Former Tulare County General Hospital rumored to be haunted

While doing some research for another article I'm working on I came across the story of the Hillman Health Clinic in Tulare County.

The set of buildings located on K Street and Bardsley Ave were formerly part of the old Tulare County General Hospital center. When the hospital moved to its current location on Cherry Ave, the buildings were converted to be used as a public and mental health clinic (with other services that occupy the second floor and maintenance housed in the basement).

Most activity seems to be centered on the second floor and in the basement. The elevator will move between floors and when the doors open there is no one inside. The evening cleaning crew refuse to work past 9:00 pm as heavy footsteps can be heard on the floor even when it's empty. And apparently a staff member was once taken to the basement even though they pressed the button for a different floor.

In the basement a maintenance worker reported seeing shadowy figures several times moving around and even walking through walls. The strangest incident was when they were asked by a supervisor to check on a room for something. As they approached the room the witness came across a nurse dressed in a white uniform and had a white cap with a red cross on it. Curious as to why a nurse would be in the basement, he turned around but she had disappeared. Upon returning to his supervisor he asked if any nurses were in the basement, but was told there wasn't any. When he described the uniform, the supervisor looked confused as she said that type of uniform hadn't been worn by the nurses in decades.

I've always wondered if hospitals were haunted, given the amount of death that must occur here as well as the amount of emotions that the place had seen over the years. Perhaps the footsteps being heard are a residual haunting, were the same event is played over and over. But what of the incidents that happen with the elevator? Someone still trying to leave the hospital even after all these years?

And then there's the story of the nurse. Obviously the worker saw someone who worked there many years ago, but why was she still there? I know most people think that a person haunts the place where they die (and this is definitely possible with a hospital), but I've always been of the belief that someone may haunt where they were most happy. And in the case of the nurse, it was where she worked (which would explain the uniform).

Whatever the reasons may be, there is definitely something wandering the floors of the Hillman Health Clinic late at night.

Bigfoot reported seen in eastern Tulare County

A view of Kings Canyon National Park, near where the creatures

were reportedly seen.

In the summer of 2007, a lone hicker was backpacking up the Pacific Crest Trail which lies about 70 miles east of Visalia in Tulare County in the Kings Canyon National Park. At around 2:00 pm that day the witness describes seeing two large upright figures in the distance covered with dark fur. At a distance of about 200 yards he observed the creatures at the edge of a deep canyon for around 10 minutes. The hiker then decided to make a coyote call to see what the creatures reactions would be. Needless to say it spooked the creatures and they left the area in a few seconds.

The witness further stated that he did have a camera on him, but he was so caught up in the moment that he forgot he had one on him. But given the distance he was from the creatures, the pictures would have not had that much detail to them. The witness decided to go back to the same location the following year (2008) to see if he could see the creatures again and this time photograph them. Unfortunately he didn't see anything, but did find some month old scat that he assumed was from a Bigfoot (why he thinks this is never stated in the report) and he claimed it contained hair from small mammals and some finely chewed vegetation, including some type of red berries.

As I had posted many months ago, this is another sighting seen in the area during the summer. A colleguae of mine theorizes that the Bigfoot are migrating through the area during the summer months and that's why most of the sightings occur then. One day we plan on making a trip up to where the sightings have occured, but with money being as tight as it is right now that may be a while. Hopefully an organization like the Bigfoot Researchers Originization can take a look into this and discover what's going on.

The link to the original report can be found here.

Witnesses see large bright object fall out of the sky in Tulare County

Two witnesses were driving on Road 222 in Tulare County in March 2006 around 9:00 pm when the driver noticed a bright object in the East falling from the sky. The way they described it was as if the moon had "suddenly fallen to the Earth". They further described the size of the object as the size of a dime held out at arm's length.

As it fell it changed colors from a brilliant white to an amber color before disappearing behind the Sierra Nevadas. The witness said as it was falling it appeared to be on fire and they expected to hear an explosion but never did. The witness asked their father if he had seen the same object and he confirmed that he did.

As they continued driving they scanned the radio stations for any mention of the object but didn't hear anything. The witness also states that they believe Area 51 in Nevada may somehow be involved as the object fell in the general direction of the military base.

MUFON Report: an object fell to earth east of my house

my father an i were driving south on rd. 222, it was around 9:PM, i noticed a bright object out the driver side window directly east of us,i looked up and saw a round bright light falling to earth.it was as if the moon had suddenly fallin to earth.if you held a dime out at arms length this object would barely be covered by the dime, this thing was huge.i couldn't take my eyes off it.i watched as it fell, and it began to change froom a brilliant white to an amber color.just before it vanished behind the sierras ,it seemed to be on fire, i could see flames comming from the top of it.i watched and was expecting to see and hear a large explosion,but nothing, not even a flicker did we see after that.i looked at my father and said, did you see that,dad answered yep, sure did.i listened for any radio reports ,but never heard a thing.my question to you people is, did any one else report this objet to you.any body traveling east on highway 198 just east of visalia calif,and due north of exeter at that time, couldn,t have missed seeing this thing, it was impossible to miss it.one thing is for certain ,somthing very big hit the ground that night. i might mention, area 51 is in that general direction to where this thig feel.

The Legend of the Bardsley Road ghost.

In the small farming community of Exeter, located in Tulare County, there is a rural road that has it's own ghost. The road is called Bardsley Road and supposedly the spirit of a headless motorcycle rider can be seen riding up and down it late at night.

Legend has it that sometime during the 1950's a motorcycle rider was killed on Bardsley Road. A few teenagers wanted to play a prank on one of their classmates. At night time they decided to string a rope across a road they knew he traveled on to get home, at what they estimated to be chest height. As he rode down the road, when he hit the rope he would be knocked off his bike. Or at least that was the plan. Unfortunately they misgauged the height of the rope. When the rider hit it, instead of it coming in contact with his chest, it hit him at the neck decapitating him and killing him instantly.

Apparently the rider never really left the road where he would always ride. Soon after his death, reports of seeing a bright lighting speeding up and down the road were common. Some even said they heard the sound of a motorcycle engine accompanying the light. And a few even said they saw the now headless rider on the road.

When I used to investigate haunted places around the Valley, this story had always peaked my interest and I had talked to a few people about it. One woman told me the story of how she and a few friends were having a bon fire party in one of the vineyards that lined the road. It was about 1:00 am when they saw a bright light coming down the road towards them. Thinking it was the sheriffs trying to break up their party, everyone took off running in separate directions. As the woman is running down one rows of vines, she sees the light following her. As it gets closer she can hear the roar of a motorcycle engine. Having heard of the story of the headless rider, now terrified she ducks under the vines and runs into another row as the ghost rides past her and then disappears.

No one knows why the spirit of the motorcycle rider continues to ride up and down the road. Perhaps he doesn't know he is dead and is trying to find his way home, like he did the night he was killed. Or perhaps he is looking for the people responsible for his death and will ride up and down it until he does.