Top 10 Redlands Ghost Stories

Redlands is one of the oldest cities in California. It is a city full of beautiful houses and a rich history. However, with that rich history also comes a darker, scarier side to Redlands. Redlands is full of ghost stories, some you may know, others you may not. What we have done is search both the Internet, and a list of contacts I know, to produce a resource where you will find the top 10 ghost stories of Redlands.

This list is only intended to be a starter list, it contains just what I think happen to be the top 10 ghost stories. If you know of any stories that you think are better or worth knowing about, or if you just want to comment on one of the stories on this list, please feel free to do so.

I should preference this by saying that I am not necessarily someone who believes in ghosts. In fact, I would consider myself more of a skeptic than anything else. But at the same time, I would be lying to you if I didn’t admit that I do enjoy a good ghost story.

I want to note that most of these haunted locations are either on private property or on public property with specified visiting hours. Almost all of these locations are routinely patrolled by the Redlands Police Department. Please do not trespass.

Now without further delay, the list:



10. Harris Department Store Dressing Room

Why is this last on the list? Because first off, Harris Department Store no longer exists. Ssecond, I don't know which location is haunted: There is the mall location we all know, but there is also its previous location on State street which is now an antique mall. Perhaps it may actually be the antique store that is now haunted. And Thrid, I couldn't find any stories or proof to back this story up. So it’s number 10.

The story goes that after hours in the women's dressing room of the Harris (Gottschalks) department store, women can be heard talking. Dressing room doors slam shut on their own (of course). Also, heavy footsteps can be heard on the roof above.

Why did this make the list at all? Because no one cares about "Top Nine" lists. By all means, if you have a better ghost story than this, let us know about it.



9. House of 1000 Stairs

This place definitely has one of the scarier names out there. "The House of 1000 Stairs" is a mansion with 100 stairs outside and 900 stairs inside. Apparently it was once a convent and is now haunted by nuns.

While I couldn't find any specific stories or details about this haunted house, I was able to verify that the at least the stories couldn't be proven false. There is one mansion in Redlands that very closely matches this description: The Burrage House. I'm not sure if it has 900 stairs inside, but it definitely has one heck of a staircase leading up to it. The 28-room estate was built in 1901, by Albert C. Burrage for entertaining purposes. He only used it for about two months a year, for only a few years. It included such extravagant features as a place to play polo and a glass-covered pool. After Burrage's death the house was used as a monastery until the 1990's.

Albert Burrage Bio

Photos of the Burrage House



8. The Woman in the Window at Kimberly Crest

Named for its famous occupant, owner of the Kimberly Clark paper company, this mansion is one of the most well-known estates in Redlands. It is located adjacent to Prospect Park (another haunted location on our list) and is a fine example of the French Chateau style of the early 1900s.

Kimberly Crest was owned continuously by the Shirk family, and occupied by Mary Kimberly Shirk until her death in 1979. It's been quite a while since I have taken the tour, but I know she built an elevator in the middle of the house. Apparently, the ghost story goes that if you go to Kimberly Crest after hours (of course ghosts don't come out during the day), you can see Mary in the top floor window, sitting in her rocking chair.
Beyond that are the EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) that were taken on the grounds. Now, I'm someone who thinks EVP's have about as much credibility as finding Mother Teresa's face in a biscuit, but nevertheless, apparently there are interesting EVPs taken from Kimberly Crest.

It is worth noting that Kimberly Crest is private property and has video cameras and high-tech motion detectors set-up. So do yourself a favor: don't go up there and get arrested.

Kimberly Crest EVPs - Located near bottom of page



7. University of Redlands: Merriam Hall and the White Lady

This ghost story started at number 9, however after it ran through an edit it moved up to number 7.

In Merriam Hall at the University of Redlands, the ghost of a man in army clothing wanders the bathroom. At first thought, I wondered why there would be a ghost of a soldier in a college dormitory. However, after talking with my coworkers, apparently the land that U of R is on, was once owned by Civil War veterans. Of course, this may be a rumor, but it adds a whole lot of sense to the story.

