Weird U.S. Series (California Edition)
This is the first in a series of articles highlighting chilling and thought-provoking local legends from different states around the country. The goal behind this series is to introduce you to horror tales that you can use to inspire your work and exercise your creative muscles. First up is the one and only Golden State: California.
So, if you want to submit a short horror screenplay to the Killer Shorts Contest but you’ve run short on ideas and everything you write down just seems bland or cliche, look no further for some chilling inspiration that is sure to get you writing. The following tales come from the well known Weird U.S. website, filled with America’s weirdest and scariest local legends and secrets.
Riverside Bridge Monster
On the night of November 8, 1958, an man named Charles Wetzel was only just trying to get home. As he reached the point where North Main Street crosses the Santa Ana River, he slowed down due to flooding on the road from the river. His radio signal suddenly turned to static and almost immediately, a figure leapt out of the underbrush and landed in front of his car. Charles had said that it had “a round, scarecrowish head, like something out of Halloween. It wasn’t human.”
Wetzel claimed that it began clawing at him, at which point he floored it and ran it over. He heard screaming and gurgling from the creature, but continued to the closest police station. It is said that officers noted scratches on the hood and windshield and smears along the underside of the car, but as they searched the scene, they found nothing.
Whether this tall tale is true or not, it sure makes for an interesting story and it certainly gets your mind going.
The Dark Watchers of Santa Lucia
The Santa Lucia Mountains, running from Monterey to San Luis Obisbo, are said to be the home of the “Dark Watchers.” These Dark Watchers are black, human like phantoms who stand on the ridges and peaks of the mountains. Nobody has answers as to what they are, where they came from, or why they haunt the mountains. They’ve been spotted many times with stories dating back to Chumash Indian legends. They appear most often around twilight and stare into space from the hilltops.
Monterey County’s most popular literary figures have both written about these mysterious beings on the mountains. Author John Steinbeck wrote a short story titled “Flight” that certainly seems to include a Dark Watcher, although it isn’t mentioned by name. In the story, the hero is in Santa Lucia and sees “a dark form against the sky, a man standing on top of a rock.” Poet Robinson Jeffers has also written about these creatures, saying “forms that look human…but certainly are not human” in the poem “Such Counsels You Gave to Me.”
Another sighting happened when a local high school principal was on a hunting trip when he noticed a dark figure in a hat and long cape, standing on a rock across the canyon. The figure vanished when the principal called out to his group.
The Screaming Tree
Located in Lakeside, near a slaughterhouse and 1.7 miles past the end of the paved road, The Screaming Tree sits alone in a clearing. It is said that if you honk three times, the ghost of a murdered girl will scream at the top of her lungs, recounting the last moments of her life at the base of this tree.
The area around the tree is deserted, homes are scarce and there are rusting cars and trash along the road. What truly happened at the Screaming Tree is unknown to this day.
Queen Mary
The Queen Mary ship is permanently lodged at Pier J in Long Beach, one of LA’s most famous tourist attractions. The ship is now a 390-room floating hotel that offers tours, conventions, and exhibits. Queen Mary is said to be the most haunted ship in North America. Lights have been known to flicker, and doors slam by themselves on the G deck, which is thought to be the ship’s morgue.
Other weird sightings have happened around the swimming pool, where the ghost of a middle-aged woman in a bathing suit dives into the empty basin, where it is believed she once drowned. Sounds of shouting and splashing on the deserted poolside deck, along with sightings of ghostly watery footprints near the edge of the pool have also been reported.
One of the kitchens is another hotspot for weird phenomena. When the ship was used as a troop transport in WWII, a fight broke out and a cook was shoved into an oven and burned to death. Now lights turn on and off, dishes move by themselves, and utensils vanish near the site of his death.
The engine room is said to be the most haunted place on the ship, with staff members and tour guides reporting clanging noises, chains being whipped by themselves, and balls of light moving across the walls. Tom Hennessy, a Press-Telegram columnist spent a night near the engine room. At 3:33 am, he heard men talking in the deserted propeller-shaft room, making out the words “turning the lights off.” A security guard told him no living people had been near the room when he heard the voices.
Turnbull Canyon
Turnbull Canyon, a chaparral-covered mountain with many twists and turns, is located between the suburban area of Whittier and the City of Industry. Signs along the trails warn hikers and bikers of mountain lions and rattlesnakes, but the sinister features of the area are only known to some.
The area now known as Turnbull Canyon was once considered off-limits to the Native Americans who roamed Southern California. They called it ”Hutukngna” or “The Dark Place.” Rumors of strange rituals involving a child-selling cult started during the Depression years. Some also claim that the area is still used for cults and satanic worship, one witness remembering “people walking around with hoods on.”
It’s also been reported than an insane asylum was once located somewhere in the canyon, said to have burned down in the early 1940s. Witnesses have also seen the ghosts of children and figures swinging by the neck from the trees. In 2002, a 17 year-old girl was killed and dragged behind a car for five miles. In 2005, a motorcycle officer was killed by a road-racing driver, not an uncommon site for the winding, twisting roads.
The Ghost of Toys R Us Sunnyvale
The old Toys R Us in Sunnyvale is said to be haunted by the ghost of a man who used to farm on the land on which the store was built. Legend says he accidentally cut his leg with an ax while chopping wood and bled out on the spot.
The ghost has been described as a playful poltergeist. Employees opening the store have found toys played with and aisles strewn with items. They have also had balls bounce down the aisles and teddy bears float off the shelves. The ghost has also been known to follow people in the restrooms and turn on the faucets. Other employees have reported seeing boxes move, feeling hands or someone steadying their ladder, which makes it seem like the ghost is lonely, not angry.
These weird, haunting tales are only the tip of the iceberg, but they should be a great start to help you scrape that rust off of your creative gears and start getting words on the page. For more local legends, visit the Weird U.S. website.
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