Visit to Ventura ~ Olivas Adobe and Bella Maggiore Inn

Next week!!! A visit to Olivas Adobe with Richard Senate and others for a tour. Joe and I will be staying the night at Bella Maggiore Inn in room 17 again. We have some plans for unique props and will be toting some new equipment we just bought to enhance and clarify evidence in order to duplicate from previous visits and hopefully, capture more paranormal evidence. A bit about these sites from websites ~ http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-hauntedhotels6.html: ~ http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghoststories/ghostlady.php Bella Maggiore – Refer also to previous posting on my blog to review our previous visit to this site visit. Located in downtown Ventura, the Bella Maggiore is a lovely 1825 Italianate building. It is also haunted by a number of ghosts that are known to roam the hallways. In Room 17, the ghost of Sylvia, a prostitute who committed suicide in the room around the time of World War II, has been known to knock on the door. However, she only knocks only appears at the door if the room is occupied by a male. Olivas Adobe ~ Refer also to previous posting on my blog to review our previous visit to this site visit. Authored by Richard Senate: She was scared. One could see that in her eyes that night. I had seen that look many times in the past. It was the look of a person who had seen a ghost, a frightening ghost. The young woman in question was a volunteer helping during one of the ghost tours offered at the historic Olivas Adobe in Ventura, California, and her job was to greet the public as they came in. Those who took the tour that night did see things and managed to take pictures of mysterious “orbs” in the old 1847 hacienda that night, but the poor volunteer got the worst of it. I doubt she will volunteer again. She was alone at the gate to the parking lot with her clip board. Her job was to greet people and check them in from the sign-up list. She later said she felt odd as if someone or something was watching her. Then, something caught her eye. She turned and, by the flagpole, not ten feet away, she saw a woman standing there. The figure was wearing a long white dress and had long black hair that hung below her shoulders. The most startling thing about the woman were her eyes--she had none! The place were eyes should be were nothing but bloody pits, as if her eyes were cruelly ripped away by some fiend. The figure of the eyeless phantom then slowly vanished. Over the years there have been many sightings of ghosts at the historic Olivas Adobe, but no one has ever told of such a horrific apparition. Not long after that encounter, one of the women on the tour inside the house asked who was on the site, because she saw a woman with long hair and a long white dress from the balcony. The woman was walking in the rose garden! Who is the mysterious Lady in White and what happened to her eyes? An answer came from another group that visited the site months after the sightings of the mysterious lady. They found the upstairs children’s room most active with cold spots and thing even moving. A sort of code was set up using dowsing rods. From this crude attempt at spirit communication a bizarre story came forth. The ghost, spirit or essence called herself Maria and she confessed to be a Native American servant girl who once worked at the house. The house needed many servants to operate and many were former Native Americans from the California Missions. She said that she was murdered in the house and buried not far away. A Yankee visited the ranch and was a guest of the Olivas Family. He saw Maria and wanted her. He presented the young girl with simple gifts and fancy words. At last, he lured her into the storage room off the kitchen. When she complained, he took a knife and cut out her eyes! After he had his way with her, the Yankee strangled her, hiding the body under some bags of goods. He then left the hacienda, riding south toward Los Angeles. The cook found the body not an hour after the killer had left and alerted the family. They were livid that their hospitality was repaid with such barbarism. The Olivas son’s mounted their fine thoroughbred horses and went in pursuit. Their fine animals caught up to the fleeing Yankee near Saticoy Springs. One of the sons, a skilled vaquero, lassoed the murderer by the neck and pulled him from the saddle. They dragged him back to the adobe where the victim’s father waited in tears. He ran to what was left of the Yankee and stabbed him in the heart. The killer was, most likely, dead at this time, but vengeance was called for. The murderer’s body was tossed into the quick sand of the near-by Santa Clara River and never found. Not one bit of evidence exists that this story is true, but, justice was swift in old California and such a reaction seems in keeping with the times. The ghostly presence said that she was glad that justice was swift and her abuser and murderer was slain. Is this the answer to the story of the eyeless ghost woman? Who can say? Many times, when a ghost can tell their tale they just vanish away. Let’s hope the ghost woman has moved on to a better place, that place we all must go when our time comes.

