Ghost Stories

(Originally published on Oct. 31, 2002) It isn't a dark and stormy night. It's just dark - like most nights. They aren't prowling a cobwebbed mansion. They're strolling through the well-lighted Woodland Opera House. And they aren't Ghostbusters. They are Sacramento Paranormal Investigators.

(Originally published on Oct. 31, 2001) From its foreboding Tower 13 to the dimly lit death row, ghosts apparently have the run of Old Folsom Prison. The historic joint seems a perfect place for ghostly superstitions to flourish.

(Originally published on Oct. 31, 1999) Who is haunting the Washington Hotel? "I got used to hearing her," said Space Voight, who lives on the third floor of the hotel - presumably alone - in the remote Nevada County community of Washington. "I'd hear three footsteps, and that's it.'

(Originally published on Oct. 20, 1994) Unsettling dreams, soothing amber lights. Missing household items, objects skittering off tables. For 115 years, the sighs of May Woolsey have possessed this E Street Victorian like a pastel shadow, or a scented draft.

(Originally published on Oct. 29, 1993) The women are perfectly frank about the ghosts in their downtown antiques shop - although they've never actually seen one. They do see odd patches of light and dark. They sense hardship and tiredness in the 100-year-old clothes. And they find comfort in their surroundings.

(Originally published on Sept. 1, 1993) Saundra Dyer doesn't believe in ghosts, not really, but there has been something going on all the years she has owned her inn in this old Gold Rush camp.

(Originally published on Oct. 25, 1992) The area between wine country and gold country abounds with ghosts, from the harmless to the hair-raising. Some of the phantoms inhabit private homes, but luckily a good number of them stay at inns, restaurants or bars, and a few even seem to enjoy mixing with the living public.

(Originally published on Oct. 31, 1990) GRANDPA LEFT THEM his house when he died. But apparently Grandpa didn't leave the house. "I heard a noise. I thought it was a prowler and I picked up a bat. A chair was moving by itself in the living room. I said to my wife, "Did you see that?' She said, "Yes.' And we backed out of the room."

(Originally published on Nov. 4, 1988) JUST BEFORE Halloween, the Roadhouse Warrior -- ever the public servant -- went ghost-busting in the Gold Country. My target was the old Vineyard House, a 19th-century Victorian in Coloma, the community where James Marshall struck gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848. After that, a lot of fools rushed into California.

(Originally published Oct. 29, 1988) HOUSES HAVE their own personalities. You believe that, don't you? But can you believe some of these personalities are formed by the ghosts who live in the houses?

(Originally published on Aug. 17, 1986) It wasn't until the evening of July 9, when they all ended up sleeping on the front lawn, that the residents of a fourplex at 73 La Fresa Court realized they had a ghost problem.

(Originally published on July 23, 1985) Nobody walked through walls or hovered above ground. Nobody groaned or moaned or dragged chains in the attic. Nobody used a Ouija board, nobody said 'Ohmmmm.'

(Originally published on Oct. 31. 1984) MARYSVILLE - Several years ago Anita Laney was awakened by what sounded like a party in full swing in the upstairs hallway of her home. She distinctly heard the babble of many voices and much laughter. They were really quite noisy, she recalls. There was much hilarity. They were having a good time.

(Originally published on Oct. 27, 1984) YOU KNOW, Sacramento's killing off all its ghosts. The remark comes from one so-called Wilbur - a salty octogenarian and self-styled ghost collector. I'd struck up a conversation with Wilbur one day when I was walking along the Sacramento River levee and happened upon the old coot just sitting and staring at some of the Delta's grand Victorians. After a lengthy conversation praising old houses, the subject turned to ghosts. Seems like old Wilbur had known quite a few in his days, and he even considered himself an expert on the care and feeding of old house spirits.

(Originally published on Oct. 27, 1984) SEVERAL MONTHS ago, I asked readers to send in accounts of any experiences they've had with ghosts. Some people, it seems, whether or not they live in old houses, attract spirits.