A brief break for some scary stories...

As you may have guessed from the name of this blog and a few of the entries (Bloody Mary mirror, anyone?) I am a big fan of all things horror related. However, my love of the macabre doesn’t stop at scary movies and Halloween. I have been fascinated with the paranormal since I was ten years old and my friend gave me a copy of The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. I was terrified, captivated and knew that I had to learn more about the paranormal. A lot more. So, naturally, I turned to books. I’ve amassed quite the collection over the years.

And that isn’t even counting all of the books that I’ve checked out from my local libraries (libraries rule).

I recently celebrated by <age redacted> birthday and because I didn’t really think that <age redacted>  was anything to get excited over, I decided that I didn’t want to have a party. However, my husband did not want to let my birthday pass over without notice. And, because he is awesome and knows me so well, he planned a paranormal day for me. Join me, won’t you, on a magic carpet ride of ghost hunting, exploring, hiking, and some light breaking and entering. (When I informed my sister of what we were doing she kindly informed me that I better not bring any sort of entity home with me or she would never ever be visiting again. I told her I’d take the proper precautions.)

And I did. Note cross necklace.

Rancho Los Amigos

The first stop of our magical mystery tour was Rancho Los Amigos in Downey, California. While there is currently a working rehabilitation center on the grounds, we were more interested in the abandoned compound set back from the road. When the campus opened in 1888 it was known as the LA County Poor Farm. It was a place that the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the mentally ill could go (it seems LA has always had a decent public healthcare system). It closed in the 1980s but the campus is still left standing, complete with feral cats (and signs not to feed them) and ghosts. Yes, Rancho Los Amigos is reported to be extremely haunted, which isn’t surprising given the history. The walls are flooded with energy, both good and bad. Full bodied apparitions have been spotted there, as well as shadow people, and reports of lights turning on and off by themselves.

(As an aside, I want you to know that it was SO HARD for me not to include an APA citation in that paragraph. It just felt wrong. As such, citation list is at the bottom of this post. Always credit your sources! Xoxo, Academic Librarian)

We got there around late morning and parked in the parking lot by the baseball field, where there was a little league practice going on (yes, adorable children play baseball mere yards from a run down asylum). I was so excited I was practically bouncing off the walls. My husband was much calmer, which is good because he was able to keep an eye out for security. Most of the buildings are boarded up or behind fences so exploring isn’t encouraged. The campus is also located next to a sheriff's station. What I’m saying is, you have to be stealthy. Some of the articles I read talked up climbing up onto rooftops and getting into the buildings that way, but we decided not to do that. A lot of the structures had suffered fire damage so I wasn’t sure how safe it would be and, also, I didn’t feel like going to jail on my birthday.

However, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t some investigating. There are plenty of gaps in the fence if you’re willing to crawl on the ground a bit. Thankfully, I was. And my husband was kind enough to keep watch for security while I explored. While I didn’t see any shadow people or full bodied apparitions, I did see a lot of dishes of cat food and signs warning about asbestos.

 The campus, when it was functional, acted like its own small city. The warden and his family lived on the grounds, in a beautiful home. Well, I assume it was a beautiful home in the past. In the present, it looks like this:

I desperately wanted to go inside, but security seemed to be scoping us out and I noticed a sheriff driving around so I decided against it. Look at that place, though? Doesn't it just look like it would have stories to tell? 

In fact, the whole area was full of stories waiting to be told and pieces of a puzzle waiting to be put together. It looked like quite a bit was left behind when the campus closed down. Furniture, books, and files were tossed around and left to decay in the elements. 

One of the most interesting things on the ground is the abandoned church. I mean, look at this thing. Isn't it just straight out of a movie?

Okay, the bright blue sky and sunny day kind of detracts from the creepiness. But ignore the Southern California background! Abandoned churches are always creepy. We were able to peer in through  some open and broken windows. We debated crawling through but neither of us could remember the last time we had a tetanus shot and we decided it wasn't worth it. Besides, we were able to get a good look at things just through the windows.

I guess this church is used more for storing files than worship these days. That's kind of a bummer. However, it was interesting to time travel though history and see what had landed various people in Rancho Los Amigos. I wanted to snag something as a souvenir, but my husband pointed out that this was a great way to get haunted.


Speaking of being haunted, I decided to do some investigating while we were poking around the compound. I used my iOvilus app. The app is developed by the same people who created the original Ovilus, a device you may have seen if you watch any paranormal television programs like Ghost Adventures. The Ovilus uses changes in energy and fields to communicate with entities. I have used mine with success in several haunted locations, including the Queen Mary. It seemed to come up with results at Rancho Los Amigos as well. This is what came up when I tried using it near the church:

Other locations gave me results including the name of the place where I work, what my husband does for a living, and told me to pray. That was...slightly unsettling. Even the sunny day suddenly seemed sinister. It was time to move on to our next location.


Sunken City
Our next jaunt took us to the ocean. Sunken City to be exact. What is Sunken City? I'm so glad you asked. In 1929 there was a landslide in an exclusive neighborhood of San Pedro. It caused houses, roads, and buildings to slide into the ocean. Ruins of the city still remain, like pieces of street and parking blocks. It's a popular spot with hikers and graffiti artists alike.
Once again, there is some light breaking and entering involved to get to this location. No security to get past though. Just a barrier to climb over and a fence to crawl under. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! And check out the view you get to enjoy once you make those very slight skirts around the law!

It's truly a beautiful place and there's something very eerie about the idea that an entire neighborhood can just fall into the ocean. One of the risks of living in Southern California, I suppose. And it isn't like we learn from our mistakes. There are once again beautiful houses near the cliffside. They're set further back, surrounded by a park, but they're still there. But we are talking about a city that keeps rebuilding Malibu even after it continues to burn and slide every couple years. Anything for that view, amirite?

I didn't have a chance to do much investigating while we were at Sunken City, but that's okay. It was nice just to be near the ocean and see some cool urban ruins (which is the name of my future metal band). I've always had a great respect for the ocean and this just reinforced it. We may think that we're powerful, but it took the sea just over a week to swallow this neighborhood whole. Wow.

All in all it was a wonderful birthday and I'm a lucky girl. And, for those wondering, I didn't bring any ghosts home with me. That I know of. I guess time will tell.

Citations (because I'm super cool like that)

(2017). Sunken City. Retrieved from: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunken-city 


Harlander, T. (16 September 2015). Take a look inside Downey's creepy abandoned asylum. Retrieved from: http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/take-a-look-inside-downeys-creepy-abandoned-asylum/.
Kennedy, J.M. (5 October 2006). Decades-old body parts found in abandoned Downey hospital; No foul play, officials say. Retrieved from: http://articles.latimes.com/2006/oct/05/local/me-parts5
(n.d). The lost souls of Rancho Los Amigos. Retrieved from: http://backpackerverse.com/rancho-los-amigos/

Meares, H. (30 March 2015). Ranch of the friends: The extraordinary evolution of the L.A. County poor farm. Retrieved from: https://www.kcet.org/history-society/ranch-of-the-friends-the-extraordinary-evolution-of-the-la-county-poor-farm