Allegedly, there have been many reports of people seeing boots in the next stall with, of course, no one else being in the bathroom. Also, at night, girls have seen a reflection of a man in an army uniform in the bathroom mirror.

This could be a ghost, or it could be just a peeping Tom; and alone, it doesn't make the U or R seem all that haunted. That is until I heard about U or R's other ghost story during the editing process of this list.

Glenn Wallichs Theatre is also haunted by a spirit known as the White Lady. The story goes that there was a female student named Marianne, who was the lead at a play in the theatre. She received rave reviews for her opening performance, however never made it to the second night. The story goes that she actually died in a car accident a few days before the opening night and it was her ghost that received the rave reviews.

The White Lady is said to still remain: there are reports of the smell of perfume being present late at night and dressing rooms becoming suddenly cold without explanation. Other reports claim that the Marianne will pull dresses off costume racks, can be seen floating above the stage curtain and that she has a habit of disturbing stage lights. This last part hit particularly close to home with my editor; literally.

While a student at the U or R, my editor was in the play "As You Like It." Right as she was about to go on stage, a theatre light fell and hit her in the head, almost killing her. My editor had heard stories of the White Lady, but never the one about her disturbing theatre lights until we began working on this list. That is why the University of Redlands, jumped from number 9 to the number 7 spot on this list.



6. Hillside Cemetery

Now we get into the scarier ones.

Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery is Redland's oldest cemetery, and if you have every visited the old section of it, you know it's pretty dang creepy even during the day. Incorporated in 1886, two years before Redlands itself became a city, Hillside Cemetery is over 125 years old. With towering, odd-shaped gravestones and low hanging tree branches, it is the closest thing to Sleepy Hollow that you will find in Southern California.

There are many stories of strange activity, including car horns honking by themselves and balls being thrown back over walls of adjacent property (of course, the ball returner is no where to be found).

I have a contact that used to fancy himself an amateur ghost hunter when he was younger. He told me that he got a "guided tour" of the cemetery at night from a "ghost expert" (ridiculous, I know). Apparently my contact did see weird things happening though, such as a shadowy apparition creeping down the road. He also mentioned that a specific gravestone warmed up dramatically when he laid his hand on it. His guide told him that was the lifeforce being sucked from his body.

Do I believe this? I don't know. My contact is an honest guy, but the mind can play tricks on people at night.



5. Gates of Hell

What's worse than a century-old graveyard? Well, how about a place called the Gates of Hell? Most people who have grown up in Redlands have heard the stories of devil worshipers hiding out in Prospect Park or in San Timoteo Canyon, but here is where those stories reach a climax.

Somewhere in the Redlands hills, allegedly on Sunset Drive, there are two black iron gates standing along the roadside. I have a Generation-X contact who tells me that he always thought they were on Garden Street along the road. Regardless of the actual location, these gates supposedly used to be the entrance to an old, creepy house where devil worshipers got together. The trail leading to the house is now overgrown and I don't think the house is actually there anymore.

The stories that circulate about the Gates of Hell are on the more twisted side of things. The stories include a ghost carrying a headless cat, who runs after you; and, a bloody bull's head that rolls down the dirt path.

In my youth, I personally have looked for the Gates of Hell, but never found them. I have also heard that the gates have been torn down and built over; I still don't know where that is, though.



4. The Morey Mansion

The Morey Mansion is another one of Redlands more famous estates. Built in the late 1800s by Mr. and Mrs. David Morey, the Morey Mansion has been around for quiet some time, transitioning from a privately owned property, to a bed and breakfast and back again. It is widely considered to be one of the more beautiful homes in Redlands, quite a feat given the historic area.