Many mysterious faces and figures in this photo of Hitler's bunker

After reading the article listed below and viewing the unpublished photos, I was drawn to one particular photo which I am sharing here on my blog. My eyes were immediately centered on the figure of a lady on what appears to be a door, at first I thought it was a bed upturned. I have yet to find any reference to this photo being odd, eerie or paranormal. Therefore, I suppose it's my interest to share this with others so they may view, analyze and share if they so care to.

* Quoted from an article posted on this website: http://life.time.com/history/inside-hitlers-bunker-rare-and-unpublished-photos/#2 * In April 1945, as Russian and German troops fought — savagely, street by street — for control of the German capital, it became increasingly clear that the Allies would win the war in Europe. Not long after the two-week battle ended, 33-year-old LIFE photographer William Vandivert was on the scene, photographing Berlin’s devastated landscape. * Between August 1940 and March 1945 American, RAF and Soviet bombers launched more than 350 air strikes on Berlin; tens of thousands of civilians were killed, and countless buildings — apartment buildings, government offices, military installations — were obliterated. Vandivert, LIFE reported, “found almost every famous building [in Berlin] a shambles. In the center of town GIs could walk for blocks and see no living thing, hear nothing but the stillness of death, smell nothing but the stench of death.” * Hundreds of thousands perished in the Battle of Berlin — including untold numbers of civilian men, women and children — while countless more were left homeless in the ruins. But it was two particular deaths, those of Adolf Hitler and his longtime companion and (briefly) wife Eva Braun, in a sordid underground bunker on April 30, 1945, that signaled the true, final fall of the Third Reich. * Vandivert was the first Western photographer to gain access to Hitler’s Führerbunker, or “shelter for the leader,” after the fall of Berlin, and a handful of his pictures of the bunker and the ruined city were published in LIFE magazine in July 1945. A few of those images are republished here; most of the pictures in this gallery, however, were never published in LIFE and vividly illustrate the surreal, disturbing scenes Vandivert encountered in the bunker and in the streets of the vanquished city beyond the bunker’s walls. * In his typed notes to his editors in New York, Vandivert described in detail what he saw. For example, of the sixth slide in this gallery, he wrote, “Pix of [correspondents] looking at sofa where Hitler and Eva shot themselves. Note bloodstains on arm of soaf [sic] where Eva bled. She was seated at far end … Hitler sat in middle and fell forward, did not bleed on sofa. This is in Hitler’s sitting room.” Remarkable stuff — but, it turns out, it’s only about half right. Historians are now quite certain that Braun committed suicide by biting a cyanide capsule, rather than by gunshot — meaning the bloodstains on the couch might well be Hitler’s after all. A NOTE ON THE PHOTOGRAPHER: William Vandivert — who at 6 ft. 5 in. held the distinction of being the tallest photographer on staff — shot for LIFE from the late 1930s through the late ’40s. In 1947 he joined Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David “Chim” Seymour in founding the legendary Magnum photo agency. (Rita Vandivert, his wife, served as Magnum’s first president.) William Vandivert died in 1992. Read more: http://life.time.com/history/inside-hitlers-bunker-rare-and-unpublished-photos/#ixzz1tw5UmyR8

EVP Files

I am in the process of adding some EVP files (audio files) to this blog so others can hear some of what we've recorded. For now, this is a test and I'm hoping it passes! Here is our site which we download and share these files. You should be able to click on the site and view our downloads. http://soundcloud.com/joeandvickieg

Glen Tavern Inn, Santa Paula CA

Photo above taken at around 2:00 a.m. Saturday night ~ stairway entrance to room floors.

Joe and I shared a wonderful week end at Glen Tavern Inn in Santa Paula CA. This adventure event was organized by Richard Senate, Ghost Hunter who we've met up with on a few occassions and events.

