Santa Cruz County is known for its surfing and its tourist-friendly boardwalk but the coastal county has also been a hot bed for ghosts and legends.
With Halloween Tuesday, here are four locations close to home that have spooked any and all brave enough to wander through.
VETERANS MEMORIAL BUILDING
Located across the street from Watsonville High, the historic venue is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a boy, who has been seen running across the stage of the building during events, moving the curtains during performances and bouncing a ball when the auditorium is empty in the night.
MT. MADONNA COUNTY PARK
For decades, visitors and locals alike have claimed to have seen the spirit of Henry Miller and his daughter, Sarah Alice, riding horseback around the ruins of their former mansion, which burned down after both had died in the early 1900s. Sarah Alice died in a horseback riding accident at age 8 in 1879 and was buried on the mountain, only to be later exhumed and transferred to the family plot in Colma. Campers have claimed to have awoke to find their tents encircled by horse tracks and small human footprints. While still in operation, the Mt. Madonna Inn was also haunted by Sarah Alice, whose screams could be heard echoing through the halls.
RISPIN MANSION
Still vacant to this day, the four-story, 22-room mansion in Capitola was originally built in 1921 but has become a place of taboo over the years. Allen Rispin, the original owner, died in 1930 and the mansion was eventually sold to the Poor Clares, who used the property as a convent. It sat vacant for a half century after the convent closed in 1959 and later became a practice arena for a local SWAT team. In 2009, a fire struck the house and left the inside scorched. Visitors have reportedly seen Rispin, who died poor after selling the mansion, while others have claimed to have seen shadowy figures that resemble nuns.
BAYVIEW HOTEL BED AND BREAKFAST
The county’s oldest operating hotel, the old-timey B&B in the Aptos Village is not only known for being named a State Historic Monument in 1974 and being listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1993. Legend says the Bayview has been haunted by the friendly ghosts of Jose “Joseph” Arano, who built the hotel, and his wife, Augustia Castro. In 1896, Castro died while looking after the hotel and Arano went on to live in a section of the property that was converted into a boarding house by their daughter, Amelia. Arano died at the age of 91 in 1928, which was also the same year the service room in in back of the hotel caught fire. Amelia sold the Bayview in 1942 to Fred Toney, who later suffered health problems and died in a car accident with his wife in 1979. Their daughter eventually sold the hotel in ’89 to Bayview Partners, who restored the property and still operate it today.
