Imagine I Made A Spooky School Pun Here

This post was first published as part of The Ghostletter, a newsletter on ghosts, ghouls and esoterica sent out on an every-so-often basis. Click here to read old issues and subscribe.

Ghoul’s Out? Back to Ghoul?

Fucking whatever you get it.

This was initially going to be a letter about haunted high schools, with like ghost cheerleaders and jocks and whatnot. But what I found instead is an honestly shocking number of high schools that are just built on and among actual graves. So now we’re gonna talk about that. 

For this story and this story alone I would like to thank the institution of local journalism and all the local papers whose fastidious reporting of ghoulish ongoings in the educational system made this edition possible. ❤

Big Huge Ghostly Update!

After literal days in the making, The Ghost Hole is proud to present the inaugural episode of The GhostCast! In this episode ghost correspondents Becca and Scott attempt to take down the largest ghost of them all: The Dark Lord Satan. Stream it now below!

The Devil’s Gate

La Cañada Flintridge, CA

In 1920 Los Angeles County constructed a dam at the Arroyo Seco’s narrowest point and for some reason they decided that naming it after the Dark Lord Satan would keep things fresh. Technically, the moniker of The Devil’s Gate specifically refers to a distinctive rock face at the mouth of the dam that resembles Beelzebub himself. But, with Lucifer as a namesake, occult activity was bound to follow. Known occultists and all-around weirdos including Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons and Scientology’s sweetheart L. Ron Hubbard were fixated on the region, either trying to open a portal to hell or believing that it already was one, depending on which accounts you read.

The Millennium Biltmore

Los Angeles, CA

Since its grand opening in 1923, the Millennium Biltmore hotel in downtown LA has accrued its fair share of ghosts. It’s notorious not only for being the site of a still-mysterious death of an America’s Got Talent contestant in 2010 or one of the last places the brutally murdered Black Dahlia was seen alive, but also for housing a menagerie of less high profile ghosts. People say the first floor is where Elizabeth Short (the Dahlia) likes to traipse through walls while the ninth floor is home to a little girl who likes to giggle as she plays hide-and-seek with unaware guests. The second floor boasts a ghostly nurse and a little boy with no face has been spotted on the roof. If this wasn’t enough, the Biltmore also hosted sailors during World War II and ghostly groups of soldiers can still be seen lingering around the lobby.

The Corralitas Red Car Trail

Los Angeles, CA

Before we get to anything else, it should be established that even the Google Map for this location is haunted. I wasn’t paying attention the first time I tried to drive here and Google decided to reroute me into Atwater Village rather than bring me to Corralitas. Google is so insistent that I stay away from this spot that it actively tries to drive me far away instead. It does this every time and there’s honestly no explanation except for ghosts.

The Old Mission

Santa Barbara, CA

The Mission Santa Barbara has existed in some form since 1786, founded for the purpose of converting the local Chumash-Barbareño population to Catholicism. The land surrounding the main mission chapel is littered with ruins of different buildings that were built by the enslaved Chumash, mostly in order to continue converting or imprisoning the same. The mission is said to be haunted by a few Spanish Franciscan monks and considerably more Chumash souls.

Greystone Mansion

Beverly Hills, CA

Up on a winding hill in northern Beverly Hills, overlooking some of the most decadent estates the city has to offer, is a historic mansion that’s inexplicably open to us normies. All manner of folk are now permitted to drive up the twisted path to the estate that, when it was built in 1928 for four million dollars, was the most expensive the city had ever seen. The house’s original owner Ned Doheny didn’t have long to enjoy the property, however; many point to his grisly murder only four months after he moved in as evidence that the property is haunted.

The Hellyer House

San Jose, CA

My second day in San Jose, over some diner breakfast and black coffee, Russ told me about another local haunting: The Hellyer House.

Hicks Road Albino Cannibal Cult!

Los Gatos, CA

Recently on a visit to sunny San Jose my good friend and longtime ghost-panion Cameron mentioned a nearby spooky location and then dropped honestly too many enticing words in a row: Albino. Cannibal. Redneck. Cult.

Rockhaven Sanitarium

Montrose, CA

Until I come across a place named “Bloodworth Manor” or “Ghost Baby Road,” Rockhaven Sanitarium is definitely graced with one of the unabashedly spookiest names on this list. It sounds like it should be located squarely in Gotham instead of cozily nestled in beautiful Montrose, protected from LA by a couple of mountains. I hadn’t read very much about it beforehand, as I was pretty sure I knew ghost gold when I heard it and the use of a word that’s been out of medical fashion since orphan labor was banned made me very excited about the possibility of crazy ghosts, or at least some spooky medical equipment or something.