Haunted Long Beach 2: The Odd and Unusual in and Around Long Beach, California

By Claudine Burnett

Claudine Burnett, author of popular Murderous Intent and Strange Sea Tales Along the Southern California Coast, has at last revised and updated the long out of print Haunted Long Beach. New stories and updates have come her way since the original Haunted Long Beach was published in 1996. Now readers can rediscover the "ghostly" side of one of America's finest cities----haunted houses, phantom airplanes, cemetery apparitions, and ghosts of the Queen Mary come alive in these true stories of eerie happenings in Long Beach, California.

Gathered from historical files and personal experiences, Ms. Burnett has researched these stories extensively to try to find historical evidence as to their cause. All in all, these ghostly tales are sure to entertain both visitors and residents alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 25, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452054469

Claudine Burnett

Claudine E. Burnett's books include From Barley Fields to Oil Town: A Tour of Huntington Beach: 1909-1922 (1996), Strange Sea Tales Along the Southern California Coast (2000), Haunted Long Beach (1996), and Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio (2007). Paul Burnett has a degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he helped organize the university's first surf club. He is co-owner of the premier action sports and surf shop, Surfside Sports (SurfsideSports.com), which started in Newport Beach in 1975.

Book preview

© 2010 Claudine Burnett. All rights reserved.

www.claudineburnettbooks.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 8/17/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4520-5446-9 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4520-5448-3 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 96232150

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Burnett, Claudine E.

Haunted Long Beach 2: the odd and unusual around Long Beach, California / by Claudine Burnett.

p. cm.

Includes bibliography.

1. Ghosts – Long Beach, Calif. 2. Long Beach, Calif. – History.

I. Title.

133.1 – dc21

BF1472.U6 B87 2010

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Native American Hauntings?

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Sightings

Puvungna Portal?

Haunted Hospitals

Seventh Street Navy & Veterans Hospital

Carson Street Navy Hospital

Ghosts of the Rancho Los Cerritos

Séances & Apparitions

Curator Reports

The Phantom Whistle

Residential & Business Haunts

Ghosts in Public Places

Unexpected Visitor

Haunted Theaters

Library Ghosts

Phantoms of the Queen Mary

Eerie Hotels

Fire Station Haunts

The Spirits of Aviation

Ghostly balloons & biplanes

Christmas Ghost

The Graveyard

Don’t Forget Your Lucky Charm

Phantom Airfield

Cemetery Ghosts

Be Careful Who You Give Flowers To

The Almost Bride

Do You Smell Smoke?

Shaking Hands With the Anaheim Dead

Ghostly Goodbyes

Roscoe’s Story

One Last Visit

Stopped Clock

Premonitions

Visit from Michael

Ghostbusting

Bibliography

Dedicated to all those who shared their stories.

AND

Special thanks to my many friends at Long Beach Public Library

who supported me in this project.

002_a_mikeeekow.jpg

Location of various areas mentioned in the book.

Introduction

Since the beginning of recorded history ghosts and paranormal activities have been reported from all parts of the world and from every civilization. All kinds of people have said they have seen ghosts—the young, the old, the highly educated as well as the not so educated. Some have witnessed historical figures walking where they walked during their lifetimes, seemingly unconscious of the presence of living human beings or changes in the residence they once knew. Some have reported time slips—visions of a previous time inexplicably reappearing. There have been sightings of people who have died in traumatic circumstances and other reports of happy, harmless ghosts returning to the house or grounds they once loved.

Long Beach, too, has had its share of ghost stories, from the purportedly haunted Porter sanitarium at the corner of Sunrise and Olive (which turned out to be lights reflected from the Pacific Electric Red Car), to unexplained happenings at the Rancho Los Cerritos and Queen Mary.

In October 1995, the Historical Society of Long Beach and Long Beach Public Library decided that it would be interesting to gather together some true stories of Long Beach hauntings. A form was developed, and publicity went out seeking ghostly tales of our city. After careful review, many were included in the first edition of Haunted Long Beach, along with eerie happenings reported over the years in local newspapers. The book was a tremendous success and has been out of print for several years. I have repeatedly been asked when it was going to be reprinted. Since I am now semi-retired and have a little extra time on my hands, I decided to revise the first edition. Though Haunted Long Beach II includes mainly new stories, I’ve included updated information that gives added insight to many of the ghostly encounters reported in the first book.

