Suicide Bridge on Route 66 - Pasadena, California

The majestic 1913 Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California not only wowed early travelers crossing the causeway, but soon took on a more sinister note when people began to leap from the 150 foot bridge to their death. Within a decade of its construction, locals had begun to call it the "Suicide Bridge,” and as you can imagine, legends began to abound that the bridge was haunted be those unfortunate souls.

The beautiful concrete bridge spans 1,467 feet across the Arroyo Seco, a deeply cut canyon linking the San Gabriel Mountains to the Los Angeles River, and containing the intermittent Arroyo Seco Stream for which it is named. The bridge is often incorrectly referred to as the "Arroyo Seco Bridge."

In Pasadena's early days, before the historic Colorado Street Bridge was built, crossing the Arroyo Seco was an extremely difficult task. Horses and wagons descended the steep eastern slope, crossed the stream over a smaller bridge, and then climbed up the west bank through Eagle Rock Pass.

The bridge was designed and built by the J.A.L. Waddell firm of Kansas City, Missouri and named for Colorado Street (now called Colorado Boulevard,) which was the major east-west thoroughfare through Pasadena. Known for its Beaux Arts arches, ornate lamp posts and railings, initial design proved difficult due to finding solid footing in the Arroyo bed. However, when engineer John Drake Mercereau conceived the idea of curving the bridge, he created a work of art.

The first tragedy on the bridge occurred before construction was even complete. Allegedly, when one of the bridge workers toppled over the side and plunged headfirst into a vat of wet concrete, his co-workers assumed he could not be saved in time and left his body in the quick-drying cement. His is only one of the many souls said to haunt the "Suicide Bridge.”

The first suicide occurred on November 16, 1919 and was followed by a number of others, especially during the Great Depression. Over the years, it is estimated that more than 100 people took their lives leaping the 150 feet into the arroyo below. One of the more notable suicides was when a despondent mother threw her baby girl over the railing on May 1, 1937. She then followed her into the depths of the canyon. Though the mother died, her child miraculously survived. Evidently, her mother had inadvertently tossed her into some nearby trees, and she was later recovered from the thick branches.

By the 1980’s the historic bridge had fallen into great disrepair as chunks of concrete began to fall from its ornate railings and arches. After the Loma Prieta earthquake near Oakland in 1989., the bridge was closed as a precautionary measure. Eventually federal, state and local funds provided some $27 million dollars in renovation costs and the bridge was reopened in 1993, complete with its original detail, plus a suicide prevention rail. Though the number of suicides throughout the years has decreased, the bridge continues to retain its nickname and its ghostly legends.

According to the tales, a number of spirits are said to wander the bridge itself as well as the arroyo below. Others have heard unexplained cries coming from the canyon. One report tells of spectral man that is often seen wandering the bridge who wears wire rimmed glasses. Other people have claimed to see a woman in a long flowing robe, who stands atop one of the parapets, before vanishing as she throws herself off the side.

In the arroyo below, phantom forms have been seen walking the river bed, a number of unexplainable sounds are often heard, and the atmosphere is often described as "thick.”

The Colorado Street Bridge was part of Route 66 until 1940 when the Arroyo Seco Parkway opened. Today, the bridge has received a Civil Engineering Landmark designation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Read more >>

The Haunted Georgian Hotel - Santa Monica, California

At the end of your Route 66 travels, be sure to check out The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, California. Built in 1933 and originally named The Lady Windemere, it was designed to be an intimate hideaway, catering to Los Angeles’ high society. At the time the hotel was developed, it was nestled in a heavily-wooded shoreline of the little-known seaside community of Santa Monica. The dream of Rosamond Borde, a daring and progressive entrepreneur, she commissioned Eugene Durfee to construct the posh resort in an art deco style opening its doors to the rich and famous in 1933.

During prohibition, the Georgian was home to one of Los Angeles’ first speakeasies and soon became the rendezvous point for many up-and-coming Hollywood studio executives and celebrities including Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, who sought secluded weekends away from the cameras.

The oceanfront veranda provided a stage for martinis, jazz and notorious figures including Bugsy Siegel and Fatty Arbuckle. The hotel was considered to be one of the most modern facilities of the time, featuring a beauty parlor, barber shop, playground and dining room, in addition to its most popular speakeasy. The primary reasons for the hotel’s popularity and success was the exclusive, secluded location and the discriminating manner of Rosamond. Borde.

When prohibition finally ended and expansion dramatically occurred in the 1950's, Los Angeles began to develop into a major metropolitan city. It was during this decade that The Lady Windemere was sold, refurbished and renamed the Georgian

The property remained a favorite vacation residence for the new era of jet setting Americans and Europeans. In the Spring of 2000, a $2 million renovation was completed which included the addition of numerous elegant amenities to the Georgian’s guest rooms, lobby, hallways and meeting facilities.

Today the old hotel is surrounded by modern office buildings rather than pristine forests, but still continues to attract Hollywood celebrities such as Oliver Stone, Robert DeNiro and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And, according to legend, it continues to play host to a number of other unearthly guests, whether they be famous or infamous. In the hotel’s Speakeasy Restaurant, both staff and guests have reported a number of strange phenomena over the years. At many times when the restaurant is completely empty, employees have heard loud sighs, gasps and have been startled by a disembodied voice who greets them with, "Good Morning.” At other times the sounds of running footsteps are heard throughout the restaurant when no one is there and a number of transparent apparitions have been seen.