The story of the mansion goes that David and Sarah Morey built the house for $20,000 in 1890 from their profits in the citrus industry. The house, which cost about 20 times more than the building of other houses in the area, was built by ship builders who also worked for David Morey in one of his other ventures. About one year after David and Sarah moved into the house, Sarah died of a sudden illness. Grief-stricken, David Morey never stepped back into the house. David fell into a deep alcoholism and moved into the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. Within a year he had committed suicide and was found hanging in his room.
Many guests have reported ghostly activity, from hearing objects falling and loud bangs in other rooms, without finding any reason, to having door knobs rattling in the middle of the night. There are also reports that doors will open and close, and the sound of children will be heard playing.

Even more interesting is that the Morey Mansion was featured on the Cartoon Network's "The Othersiders" (a show where older kids investigate paranormal activity). After investigating the house, all but one of the investigators thought the mansion was haunted.

Illustrated Redlands - Mr. & Mrs. David Morey

Clip of the Othersiders investigating the Morey Mansion

Cartoon Network - The Othersiders



3. Prospect Park

Prospect Park is a botanical garden featuring orange groves, flowers, bamboo and an outdoor theatre stage. Originally owned by the Smiley brothers, it was donated to Redlands by the Smiley family 80 years after the founding of the city.

The more well-known rumors of Prospect Park have to do with moutain lion sightings. However, there are still those other creepier rumors. There are stories of devil worshipers (again) chanting and sacrificing animals in the park, as well as stories that it is a place where bodies are dumped under its thick foliage.
There are also stories about a girl being raped and murdered behind the stage with her ghost being seen during the winter nights. Another account is that it was actually a girl who was raped and murdered on her way home from high school in the early 1970s, her body being dumped in one of the orange groves. Other activities around the theatre include people hearing steps run across the wooden stage and seats in the theater folding up.

In the actual orange groves there are accounts of people walking through them after dark, seeing an old man who acts as a guard of the grove and chases out anyone he sees.

In my experience exploring Prospect Park at night as a young buck, I have never seen any definitive proof of haunting in the Park. I have seen bushes shaking, though I assume it could have been an animal. I have heard the sounds of chains banging, though who knows who that could be. And, I have scared a group of "Gothic" high school kids who were probably doing the same thing I was. However, beyond my personal lack of proof, Prospect Park still remains an eerily and creepy place at night. Who knows what is really lurking behind the bushes, it could be a mountain lion; which, in my opinion, is actually worse than a ghost.


California Paranormal Investigators - Prospect Park, Redlands, CA



2. The Haunting of the Barton House

In second place comes one of the most debated haunted houses in Redlands: the infamous Barton House. Originally a ranch in Redlands, the Barton house is one of the oldest buildings in the Inland Empire. It has recently been refurbished, but for many years it was an extremely sinister looking, run-down mansion. It is made of brick, an uncommon site in Southern California due to earthquakes, and it is completely square with few features.
During its run-down years, it was a challenge among many teenagers to find a way to the roof, and put their name on a certain stone. Half the challenge was figuring out how to get up there, the other half was being brave enough to actually enter the intimidating house. The inside of the house was filled with rotting wood and weak staircases, while the floor was covered with a layer of newspaper pages. The house was notorious for attracting squatters, hobos and of course the rumors of devil worshipers. It has been a prime location for ghost stories to take root.

One contact I know, who climbed to the roof on Halloween one year swears that she saw a strange looking man walk while they were searching around the stable house behind the mansion. Thinking it was some sort of authority, she and her friends immediately hid. When they decided to try and run to her car, they couldn't figure out where the man went. Of course, this could have in fact been a man, but then it wouldn't be a good ghost story, would it.

