Ghosts of Knott's Berry Farm
Strange noises and eerie feelings have been described by employees of the Peanuts Playhouse in camp
snoopy. It has also been reported that lights turn themselves on and
off with no one else present. The old Dinosaur Ride (which was in the
area now occupied roughly by the Johnny Rockets in Boardwalk) was also
said to be haunted by a former maintanance employee and a young boy.
The upstairs of Virginia's Gift Shop on the
exterior of the park is said to be haunted as is the Bird Cage Theater
and Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
The lady that was working in
the Teddy Bear store told a story about the building when it was still
the old Print Shop (when we
were there you could still see the faded word print underneath the word
shop on the sign to the Teddy Bear store). Apparantly there were stamps
(not the kind you mail) on display on shelves on the wall and for no
apparent reason some of them started falling off of the shelves.
Knott's Berry Farm & Calico Ghost Town
Calico Ghost Town came to life in 1881 when the Silver King Mine was
claimed, just eight short years later Walter Knott was born in 1889.
Both the Town and Walter were born in California in San Bernardino
County. When Walter was young he worked for a short time as a carpenter
at Calico and his uncle John King was one of the founding partners in
the mine that had his name and spurned the birth of Calico.
These memories must have stuck with young Walter because in the
1920’s after he began his Berry Farm and later the Chicken Dinner
Restaurant with his wife Cordelia in the City of Buena Park, California,
he built a mock ghost town to entertain the guests that came to their
Farm and Restaurant. In Walter’s own words, from 1942: “Every time I
have the opportunity to get away for a couple of days I like to visit
the ghost towns of the west for we are continually seeking materials
with which to reconstruct the ghost town here at Knott’s Berry Place. By
securing a building here, part of another there, an old bar in one
place or something else somewhere else we add to the picture we are
attempting to portray – a composite picture of the ghost towns of the
west as they appeared in ‘49 and the early ‘50′s. We are not collecting
museum pieces nor is it the intention to build a museum. Our thought is
to collect a town but as that is impossible we try to do the next best
thing – build or reconstruct a ghost town that will be authentic and
show life as it was lived in the early days”. This concept was a total
success for the Knott’s and by 1950 they had a replica of a typical
ghost town in Buena Park. It was at this point that Walter Purchased
the entire ghost town of Calico in 1951. Walter then moved some
original buildings to Knott’s Berry Farm to add to his already existing
ghost town and restored and re-built other buildings at the Calico
site. There are still five original buildings still standing at
Calico. It was at this time there was much going on simultaneously at
Calico and Knott’s, thus there were many similarities between the two
places. In 1966 after fully restoring Calico Ghost Town, Walter deeded
the whole town to the County of San Bernardino and it became the county
regional park that it still is today.
What are these so called similarities between these two places.
First let’s look at the use of the name Calico that Walter used at
Knott’s after purchasing the town in 1951. Walter used the Calico name
for many attractions and areas in Knott’s, some of these names were:
The Calico Railroad, The Calico Mine Ride, The Calico Log Ride (on a
side note, John Wayne was the first official person to ride this
attraction), Calico Square, The Calico Saloon and they also had a scale
model of Calico Ghost Town and a mural/painting in Saloon titled,
“Saturday Night in Calico”.
A building that stands at both Calico and Knott’s is the Bottle
House, this interesting building was not really a Calico remnant and it
is doubtful that one ever existed there but Walter had one built at each
site because bottle houses were known to exist in the old west.
There was an attraction that graced both places for a number of
years, at Knott’s it was called The Haunted Shack and at Calico it is
called The Mystery Shack. This attraction was a walk through experience
and guests are treated to the optical illusions that characterized
these attractions, water runs uphill, small children tower over their
older siblings and chairs stand on two legs. The Haunted Shack at
Knott’s was removed in 2000 but the Mystery Shack at Calico is still
there for all to enjoy.
Knott’s is now owned by a large corporation and It might be sheer
coincidence but there is a new connection between the Calico and Knott’s
at Halloween. At Knott’s it was called Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt and at
Calico it is called The Calico Ghost Haunt. Both places decorate for
this holiday and have many special “scary” events in the month of
October.
Calico and Knott’s are great haunted places to visit, if you want to see
what Knott’s used to be like before it became such a large amusement
park, visit Calico and have a great time re-living the old west.
Haunted Calico Ghost Town
Calico
Ghost Town is one of the most haunted locations in California, with
many types of ghosts & paranormal phenomenon. Calico has Shadow
people, orbs, full bodied apparitions, ghost lights & more.
Quick history
In 1881, three men, Charlie Meacham, Johnny McBride, and Larry Silvia
discovered silver in the Calico Mountains. Miners from all around came
to work the mines. The town of Calico sprang up, and at one time reached
a population of 3,500, not including an additional 1,500 in the greater
Calico Mining District. All the silver from Calico was sent to San Francisco
to make coins. By 1900, the price of silver dropped half of its value,
and most of the silver had been mined out. Miners left to find other
fortunes and the town died.
