The ghosts of Magic Mountain

Driving to and from Southern California most of us have taken the mountain pass commonly referred to as the Grapevine. As we drive on Interstate 5 we pass through the small town of Valencia and the theme park Six Flags Magic Mountain. If you have ever had the chance to visit the park you'd know that it contains some of the most thrilling rides on the West Coast. But did you know it has it's share of paranormal activity? Three rides in general seem to be haunted and coincidentally enough all three rides have had deaths reported on them.

The first ride is the giant wooden roller coaster Colossus. In 1978, a 20-year-old woman was ejected from the Colossus ride, and fell to her death. Interestingly enough it's not the woman's ghost who is seen, but that of a young child wearing a striped shirt. He is usually seen at night running underneath the support structure underneath Colossus's tracks. Also sometimes at night the lift chain that pulls the coaster up the track can be hears running even though the ride has been shut down for the night.

The next ride that has a death associated with it is the roller coaster Revolution. In 1996, a part-time employee was killed while crossing the tracks of the ride. She was struck by a train full of park visitors as it returned to the station; both passengers and those waiting in line for the ride saw the victim fly into an area beneath the coaster and she was pronounced dead at the scene from major injuries. It's rumored that on a certain part of the ride (assuming the part where the worker is killed) you can sometimes hear the woman screaming, as if her death is being replayed over and over.

The final ride to have a death associated with it is the mega coaster Goliath. In June of 2001 a 28 year old woman died of a brain aneurysm while on the ride. At night, after the park closes is when the activity is supposed to occur. The security office will get a call from the the ride. When answered there is nothing but static on the other end. A group of guards investigated once but when they got to the ride there was no one around. They did report of an uneasy feeling and quickly left.

Ghostly encounters aren't the only strange thing that is going on at Magic Magic. A UFO was seen over Santa Clarita and was reportedly seen from one of the tower rides at the park. The type of sighting is unknown as I was unable to find the actual report, just mention of the sighting.

So next time you take a trip to Magic Mountain, don't go for just the rides. Check out some of the legends this place has. After all the park has been around for over 40 years and is bound to have some secrets.

California werewolf documentary claims to have werewolf footage shot near Fresno

Over the weekend I received an e-mail from a group who had recently filmed a documentary on werewolves in California. They thought I might be interested as there is some footage shot near Fresno of an alleged werewolf sighting. In 2004 Michael Lakoma was camping and was shooting some video on his cellphone when he saw a black creature in the distance bounding toward him. In the video he says it looks like a wolf jumping but on two feet. I have to be honest, it's hard to determine what the object was given the distance and quality of the video.

Later on in the documentary shows video shot in Tehachapi, Bakersfield. What I find interesting is that all three occurrences took place in 2004. And as an associate of mine put it, why wait seven years to bring this to the masses? Why not alert the media that you found something?

I'm going to leave my opinion out of this for right now. But I have asked the creator of this documentary to put me in contact with the experts they had in it as I have a few questions of my own that I would like to ask. Though I'm curious as to what others think of this video and would encourage to leave your thoughts below as well as on their YouTube page.

Recent UFO reports for the Fresno area

It's been a while since I've reported any recent UFO sightings in the area, so when I came across these I felt it was a good time to share some again. All reports are taken from the National UFO Reporting Center and are posted as they were submitted to the site.

Occurred : 11/20/2010 23:00

Reported: 11/20/2010 11:17:54 PM 23:17

Location: Fresno, CA

Shape: Light

Duration:20 minutes

No objects seen only 5 or more lights moving in a rapid circles. Heavy clouds but lights visible. Unusual and scary.

Fresno California zip 93710 November 20, 2010 11:00 PM Weather is heavy clouds Outside my home is very light similar to what it would look like at the beginning of dusk. On my patio, I first noticed how light is it outside and quite abnormal for this time of night. I glanced up and noticed many lights above the clouds moving fast in wide circles. At first I thought it might be a spotlight on the ground but soon realized there were too many of the lights to be one spotlight circling. They move fast and in a very wide circle but not a perfect circle and the heavy clouds would prevent me seeing any beams of light but only the lights themselves. No objects outside the beams of light were present.

((name and telephone number deleted))

Original report can be found here.

