San Lorenzo Valley Realtors can tell you that when they go into a home, they pick up on that property's energy. I don't want to sound too "out there", but if a sensitive, seasoned agent (one who's been in a lot of homes) walks into a home where there's been a divorce, for instance, a lot of times he or she can pick up on it. Maybe it's something about the lack of clothing (the half empty closet) or some missing furniture...or maybe it's something else? The sadness can hang heavily in the air. It's not measurable, but it's there.
Just this week my husband (who goes on tour with me a lot), and I walked into a home that just "felt creepy". There was a coldness to the house, we couldn't put our fingers on it but we agreed something really bad had to have happened there. Turns out there'd been a murder in that home not long before. That's what I mean, a place can just feels different - sometimes good and sometimes downright creepy.
So maybe you aren't in and out of San Lorenzo Valley homes all the time. Perhaps this will ring a bell, though. You know that feeling you get when someone is looking at you, you turn and see that you were right? You felt that person's gaze, so you turned and sure enough, someone was watching you across the street. But sometimes there's no one there and you have that “feeling”.
Have you walked into a listing that was a piece of crap but loved it. Something grabs you….. It just felt “GOOD” hanging out at the old place and on the property? Recently there was a listing near downtown Ben Lomond @ 9540 Love Creek that grabed you as you drove in.
That's what I'm talking about.
Stories like these have been with us forever, and I find them fascinating after a personal experience I had with one my buyers bought in Brookdale on Clear Creek. It started the day I went to preview this house with my husband and mother. I felt “weird” like someone was trying to embracing me when I walked in the front door. That’s unusally and hard to do because I’m a very big woman. This feeling “wanted me to stay” an hang out. When we started to lock-up the unique door lock jammed with me on the inside. When I just decided to just go out the side door and the back ---I couldn’t. I played with the front door for a long time to get out.
I don’t think it was an accident that a prospect called me when I got in the car and asked to see it the next few days. I knew than, that I was going to be the one to get a buyer to make this place feel "loved once again". Now I’ve become a ghost hobbyist soon after that. And now collect stories about spirit sightings in San Lorenzo Valley in particular. Some local newspapers have printed many fabulous articles, usually just before Halloween, about some of our local haunts.
There are lots of known haunted places in downtown Brookdale: I'm sure there must be more. Would you eMail if you know of any?
The Brookdale Lodge would be interesting enough for historical reasons without even being haunted. But apparently it has a whole lot of spirits - by one accounting, 49 of them! A fine place for Sunday brunch ... and to spend the night if you're braver than I am. The lodge even has a floating ghost image on their website, so I think they're believers : )
The Brookdale Lodge's History & Legends
The nice folks at the Ghost Trackers Society allowed me to join them at Brookdale Lodge in Felton for a filming of "Dead Famous". They had a parapsychologist in attendance, a psychic and a medium. It was an interesting experience!
British TV Show "Dead Famous"
I was told to check out the Chart House over the hill. As always, I asked the receptionist, the bus boy, and our wait person about the rumors of any hauntings. Several employees there told me fascinating stories of its ethereal presences. One was of a little girl who supposedly inhabited the home back when it was a private residence. She died, I think of the flu. Her ghost was by the staircase going downstairs, and people felt cold spots there too - I am told that she has since moved on (crossed over). Then there's the bar ghost with a sense of humor. I was told that after locking up tightly etc., the next morning they'd find the electronic cash register in the bar had run up almost 20 drinks of something that was not on the menu- and not programmed into the computer!
The Los Gatos Opera House is a well documented & photographed ghost haunt - the woman said to reside there in spirit form is not to be feared though. She is benevolent and protective, as the employees can tell you.
Border's Books in Old Town has at least a couple of ghosts - a little boy said to have died when the place was a school, and a male ghost wearing a baseball cap viewed peripherally (disappearing when you turn to get a better look). Sounds are heard in the tower section especially. I wondered if they had placed the religion books there to ward them off, but apparently it's a matter of slow sales in that subject matter!
I'm wondering where else in the San Lorenzo Valley may be haunted besides the Brookdale Lodge. Do you know of any stigmatized or haunted properties in the San Lorenzo Valley. Did any one buy a House that seems haunted in the valley? I know there's more. Anyone??