The interest in ghosts and the supernatural has skyrocketed since the original Haunted Long Beach was published. Today there is the Internet with such sites as www.ghostvillage.com and www.ghostsofamerica.com where believers as well as skeptics can voice their comments and experiences. Popular reality television shows now use special equipment such as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) Recorders to pick up voice or voice-like sounds that are not audible to the human ear, and which many believe are one way the dead communicate with the living. None of this new fangled equipment has been used to verify the accounts presented here. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of all the stories because, as eighteenth century English writer Samuel Johnson remarked, there is no actual proof of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it, but all belief is for it. Johnson is right, you may not be able to prove that ghosts exist, but everyone certainly loves a good ghost story. That’s what I hope you’ll find here.

Beware. It appears that telling ghost tales can be a dangerous thing, as an article in the May 25, 1953, Press-Telegram pointed out: A 19-year-old Marine is expected to be returned to Los Angeles today from Las Vegas in the ‘everything-went-black’ slaying of a rancher found at the bottom of a well. The Marine, William Lawson, told police he escaped from a Long Beach naval brig where he was held following the stabbing of a fellow Marine. He met Joseph Cyr of Lancaster who told Lawson he could stay at Cyr’s ranch IF he did a bit of work. Cyr, at the bottom of a well they were digging, started talking about ghosts. This frightened Lawson who told Cyr ‘Shut up or I’ll blow your brains out.’ Cyr, thinking Lawson was kidding, continued talking about the supernatural. Lawson pointed a gun at Cyr. Then, as Lawson described it ‘everything went black.’ He then heard the gun fire, and saw Cyr fall back, bleeding into the well.

NATIVE AMERICAN

HAUNTINGS?

Native American Hauntings?

On a promontory overlooking Alamitos Bay, in the eastern edge of present day Long Beach, sits a midden some 200 feet in length, composed almost entirely of shells, bits of Indian pottery and other waste discarded by indigenous tribes at their seasonal feasts. This was the site of the Native American village of Puvungna where, according to our city’s original inhabitants, the world began. It was a sacred site that many believe continues to exude a strong, spiritual energy.

When Rose moved to Long Beach in 1987 she began to have dreams about Native Americans. Since she had never had dreams about a particular culture consistently before, she began to sense someone or something was trying to make her aware of their presence. She used to think that ghosts only resided in spooky old houses, but she soon changed her mind. Her apartment was new, one of those thrown up very quickly in the early 1980’s. Though there were older structures around her, she came to recognize it wasn’t the building that mattered, it was simply the area, and what had been there long before. She came to realize what was haunting her and her roommates wasn’t some drunken sailor killed in a bar fight, but an echo of a much older civilization—an energy that transversed time.

Besides the dreams there were the sightings. One was a figure who always walked in the same direction, from Rose’s kitchen area to her stereo. It seemed to be a young Native American male with dark hair and tanned skin, but dressed in present day wear. Rose never saw a face. When she would look up she would see his side or back. Everyone in the apartment saw the entity at one time or another, but never thought to compare notes.

The other sighting was more exciting. It was a column of fire. Sometimes it shimmered, almost like leaves dancing through it. Occasionally it was just plain fire. It appeared in the hallway, in the same path the walking figure took. Rose and her roommates used to love just watching it. There was never a dark or dangerous vibration associated with the vision. It exuded a calming energy and was soon simply part of their lives.

Were Rose and her roommates picking up energy from Puvungna or one of the other Native American sites scattered throughout present day Long Beach? Besides Puvungna, further to the north along the Los Angeles River, were the villages of Amaungna and Tibahangia. The Long Beach the indigenous tribes lived in was a virtual Eden, with plenty of sea food and water fowl so thick that the sun was often blackened out by the hoards of migrating birds. Jean Stern in the book Enchanted Isle points out that archaeologists working in southern California believe that Native Americans have lived in the area for at least 9,000 years. Unfortunately by the 1850’s most had died from various diseases brought by European settlers.

They were called Tongva which means people of the earth. These Indians later became known as Gabrielinos, after the San Gabriel Mission. Few fragments of the Gabrielino/Tongva mythology survive, but according to A.L. Kroeber in Handbook of the Indians of California, they had a mythic-ritual-social six god pantheon. The principal god was Chungichnish. It was Chungichnish who delegated powers and responsibilities, such as rain making and producing good weather, to the other deities. Chungichnish, according to Gabrielino religion, emerged full grown from a spring on what would become the great village of Puvunga in present day Long Beach. Southern California Native Americans, devoted to their belief in Chungichnish, made yearly pilgrimages to Puvunga (which can be translated as The Gathering, or The Place of the Crowd.) to honor their major god, as well as the sacred spring where, they believed, life on earth first emerged.

The Native American village of Puvunga was heavily populated, with the center of the village being a 2 mile square area bounded by present day Willow Street, Anaheim Road, Palos Verdes Street and Los Alamitos Boulevard. In following centuries, Puvunga and its outlying settlements would become part of the Rancho Los Alamitos. It had close ties with nearby Catalina Island where a religious shrine to Chungichnish was established at the village of Najquqar, a bit inland from the Isthmus.

