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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Is Merced's Lake Yosemite haunted?

Are these waters haunted by the ghost of a mother looking
for her lost children?

Situated five miles east of Merced, Ca and half a mile north of UC Merced, is Lake Yosemite. Created in 1888 for irrigation purposes, the lake is home to fishing and boating, and even has a sailing club of almost one hundred members.

There is a story that a few decades ago a woman had taken her two children to go swimming at the lake one summer afternoon. The two children decided they wanted to dive off the boat tower, perhaps to impress their mother, and climbed up it. Unknown to any of them, the water was shallow at this spot. As both children dove, they struck their heads on rocks in the shallow water. But for some reason, when authorities were summoned to retrieve the bodies they were not found.

For years the mother would drive out there, delusional, and look for the bodies of her children, hoping to find them. She did this for years until she finally passed away. But even in the afterlife she felt guilty over what happened. People have reported seeing headlights in the distance, never seeing or hearing a car as they approached. Others have claimed to have actually seen her walking along Old Lake Road, calling for her children, hoping that she will finally find them.

I'm not sure if this next story is related or not, but while researching the ghost of the mother I came across a story of someone who was working late one night, when they came across a little boy hiding behind a bbq pit. They asked him if he was lost, but the little boy ran and hid behind another bbq pit. As the worker approached the pit, there was no one there and there weren't any other hiding places. Walking back to where a coworker was, they mentioned what happened and the coworker said they saw the same little boy hide, but didn't see where he went.

Could this little boy be one of the children who died while swimming? The area mentioned isn't near the boat tower. Perhaps the bodies of the two children somehow ended up in this area, and that is why the mother never was able to find the bodies of her children. Or perhaps this is the ghost of another child, whose parents could never find him. Either way I think a trip up north is in order to investigate the place for myself.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I live in Merced and there are really a bunch of stories about that ghost, one is that she stands on top of the tower and looks out for her lost love, another is she is a witch who was stoned to death and she takes revenge by luring people out to the middle of the lake and watching them drown, I have seen this ghost with my own eyes, she was walking across the lake, a flowing white gown and white hair just as long. Its insane really.

Anonymous said...

Okay I have to comment on this story. Though I have lived near merced for 28 years I have never heard about this lake until yesterday. My neighbor had some friends that went to Lake Yosemite for a camping trip which ended to fast. It was dark and they had another friend take a picture of them together and right behind them you can see a little girl pasty white and vintage clothes on. When they looked at the picture on the phone they say this little girl and then backed their things and left. I saw the picture with my own eyes and now I am left with question.Planing a trip hopefully soon while the weather is still nice to go and see what I can find myself.

Anonymous said...

im anew recent employee at teh lake ive lived in merced all my life and ive heard the stories from coworkers but havent seen anything there but i must say working late in the evening there in the back with the bbq pits will give u the spokes

Anonymous said...

Me and my buddies were planning on goin out there in a couple of days at like mid night hopin to see her most of the people i talked too said it wasnt real or they never even heard of it so i ve been trying to research about it but cant really find alot about it so if you got any information you can send it to keeter3532@yahoo.com ... Gracias :)

LaocambianBoy said...

Ok me and my brothers, cousin, and friend went to the old lake which is across the yosemite lake and i witness some paranomal activities at that lake we seen a dark human figure in the distance by the big tree you can swing on as we got closer it faded away but as we stood by the restroom we heard a ladies voice and didnt see anything we ran under the barb wired fence to the towers i was scared like shit that night we made our way towards the toward as we were in front of the tower my brother said he could see a head peeping on the corner on the top we had a group of 5 so we stook together as we stood we heard bubblie sounds coming beneath the water as if someone was drowning we made are way back to the car hoping not to see the lady which we did not we went in the car and i felt paranoid as if we were folliwed home.

LCM said...

