Haunted Ventura County (Camarillo, Alamo, Ojai: houses, tenant, live)

[Cyanna]

Halloween is just around the corner so I thought I would throw in a fun thread about hauntings or paranormal activity throughout Ventura County.

[Cyanna]

Did anyone else hear the stories of Charman and the Vampire in Ojai?

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Just come on out to our hospital after 12am and check the place out.

[GM1258]

I see dead people...

[Cyanna]

Originally Posted by GM1258

I see dead people...

So do I, but its the live ones who scare the c**p out of me!

[Mr.Bungle]

Scary Dairy: Venturahaunts - Scary Dairy Camarillo

[Cyanna]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bungle

Scary Dairy: Venturahaunts - Scary Dairy Camarillo

Thats pretty creepy!

[Cyanna]

I lived in an old brick & wood ranch house in Simi, right near the Knolls area. It was hand built in the late 19th century, early 20th century. It was a really cute house which had been divided into two houses and was set on about 10 acres and surrounded by trees. The only access was a dirt road.

I lived here with my first husband and our young daughter and when we first moved in husband was working night shift. During the first week my two nephews stayed over, andone night while we were all watching televison (The Young Riders series) we heard this loud stomping around on the roof, like someone wearing heavy boots! At first we thought it was squirrels, possums or some other critter but when we ran outside to look nothing was on the roof. So, we went back inside and continued watching television. Shortly after we settled in we then heard these same loud stomping noises coming down the hallway, which was covered in original wood flooring and the floor was shaking! That was it! I jumped up, ran across the room, slammed the door shut and locked it. Then I grabbed my .22 rifle and my nephews grabbed their BB guns. We stood there waiting for something to happen but the noises suddenly stopped right outside the door and didn't continue. Well, the only phone in the house was through the door, down that hallway and in the kitchen. No way was I going to head that way. I gathered up the family, loaded them into the car and went over to my parent's home until I had to drive over to Chatsworth at midnight to pick my husband up from work.

The former tenant still lived in worked in the area and I ran into him a few days later. I asked him if he'd ever had problems with noises and he said.."Oh, you mean the stomping ghost?" He then explained to me that at one time a two story boarding house had stood on the spot and there had been a murder where one man stabbed another to death, and now one of them haunts the place. For most of the time we lived there these types of strange noises would occur, as well as visual sightings. While showering on many occassions I could see a male figure standing on the other side of the shower door, which always scared the beejeesus out of me Other times, when I would go into the basement, as soon as I reached the bottom step the light switch at the top of the stairs would be shut up, leaving me in total darkness. It got to the point where I couldn't go down there unless someone stood guard at the light switch.

Shortly before we moved out and headed for Arizona I was trying out my new metal detector in the fields and around the giant old oak trees. I got a strong sounding at the oak tree where our tire swing was hanging and so started to dig. I came across a very old handmade Bowie-type knife with some type of bone handle attached. The weird activity seemed to become worse when I dug up this knife. I took it with us to Arizona and finally decided to drive out to the desert with one of my nephews, who had moved with us, and we buried it!

[Cyanna]

Many years ago, when I was about 12, maybe a bit younger, we were on a family outing and driving East on Alamo Rd. My parents were in the front seats, with dad driving, and my brother and I were in the back. I was saying something to my dad when suddenly we ALL saw this tall, gaunt very old man right in front of our car. To this day the look of malice on his face gives me shivers! As he stood there looking right at us, glaring with malevolence, we felt the impact of our car hitting him. Dad got out of the car and we all followed suit. We looked around the car and under it, but NOTHING was there! We looked along both sides of the road...NOTHING! My dad walked to the door of one of the local ranch houses and asked the resident to phone the police, then he explained to the resident what had happened. That resident knockedon the doors of other local residents and soon we were all checking through bushes, low trees, flowers beds and shrubs looking for this old man. The police arrived and also joined the search. Nothing was found anywhere, there was no blood on the car, no evidence of this old man. There was no way he could have been hit, got up and walked away without us seeing him.

Really scary thing...while recently looking at a photo of my paternal great-grandfather, who died in New Jersey in 1932, the resemblance to the old man we "hit" was startling! I know there was bad blood between my dad's father and grandfather, and after 1903 they never spoke to each other. I wonder if the animosity carried over from the "other side?"

[ImRandy]

You should check out some of Richard Senate's books. He's written quite a bit about the ghosts and ghost stories of Ventura County.