Tuesday, August 11, 2009

GHOST HUNT IN SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

Well I finally got to go to my ghost hunt that I had been waiting for. The last two times I had something set up had fallen through so I wasn't sure how this trip would turn out.

My sister, Maureen and I drove to San Juan Capistrano near the train station and was able to meet up with the rest of the group. It was a small group of only 4 others besides us.

San Juan has said to be haunted for years. Many deaths have taken place there, both natural and at the hands of others.

We were going to walk the town at night and see if we could find any of the spirits that are said to still walk the streets and occupy the buildings.

Come with us as we start the tour.

Our first stop was this old wooden building. It is near the train tracts and is now turned into a shop.

However, it used to be an old house. A "lady of the evening" used to live there over a hundred years ago. The town did not want her there and she was definitely an outcast.

However, back then there were no laws against prostitution so they couldn't really do anything to put her away.

Finally, one day, she washed her clothes and hung them out to dry on the line. Well, her "unmentionables" (better known now as her under pants) were also hung up where everyone could see them.

That was all the town sheriff needed as there was a law on the books that these unmentionables were not allowed to shown in public. He arrested her and put her in the jail, which happened to be right next to her house.

There she stayed until the day she died, three years later.

Many people claim to have seen her spirit who still remains behind today.



While everyone was listening to the stories and taking photos of the house, my attention was called away to the house across the street.

I felt as if we were being watched from other there. It was so dark that I couldn't really tell if someone was out there or not.

So I clicked a few photos. The flash went off and I didn't see anyone standing there. Nor were the lights on in the house.

Then when I came home and uploaded the pictures, I noticed there was an orb in the photo.

Could that be what or whom I felt was watching us?




A 2nd photo shows the orb was still there only in a different spot and a bit bigger.

Was it someone watching us? Maybe the madam we were hearing about? Or was it just dust? After all, it is rather dusty there.

You decide.



As we walked a ways down the street I again had a feeling of someone in back of me. Though I was at the end of the group and knew I was the last person.

So I quickly turned around and snapped a photo. I noticed a fine mist was following us.

Was someone really behind me? I don't know.



As we walked back out from the place we were at I again tried to capture that mist. No mist was there. But a few orbs showed up right near the place the mist was before.

Again, could be dust. I'm not sure. But, I am sure there was a strange feeling that I couldn't explain there.



The mist once again showed up in this photo. It's sort of hard to see. If you click on the photo and enlarge it you can see a bit better where the mist is right at the end of the walk way.




I clicked again as I did see the mist even when I took the photo. Yet this time the mist was gone as quickly as it was showed up. Strange.



We then went into a park where it said a mother had killed her young son and the Spirit of both show up often looking for help.

The real scary thing here was there were spider webs. So I went towards the end of the group and let the guys walk first. Us girls, followed in their foot steps.


It was pitch black out. Hard to see where we were going until someone brightened up the area with a flash from their camera.

It is said that in this group of trees there is a vortex. Now I'm not one to believe in a vortex. But I'm just passing on what we were told.

A vortex, for those who don't know, is said to be a space where there is an opening between here and the here after where spirits can easily cross through.

I offered to walk through the trees to show that nothing was going to happen but the leader of our group asked me not to. So I respected his wishes and didn't go.


When I got home I started to look closely at my photos. Again, this is where the vortex is said to be.

I noticed something strange in this photo. In the area where I circled it. It needs to be blown up to get a better look.


Here I cropped the photo and turned it to black and white. It's still hard to see but the upper right arrow points to what looks like a face and the bottom arrow shows what appears to be a hand.

I'm not sure if this photo will get bigger if you click on it but try it to see.

Is there really something there? Or am I just looking to justify the story of the vortex?
Then we came up to four piles of rocked. It is said these are four graves of Indians. The city is redoing the park and will be digging these bodies up to move them.

Several people claim to have seen and felt something in this area.


We had nothing.



This is the tree where it is said the mother buried her son that she killed. I didn't fell anything here. However, one person in our group said they felt strange here.

There are a few orbs. Again, is it something or just dust? I don't know.



I loved this old house from the 1800's. The lady who lived here died in her home and is said to have been seen in windows looking out and also walking along the porch.

It is now a museum.