I did the same thing. I had visited the tower on several occasions and witness paranormal situations. At one point my ex, and a few of our friends decided to go to OldLakeRoad one night and we walked along the dirt road towards the tower. The cows seemed abnormal for being cows.. they were actually moving in an unusual way. Of course we figure it were just a coincident till we came to the tower. Once to the tower, we noticed something odd. The door was open, which in fact the door has always been shut. And this figure stepped out. I could tell it was a woman in this long white dress from the late 1800's. She looked as if she were reaching for us, and we ran for it, except I tripped and she came closer and closer to us. I heard a story about the white lady from my mother. If you walk towards her, she disappeared but if you ran from her she gets closer with speed. So I moved towards her as if I had some hidden strength. She disappeared and my friends helped me back up and headed back towards the car. We returned on several occasions in hopes to witness this ghost again, but sadly she just never returned. That same night, however, we visited the old barn that was burnt down years ago by Merced College. Let's just say we saw something jumping from the trees, we ran for it, and my friend was had claw marks on his thighs from whatever it was. Things happen if you truly believe in the paranormal..that's all I have to say.

Blessed said...

I've lived in Merced all my 40 years of life and have spent many days and evenings at Yosemite Lake. All I can recall as a child is my grandparents and my tia's (Aunt in Spanish) telling my cousins and I stories about the La Llorona, the crying, weeping woman who would come out at night searching for her two children who drowned. In the Mexican culture I was told this story that has been passed on from generation to generation to some what frighten our children so that they stay away from the waters. As an adult mother now I have shared the story with my children as well so that they come in from the murky waters of Lake Yosemite at dusk. I had never seen La Llorona but after hearing the story as a child, Lake Yosemite can give you an eerie creepy feeling.

Anonymous said...

i had just came home from lake yosimite tonite. no ghost or signs of "the lady" were found. i will probably go out there again to check but from what i seen nothing strange is happening there

Anonymous said...

This story is more than a 'few decades' old...I'm 57 and the story was told when I was in high school in Merced forty years ago. I've been to the lake many times and have never seen anything

unholySpork said...

I live in Merced, and have been going out to the Lake for AEONS! Well, maybe not AEONS, but for a while anyways! I used to walk with my friends out to the Tower and drink Boones Farm Wine and Coors Light and wait to see the Lady in White. ( we WERE just crazy College kids, after all! ) We saw a LOT of stuff, but never managed to see her!

I DID have a girlfriend, tho, who claimed to have seen her. She was on an overnight boat trip, spending the night in a sleeping bag in a boat. She said that she woke up and saw a pale female leaning over her. When she was finally able to extricate herself from the covers and get outside, there was no one there but her and the 2 others on the boat.

Katitude said...

Yes, there is something out there. We have a boat in the dock and have seen, heard, and felt strange stuff. We were out there after sunset one night, and I looked up and saw someone walking down the docks, I said out loud "whos is that?" then they just vanished. It was dark, and I could only make out a figure. Come out to the lake at night, and find out yourself.

Unknown said...

Hi my name is jr I live in merced since I was little and I been seen my uncle when he passed away and since that day I been communicating with him and I can communicating with the people that die in the lake god gave me this power to talk to people that are no longer here

Weasley Rench said...

Until so eti e I. The 1970s, you could drive on the dirt road on the levee. We used to stop at the tower, and back then you could walk across the bridge to it, and walk around it. I always got kind of a strange feeling in that place.

Unknown said...

My friends and I saw her just how you describe her, she ran across the sand in the back part of the lake & into the bathrooms. This was at night. In a picture we took we could see a little girl floating over the water very clearly

Unknown said...

My friends and I saw her just how you describe her, she ran across the sand in the back part of the lake & into the bathrooms. This was at night. In a picture we took we could see a little girl floating over the water very clearly

Unknown said...

