoe but both fell over the Falls to their deaths.

Years later, de La Salle’s wife announced her husband’s account was false. She stated he had wanted to portray the Haudenosaunee as an “ignorant people.” The reason for this was to make it easy to take their land so they could colonize the area.

So her husband set out to “demonize” them so there would be no sympathy for them, and even more important so the colonization would not be opposed.

He also hoped the dark picture he painted would meet with approval from the King and Queen of France. Their financial backing was needed for more expeditions.

The Haudenosaunee people treated de La Salle with “intelligence and hospitality” --this makes his false representations even worse.

A Cruel God and Human Sacrifice

The Haudenosaunee especially took offense at to two concepts presented in the Legend of Lelawala. **

First, this legend includes a God, Hirnum that needs to be appeased or he will kill the natives. In contrast, the Haudenosaunee Gods are positive deities. They only want peace and love for the people.

The second part caused an even greater offense. The Haudenosaunee people never performed human sacrifices.

In fact, this culture holds their woman in the highest regard. Unlike the Europeans that came to colonize--the Haudenosaunee woman played critical roles and responsibilities within their government and communities.

Corn farming.

They were one of the first peoples to have suffrage.

** The Legend of Lelawala is based on a real Haudenosaunee legend but the two have little in common--except both maidens go over the Falls.

In Part ll of Maid of the Mist: A Lie I share both the false legend and the real Haudenosaunee legend that it is based upon.

New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot, Part ll

Bars torched to enter the cell.

The New Mexico State Penitentiary was the location for the second deadliest prison riot in the U.S. history. In a 36-hour period in 1980, the prison was trashed and acts of torture, rape, and murder were carried out against many prisoners. No guards were killed but several were assaulted.

The state pen was closed down after this riot, never to be used as a prison again. A new maximum-security prison opened across from where Old Main still stands.

Ghosts of Old Main

Since the riot, this pen’s many buildings have remained empty. In more recent years one cellblock has been used by the movie industry to store props and movies have been filmed in the old prison.

These original buildings have some stark and unexplainable activity. There are many stories connected to the original penitentiary or Old Main--here are just two--both are scary.

Scary Halloween, Anyone?

Up until recently, with a few exceptions, the general public was not allowed in these buildings. So many stories came from the former guards that were assigned to be caretakers of Old Main.

One exception was a paranormal group that agreed to go in during a radio Halloween special. The media presence was skeptical but what happened while they were there freaked them out.

Since the buildings are abandoned there is no electricity hooked up to Old Main. These two groups went into the old prison after dark and were assembled in one entrance area when they heard and caught on their recorders the sounds of one cell door after another quickly slamming shut.

These doors originally ran on electricity and could be closed or opened one after another. After the prison shut down and the electricity was cut off these doors could only be opened or shut manually-- cranked with metal wheels that are very hard to turn--some of them are even rusted.

When the group checked these doors they were shut--so how did they manually shut so quickly? Most say this is impossible--but it happened.

Phantom Witnesses to an Execution

One investigator I used to work with had the opportunity to investigate the prison before it was open for tours. She is sensitive and was surprised that she didn’t pick up on more negative feelings or energy while in Old Main.

She did mention that while in the basement near the prison’s Gas Chamber she did feel some extreme negative emotions.

Several years later I heard the following story-- some state it is just two men’s overactive imaginations but it does collaborate what my friend felt.

As a joke a producer who was working on a film being shot at Old Main picked up an actor that flew into Albuquerque to play a part in his film. He decided to put a scare into this young actor and suggested they visit the state pen late that night before shooting began the next day.

The two men joking around entered Old Main holding flashlights. The producer first took this actor to Cell Block 4 where the snitches were held in protective custody before 1980 riot. He showed his companion the indents in the floor where one mentally ill patient was decapitated.

Burnt outline of one prisoner
tortured to death,

He then showed the actor the outline of a human figure that had been burned into the floor by a welding torch used to torture and kill this prisoner who was a snitch.

Half serious, half-jokingly he dared this young actor to sit in the pen’s old Gas Chamber. The man agreed, which surprised him--it was getting cold and he wanted to return to his hotel room in Santa Fe.

But he led the young actor down several flights of stairs to the basement where the Gas Chamber is located. Both men were surprised to see a light at the end of the corridor. As they approached they discovered it was a lit candle placed upon a chair in an area designated for viewing executions.

The young man patted him on the back and stated, “Good joke.” But the producer was surprised and shocked for he hadn’t placed the candle there. He was about to suggest they leave when the young actor bounded into the chamber and sat in the chair.

The actor stopped talking when he noticed his producer was staring into the viewing room. He turned and looked and saw dark figures standing looking toward him. The producer waved to him and started back down the corridor.

The actor followed him quickly. By the time the two men got up to the ground level, they were both running.

So is this story true? The two men it happened to believe it did. One phenomenon in Old Main that has been reported many times by both former guards that take care of the old prison and the public is they have seen dark figures that are described as 3 dimensional in appearance.

One of many odd photos
taken in Old Main.

Here is a link to a local news video. It has a recording of cell doors slamming shut. 

The video below is a local newscast that shows pictures from the riot--in this report, a guardsman and a prison social worker are interviewed about what they saw after the riot ended. This report gives several incorrect numbers, guards held prisoner, etc.