Tragically, the gentle Gabrielino were exploited, degraded and exterminated and, during the American era, subjected to a form of slavery. Indians were sold liquor, then arrested and jailed as drunks. They were then auctioned off on a regular weekly basis with purchasers paying the Indians’ fines in return for forced labor. Could the spirits of those so ill treated still linger? Is the spiritual energy generated by the sacred nature of Puvunga still felt? Rose thinks so, and stories gathered from California State University, Long Beach students, Los Altos area residents and Veterans’ Hospital workers seem to agree.

001_a_mikeeekow.jpg

Aerial view of CSULB, Los Altos & Rancho Los Alamitos in 1954—all built on the Native American village of Puvungna.

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Sightings

Students, especially freshmen, at Cal State Long Beach are frequently told to expect the unexplainable when walking the college grounds at night. Press-Telegram reporter Lesley Nickus described an eerie fog which often envelops the CSULB campus closest to Bellflower Boulevard. Interestingly, it is seen when atmospheric conditions are not conducive to creating a foggy environment. It’s said that if you stand in this mist and listen closely, you can still hear Native American drumming and chants echoing through time.

Former student Roger A. wrote me about the eerie experiences he had while attending CSULB in the early 1980’s. Roger and his friends sometimes saw odd distortions of light that sparkled like fire, strange mists and other aberrations while returning from class or late night parties to their dorm rooms. Frequently these strange anomalities were accompanied by a chilling breeze from out of nowhere in the middle of an Indian summer heat wave.

Built next to the existent Rancho Los Alamitos Historical Site, CSULB encompasses a large tract of ancient Puvungna, which may explain why the campus continues to experience the odd and unusual. Many believe it’s because the college was erected over a sacred Native American site, and at times the door between the past and the present opens.

If a portal does exist, it remained unnoticed on a vast expanse of farmland for centuries. It wasn’t until the Long Beach Navy Hospital was built on the site in the 1940’s that odd things began to occur. A mysterious fire, which no one could explain, burned through the wooden forms used in pouring concrete for the hospital walls. Was this in any way connected with the column of fire that Rose and her roommates encountered years later, or the light that sparked like fire that Roger experienced? Later, following World War II, when a four-year institution of higher learning was needed for all the former veterans returning to school under the G.I. bill, CSULB was built. Soon strange sensations began to plague construction crews.

In March 1949, Fred H. Bixby agreed to sell a 330-acre parcel of Rancho Los Alamitos land, which included part of Puvungna, for the new $10 million university; but it was not until June 26, 1951, when ground was broken for 21 temporary buildings, that construction crews sensed something amiss. Some workers began to have the uncanny feeling they were being watched. Had bulldozers disturbed the portal and the spirits of those who had once considered this land sacred?

Several CSULB dorms are built near or, as some claim, over Puvungna’s burial ground. Could this explain the strange chants and eerie music, which dorm residents insist aren’t coming from campus events, frat parties or CD players? The burial rites of Long Beach’s indigenous tribes were very elaborate and accompanied by feasting, songs, and dances of several days’ duration, all under the direction of the medicine man. After the ceremony, no mention was ever made again of the person who died, even by his nearest relative. His house and all his possessions usually were burned so nothing would be left to remember him by. However, we are remembering these early Americans from the burials we find and the encounters Roger and other CSULB students have experienced.

Do the spirits of Long Beach’s first inhabitants still linger? Perhaps the Native Americans, known for their hospitality, still wander their ancient villages. Are their visitations to students at Cal State Long Beach just their way of welcoming them? Or are they upset that student housing has been erected over their dead bodies?

Perhaps the white men who subjugated the indigenous tribes and thought the Native Americans had nothing good to offer should have paid more attention to them. If they had, Long Beach oil would have been discovered much earlier than 1921. It seems the Native Americans had a tunnel on Signal Hill, a tunnel they dug to get oil and tar. In 1944 Basil E. Leefer, writing for the Press-Telegram, said he knew an old timer who was helping dig a foundation for a building on Signal Hill. One of the men fell through the bottom of the excavation into a tunnel. He saw a wooden framework bracing the roof of the corridor which stretched into the dark distance. When evening came several of the workmen were curious and returned with lanterns. They had gone only a hundred yards when the roof started caving in. They used existing lumber to brace the roof and with the light from their lanterns they could see that the tunnel widened into a spacious corridor which seemed to have no end. That was the last look they had. The bracing collapsed and the workmen fled. That was the end of their adventure. The