Ghost Stories on Facebook
My buddy Gary Wiens started a Facebook group for Silicon Valley called “Creepy San Jose”. The idea is for people to share their experiences of haunted spots in and around Santa Clara County (the biggest city of which is San Jose).
One gal shared a couple of ghost stories there – to check them out, folks registered with Facebook (it’s free) can visit the Creepy San Jose group on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18241159264 and then surf to the discussion board.
Enjoy and Happy Halloween!
The Los Gatos and Saratoga Area Home Just Too Nice to Leave
Along a windy, tree-studded road near the Los Gatos and Saratoga border area there are many large custom homes on big lots. One of them, decades old and lovingly designed, built, and decorated, may well have something the rest of them don’t: a former owner too fond of the place to leave. What makes this even more unique is that she’s dead.
One Realtor, also a broker-manager, Harry Murray, tells me that he heard from two independent sources that this particular home has a benevolent ghost who’s seen in her nightgown in the room which was once her bedroom. She has been identified as the original owner.
Another Realtor who does not believe in ghosts and who sold this home within the last 10 years denies that it’s haunted and says that he’s never heard the rumors that Harry has heard about it.
Is this house haunted? If so, the ghost does not seem to be a scary one. I will see what more I can find out and elaborate on this potential haunt-spot when I get more information.
About Harry:
Harry Murray is Vice President of J. Rockcliff Realtors and Manager of the Danville, CA office. He formerly worked in Silicon Valley for decades as a Realtor and manager in Saratoga, CA. He is extremely well known and well respected in the industry here. He can be reached at his office, (925) 855-4000 or by email at hmurray@rockcliff.com
Hotel Elevator Ghost in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida
Today’s entry comes to me from Pat Christenson, who is a friend of my friend Deb Wible:
Here’s my story. My 2 sisters and I were staying at the Don CeSar
Hotel in St. Petersburg Beach, FL. We took a tour of the hotel (which used to be a hospital) and learned about 3 ghosts, one of which is the original owner/builder of the hotel. They told us he sometimes talks to guests. A couple hours later, my sisters and 2 men got on the elevator. A male voice said,
“Two please” so one of my sisters pressed the button for 2. When they
reached the second floor, no one got off. The two men each thought
the other had said, “Two please.”
Haunted Real Estate, Rotten Realty Signs for the Season
A friend, fellow Silicon Valley Realtor and fellow blogger, Rick Bonetti, dropped off to me a very cool sign for Haunted Real Estate the other day. He figured that since I collect ghost stories and host this blog, I should have it. (Rick does not believe in ghosts so he gets extra credit for being really good-spirited about the whole topic.)
Rick also told me about a “Rotten Realty: sign, which I thought was also worthy of finding on the web.
Where to find these treasures? I am not sure, but I am suspecting drug stores and crafty stores…er, make that craft stores. The Haunted Real Estate sign now graces the front yard of our Los Gatos Home, and I think I will need to see if I can’t find a Rotten Realty one to go with it.
File this under “products I should have invented”!
Happy Halloween!
Haunted Hotels for the “Dead Tired”
I could not sleep if I thought a ghost was going to be visiting my hotel room, but I know of others who actively check out haunted hotels. One of them is Adrienne Foster, who reviews haunted hotels for epinions.com and who kindly sent me a link to this page on Haunted National Trust Historic Hotels of America.
This article is a series of short stories on haunted hotels across the United States. One of the pieces involves our local treasure, the Sainte Claire Hilton in downtown San Jose, and a ghost bride who still lingers. A funny story tells of vanishing vino from a Napa Valley inn. Lots of hotels with haunts. Have a look – but don’t blame me if you can’t sleep when you visit them later!
Visiting a Haunted Los Gatos Restaurant
Today’s post is written by Roshandra, a Los Gatos area intuitive and feng shui practitioner.
Trick or TREAT time ~ Halloween 2008. Where does the TIME go as we are entering Halloween? This time of year is one of my favorites. My work and ‘gifts’ bring me into this Realm of Ghost Whispering and ‘seeing’ things most others do not see.
During this time of Halloween and just before All Saints Day, we enter the most haunted time of the year.
All Hallows, which is Halloween, or October 31st and All Saints Day, which November 1st are the days for the dearly beloved that have passed over. It’s when the VEILS of energy between our world and the world of Spirit is the thinnest. This is the time as children we enjoy trick or treat. Playing with the ideas of spirit and ghosts. We also have experiences at this time of the year that can often MAKE the most non-believer a BELIEVER.
Living in Los Gatos, I am always delighted to explore the older buildings in town that many say and see as haunted. Recently a dear friend of mine that is a nurse at Good Sam was saying to me I had to visit the old funeral parlor in town. It had been renovated into a great high end eatery. It’s very, very nice spot now.
She asked me all kinds of questions on how people can put a business into a place like a funeral parlor and be ok with that. Some people will not go or eat there due to it being a previous funeral parlor. On the other hand she suggested she wanted me to ‘read it ‘and we set off to explore it. She was concerned about a dear young male chef, a friend of hers who just started working there. He had just returned from Las Vegas and under Wolf Gang Puck and the new chef he would be working under at this Los Gatos place also worked under Wolf Gang Puck. The Sous Chef was a ‘sensitive and he loved his work’. So we set off to see what I could read on this Local HIP EATERY in Los Gatos.
Sunnyvale’s Haunted Toys R Us Story
Do you ever visit Yelp? It’s a place where I’ve offered some restaurant reviews. Today I found something on ghosts and Silicon Valley, and thought I’d share the haunted experiences with my readers here. Enjoy!
http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-jose-ghost-stories-ghostly-encounters-ghost-hauntings-and-ghost-missions–
Haunted Spots in Silicon Valley
Locals who have a penchant for hearing ghost stories have heard for years about the haunted Toys R Us in Sunnyvale, the moved-but-still-haunted Rengstorff House in Mountain View, the nationally known weirdness and haunting at the Winchester House in San Jose, and perhaps also the Coleman Mansion in Menlo Park (now the Peninsula School). Wave Magazine did a really good piece summarizing all four of these and you can read it online here:
http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=22497
- Antique Shop: Dead People’s Stuff
- The Haunted Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco
- Water Fountain Suitable Only For Ghosts
- Films Featuring Haunted Homes
- Halloween events in Silicon Valley
- Santa Clara County Spooky Spots
- Trulia’s unnatural hazard zone of Zombies, Vampires, and Ghosts
- Selling a haunted home
- Want to live in a ghost town – for free?
- Teru Oshima has mapped out stigmatized locations in Japan
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