The stories about the women & the two kids is 100% real. One night I was there with a couple of friends on the back side of the lake, since we got there we all got a really bad vibe, I had goosebumps & could just feel all the crazy energy. Since it was really late (around 1 a.m) we decided to get in our underwear & get in the water, as soon as I went in I got the WORST feeling ever, something just didn't seem right & I had this feeling of getting out, there was a really bad energy. So we got out & decided to snap a few pictures, well, at some point we sat down near the bathrooms in the backside of the lake, we were talking and what not (enjoying ourselves) when all of a sudden we all got the worst vibe ever, everyone was nervous & REALLY scared, I was very calm as I already knew something was wrong, then all of a sudden we noticed this tall lady/ghost coming out of the water & running towards the bathrooms, she was in a white long dress that looked very old & she had long blonde/white hair. Prior to that we heard bubbling noises in the water & sounds of swimming but no one else was there. Also, we felt something run through our legs under the table & when we looked there was nothing there. When we got home I was looking through the pictures & in my picture in the background over the lake you could clearly see a young girl in an old/vintage dress floating over the water & looking directly at the camera. I can say the mother & the her two kids DEFINITELY haunt this lake/area.

Anonymous said...

I use to be a life guard at that lake in the mid 80's and as life guards we would have the keys for all the gates so at night when the park was closed we use to drive our cars unto scout island and look out over the lake or have huge bonfires until 1:00 am. In regards to the white lady I have heard 2 versions of the ghost. The story of the 1800's before the lake opened and the tradegy of the children and then the more recent one of the kids jumping off the tower which in fact is possible because if you jump on the wrong side the water is very shallow and as life guards folks were forbidden to go over their because of the changing water depth.
Anyway, 3 summers I was out their I can tell you their was a lot of tradgy in a triangle around the tower, their use to be the house where the caretaker for Mid lived and he was killed very tragically in a motorcycle accident. His wife who was very young pretty and had young children did go crazy and as life guards we were told by the sheriffs her house was off limits to the public and everybody for the time I was out their left her alone. In addition this one summer a boat was fishing right up against the tower and a huge wind storm came out of nowhere and flipped the boat killing one of the fisherman. As life guards we got out their fast but the tower was on the other side of the lake so it would takke a good 10 minutes by jet ski to get their. Myself and the Sheriff dive team could never figure out how the guy died. Because the swim from the shore was only 20 yards but the water is cold even though the outside temp that day was over 100 degrees and they said he died when he hit the water case closed.
After that I can remember at least 3 different nights when locking up the gates late at night garbage cans being thrown around and spontaneous bright lights that would disappear just before we could get a closer view. I will say people would be shocked of the number of accidental deaths at the lake, sudden heart attacks, drownings, boating accidents many happening around or in that triangle I described. I never put the connection together until I read these posts. I never saw a ghost but looking back their was quite a few deaths that were very tragic and late at night I would definitely hear weird sounds. That lake and tower at night look very weird in the middle of the night and the currents around that tower are very dangerous I would not be surprised if that lake were haunted.

Autism#1keyboardmyson said...

The lady white is not the only spirit to haunt thelake the bubbles that awake S every season from September-dec it swims there the old care taker knew of it

Autism#1keyboardmyson said...

The mutant human cross breed either military science testing or nature deformed humananoidish blends into background walks on the roofs moves so faster than a blink jumps tree tops makes blood messes from stray cats in the neighborhood has been back since the fires and the claw marks exstremly deep can seem upright or on all 4 and is still in merged everyone is afraid at night to go outside their homes so tell me science man from Yosemite government facility to bring his but down to merged and get the poor scared bastard

Autism#1keyboardmyson said...

Merged has always been a lawless town there are slot of haunted places and trapped spirits slot of young girls stories and things no-one talks about

Unknown said...

Can you email me the picture?

Ndipndiphonse@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Awesome

Anonymous said...

I am 74 this year and the story of "the White Lady" has been around since I was in High School. I spent a lot of time out at the lake in my childhood, waterskiing -- but that was in the day time. Never been there at night. I've heard many say she's real, but who knows? Seems like one of those stories that is probably somewhat based in fact and also somewhat based in people's superstitious thinking. This is now surely folklore and the story will be told for all time.