Here is a link to New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot, Part l --it is a brief disturbing history of this violent prison riot.

Winchester: The Sad Widow

Sarah had lost her one-month old baby daughter and then her husband to tuberculosis in the same year. As if this grief was not enough, Sarah also carried a burden that she rarely spoke about. 

She approached a Boston friend, anxious and not sure what to do next. This friend knowing she had the financial means suggested that a fresh start and a new home might help ease part of Sarah’s burden. 

Taking this advice, Sarah left her home in New Haven, Connecticut, and headed west.

Wealthy, she bought a home that was already under construction and made plans to change it according to her Boston friend’s advice. 

It wasn’t long before she was able to host dinner parties at her table that seated twelve. She took pleasure in picking out only the finest wines from her cellar. 

She spent most evenings in the home’s grand ballroom. This area was her pride and joy. Despite arthritis in both hands, she played her piano or organ regularly.

She hired the best carpenters in the area to build her home with care. Sarah retained these carpenters, so they were always ready to change something to her liking. 

As time passed her home became larger. Sarah slowly became a recluse. She lived in this home for forty years until she died at the age of eighty-two in 1922. 

She left her home to her beloved niece.

This widow’s story could apply to many except for the unspoken burden I mentioned. 

Sarah was a firm believer in the Victorian Spiritualism movement. Her Boston friend was a Medium whose advice was to build a house large enough to contain the “spirits” that plagued Sarah. 

These spirits were the ones who wanted her to move west. Once in San Jose, California Sarah hired twenty carpenters to work around the clock on her home for forty years. 

This was done to confuse these spirits so they could not find her.

When Sarah entertained in her dining room, it was these spirits that were her guests. 

She picked out the finest wines for these dinners until she saw a black handprint on the wine cellar door and had it walled up forever. 

The guests Sarah played her music for were these spirits. 

She became obsessed with the number thirteen. She had thirteen steps built that led to nowhere. In her sewing room, she had thirteen windows and doors built. She had thirteen bathrooms built. 

The will she left for her niece had thirteen sections, and Sarah signed it thirteen times. By the time Sarah died her Victorian-style mansion, it had one-hundred and sixty rooms.

So was Sarah insane? Or was she driven by guilt? Did these spirits force her to keep changing her home for forty years? 

What did she do in her life to have such a burden? 

It was not Sarah but her father-in-law’s doing for he manufactured and sold the Winchester rifle that bore his name. This rifle killed countless people. He made a fortune in the process, and this wealth was passed on to Sarah Winchester. 

She felt part of her penance was to lose her baby and husband. 

Because of these spirits who haunted her--she spent most of her life in fear. She believed they all were the victims shot by the Winchester rifle.

In Sarah’s will, she requested that these spirits should always be welcomed and provided for. 

In 1923 the Winchester House was opened to the public. Many employees who have worked at the mansion can attest to the fact that these spirits are still around. 

Winchester House is considered one of America’s most haunted. Witnesses state that the “ghosts” that reside at the mansion are mischievous in nature.

A caretaker late one night heard footsteps then breathing. He listened to a screw slowly turning then he heard it drop to the ground. When he turned on the lights, he didn’t find this screw. 

One longtime employee felt that one ghost was targeting him. One night just after he locked the heavy gates that enclose the Mansion’s courtyard and set the alarm, he turned to find them unlocked. 

What puzzled him was the alarm had not gone off.

Yet another night as he shut off all the lights and left, he noticed as he walked to his car all the lights on the third floor where on. He felt that he might have forgotten to turn off one light but an entire floor? 

One morning as he entered his office in the mansion, he found all the papers on his desk where soaked. His pencil cup was filled with water. It had lightly rained the night before, but when his office was checked it was found, there were no leaks.

Several tour guides have had their own unique experiences. Part of their duties includes cleaning and maintaining the mansion. 

In the late 1980s, one guide was in one of six kitchens in the home cleaning. She smelled what she thought was chicken soup cooking. This was odd because this kitchen had not been used for years.

 She saw what she thought was steam coming off the stove, so she walked over and placed her hand above this area. She drew back as she felt something hot on her hand. She checked, and the stove wasn’t on.

Another tour guide leading the last group of the day around the second floor was going through her script when she heard her named called. 

When no one chimed in, she asked if someone had a question. They replied, no. As she continued her presentation, she heard her name called once more. This time when she questioned the group, they all looked confused. 

After this every time she began to speak, she was interrupted. She asked the visitors if they had heard her name being called. No one had. Frustrated she left her group to check the rest of the floor and the stairs --no one else was on the second floor.

For eighty years the mansion had areas that were off-limits to visitors, but in more recent years this changed when the Winchester House began hosting what they call “Behind The Scenes” tours. 

In preparation for this tour, guides started clearing out and cleaning the basements. During this time, several of them encountered the same ghost. 

They all saw a man they didn’t recognize with dark hair, a mustache, and wearing white overalls. He was seen pushing a wheelbarrow.

When these guides approached their supervisors to report this man they were told no one of that description was working on the property. 

This caused a lot of confusion because security is tight at the mansion. 

The mystery was solved as the gardener’s tool shed was cleared out for one of these new tours. An old photograph was found that showed several of the carpenters that worked for Sarah for many years. 

When this photo was passed around several of the tour guides who had seen the man with the wheelbarrow identified him as one of the men in this old photo.