Located outside the small town of Atwater, in Merced County lies the Castle Air Museum which was part of the former Castle Air Force Base. The museum is home to over fifty aircraft ranging from World War II, Vietnam, and Cold War era aircraft. One craft there in particular seems to have some particular activity going on.
On the grounds is a restored B-29 Superfortress (this is the same type of aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki) named Raz'n Hell that is haunted by a spirit nicknamed Arthur. No one really knows who Arthur could be, as the plane was pieced together from three separate planes of the same model.
Nose art from the B-29 Superfortress Raz'n Hell. There have been reports of the landing lights being on, even though all the wiring had been removed. Also the propellers of the plane have been seen to rotate, even though they have been locked into place. Some people have also seen a shadowy figure moving around the cockpit area. There was another incident of a worker doing some repair work in the cockpit when he asked his friend to hand him a wrench. Not looking, he felt the wrench placed in his hand. Completing his work, he happened to look out the window and noticed his friend was outside the plane, not inside as he had though. Looking around, he found that he was the only person in the plane.
Several paranormal groups have investigate the Raz'n Hell and have reported different occurrences. One group believed they had made contact with the spirit of Arthur as they had brought a geigher counter in and it was making noises akin to that of Morse Code (on of the persons in the group was former military and had recognized the patterns). Other groups have reported knocking on the fuselage while in the cockpit.
No one knows who Arthur is, or why he haunts the Raz'n Hell. Perhaps he was part of a crew from one of the planes used to make the Raz'N Hell. Some thing he might have been the radio operator, which would explain why Morse Code was reportedly heard. Perhaps Arthur was someone who worked on the base and served on a B-29 at some time and feels attached to this aircraft for some reason.
I've been to Castle myself and have seen the B-29 and the plane is absolutely gorgeous. For those who have never been to the museum I'd recommend it. Not just for the story of Arthur, but the amount of history that is here.
Here is the link to the plane's page. At the bottom of that page you can find a link to a paranormal group's investigation of the plane that they did with Channel 30.
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.
A small, phantom like creature was recently caught on CCTV (closed circuit television) in a shopping mall in Chile. At the five second mark you can see a small, semi-transparent black entity enter the screen from the bottom center. It wanders towards the right before going up towards the top left before disappearing off screen.
Who knows what this is. I've seen other surveillance tapes where a strange object moves across the camera's view, but upon closer inspection it was just something on the lens of the camera. Whatever this is, it seems to be moving across the floor. Whatever it is, it's pretty damn weird.
Thanks to Heather over at the Fresno Beehive for sending me this video.
