Ghosts - research, evidence, and discussion.
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Features Archive:

2006 Archive:
The Winchester Mystery House - Ghost Chronicles
December 28, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Investigating Jane Doherty - Ghost Chronicles
December 20, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Shadow People - by Lee Prosser
December 16, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Westford Knight - Ghost Chronicles
December 15, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Haunted Real Estate by Richard Senate
December 13, 2006


Traditions Behind Christmas By Vince Wilson
December 8, 2006


The Haunted Dibbuk Box - Ghost Chronicles
December 6, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Have Ghosts? Will Travel: A Ghostgeek's Guide to the RMS Queen Mary By Jen Brown
December 4, 2006


Thanksgiving: A Day of Forgiveness - by Lee Prosser
December 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

America's Stonehenge - Ghost Chronicles
November 29, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) - by Jeff Belanger
November 16, 2006


Ghost Hunt Seminar - Ghost Chronicles
November 15, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Ghost Photography: Orbs by Robbin Van Pelt
November 9, 2006


Pet Ghosts - Ghost Chronicles
November 6, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Ghosts Haunt the Inn by Richard Senate
November 3, 2006


Japanese Woman Artist - by Lee Prosser
November 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Ghosts of the Windham Restaurant - Ghost Chronicles
October 30, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

The Salem Witches - Ghost Chronicles
October 23, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Homan House, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: A Preliminary Report by John Sabol
October 20, 2006


What Does Halloween/Samhain Mean to You? - Compiled by Jeff Belanger
October 16, 2006


That is the Way of It - by Lee Prosser
October 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Fooling the Ghost Hunter by Richard Senate
October 11, 2006


Jack Kerouac - by Lee Prosser
October 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

Civil War Re-enactors and the Ghost Experience - by Jeff Belanger
September 15, 2006


Who Goes There in the Shadows? - by Lee Prosser
September 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Engagement and Data Analysis in Symmetrical Field Investigations by John Sabol
September 11, 2006


Occult Warfare by Richard Senate
September 6, 2006


Cats and Other Critters From Beyond the Grave - by Lee Prosser
September 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

Chicago's Strange Angles and Haunted Architecture by Ursula Bielski
August 25, 2006


I Have a Hunch: A Look at Psychics, Mediums, and Clairvoyants - by Jeff Belanger
August 16, 2006


Geof Gray-Cobb - by Lee Prosser
August 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Orbs: Have They Become that Boring? by Tuesday Miles
August 14, 2006


A Night on Char-Man Bridge by Richard Senate
August 7, 2006


Five Union Soldier Ghosts - by Lee Prosser
August 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

A Visit With Author and Witch Kala Trobe - Interview by Lee Prosser
July 26, 2006


Perceptual Stratigraphy: Making Sense of Ghostly Manifestations by John Sabol
July 24, 2006


The Trouble With Witches - by Lee Prosser
July 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

A Look at Our Haunted Lives - by Jeff Belanger
July 13, 2006


An Active Ghost Hunt at a Haunted Bed and Breakfast by Richard Senate
July 7, 2006


Lee Prosser, 1969 - by Lee Prosser
July 4, 2006

Column - regular feature

My Theory on Spirits by Edward L. Shanahan
June 28, 2006


Ethnoarchaeoghostology: A Humanistic-Scientific Approach to the Study of Haunt Phenomena by John Sabol
June 19, 2006


Christopher Isherwood & Lee Prosser in 1969 - by Lee Prosser
June 16, 2006

Column - regular feature

ESP, M&Ms, and Reality - by Jeff Belanger
June 15, 2006


A Duel on the Airwaves by Richard Senate
June 5, 2006


Marjorie Firestone and Her Dream Predictions - by Lee Prosser
June 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

Until Death Do Us Part? by Rick Hayes
May 31, 2006


Part Four: the Conclusion: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
May 22, 2006

Column - regular feature

Folklore, Folklore, Folklore with Dr. Michael Bell - interview by Jeff Belanger
May 16, 2006


Swami Chetanananda and Lee Prosser - by Lee Prosser
May 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Theatre, Sance, and the Ghost Script: Performances at Haunted Locations by John Sabol
May 5, 2006


Willard David Firestone and the River Ghost - by Lee Prosser
May 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

When the Spirits Held Sway at the White House by Richard Senate
April 25, 2006


Part Three: Investigation: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
April 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Talking Reincarnation with Dr. John Gilbert - interview by Lee Prosser
April 17, 2006


Billy Bob Firestone and the Ghosts of Pythian Castle - by Lee Prosser
April 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Cryptobotany: the Search for Lost Plants by Richard Senate
April 7, 2006


The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 4 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
April 6, 2006


Vedanta and Durga - by Lee Prosser
April 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 3 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 30, 2006


Ritual, Resonance, and Ghost Research: The Play in the Fields by John Sabol
March 27, 2006


The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 2 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 23, 2006


Celtic This, Druid That, Saint Patrick Hit Me With a Wiffle-Ball Bat - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
March 21, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 1 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 16, 2006


Christopher Isherwood, Time Loops, and Ghosts - by Lee Prosser
March 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Druids - by Lee Prosser
March 3, 2006

Column - regular feature

Natural Selection and the Involution of the Gettysburg Ghosts by John Sabol
February 28, 2006


Part Two: Investigation: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
February 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Lights, Camera... Action! by Brian Leffler
February 16, 2006


Divination and Geomancy - by Lee Prosser
February 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Spirit Messages from a Murderer by Richard Senate
February 8, 2006


The Ghosts of Springfield, Missouri - by Lee Prosser
February 3, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Ghost Storyteller: A Dinosaur Among Lemmings? by Charles J. Adams III
January 23, 2006


The Fools Journey: A Magickal Roadmap to Life - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
January 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Tarot and Spiritual Alchemy - by Lee Prosser
January 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Demons from the Dark by Chip Coffey
January 9, 2006


Spooky - by Lee Prosser
January 3, 2006

Column - regular feature



February 8, 2006

Spirit Messages from a Murderer

By Richard Senate

The cold seemed to issue from the dark maw of the old brick building. The whole scene was surreal in the extreme. There we were, a group of us, in the cold before the old building, attempting to contact a ghost. Not just any ghost, but one of the best-known ghosts in Ventura, California.