Stories aside, the reason the Barton House is ranked number two on this list, isn't because of rumors and hearsay, its because there is actually a video that captures what looks like a giant ghost. The back-story of the video builds it up by saying that the Barton House was in fact built on an old Indian burial ground (go figure), and that the bricks used to build the mansion were made from the clay dug up from the burial ground. After the house was built, Dr. Barton's daughters died under mysterious circumstances, so he became a devil worshiper! Since then it has become a site for dumping dead bodies and devil worshiping. In 2001, a group of teenagers explored the house finding raw meat and a circle of stones. The next night, they returned, and actually got footage of a giant ghost.

I knew a friend of one of these teenagers, and actually saw the raw footage myself, it was pretty freaky. Since then, they made a website, tried to sell DVDs and have been scrutinized by many online ghost hunter websites. On one side, many people claim that the video was clearly staged and that they actually know the people who made it, explaining that the filmmakers were inspired by the Blair Witch Project. On the other side, if you watch that video, the "ghost" isn’t just a guy wearing a sheet, he is huge, barely fitting through the doorway, and if it’s acting, the screaming and running seems pretty realistic.

I'm not saying I believe the video to be true, I'm actually more of a skeptic in most cases. However, whether or not this video is a hoax or not, there were a lot of ghost stories before the video. And at the end of the day, a video ALWAYS makes a ghost story better.

YouTube - Barton House Ghost Video


1. Little Billy at Mariposa Elementary

Here we are with the number one ghost story in Redlands. If you are a resident of Redlands, I'm sure you know this one and may even know someone who knocked on the door. The story goes that in the 50's, 60's or 70's, a little boy named Billy was hit by a car on his way to school. He was rushed into the nurse's office, but died shortly after. Now, if you knock on the door of the nurse's office (it might have to be exactly at midnight, I'm not positive), little Billy will knock back. It's not necessarily a creepy story, in the sense that it's just a knocking on the door, however it is creepy in the fact that nearly everyone I have talked to that has done it, swears up and down that it is real and that they have heard something.

My Generation-X contact is one of these people. Apparently, in his youth he went up to the school at night to try and do it himself. One of his friends did it before and was described as scared out of his mind, not wanting to go back, swearing that the glass window began to twist when he knocked on the door. Regardless of this warning, they managed to drag this friend along. My Gen-X contact's story differs from other stories where little Billy knocks back because he didn't knock back. Instead, my contact swears at the exact moment his hand hit the door, he heard a scream "I'm gonna kill you!" come from the other side of the building three times. Needless to say, the group all ran back to their cars and drove off. My contact says that while it may have been somebody playing a trick on him and his friends, he cannot explain how he heard the voice at the exact moment his knuckles hit the door.

Another story that everyone seems to agree upon is that a single swing at the swing set will sway back and forth at night as if an invisible Billy is playing by himself.

Now, here is the other side of the story. Skeptics of this story blame the phenomenon on a large mechanical clock in the nurse's office that makes a thud on the hour. This would make it possible to hear something knocking back if you knocked right at midnight. A few years ago, it was replaced with a digital clock to combat unwanted trespassing.

Furthermore, apparently little Billy never existed. Teachers that used to work at the school, say that the urban legend grew from a kid on a bike getting hit by a truck in front of the school. These same witnesses say that the kid, wasn’t even a student at Mariposa, wasn’t rushed straight to the nurses office, going to the hospital instead and more importantly, didn't die.

So, is the nurse's office really haunted? And if it is, and there wasn't a little Billy, then who is haunting it? Despite the evidence against it, the people I know who have knocked on the door deny that it was a mechanical clock. They point to the single swaying swing as supporting evidence. Regardless of what it is, this ghost story is the most well known haunting in Redlands, and therefore is number one on this list.

Also, note that due to the high level of trespassing over the last twenty years, this school is full of security systems and cameras. There is a large gate, and the neighboring community calls the police whenever they hear or spot trespassers. If you try to knock on the nurse's office, you will be arrested. So don't do it.

Press Enterprise - School Legend Lures Many Ghost Seekers



If there was a Redlands ghost story you know that I didn't mention, or if you want to correct or comment on the stories I've listed, please leave a comment.