Occurred : 12/26/2010 17:02

Reported: 12/27/2010 2:15:04 AM 02:15

Location: Fresno, CA

Shape: Sphere

Duration:15 seconds

Myself and three others viewed a blue orb like sphere stream across the sky.

UFO Sighting I believe at 5:02 PM Pacific Time Monday; December 27, 2010 in Northeast Fresno, California three individuals and myself viewed what appeared to be an UFO. I have no paranoia towards UFO or extraterrestrial life forms. Although I believe their existence highly possible, I believe that this fact has no effect on what I saw. All three individuals including myself acknowledged the scene that occurred. All four of us pointed and followed the bright blue object that can only be described as an orb, as it streaked across the sky at a much lower altitude of any airplane. The orb went south to northeast and was only visible for more than 15 seconds before it vanished very abruptly. As I alerted the other individuals that it could be a possible UFO, they all dismissed the orb and didn’t mention it all day. We viewed this in the northern sky in our car near the San Joaquin River. The orb seemed to be above the water and going in the direction of the river to the north. I believe I saw something that was not an airplane, and much faster than any remote light or flare. This is not a fake account.

Original report can be found here.

Occurred : 2/10/2011 16:40 (Entered as : 02/10/2011 16:40)

Reported: 2/10/2011 5:17:09 PM 17:17

Location: Fresno, CA

Shape: Light

Duration:25 seconds

10-12 lights - Swarm/Formation

I saw 10-12 lights in the sky. They seemed to by very far away and flying in a swarm around a central point. Then the lights simultaneously spread out into a specific formation. Two rows, offset by one.

At this point, I ran to grab my camera, but there were no lights when I returned.

Original report can be found here.

Occurred : 2/28/2011 09:35 (Entered as : 02-28- 11 9:35)

Reported: 2/28/2011 10:16:56 PM 22:16

Location: Fresno, CA

Shape: Oval

Duration:10 min

We were looking SouthEast when in the sky we saw around oval shape object that was changing color

I was in my bedroom when my brother called out to me to come over into the living room and into the backyard to check out this oval round object in the night sky Southeast of us changing colors,but standing very still for about 10 minutes. Then it started moving and i saw luminous colors coming from the craft ranging from yellow,red,green,white,and blue. It went towards the sierra mountains and left.

Original report can be found here.

Occurred : 3/22/2011 15:00 (Entered as : 3/22/11 15:00)

Reported: 4/3/2011 12:04:54 AM 00:04

Posted: 4/3/2011

Location: Shaver Lake, CA

Shape: Triangle

Duration:2 minutes

triangle black military craft.

Perhaps I shouldn't report this, but somehow it might help. We heard a thunderous noise and went outside to see 3 black triangle shaped aircraft. Following these were 3 more. All made very loud noise. These had to be military in origin. It was facinating as each of the 3 were in triangle formation one out front followed by 2.

We live in the forest and this was very unusual. So no UFO to report. Perhaps you might know what these craft were? They were headed from NE to SW, and there is the Lemore Naval Station 60 miles to the SW. We're about 4,500'. So these were perhaps 6-7k feet. Real close.

Original report can be found here.

As I've stated, these reports came from the National UFO Reporting Center. If you've seen anything I would suggest reporting it here, even if you aren't sure exactly what you saw. The Center compiles a database of objects that are seen in the night sky and perhaps what you saw has been seen by others and by reporting it you can verify what was seen.

Strange creatures caught on video in Yosemite

If you've read this site for a while now, you probably know one of my favorite stories is the one of the strange creatures that were captured on CCTV in Fresno. Over the two plus years that I've being doing this, it has to be the strangest video I have seen and the one that I just cannot explain. I was a bit disappointed in thinking that it was just a one time occurrence. It looks like I might have been wrong.

Over the weekend I came across a video reported to have been shot someone up in the Yosemite area. Now the video quality is bad (seriously how hard is it to get a camera with decent resolution?) but you see two figures moving from left to right across the screen and their movement is similar to the creatures from the original CCTV video.

According to the person who posted the video, "sierraparahunter", a couple that were friends of his captured this video from a security camera aimed at the driveway. Not knowing what it was, they sent it to him knowing he had an interest in the paranormal. He noticed the similarities to the stick figure video and decided to post it to YouTube.

