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| DO YOU BELIEVE? |
Appropriate for this eBook is an article from the Hollister Free Lance dated 30 October 1987 by Brad Kieffer. I cover most of the areas discussed in this article and then some. SAN JUAN BAUTISTA-Things go bump in the night in San Juan Bautista and not just on Halloween. From notorious bandit Joaquin Murietta to a woman believed to have followed her baby to the grave and the dead grandmother of a former resident, the Mission City is rich in the lore of the macabre. At least six buildings in San Juan Bautista are said by some to be occupied by the rambunctious spirits of long dead citizens. And one former resident—a self-described warlock-said stage robber Murietta came to him and pinpointed the spot on Old Stagecoach Road where there is buried loot from his holdups. The stories of haunted houses really don’t surprise the citizens of San Juan, a hamlet where century-old houses and ancient, rickety downtown buildings exist comfortably with an 18th Century Catholic mission. “This whole region is a hotbed of psychics and mediums,” said San Juan Chamber of Commerce Manager Rebecca McGovern. “There’s a high concentration of psychics and psychic phenomena.” Included in the stories around town are tales about Rachel, a woman said to have died around the turn of the century in a bedroom of what is now the Mariposa House restaurant on Mariposa Street. Rachel now follows co-owner Barbara Kuhl around crying, ringing bells, locking doors and fiddling with the thermostat. Most bizarre of all, though, are the tales of the warlock – a man who didn’t want his name printed - who said Joaquin Murietta appeared before him two or three times at his former home on the northern outskirts of the city. The man, who said he moved from the crooked, wooden house at 957 First Street in 1979, also said he would constantly be awakened in the middle of the night by a bright light in his room. When he closed his eyes and reopened them, he said the light would be gone, only to have it reappear the next time he opened his eyes. The home - perhaps one of the first to be built in San Juan after California became a state in 1850 - is owned by Frank Abbe of Seaside, a member of the family that first occupied the house. “I think it could be my grandmother, Mary Jane Berry, doing those things,” said Abbe. “She died around the 1880s. I haven’t seen her, but I had a lot of experiences there.” He said his grandmother gave birth to Abbe’s father in 1862 in the same room he was born in 1918. He moved from the house when he was 6 years old to the home next door. Despite the reputed haunted history of the house, current occupant Mary Ann Contreras said she hasn’t seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. “I’m open minded,” she said, “but I don’t believe this house is haunted.” The warlock, who moved into the house in 1964 said, people need not fear him because he practices witchcraft only for good purposes, not evil. “When I lived there, my sister came to stay with me for about a week,” he said. "But she wouldn’t stay in it after the first night. “She saw the light.” “I also used to see an old man and an old woman in the house,” said the man, a nurse’s aide. “A clock used to fall down and there would be knocks at the door but nobody was there.” When Joaquin Murietta appeared and told him about the buried treasure, the man said he wasn’t interested in finding it. Besides, the warlock said the vision of his dead mother appeared shortly after and said he would die if he took the loot. Would death immediately follow the person who finds the booty? “If something is meant for you, the spirit will come to you and say it is for you,” he said. Of his discussions with Murietta, the man said, “I would wake to this figure of a man and he would talk to me, I could hear a voice and I could answer back.” At the Mariposa House, owners Barbara and Richard Kuhl said some customers feel uneasy in the room where Rachel reportedly died, while others are drawn to it. “It’s actually quite delightful,” said Barbara Kuhl. “It’s nothing harmful. Anyone who works here any length of time has seen her.” According to Kuhl, Rachel has made herself known to many former occupants of the Victorian building. She said a couple of men who grew up in the house have come back for visits and mentioned the mysterious woman always seems to be seen in a long red skirt. “Several clairvoyants have come in here and they describe her, said Kuhl.” “They say she follows me around and cries a lot.” Kuhl said Rachel, whose last name isn’t known, must have been cold when she died because a small heater in the room where she died would sometimes be turned up so high it became “stifling.” Several years ago, Kuhl said a few people held a séance in the restaurant and were able to get Rachel to show herself. One of the participants, Fran Bussell, painted a picture of what she saw, and it now hangs in Rachel’s old bedroom. What do the townspeople think about the stories? The stories fit just perfectly with the town’s Old West image. Do they believe? Of course! Don’t you? |
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