For decades the little brick building was rumored haunted by the spirit of a man lynched in 1869. The little thick-walled building started life as a water filter, constructed by the Spanish Padres in the early years of the Nineteenth Century. It was attached to a seven-mile aqueduct which filtered the water and ran it through underground pipes to the many fountains at Mission San Buenaventura, the ninth and last mission founded by Father Junipero Serra. The building was nick named El Caballo (the horse) because, so the story goes, the water font was carved to resemble a horses head, the purified water coming out of the horses mouth (the Spanish and their Native converts did have a sense of humor). After California became part of the United States a rain storm caused a landslide that took out a section of the aqueduct. Without water to process, the small filter building was abandoned. But in just a few years the structure would take on a new role. The City of San Buenaventura (today known as Ventura) was incorporated on March 10, 1866 and as a new community, it needed a jail. The old filter was converted into a single cell jail by adding an iron door and cutting a slit like window through the walls. It was at this time that the ghost story came into being.

In 1869 a stranger rode into the dusty town of San Buenaventura. No one ever learned the name of this man but everyone was sure he was rich, from his fine clothing to the huge wad of cash he was prone to show at every opportunity. He went into the largest saloon and bought drinks for everyone. He told them he was heading for Los Angeles on business and would rest here the night before continuing on. He drank away the evening and, the last anyone saw of him he was drinking with Lucas Garcia, an unsavory local character.

The next day the stranger was gone. No one suspected anything was wrong because he said he was planning to leave the following day. But, people noticed that Lucas Garcia all of a sudden had a great deal of cash on him and he had no job. The local lawman took it upon himself to do a little investigating. He walked over to Garcias adobe home and look around. He discovered a newly turned plot of soil in the back yard. It was about three feet wide and six feet long. It looked very much like a grave. He dug down and found, not far from the surface, the body of the stranger. The cause of death wasnt in question, the mans skull was crushed in. 

Garcia was arrested and questioned. He said the stranger had, out of the goodness of his heart, given him all of his money! The stranger had left early in the morning before sun up and someone else must have killed him and buried the man in Garcias yard to implicate him. It was a story that seemed un-believable.

The lawman locked the suspect in the brick jail and rode to Santa Barbara for instructions. Santa Barbara was, at that time, the county seat. As the sun went down the town folk gathered in the saloons and talked of how good the stranger had been and how bad Garcia was. He was thought to be behind almost every crime in the community. Their anger grew hot and it wasnt long before a mob was formed and, with burning torches, they marched up Valdez Alley to the little jail. One of the leaders of the mob shot off the padlock of the iron door and they rushed in to pull Lucas Garcia out. He was screaming that he was innocent of any crime but the mob jerked him to a tall pear tree on the corner of Main Street and Ventura Avenue. Someone produced a rope and Garcia suffered western justice. 

In fairness to the community, the mob seemingly wasnt motivated by race. Latinos made up the largest percentage of the local residents. It is evident that no one really liked Garcia and all agreed that Ventura would be a better place without him. 

From that time on the small brick building was said to be haunted by the ghost of Lucas Garcia. Stories were told that , when the moon was full, at the stroke of midnight, a voice would issue from the structure calling out, I am innocent!

Because of its lurid past, and rumors of ghosts, the small building on Valdez Alley was included on a walking tour of haunted places in Ventura. Only on this night an experiment was planned. It would be an attempt to communicate with the departed spirit to discover if he was really innocent of murder. 

The attempt would use dowsing rods to ask yes or no questions. Such experiments have worked well in England. When the rods crossed, it was yes and when they drew apart it was no. A simple code and one that I didnt think would produce much. I was proven wrong that night. 

From the experiment a strange story emerged, an account that may well provide a few answers to the riddle of Lucas Garcia. The contact admitted he did kill the stranger, but it was an act of self defense. The stranger wasnt a nice man at all. In fact he recognized him as a fellow criminal and murderer. The stranger was trying to buy respectability with his ill-gotten wealth. In the night in question they retired to Garcias adobe and continued to drink. The stranger saw Garcia as a threat, he knew his bloody past and might tell others. He needed to silence Garcia once and for all, but, before he could act, Garcia sensed the danger and bashed in the mans skull with a wooden stool.

Garcia admitted he had killed others before. He said he had put five men in their graves before this incident. Because only yes and no answers could be given with the rods, the name of the stranger was never discovered. I do admit that, as the rods moved in answer to questions, the air became very still and a distinct chill seeped into the place. Was it the fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean or was it the icy presence of Lucas Garcia? All present agreed it was a bizarre night. Is Garcia guilty or did his act of self-preservation take out a greater bad man? Who can say for sure? 



Richard Senate is a California-based author and lecturer. Visit his Web site at: www.ghost-stalker.com



2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
Don't miss the following events and lectures:

Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014