So, perhaps if you stop to have a libation at the Speakeasy you’ll bump into none other than Robert DeNiro if you’re lucky, and if you’re not, you might "bump” into an unearthly presence for which you cannot see.

At any rate, it should be a fun look around at this vintage hotel, officially recognized by the City of Santa Monica as a historical landmark.

Read more >>

Ghosts of Calico - Calico, California

One of the most often sighted spirits is that of Lucy Bell King Lane, a woman who spent nearly seventy years of her life in Calico.

When Lucy was just ten years old, she moved with her parents, two brothers, and a sister to nearby Bismarck, which overlooked the town of Calico. To get to school, Lucy would have to slide down the steep slope in the morning and make the long tiring hike up the hill afterwards. When she was 18 years old, she married John Robert Lane and the two opened a general store that provided not only provisions to the mining population, but also cloth, nails, and hardware.

They prospered briefly but when the silver market began to decline, the couple left Calico in 1899. However, the couple returned in 1916, making their old store their home. Four years later, they moved into the old courthouse and post office building. Her husband John died in 1934, but Lucy would continue to live a long life, staying in the same house until she died in 1967 at the age of 93.

Today, their old home has become a museum, that exhibits the life the Lanes lived, as well as a collection of mining materials, photographs, and Native American displays from the times before Calico's silver deposits were discovered.

Though Lucy died four decades ago, she is evidently fond of her old home town as she is frequently still sighted there. Most often she has been seen walking between their old store and the home that she lived in until her death. When she is spied, she is described as wearing a long black dress, most likely the very lace one that she was buried in. Her favorite rocking chair has also been said to rock of its own accord and often pictures are taken off the wall at night, only to found the next morning in a neat pile on the floor. At Lane’s old store, clerks have often heard unexplainable noises and catch movement out of the corners of their eyes, which they also attribute to Lucy. The Lane house was the longest occupied original structure in Calico.

But, favorite resident Lucy Lane is not the only phantom that lurks in Calico. At that very same school house sitting atop the hill in Calico, a number of people have reported seeing a little girl about 11 or 12 years, most often old smiling through a window. Sometimes she even leans out and waves at passers by.

Others have allegedly seen phantom school teachers and another small child who has been known to grab people’s legs or pinch their ankles. Some visitors have also reported seeing a floating red light inside the school.

But the most incredible story is one of two British tourists who reported having a long visit with a staff person in period costume, who explained to them that she was the "last teacher’ in Calico. As they were ready to leave, they had pictures taken with the self-proclaimed teacher. The last school mistress in Calico was Margaret Olivier, who passed away in 1932 and is buried in the Calico Cemetery. When the couple returned home and got their pictures developed, they were amazed to see that the "staff member” didn’t appear in the photographs. Later, they found that there had been no staff member working at the school house during their visit.

Though the hills surrounding Calico once held dozens of mines, and the many pits and ruins continue to attest to this, Calico features the Maggie Mine, that once produced some $13 million in silver ore, and now its tunnels can be explored by visitors. In the 1,000 feet of tunnels that are open to the public, it should come as no surprise that many believe that spirits lurk within the mine’s depths.

A number of visitors have reported extreme cold spots throughout the mine and feelings of "one's hair standing up" in various places, but most particularly where two miners known as the Mulcahey Brothers made their home in the mine. Though portions of the mine are blocked off behind grates, macabre mannequins add to the spooky feeling in the mine.

Near the Maggie’s Mine is Hank’s Hotel, which once belonged to an angry old cowboy whose spirit allegedly once punched a man in the leg who was standing on his fence. But more commonly, people have reported something tugging on their wrists, hands and clothing along the boardwalk in front of the hotel. These antics; however, are not generally blamed on the angry cowboy, but rather on a 4-5 year old child who has been seen roaming the boardwalk and the surrounding area.

Also said to haunt Calico's boardwalks on Main Street is that of its last marshal, Tumbleweed Harris. A number of visitors have described seeing a big man with a white beard which fits the description of the man who kept the peace in Calico for seven years.

At the Calico Corral, a number of people have often heard the voices of crowds and celebration coming from the barn that once hosted regular Saturday night dances. At Lil’s Saloon, one of Calico's original buildings, sounds of an old-style piano and rowdy crowds have been heard when no one was in the building. Employees have also often reported hearing the jingle of spurs and other noises that can’t be explained. Another spectral lady in a long white dress has frequently been seen walking near the outskirts of the ghost town and at the building that once housed the town theater, which is now the R&D Fossils & Minerals Shop, a another female ghost named Esmeralda, has allegedly has taken up residence.