We spent some time here doing EVP work. For those of you who don't know what EVP is it where you can capture nosies and voices on a recorder that you can't always hear in person.

Many voices have been captured like this. I'm not sure if anything was on our trip as I have not heard back from the guy who had the recorder.

You can see another piece of equipment we put down. It is a K2 meter. It measures electrical output and is said to light up if a spirit is near as it can capture the change in the environment.

We didn't have anything happen here.


This is on the side of the house. You can also see our leader, Matt.



This is just another one of many shots of the house I took. I would love to live here. Ghost or no ghosts.

I'm going to go back durning the day to go inside and see what the museum has.

We went to the back of the house where many people have seen shadows moving inside. We didn't see anything

We did the K2 Meter here and I asked if anyone was with us to grab hold of it with me and right away it lite up for the first time. We were all taken back.

I then asked a few more questions and it went off in answers to the questions.

I asked if whoever was there wanted us to leave and it stopped. Didn't go off any more.

I then started to move the K2 meter around trying to see if I could get it to go off on it's own. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to light up. Hmm, was someone really communicating with us? It was really strange and I had never seen anything like it before.

Since I was the one holding it I couldn't claim someone was doing something to get it to go off. I knew I wasn't.
We ended up our night at an old cemetery. This is an old Indian burial group with lots of unmarked graves. Only white crosses to show someone was there.


Well anyone who knows me, knows I love old cemeteries and I never had seen this one before.

I have to admit it was creepy just being there. This place is no longer kept up and has been closed now for years.

Some believe the parking lot was paved over a lot of old graves. I don't know if that is true or not but it sure could be.


I have always wanted to go to a cemetery at night. I thought I was going to be sort of scared but I wasn't. In fact it was rather peaceful.

However, a very sad feeling came over me. I felt so sorry knowing these graves are represent someone that has now been forgotten. No one cares for the grounds. Does anyone visit them? I don't know.


In most of the pictures I took nothing showed up. However, Maureen and I walked away from the group for awhile and we started to talk about all the people who were here and how we felt bad that they were unmarked graves.

At that point I said "If anyone is here with us, can you please show yourself to us."

I clicked the camera right afterwards and all these orbs showed up.

Sure they could be dust. But, I like to think they were the people still there knowing that we cared about them and showed up to say thank you.


As we were getting ready to leave downtown San Juan we walked by this house. I clicked a photo.

At first glance it didn't appear to be anything but a picture of the house.

I blew it up and looked closely in the window. No one lives here. It's a business and was closed. No lights were on and no one was around.

Or were they? I did notice something in the window. I put a circle around it for you to see.


Here I cropped it and turned it to black and white to see better. You can see a lady in a long dark dress. She is holding her one hand high above her head pointing up.

Try and blow this photo up if it will let you.

This was the closest I've come to catching what I feel is a ghost.

Like I said, no one was in this building. It was not a refection as everyone else was in front of me. I had stopped to click this photo.
We had a blast. Did we see ghosts? Capture them on film? I'm not sure. What do you think?
Photobucket

16 comments:

Rechelle ~Walnuthaven Cottage~ said...

Great shots. I was wondering how your adventure went. Very cool! How do you feel about it?

Furry Bottoms said...

I totally believe those orbs were not dust. I read somewhere that orbs in pictures like the ones you showed... typically meant someone you love is with you at the moment. But you had a lot of orbs in one picture, so I am not sure if that means everybody you have ever loved and died were there with you in the moment, or if they were the spirits of those who died there. Whatever the case may be, orbs are definitely "something" in my book!

Furry Bottoms said...

In the very last 2 pictures [yes I had to come back and closely explore all the pictures! :)] I noticed something that I wonder if you had seen before. I wonder because the circle you drew did not include the face that I saw. There are the letters OPAL, and your circle... its right outside the circle and to the right of the letter L. I see a face. Do you see it? A profile maybe?

Sometimes It's Good said...

It sounds like you had a lot of fun! Maybe a little eerie but fun anyway.
Hugs, Susan

Leave a Legacy said...

This was so interesting. I have been waiting for you to finally go on this ghost hunt. I find this kind of thing so fascinating. I also think the orbs mean something is there.

jo said...