Personally I'm not sure what to say about this. The video quality already has me thinking this isn't real, plus the movements just look so unnatural that I wonder if they are puppets. But I found a second video where "sierraparahunter" went up to where the video was taken, took some reference photos for heights, and superimposed the video over them to get a scale for the figures. If the video is accurate, then the larger figure is about 36" to 40" and the smaller figure is maybe a bit over 24".

I've contact "sierraparahunter" but have not heard back from them yet. Until then I'm going to be cautious and not say this video is legitimate. There are too things that have me questioning this.

Furniture store in Turlock rumored to be haunted.

Minerva's Furniture in downtown Turlock

Photo courtesy of Google Streetview.

Usually the stories I write about on here are local legends I either find somewhere on the internet, in a book or from someone's first hand account. Rarely do I find any news articles on anything paranormal related, and when I do it's rarely taken seriously. So while researching a legend in the town of Turlock, I came across this article of a haunted furniture store that was ran in the Turlock Journal back in October 2010.

The article talks about how when Carlos Sandoval, the owner of Minerva's Furniture moved his store into it's current location back in 2008. As he was moving he would notice apparitions moving in the back hallway and what sounded like metal pieces being banged together in the back warehouse. Apparently the back warehouse used to be a blacksmith's shop and some of the original equipment is still there.

Eventually Sandoval decided he wanted to know what was going on and invited a local paranormal group in to investigate. The investigation occurred on Aug. 14, 2010 and a photo of a black shadow was taken in the main building as well as several EVP recordings were done. Then in a January investigation another EVP was recorded in the basement, this time of a growling like noise.

Though these things were unable to be debunked, the investigation group was still not ready to determine Minerva's haunted. But Sandoval isn't so quick to agree. He says there are still mysteries in his store and there is something not normal there.

Full source: Turlock Journal

Author: Maegan Martens

Strange lights seen in Fresno skies over the weekend

It seems that there were some strange lights seen in Fresno this past weekend. It was a little before 10:00 pm on Saturday night when my phone rang and the caller ID said it was my mother calling. I didn't answer, mostly cause I was in a bar drinking and singing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" in a duet and I want my mother to think that I wasn't out causing trouble. So I let it go to voice mail and checked it a few mintues later. She said she had seen some strange lights in the northern part of Fresno County, in a triangle formation. She said they didn't didn't look normal and wondered if I had seen anything. When I had checked my voicemail I had stepped outside as the previously menitoned bar was packed. I happened to look up into the night sky (which was rather cloudy) and noticed there were several spot lights moving across the clouds. I tried calling my mother back, but didn't get ahold of her. Figuring this is what she saw, I decided to drop the matter and go back inside and finish my drink.

The next morning, as I was heading on out to help a friend, my phone rang again. Checking the caller ID, I see it's the my Google Voice number which is the number I have listed for Weird Fresno. In a hurry, I let it go to voicemail (I swear I answer my phone honestly). When I listened to it later, someone had said they had recieved several calls at 5:40 am saying there were strange lights over the east side of Fresno that were moving rather erraticly.

Now did these Sunday morning lights have anything to do with what my mother saw? I still haven't heard back from her, so it's hard to say. I really doubt they were the spotlights I saw on Saturday night as this sighting took place early Sunday morning. One thing is certain though, strange things are definitely in the Fresno night skies again.

Haunted Pacheco Pass

If you ever took a trip to Monterery, Santa Cruz, or the Bay Area there's a good chance you've taken Highway 152 through Pacheco Pass. The part of the trip from Los Banos to Gilroy is rather mundane for those who have driven it before. Or is it? Did you know it has a rather dark history? There are stories of supposed Indian massacres by the Spanish settlers in the 1700's. And from 1860 to 1880 the pass was known as Robber's Pass due to two highwaymen that robbed, raped and murdered travlers along the route. And now in modern times it's known as Blood Alley due to the numerous traffic accidents that occur along it's route. Not all these accidents are fatal, but some are. And apparently some of the victims haven't moved on.

