Mysterious Doings in San Francisco and Brookdale

The Whittier Mansion is located on the side of a hill in the exclusive Pacific Heights district of San Francisco. It was built in 1896 by William Franklin Whittier who was the head of what would later become known as the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. This four-story mansion has 30 rooms and is built of brick, wood and red sandstone. It survived the great 1906 quake and was home to Whittier and his family until he died in 1917. In 1938 his heirs sold the mansion to the Deutsche Reich and it became San Francisco’s German Consulate. In the post-war years, it was used as a Philosophical Institute until 1956 when it became home to the California Historical Society. The society also gave tours of the mansion throughout 1993 when it again returned to private ownership.

Haunted Basement

Over the years many unexplained occurrences have taken place in the mansion. Most of them centered around the basement and servant’s quarters where people have reported seeing shadowy outlines and feeling ice-cold presences. Those who have not seen anything report feeling uneasy being in the basement and refuse to go there alone. Most believe that it is the ghost of William Franklin Whittier but others say it may be Whittier’s rambunctious son Billy. Billy was a man who lived for wine, women, and song and it would only seem natural that he would have taken up residence after death in the former location of his father’s wine collection haunting the room he loved in life.

The Rengstorff House is Mountain View’s oldest home. It was built in 1887 by Henry Rengstorff. The Rengstorff House stood on 164 acres near the marshlands East of Mountain View for nearly a century until it was moved to its present location in Shoreline Park. Henry Rengstorff emigrated from Germany to California during the gold rush in 1850. Being too late for the easy panning of the early rush he took a job on a bay steamer.

Soon after he started farming and acquiring land. Henry raised grain and hay, kept cattle, planted orchards, and had a private stand of redwoods for his building needs. He built a ship landing in the shoreline area. Rengstorff Landing became the key to the development of Mountain View. In 1864 Henry purchased 164 acres where the Shoreline Business Park is now located and built a 12-room Victorian Italianate-style mansion. He later married another German immigrant Christine Hassler with whom he had seven children.

After Henry’s death in 1906 his daughter Elise, her husband, and Perry Askam, the orphaned son of Henry’s daughter Helena moved into the mansion, and upon the death of his aunt Perry inherited the home. In 1959 three years before his death Perry sold the mansion and land to the Newhall Development Company. For the next 20 years, a number of families lived in the house. This was the period when the Rengstroff House developed its supernatural reputation.

By 1979 the home had been abandoned and abused by vandals. Land developers wanted to tear it down but the city of Mountain View purchased the house and moved it closer to the shoreline. In 1989 it was moved again to its present location in Shoreline Park and in 1991 it was opened for public use.

Ghostly Presences

During the early 1960s, the mansion was home to Max and Mayetta Crump. Max was the manager of the Newhall Development Company. At this time strange thumping noises began to be heard coming from the narrow staircase leading upstairs. During the night the Crumps would be awakened by the sound of a child crying but investigations never located the source. The thumping and crying has also been reported by other residents and visitors. There also have been lights that flicker on and off by themselves and cold spots that move on their own. When friends of the Crumps came to the house not knowing they were away the husband knocked on the door and saw the knob turning as if somebody was trying to let them in. The wife looked through the side door and saw nobody on the other side. It has also been reported that when the house was vacant a woman with long dark hair was often seen looking out of one of the second-story windows.

Since there were these strange and mysterious phenomena at the Rengstroff House psychic Sylvia Brown was called in to investigate. The psychic impressions that she got from the house were – a man who had been strangled in a second-floor bedroom for his money and an angry crippled man bound to a wheelchair after losing one leg in a farming accident and the other leg crippled with arthritis. Neither of these events could be tied to the house through the stories handed down by the family. However, a secret attic room was discovered. Its only contents were a hospital bed with leather restraining cuffs.

Today the Rengstorff House stands at 3070 N. Shoreline Blvd, in Mountain View, and has been quiet since it was moved to its new location. The upper floors have become administrative space for Shoreline Park and the house is open to the public and can be rented for private events.

The Montandon House is located on the most crooked street in the world and has a dark and eerie past. In the mid-1960s the house was home to Pat Montandon, the queen of the San Francisco jet-set. Her parties were so extravagant that Esquire magazine voted her one of the top hostesses in the nation. Her first book was entitled “How To Be A Party Girl.” At one of her famous theme parties, Montandon met her destiny in the form of a vindictive tarot card reader. It was a zodiac theme party and Pat had invited some palmists, astrologers, crystal gazers, and card readers. The trouble began when she forgot to bring the drink that the taro card reader wanted. Montandon recalls the incident in her book “The Intruders” saying that the taro card reader was quite insulted that he had been forgotten and leaving the house in a miffed state told his hostess that he was laying a curse upon her and the house. Reminding her that he did not forget and did not forgive.

Blood-Curdling Screams

Shortly after these strange and horrifying things began to happen. An unnatural chill pervaded the house even though the thermostat was permanently set to 90 degrees. Along with the chill, there would be spots of deathly cold that caused her dog to bark and growl as if someone was in the room. Montandon would find doors mysteriously locked from the inside of empty rooms. Blood-curdling screams rang out through the house and mysterious blood stains appeared and grew on the ceilings.

Death

On June 20th, 1969 the curse turned deadly. Montandon’s close friend and secretary Mary Louise Ward was staying at the house while Pat was promoting her book “How To Be A Party Girl”. In the master bedroom, a mysterious fire broke out. The fire department arrived quickly but they were slowed down because the front door had been locked from the inside as well as the door to the master bedroom. Inside they found the lifeless body of Mary Louise. Investigations were inconclusive as to the cause of the fire and the cause of death. Mary Louise had not been burned nor had she succumbed to smoke inhalation. The most frightening thing was that it appeared that she had died before the fire. Before the year was up two of Montandon’s close friends would commit suicide in the house.

