The Haunting of the Merced County Courthouse Museum

 There’s something irresistible about a good ghost story — especially when it combines dusty history, old courtrooms, and that eerie sense of a presence just out of sight. The video below features local Merced resident Ron Pirtle discussing his experiences at the Merced County Courthouse Museum, a historic building he believes to be haunted by a spirit he calls “Everett.”

Watch the video here:

According to Pirtle, Everett appears as a turn-of-the-century gentleman, dressed in period clothing, seemingly lingering in the building long after his time should have passed.

A Brief History of the Museum

The Merced County Courthouse Museum was once a functioning courthouse, now preserved as a public museum showcasing artifacts, photographs, and records from Merced County’s past. Inside, visitors can find old courtrooms, legal documents, and exhibits that trace the development of the area through the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Buildings like this often become magnets for ghost stories. With decades of trials, tragedies, disputes, and unresolved human emotion contained within its walls, it’s easy to understand why some believe the past never fully left.

The Ghost Known as “Everett”

In the video, Ron Pirtle describes multiple strange experiences inside the courthouse and over time, these encounters led him to believe the presence may be tied to a man from the early 1900s — someone he came to call “Everett.” Rather than describing the spirit as threatening, Pirtle portrays Everett as a lingering remnant of another era, still attached to the place where he once lived, worked, or possibly met his end.

What makes the story compelling isn’t just the paranormal angle — it’s how closely it’s tied to the building itself. Everett, if he exists, isn’t a random ghost. He belongs to the courthouse.

When History and Hauntings Collide

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, haunted courthouse stories sit at a strange crossroads between folklore and documented history. These buildings were once places of justice, punishment, betrayal, desperation, and sometimes death. They absorbed human emotion on a daily basis for decades.

For believers, that emotional weight leaves an imprint. For skeptics, the stories still offer a fascinating look at how people interact with historic spaces — how the imagination fills in the quiet gaps that time leaves behind.

Either way, the Merced County Courthouse Museum stands as another reminder that some of the Central Valley’s strangest stories are hiding in plain sight.