Foster Road

There is an old legend, that a man once drove down Foster road in the early hours of the morning. When he looked in his rear view mirror there was a woman in white staring at him in his backseat laughing. It is said, that if you drive down Foster road around midnight the woman will appear in your backseat, too.

The House on Tyler Drive

Our house was formerly owned by an elderly couple who had lived here a long time. When my parents bought the house, the woman's husband had died, which is why his wife was moving out. Although we were not told that he died in the house, sometimes people return to familiar places after death.
A friend of mine once saw someone walk past the door of my room late at night when everyone else was in their rooms asleep.
My sister believes her room is haunted. She said that on a few occasions, she heard footsteps on the carpet around midnight. They sounded like they were coming towards her bed from the door. Too afraid to look, she put her headphones on to block out the sound and turned on the light, but no one was there.
She has also heard her door knob shake violently on various occasions. She thought that it was just a joke by one of us, but when she looked out of her room no one was there. She looked through the house, but noticed that we were all outside.
On another occasion, a toy went off in the middle of the night. Our dad had bought us these monkey sling shots, and when you pressed them or threw them, they made monkey noises. Jackie's hadn't worked shortly after she'd gotten it and it had been in her closet on the floor. In the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep, it went off really loudly. My brother heard it and it woke me up, too. My sister was terrified and came into our room, because she was too afraid to sleep in hers after that. In the morning, we found the toy on the floor where it had always been and there was nothing next to it that could have set it off. We tried pressing it and throwing it, but it didn't seem to be making any noise. Upon closer inspection, we realized that we could hear a low screech coming from the monkey, but it was inaudible from far away and it sounded like the battery was close to dead.
In the living room, there is a clear view of the hallway. One night while we were watching a movie, my sister saw a man wearing a hat staring at all of us from the hallway. After a short while, he disappeared.

I've never had any personal experiences in this house, and no one else in the family has mentioned anything, but a few of my friends who are sensitive to ghosts have told me that they thought something was here. I'm glad I haven't seen anything; I like being able to sleep at night.

Treasure in the Attic

When my Uncle Leo was a boy, his family used to live out in Guadalupe on a ranch in Oso Flaco. One day, when his mother was coming home, she saw a man leaving the house. She went inside and asked her husband who he was, but he said that no one had been at the house. She saw that man on more than one occasion, always leaving the house, as if he lived there.

On another occasion, her son was in bed trying to sleep, when he heard someone sit down on his bed; he even felt the bed move. At first, he was too afraid to open his eyes, but when he finally worked up the courage, he saw an old woman sitting at the edge of his bed looking at him. He pulled the covers up over his head and prayed until he fell asleep. This happened another time, but it was even more terrifying than the first, because this time, the old woman shook my uncle, as if she were trying to wake him up and get his attention.

Eventually, they moved to Santa Maria to be closer to the rest of the family. When the house was torn down, the workers found a large sum of money in the attic. Maybe the old woman was trying to tell that to my uncle.

Another Warning

A few years after my great grandfather died, his wife woke up in the middle of the night, because she heard him yell her name, "DOLORES!" When she awoke, she heard people outside breaking into her daughter's car. She knocked on the window and they ran off. She believed that her husband was still looking out for her and was warning her of the carjackers.

The House on Railroad

There is a house on Railroad street in Santa Maria where my great grandparents used to live. My great grandfather had a pool hall, and used to come home around 2 am every night, and my great grandmother stayed home, where she cooked, cleaned and cared for the children. After my great grandparents died, the next occupants of the house claimed they would hear someone open the door and come in the house every night around 2 am. They also claimed to hear pots and pans being moved in the early mornings and sometimes they would smell food when no one was cooking or even in the kitchen.

A Warning

When my great grandfather was a little boy, he used to bring his uncle lunch in the afternoons. His uncle worked in a silver mine on their property, so each day, he would bring it down into the mine. One day, when my great grandfather was bringing lunch, his uncle came out of the mine and told him not to go in. He said okay and left. Later that day, my great grandfather found out that there had been an explosion in the mine, and by the time his uncle had told him not to come in, he was already dead.

She Came With the Antique Trunk

Sometimes ghosts are thought to be attached to objects. This seems to have been the case with an antique trunk that my Tío Larry bought, which ended up being haunted by the ghost of a little girl. After buying the trunk at a garage sale, my Uncle found out that the previous owner had killed his kids.
After he brought the trunk home, my Tío's daughter kept telling him that there was a little girl in her room and that the girl wanted to play with her. This came as no surprise to my Uncle, who didn't think much of it. Kids that age often had imaginary friends; it didn't seem to be too out of the ordinary. Sometimes he would walk by and hear his daughter carrying on conversations with herself. Once when he was alone in the house, my Uncle passed his daughter's room and noticed a rubber ball bouncing out of the corner of his eye. As he turned to look at it, it immediately stopped bouncing and rolled in his direction. On other occasions, he noticed that the porcelain dolls kept in a high cabinet were often taken down or moved. His daughter was too little to have reached them or have even found a way to take the dolls down. On another occasion, my Uncle was shaving and saw a a little girl in the mirror behind him. When he turned around, no one was there. He also claims to have seem her running across the rooms, dancing or playing. She was always wearing white and she moved very quickly. My Tío's girlfriend had also seen the little girl.

Some people are more sensitive to ghosts than others, and my Uncle Larry seemed to be one of them, but apparently he didn't have the charisma to hold on to that little girl. After a period of time, he stopped seeing her. After mentioning this to his girlfriend, she told him that she had seen the little girl in her own house. I guess ghosts can be attached to people, too.

La llorona

When my Tío Larry was a kid, he and his cousin Amos used to play together on his aunt's ranch in Mexico. Like many other kids, he had been told the story of La llorona or "the crier". Also known as the white lady, she was supposed to have drowned her children in a river in an attempt to win back her lover's affections. Unfortunately, she was rejected and drowned herself, too. After that, she roamed the streets forever crying and searching for her dead children. Kids are told not to wander the streets alone at night, because she is said to abduct children. One night, my tío and his cousin were playing hide and seek out on the ranch, and they heard a horrible screeching sound, that sounded like the cry of a cat. My tío turned around and saw La llorona crying and reaching her arms out towards them. He and his cousin looked at each other for a split second before sprinting back to the house at full speed. As they ran up to the door, they saw their aunt standing on the porch and both exclaimed excitedly that they had seen La llorona. Their aunt looked at them, pale in the face and said "I know. I saw her, too."

As a child, this story terrified me. Luckily, I have never encountered La llorona, but my friend's grandmother claims that she haunts the train tracks in Arroyo Grande.