Montandon was now desperate to remove the curse and sent in psychics Gerri Patton and Nick Nocerino (of Crystal Skull fame) to perform an exorcism. Nocerino supposedly managed to snap some photos of the ghosts. The house was declared clean but Montandon could no longer live in a house where such horrors had occurred. Since that time the house has been quiet.

The San Francisco Art Institute was built in 1926 on the North slope of Russian Hill. It was built on the grounds that once held San Francisco’s earliest residents. Its red-tiled roofs and ochre-colored walls make it a fine example of the Spanish Revival style of architecture. For nearly 20 years everything was quiet at the institute then a student, working as a night watchman and living in the tower to save money began experiencing strange nocturnal activities. On his first night he was surprised to hear the street-level doors he had locked open and close. Slowly footsteps began ascending the stairs and the door to his room opened and closed but there was no one there. Incidents like this occurred many times afterward.

Haunted Tower

Over the years there have been many different manifestations including eerie flickering lights and power tools mysteriously turning themselves on and off. In 1968 when the bell tower was being renovated a series of near-fatal accidents were blamed on the ghost and some construction workers quit because the site spooked them. Because of these incidents, a séance was held in the tower with several prominent psychics. One saw a lost graveyard, and a historian later verified that an adjacent cemetery had been demolished before the school was built. These days the tower is closed and the school says it’s because it is unsafe. So whatever roams there can now roam alone.

Nestled deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains lies the historic Brookdale Lodge (now called the Brookdale Inn & Spa). This lodge in Brookdale, California was originally opened in 1870 as the headquarters of the Grove Lumber Mill and is surrounded by giant redwoods. In 1900 the mill was purchased by H.J. Logan of Loganberry fame and converted into campgrounds and a hotel. Between 1922 and 1945 the lodge was run by Dr. F.K. Camp, a Seventh-day Adventist physician and a strict prohibitionist. Camp was the one who built the magnificent Brookroom, a dining room that encloses a natural stream flowing down its center.

Brookdale became the second most popular resort in California and played host to Hollywood stars, prominent families, foreign diplomats, and even a U.S. President. Famous people passing through Brookdale Lodge include Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr. and President Herbert Hoover. The lodge was also known for its great entertainment attracting the best big band and swing groups of the era. At least three swing-era songs have been written about Brookdale including, My Brookdale Hideaway, A Place Known as Brookdale. and Beautiful Brookdale Lodge.

Shortly before his death, Dr. Camp sold the property to A.T. Cook and W.G. Smith in 1945. Then in 1951, it was sold to a consortium of San Francisco businessmen and afterward to Barry Marrow. In the 1940s and 1950s, the lodge became a home to gangsters and other shady characters. Secret passageways and hidden rooms were installed throughout the lodge. Rumors started circulating that bodies were buried under the floor. It was at this time that the lodge owner's niece 6-year-old Sarah Logan drowned in the dining room creek and it’s her ghost that is most often seen at the lodge. In 1972 a 13-year-old girl drowned in the kidney-shaped pool above the mermaid room forcing its closure.

Little Girl Spirit

Over the years there have been many sightings of Sarah Logan who is often seen in a white and blue Sunday dress walking through the lobby or near the fireplace between the lounge and Brookroom. The spirit has also been seen playing on the balcony of the Brookroom an area that is off-limits to visitors and guests and sitting beside the fire in the Fireside Room.

Those who have approached the crying Sarah to ask if they can help her find her mother see that as they turn about she disappears. The owners of Brookdale Lodge have also seen Sarah running about in the lobby. She looked in solid form, wearing a 1940s-style formal dress. She ran silently across the lobby before disappearing through the office window. Afterward, the owners hired several priests and psychics to try and rid the lodge of its spirits.

Ghostly Activity

In the Mermaid Room visitors have experienced hearing voices, the clinking of glasses, and soft music when the room was empty. The jukebox located here has been known to turn itself on and off when no one is near it. When Brookroom is empty one can hear the clinking of glasses and plates and dozens of people talking. A ghostly woman has been seen walking over the brook as if supported by a bridge removed long ago. Psychics speculate that this might be Sarah’s mother looking for her daughter. At night the smell of gardenias permeates the room.

In the Fireside Room and in the Pool Room big band music has been heard. People have also reported cold spots, presences and even being touched by unseen forces in the Pool Room. Late at night doors slam and footsteps are heard in empty rooms. They are particularly loud from the second-floor conference room. Others have reported strange smells and having a sense that the room is full of people when it is empty. Psychics have identified one of the conference room spirits as a man named George who was a lumberjack. He has also been seen behind the lodge at a place where in the early years of the lodge wood was chopped for its many fireplaces.

Ghostly Ballroom Dancers

In the 1970s, a wing of motel rooms was built over the spot where once the lodge’s camping cabins stood. Room 46 of the motel wing is reported to be very haunted. It has been reported that at night objects and shapes would fly across the room. Ghostly ballroom dancers would swirl about and ghosts would materialize around the bed their faces sometimes vague and sometimes clear. One of the ghosts was a little boy about 12 or 13 years old, another was a man with his eye hanging loose on his cheek and another was a man with a knife wound across his face. The current owners have been told by psychics that in all there are 49 spirits in residence at Brookdale. Not only is Brookdale Inn & Spa centrally located to all the attractions and activities of the Santa Cruz Mountains but you may just make a friend or two from the world beyond as well.