After reading this, my impression was that I was glad it was you on this excursion and not me! lol I had an unsettled feeling looking at the photos.

About the orbs...I always thought that was a bunch of bunk until the day that I found orbs in my photos. After my dad's heart attack, he was placed in a nursing home. While there, I took over 400 photos of his home for my siblings and I to have to look over what we wanted. (We knew he was dying and none of us lived close.) I did this so there wouldn't be any fights when the time came.

Imagine my surprise when there were orbs in one picture..the place he had his heart attack. There were four pictures of this area and each had orbs. Then there were a couple photos of orbs in two other rooms.

It blew me away. And from that moment on, I was convinced orbs were for real. I have taken thousands of pictures with that digital camera and never seen an orb before or since.

I looked at the photos before reading what you wrote. I had a gut reaction to the vortex area. I don't know that I believe in vortexes either, but it was strange.

Loved the cemetery as well--would love to see daylight shots of it, and I'd love to visit that museum, too.

~~~
We took a walking ghost tour of Charleston, SC a few years ago. They just told ghost stories and history, we weren't looking for ghosts. We came to one old house and the guide told about strange things happening to women in the upstairs bathroom. The place was now a restaurant. My son begged and pleaded for me to go in there to use the restroom--NOT ON YOUR LIFE, kiddo! lol We went through cemeteries there, too, and that was beautiful.

I'm a genealogist and I love to walk old cemeteries, too.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Lots of theorys going on about these..but my son in law says they are studying them. Only nay sayers would say "dust"
I am very familiar with them now...and they look like man.
My largest was about ten inches.
Another person said that they were caused by the flash in a very dark place...me? NOT buying that at all.
I have stopped taking photo's of them...as there seems to be more activity in the house (screaming,and other..noises..which I am sure be thought I was making it up. So...lets just say noise...
Animal noises are...a pig..sounds small..and a VERY large cat hissing.
My poor Mele goes nuts and then the hissing starts...at the foot of our bed!
You did good! How exciting. I have had enough excitment here...
Ed says that they are connecting womens voices to orbs...hmmmm...
Neat post, Joanne. :)

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Thought I would leave another comment. We captured the scream on the tape recorder and heard it also. We sat bolt upright. It was loud and came from the end of our bed..and have the other sounds...and sights.
Ok..now, I am not sure when we will leave for Maine..but it will probably be soon. We will go before it begins to get cold and before my surgery.
We will be landing in Portland Maine and then traveling north to Bucks Harbor, Maine. About 30 miles from the Canadian border.
I can't wait. I just need some time to get stronger.
Hugs.
Mona

Traci said...

Wow that gave me the chills just reading it! I love paranormal stuff though!!Great photos. Traci

Frugalious Living said...

It looks like you had a great time! I love the photos you captured, especially the mist. That one sent chills down my spine! I am planning on taking Hubby to one this Saturday. Its a ghost hunt walking tour with lanterns and all! I will post pics and hopefully we'll get some good stuff.

Allidink said...

YAY! You finally went! How fun! That sounds like it was amazing! I love your photos! I can't believe all that mist! Amazing! Scary! I know that construction there I didn't realize there were apparently graves oh my gosh! Cool experience!

All the best,
Allison

Glenda said...

I would call this spook central. Dam, I wish I could go there.

If you felt like you were being followed, you were, your instincts never lie on that.



Ciao

Anonymous said...

Have you seen my "White Lady Ghost" photos from San Juan Capistrano (Vintage Steak House)?? I was there April 18th and have a photo of "her" in it!!!

Check out this link..you might find it very interesting to go along with your ghost hunting experiences.
http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/9/California_San_Juan_Capistrano_ghost_sightings.html

Best Regards,
Kim A

Anonymous said...

Very nice photos. I've been living in San Juan for the last 8 years now and just went on my first ghost tour a few nights before Halloween. We got some pretty impressive orb filled pictures of the graveyard as well. I did go back to the cemetery during the day about a month ago to see if I could find a way to get inside there but I couldn't. I get that same feeling there as you do. They really want to be remembered.

sirrigs said...

My friend, cousin, girl friend and I went to the old cemetary... Our story is scary. We never talked about it.

sirrigs said...

My friend, cousin, girl friend and I went to the old cemetary... Our story is scary. We never talked about it.