Blood Alley seems to have several spirits on it's stretch of road. On the old Bolsa Road there's a story of a headless figure wandering aimless off the side of the road. It's said the ghost is that of a man who was in a car accident and was decapitated and now he is searching for his missing head. Another story is as you are driving towards San Juan Baustista, right after you pass the mission you drive through a small grove of trees and on your left you will see an outcropping of rocks. Sometimes late at night it's said the ghostly spectre of a woman can be seen there. Apparently her fiance was killed in an accident on this stretch of road, and despondent, she put on her wedding dress and went to the scene of the accident and climbed the rocks and jumped to her death. Unfortunately for whatever reason she did not join her beloved in the afterlife and she wanders the road looking for him to this day.

Other miscelaneous sightings include a woman searching for her child, but when you approach her for help she disappears. Witnesses have also claimed to hear the sound of a stage coach and the sound of horses but never see the source of the sounds.

There have also been reports by numerous witnesses of seeing a man in a black robe standing on the side of the highway usually between Casa De Fruta and Bell's Station. Written reports of seeing the figure go back at least several decades and the figure was always seen late at night or early in the morning before sunrise. It's theorized that the figure could be that of a Fransican Monk given the type of garb the witnesses describe seeing him in.

Another story I came across is that of young Indian girl that fell in love with one of the local monks who helped find the San Juan Baustista mission. They had a secret meeting place on a hill besides Fremonts Peak. But once the local townspeople found out about this illicit affair, the preist was excommunicated from the church and the girl was banished from her tribe. The priest went to their spot to find his beloved so they could finally be together. But when he arrived there he found her dead. Distraut, he killed himself. It's said you can see them both on the hill to this day. Whether this monk is the same spirit that was mentioned previously is unknown.

And what haunted highway would be complete without a phantom hitchhiker? Claims of a young girl wearing jeans and a plaid shirt asking for a ride from truck drivers have been reported. The girl would approach a truck with a driver in it and ask for a ride. When the driver said yes, she would walk towards the front of the truck as she was heading towards the passenger side. The driver would wait for the passenger door to open, but it never would. When they would get out of the truck to look for her, she was no where to be found. It's said that this woman is the ghost of a hitchhiker that was accidently killed by a semi-truck years ago.

And because ghosts aren't enough apparently for Blood Alley, there have been sightings of a half human half birdlike creature standing in the middle of the road. Strange lights have also been reported along the pass that have no known explanation.

So next time you are taking a trip to the bay area (or maybe Gilroy for the garlic festival) and see a person on the side of the road, double check that they are actually there. Because there's a good chance you just saw one of the many ghosts of Blood Alley.

Guest blogging in New Orleans.

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A New Orleans street at night. Photo courtesy of Kimburly.

I've been doing Weird Fresno for a little over two years now and I've written more stories than I can count. But an idea I had toyed with off and on was to have other people write the occasional article, to get a different view point on any paranormal subject they wished to discuss. People had expressed interest in writing something, but didn't really have any subject they particularly wanted to write on so I let the idea fall to the back burner.

So when I ran across fellow blogger, roller derby chick, and all around kick ass person Kimbuly at a local watering hole (the Brig, where else?) and she told me she was going to New Orleans for a work related conference I knew I had to get her as my first guest blogger. You see I believe New Orleans (or NOLA as some refer to it as) is one of the most haunted cities in America. Founded in 1718 by the French, it's a city unlike no other and has more ghost stories than any other city. I had the opportunity to visit The Big Easy back when I was 18, but I was more concerned with the alcohol related spirits (and other sights) on Bourbon Street than actual ghosts. I somewhat lament that I let my teenage hormones get the best of me in one of the most richly diverse cities in the country and have wanted to go back for years. As that's not going to happen anytime soon I couldn't pass up on Kim doing a bit of guest blogging for me.

After some persuading (i.e. getting on my hands and knees and begging) she agreed to it. Now I could have just copied what she wrote, but I decided not to. Her approach was unique as she'd never been there before and didn't just blog about anything paranormal related, but the vibe of the city itself. It's an old city, but in a good way. The people there embrace their history and it's a part of them. Fresno could learn a thing or two and embrace who it is and not trying to copy other cities.

You can find Kim's blog post on New Orleans here. She's also the creator of 31 Days of Fresno where for an entire month she blogged about fun things to do in Fresno. The blog is still active with an occasional post. But her Lava blog is where she is most active.

I'm hoping this isn't the only guest blogger I have on here. If anyone is interested in doing an article (especially if you are traveling somewhere) shoot me an e-mail and we can work something out.