The venue:
History: The hotel was built in 1911 and is known for its colorful history. At the time the Inn was built, Santa Paula was growing and prospering as an oil town, and was headquarters to Union Oil. The Tudor-Craftsman hotel was designed by famed architects Burns and Hunt and funded by a consortium of twenty-five wealthy townsmen each of whom anted one thousand dollars for its construction. It was erected directly opposite the train depot to provide accommodations to the many newcomers lured to the area by the burgeoning oil and citrus industries, and to provide a gathering place for Santa Paula's growing high society circles.

During Prohibition, the Inn retained something of its Wild West origins as the third floor - at that time an open space not yet built out into separate guestrooms - was utilized as a speakeasy, brothel and gambling parlor. Many legends stem from this era, including tales of murdered prostitutes and shootouts between unruly gamblers. These stories, though mostly unconfirmed, persist with a life of their own as part of the hotel’s rich lore.

In the 1930s, Hollywood discovered the valley hamlet of Santa Paula.[2] Its ruggedly picturesque vistas and hills – improbably close to the sprawl of Los Angeles - provided a setting for numerous Westerns. During this era, the Glen Tavern Inn hosted such notables as Carol Lombard, John Wayne, Houdini and canine thespian, Rin Tin Tin, who boasted his own suite long before “pet-friendly” entered the hospitality lexicon.

Eventually, as oil money and old Hollywood moved on Santa Paula traded fortune, glamour and vice for the quieter constancy of agriculture and small town life Americana. The train depot became defunct, and likewise economic development bypassed the town. For the next half century the hotel endured a marginal existence, alternating owners and uses many times as it slowly sank into flop-house decrepitude until it was eventually rescued by developers with intentions of restoring its original grandeur.

Our Experience:
The inn has a feeling of peacefulness. When I walked in I felt a comfort. Our group was reserved on the 3rd floor ~ We were in room 303. Our meetings and discussions were in room 308, the Houdini Room. Room 307 was kept open for access for experiments and investigation during the entire event. Which, proved to be for great opportunity. In this area (room 307) the legend is during Prohibition, there was gambling and alcolhol served. Along with murder and mayhem. This is confirmed one of the most actively haunted areas in the inn.


The 3rd floor has 8- 10 rooms and an alcove, a small raised area with a comfortable old chair for sitting and looking out the window. That area, in particular seemed to draw in an attraction and feeling that was not as more prevelant than other parts of the inn. I sat there in the chair for about 10 minutes when we arrived and checked into our room. The time was about 3:00 p.m. I was overcome by the feeling of safeness. It was in this area that Joe was able to capture (displayed photo) an outstanding orb with a mist around it.

Our experiences in Room 307:
Later that evening, after group introductions and discussion we broke for a dinner break. During that time between 7:00 - 7:30 p.m. Joe and I investigated room 307. We used our Ovilus, digital voice recorder, camera, video camera, EMF device and K2. The EMF readings were high for the most part and we could not find an external source. They were also inconsistance so we discounted that as interior wiring and, at that time deemed it non-paranormal.

Lying the K2 on the bed we started asking questions. We asked if "whoever was there could make the lights on the device light up all the way cross to the red", we got a bit of a response, Joe then said "made all the lights go out" the response on the audio (DVR/digital voice recorder) was heard outload at the time "I won't make it...". It sounds like the voice of a female child. A class A EVP!!!

As of this day, we haven't analyzed all of our information yet and will do that within this week and post any additional findings, if any. I will also try to record in visual form, the audio (ha!) of the voice captured in room 307.

Photographs:
Taking photos with our Sony digital with the shutter speed set at 3200, the highest it will go, also proved to enhance our chances for any capture of anything that was not normal (paranormal). The photo displayed in this post, was taken later in the evening and we were very careful making sure there were no flash reflections. We will further analyze our photos and see if we captured anything out of the ordinary (paranormal ha!)

Photo taken in alcove 3rd floor: