My official announcement about doing a book on California ghost stories. I wanna hear everything you have to share. In this episode I talk about the Pasadena Suicide Bridge, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the Queen Mary in Long Beach, the site of a former asylum in Lancaster, Shadow Ranch Park & Capistrano Avenue in West Hills, CA
Edit/Update: Since first posting this video on YouTube, I’ve gotten some great comments. A few are posted below:
* Two summers ago I went to Shadow Ranch Park with couple of friends of mine. Here’s the story: the actual house you see use to be a ranch with a family etc etc. they had a son named “Blue” whose room is the on the 2nd floor to the right facing the house. it is said he died tragically on a horse riding accident. we know this because when we visited, the two workers there were so nice to give us a tour of the place.
* The Lancaster Asylum is on 80th St west and f-12. you can see it on google maps it looks like 5 white boulder things making a circle on the map.
* I went to preschool at Shadow Ranch Park and it was my hang out in the 70′s as a teenager. The house has a few secret rooms long since boarded up. Also the author of The Wizard of Oz lived there around the same time the book was written. The story was that the original owner committed suicide. As a teenager we use to sneak in the house at night and never once did I see or hear anything paranormal. Although it would not surprise me if someone did! A few miles away is Munits Cave. This has an interesting story of murder involving a Shaman and the son of an indian Chief . Also known as the bat cave,
Story: I happened upon your site and I noticed you had an article about the house on rainbow road. I was there about five or six years ago and at that point the buildings were still there. We went at night of course. After jumping the gate, you had to walk a short distance down a paved driveway until it inclined a bit then curved. At that point the house was right there. There was a large concrete in-ground pool in the back though we did not see it until we were inside the house looking out the back. It was a rather large house though by our standards I would not call it a mansion. If I remember correctly there was a main floor, second floor, small third floor by way of a cramped staircase, and basement.
The front door had a roof over it in such a way that it almost looked like a commercial building in a way, perhaps a hotel, though I can’t be sure. After walking in there was a large sweeping staircase to the left and beneath the loft that it reached there was a bar with broken mirrors behind it. This also added to my suspicion that the building may have been used commercially to entertain. As I said the mirrors behind the bar were broken and there was some spray paint on that as well. On the right there was a large open room and a fireplace on the wall of that room. Upstairs there were a few interconnecting bedrooms with some intact and very nice furniture. Just a few dressers and cabinets. I do remember being able to climb on to the roof from the windows on either the 2nd or 3rd floor. There was also a basement via another cramped, but this time concrete, staircase.
None of us spent much time down there due to a terrible smell. There was one strange thing there. Now I did not see this happen I was turned the other way but it seems that someone found a “secret” room behind the fireplace. The wall next to it seemed to collapse and I did get a look back there and noticed a mattress which may have been torn up and a lot of stuffing about. Also the smell of damp rot but not to the extend of the basement.
Outside of the house was pretty much an estate. There were Tennis courts and also a few small two story houses, one of them burned out. Also there was the barn and stables. We remember there being a somewhat modern lawn tractor in the barn and some old stuff on the second level, mostly clutter. We also found in the middle of the yard a hatch that opened into the ground. There were stone stairs that went down below a mans height and this seemed to be access to some sort of plumbing. There were large and small pipes at the bottom and pressure gauges on many.
I went back again recently and the property is now being turned into a subdivision. There is a paved road and curbs are already in place. The only thing left from the old estate as of about 2 months ago is an old silo and some of the original electic poles.
I was at Sunnybrook a few years back as well. This was also at night. There were small white buildings there at that time but that was all. We searched for a foundation but there was none. Upon a recent daytime visit I found the small houses to be gone but there is a mowed path there not big enough for a car that leads to a brown house previously unnoticed at night. This house is in good condition though old and locked up. There was a new ADT sign by the front of the house facing the lake. This house is locked up and is in good condition. I assume anyone would use discretion and not vandalize this site as someone IS taking care of it. There does seem to be a path going to the lake and there is a small footbridge on the way. — Ken