And finally, Calico had another famous resident – that of Dorsey, the "mail carrying dog.” Dorsey was found in 1883 by Postmaster Jim Stacy, when the hungry and footsore black and white shepherd was lying on his porch. Stacy quickly adopted him and Dorsey became his faithful friend. In addition to his postmaster duties, Stacy also had an interest in a mine in nearby Bismarck. On one occasion, when Stacy needed to get an urgent message to his partner at the mine, he tied a note to Dorsey’s neck and sent him up there. Before long, Dorsey returned with a reply. Dorsey was soon carrying messages back and forth to the mine frequently, when Stacy had the idea to make the dog a regular mail carrier. Soon, the dog was carrying all the mail from Calico to Bismarck, bearing his load in little pouches strapped to his back. For three years, Dorsey covered the mail route between the two camps and became so valuable that Stacy was offered $500 for the dog, to which Stacy replied: "I'd rather sell a grandson."

Dorsey's legend was revived in a 1972 album entitled "The Ballad of Calico” by Kenny Rogers. The song was called "Dorsey, the Mail Carrying Dog.” And, of course, in haunted Calico, he has been revived in another way – the "spectral dog." On several occasions, Dorsey has been seen as a shadow-like apparition at the cemetery and near the Print Shop that stands near the original location of the post office.

Unless you sit on Hank’s fence, it appears that none of the ghosts in Calico are malevolent, so don’t let them stop you from visiting this great old ghost town.

Read more >>

Revived From A Desert Grave - Calico, California

Three miles north of Interstate-15, midway between Barstow and Yermo, California sits the historic and restored ghost town of Calico, California.

It all began in 1875 when roving prospectors first found silver on the south slope of the Calico Mountains. However, it wasn’t until some five years later that additional ore discoveries worth $400 to $500 per ton brought about a small rush and the filing of many claims.

In the spring of 1881 came the discovery of the Silver King, Calico’s richest mine and less than a year later, the new settlement supported several businesses on a commercial street flanked by tents and adobe buildings on a narrow mesa between Wall Street Canyon and Odessa Canyon. It took its name from the myriad of colors in the mountains which are the backdrop for the town.

The weekly Calico Print appeared in October, 1882 and a local stamp mill was built to begin working ores.

But in the spring of 1883, many of the local miners left Calico when borax was discovered three miles east at Borate. Later the same year, a fire destroyed much of the camp, but Calico again boomed in 1884 as additional silver discoveries were made. Gaining a population of some 2,500, the town supported two dozen saloons and gambling dives that never closed, as well as more legitimate establishments such as a church, a public school, a dance school and a literary society, along with dozens of retail businesses.

After 1884 many of the mines consolidated and late in 1888, the Oro Grande Mining Company erected an even larger stamp mill at a cost of $250,000 on the north bank of the Mojave River. Soon it connected the stamp mill, near Daggett, to the Silver King mine by the ten mile narrow-gauge Calico Railroad.

By the late 1800's, Calico was bustling with prospectors searching their fortunes and the Calico Mining District became one of the richest in the state.

During its heyday, the district would produce $86 million in silver, and $45 million in borax. However, when the price of silver dropped from $1.31 an ounce to 63 cents during the mid 1890's, Calico became a ghost of its former self. The narrow-gauge Calico railroad was dismantled just after the turn of the century and the town officially died in 1907 with the end of borax mining in the district.

Around 1917 a cyanide plant was built in Calico, recovering values from the Silver King Mine dumps and the town was revived. However, by 1935, the town was entirely abandoned and left to Mother Nature’s elements in the Mojave Desert.

In 1950 Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park bought the town site and began restorations. Its owner, Walter Knott, spent a lot of time in Calico as a boy, as his uncle lived there. He even helped to build a silver mill in Calico at the time of World War I. Knott's time spent there, no doubt, influenced his decision to buy the town and restore it.

One of the rebuilt attractions is the one-mile short line "Calico & Odessa” railroad which loops through steep canyons and hills past old mines and buildings north of Calico. Though the original town site has been mostly rebuilt by new and restored buildings, one-third of the town is original and the remaining newer buildings were carefully reconstructed to recreate the spirit of Calico's Old West past.

In November 1966, Knott donated Calico to San Bernardino County, and Calico now operates as a one of the many San Bernardino County Regional Parks.

Though Calico is no longer a crumbling ghost town thanks to Walter Knott, it most definitely gives the visitor a feel of what life might have been like during those old mining days. The false front stores and saloons, towered by the craggy mountains above and overlooking the desert valley below, provide an otherwise, unobtainable, glimpse into Calico's rich history.

Today, walking tours are available with Calico historians who examine the life of miners during its heyday. The narrow gauge railroad operates within the town limits, the hard rock silver mine provides underground exploration, buildings such as the schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, and saloons can be explored, as well as a live gold panning operation.

The Calico Town site is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to dusk, featuring numerous shops, restaurants and other attractions. In the canyons below town, a full service campground, camping cabins, and bunkhouse provide the opportunity for extended stays.

It's admission price of just $6.00 and reasonable prices "inside" the town at its restaurants, shops, and additional attractions, make it one of California's best tourism values. For instance, it only cost an additional $1 to ride the train or tour the mine.

If Calico’s rich history, meticulous restoration, and gunfights aren’t enough entertainment for you, there’s more!! Allegedly, this old town is haunted by a number of lingering spirits.

Read more >>