Ghosts of Calico
One of the most often sighted spirits is that
of Lucy Bell King Lane, a woman who spent nearly seventy years of her life
in Calico. When Lucy was just ten years old, she moved
with her parents, two brothers, and a sister to nearby Bismarck, which
overlooked the town of Calico. To get to school, Lucy would have to slide
down the steep slope in the morning and make the long tiring hike up the
hill afterwards. When she was 18 years old, she married John Robert Lane
and the two opened a general store that provided not only provisions to
the mining population, but also cloth, nails, and hardware. They
prospered briefly but when the silver market began to decline, the
couple left Calico
in 1899. However, the couple returned in 1916,
making their old store their home. Four years later, they moved into
the old courthouse and post office building. Her husband John died in
1934, but Lucy would continue to live a long life, staying in the same
house until she died in 1967 at the age of 93.
Today, their old home
has become a museum, that exhibits the life the Lanes lived, as well
as a collection of mining materials, photographs, and Native American
displays from the times before
Calico's
silver deposits were discovered.
Though Lucy died four
decades ago, she is evidently fond of her old home town as she is
frequently still sighted there. Most often she has been seen walking
between their old store and the home that she lived in until her
death. When she is spied, she is described as wearing a long black
dress, most likely the very lace one that she was buried in. Her
favorite rocking chair has also been said to rock of its own accord
and often pictures are taken off the wall at night, only to found the
next morning in a neat pile on the floor. At Lane’s old store, clerks
have often heard unexplainable noises and catch movement out of the
corners of their eyes, which they also attribute to Lucy. The Lane
house was the longest occupied original structure in
Calico.
But, favorite resident Lucy Lane is not
the only phantom that lurks in
Calico.
At that very same school house sitting atop the hill in
Calico,
a number of people have reported seeing a little girl about 11 or 12
years, most often old smiling through a window. Sometimes she even
leans out and waves at passers by.
Others have allegedly seen phantom school
teachers and another small child who has been known to grab people’s legs
or pinch their ankles. Some visitors have also reported seeing a floating
red light inside the school. Also a shadow person has been seen on the roof of the school house.
Though the hills surrounding
Calico
once held dozens of mines, and the many pits and ruins continue to attest
to this,
Calico
features the Maggie Mine, that once produced some $13 million in
silver ore, and now its tunnels can be explored by visitors. In the
1,000 feet of tunnels that are open to the public, it should come as
no surprise that many believe that spirits lurk within the mine’s
depths.
number of
visitors have reported extreme cold spots throughout the mine and feelings
of "one's hair standing up" in various places, but most particularly where
two miners known as the Mulcahey Brothers made their home in the mine.
Though portions of the mine are blocked off behind grates, macabre
mannequins add to the spooky feeling in the mine.
Near the Maggie’s Mine is
Hank’s Hotel, which once belonged to an angry old cowboy whose spirit
allegedly once punched a man in the leg who was standing on his fence. But
more commonly, people have reported something tugging on their wrists,
hands and clothing along the boardwalk in front of the hotel. These
antics; however, are not generally blamed on the angry cowboy, but rather
on a 4-5 year old child who has been seen roaming the boardwalk and the
surrounding area.
Also said to haunt
Calico's
boardwalks on Main Street is that of its last marshal, Tumbleweed Harris.
A number of visitors have described seeing a big man with a white beard
which fits the description of the man who kept the peace in
Calico
for seven years.
At the
Calico Corral, a number of people have
often heard the voices of crowds and celebration coming from the barn that
once hosted regular Saturday night dances. At Lil’s Saloon, one of
Calico's
original buildings, sounds of an old-style piano and rowdy crowds have
been heard when no one was in the building. Employees have also often
reported hearing the jingle of spurs and other noises that can’t be
explained. Another spectral lady in a long white dress has
frequently been seen walking near the outskirts of the
ghost town and at the building that
once housed the town theater, which is now the R&D Fossils & Minerals
Shop, a another female ghost named Esmeralda,
has allegedly has taken up residence.
Calico had
another famous resident – that of Dorsey, the "mail carrying dog.” Dorsey
was found in 1883 by Postmaster Jim Stacy, when the hungry and footsore
black and white shepherd was lying on his porch. Stacy quickly adopted him
and Dorsey became his faithful friend. In addition to his postmaster
duties, Stacy also had an interest in a mine in nearby Bismarck. On one
occasion, when Stacy needed to get an urgent message to his partner at the
mine, he tied a note to Dorsey’s neck and sent him up there. Before long,
Dorsey returned with a reply. Dorsey was soon carrying messages
back and forth to the mine frequently, when Stacy had the idea to make the dog a
regular mail carrier. Soon, the dog was carrying all the mail from Calico
to Bismarck, bearing his load in little pouches strapped to his back. For
three years, Dorsey covered the mail route between the two camps and
became so valuable that Stacy was offered $500 for the dog, to which Stacy
replied: "I'd rather sell a grandson."
Dorsey's legend was
revived in a 1972 album entitled "The Ballad of Calico” by Kenny Rogers.
The song was called "Dorsey, the Mail Carrying Dog.” And, of course, in
haunted
Calico, he has been revived in another way – the
"spectral dog." On
several occasions, Dorsey has been seen as a shadow-like apparition at the
cemetery and near the Print Shop that stands near the original location of
the post office.
