Haunted Historical Sites + and -

The love for historical knowledge and preserving historical sites has been one of my passions my entire adult life. While most people are visiting Disneyland, sunny resorts and beaches I dragged my family through restored historical homes. I completely understand the financial struggles historical sites must contend with, volunteers and members are the life blood to keeping their doors open. Restoration as well as normal upkeep does not leave a lot of extra money for publicity and freebies.

I have been perplexed with the paradox of how a historical site balances trying to encourage visits with the desire for tourists to want to visit haunted places. Years ago I visited the Bowers Mansion in Carson City. The restoration is wonderful, volunteers dress in period costume at special events throughout the year and the price is cheap. In the last room of the tour there is a spirit photograph from the woman that lived in that time period. I have no argument with that photo as that was common for that era. What bothered me was the statement that the docent made, "this shows a picture of Eilley with her dead child, this picture was taken before double exposures were invented." Leaving the guest to believe that the picture is truly a spirit photo not the historical fact that this was a fraud common to the era. I have visited this site at least 3 times and each time the guide mentioned this. Why didn't I speak up? Lets just say I was a lot shyer back then.

Winchester Mystery House, who hasn't visited San Jose and been mesmerized by the stories of this strange woman and her home? I think this place is amazing, yet all through the tours the tour guides pepper the history with spooky tales. Halloween season is a big hit for the Mystery home with midnight flashlight tours through the rooms.

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado spends an great deal of energy focusing on the ghost element of the hotel. They have a fabulous tour full of history of the Stanley Steamer car, amazing place and views.

All of these places fall into the ghost trap, focusing more on the ghosties and less on the history of the site. My friends Baxter and Bryan tell me that the Stanley Hotel "borrowed" the ghost stories from another building down the street when that place was knocked down. The main tour guide has hundreds of autographed postcards of himself in ghostlike styles in the gift shop. In fact one thing all these places have in common is that the gift shop always has one or two "Ghost Books from the area" for sale in the gift shop.

So what does this all have to do with today? Why am I writing about this tonight?

This weekend, Caspian, Stirling, Mark Edward and I drove around Monterey and stopped in the Point Pinos Lighthouse museum. Mark always thinking of ghosts and seances asked the volunteer if the lighthouse was haunted. The woman rolled her eyes and said, "are you are one of those people that is trying to find something I'm sure you will find something" Mark said later that he wished he had a camera when she said that cause her look was amazing, Caspian said that it was the "perfect rolling of the eyes expression" after that he didn't need to finish listening to the answer as he knew where she stood.

The woman, said that once a man came in all wooing and stated that he could see Francine standing "there". She told the man that the woman who lived here years ago might had been named Francine but she was never called that, everyone called her "Fanny" and if you could see her you would know that. She said that they are always getting people who are trying to make a name for themselves come in and see ghosts, hoping to land on the news.

Wonderful! The woman (who was also named Francine) gave us a nice tour of the oldest still working lighthouse on the west coast. No mention of ghosts or deaths, just hard working people who kept the light flashing saving lives.

My point, if there is one, is that we need to support our historical sites. And for the reasons that they are historical sites. Volunteer, Donate, Visit and tell others. Buy a postcard or two. Maybe if we support these sites for their historical value to society they can ease off the ghost stories and hauntings.

Oh, By the way...as I was buying my postcard at Point Pinos I noticed two books on Ghost Stories of Monterey Bay on the shelf. Oh well...