Evie Ybarra - Ghosts of Santa Barbara and the Ojai Valley

Published by Haunted America

A Division of the History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net

Copyright 2017 by Evie Ybarra

All rights reserved

Front cover: photographed by Robert G Jr.

First published 2017

e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978.1.43966.278.6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940934

print edition ISBN 978.1.62585.949.5

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

To Robert, whom I have known since I was seventeen, thank you for your unwavering support and encouragement.
For my four beautiful grandchildren, Michael, Christopher, Conner and Claire, I hope you enjoy history and stories as much as I have. To all of my former students whose lives touched mine and who taught me the importance of sharing stories, myths and legends.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to all of those who have supported this project. Robert G. Jr., your photography skills are quite excellent and artistic, and your time was precious. Yet, you shared that in order to complete this book.

T Christian Gapen and Southland Publishing, your outstanding photographs of Santa Cruz Island make the experience come to life for those who have not had the privilege of visiting any of the Channel Islands. Jeremy Leija and his original artwork add an extra dimension to the unknown and to the Ghostly Lady.

Colleen Cason and the Ventura County Star for sharing The Silent Witness series written by Colleen.

Thank you to the Sacramento Bee and Marc Breton for his articles about the East Area Rapist. To all those who shared their stories and experiences, thank you.

The Ojai Valley Museum has been so gracious in sharing information and photographs, and it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to Katherine Stewart, author of The Good News Club, for sharing her two articles from Santa Barbara magazine, Almost Famous and Into the Light, because a book about Santa Barbara would not have been complete without a glance into the lives of Edie Sedgwick and Martha Graham. There are numerous others included in the book, such as Barnaby and Mary Conrad, Countess Ritter and Fanny Stevenson, the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson. To those of you who consented to be interviewed, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you. The communities of Santa Barbara and Montecito were extremely helpful and your stories are important for the historical record. Thanks also to Hattie Beresford, renowned historian, and to Francesca C. Hunter for sharing their stories.

The San Ysidro Ranch was so gracious. Without their assistance, the book would not have been complete. Last, but not least, I am immensely grateful to Laurie Krill of The History Press for her constant encouragement and assistance in completing this project and to Rick Delaney for his dedication and thoroughness.

INTRODUCTION

Ghosts are real. Shadow people are real. This book affirms these beliefs because it validates the sightings and the stories people have shared over the years. If you have never seen a ghost or apparition or noticed dark shadows moving about in your home or elsewhere, this book will inform you about these unknown entities through stories others have shared. Manifestations go beyond the limits that our physics and science can understand. Walk through the pages and experience what others have without any fear or doubts. An open mind will relax your inner spirit and expand your mind as you try and understand what others have experienced. The Ojai Valley is very spiritual, and the Native American Chumash people who lived along this California coast knew and understood this before us. This extends into La Conchita, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Santa Ynez and beyond. The Channel Islands National Park has more information about the influences the Chumash people left behind and more details about Chumash life as it existed on the Channel Islands, Mescaltitlan and throughout the Central Coast of California.

There are still the unsolved beach murders and other killings that occurred in Southern California as a result of the East Area Rapist, who began his rampage in Northern California. Modern science now has DNA, although there is not yet a match. Investigators and prosecutors continue trying to uncover his identity. The FBI has joined in trying to find this most notorious killer and rapist.

Imagination is more important than knowledge, as Albert Einstein stated many times. One may see or hear the unexplained, so let it becest la vie!

CHAPTER 1

THE OJAI VALLEY

Why, then, make so great ado about the Roman and Greek, and neglect the Indian? We [need] not wander off with boys in our imagination to Juan Fernandez, to wonder at footprints in the sand there. Here is a print still more significant at our doors, the print of a race that has preceded us, and this is the little symbol that Nature has transmitted to us. Yes, this arrowheaded character is probably more ancient than any other, and to my mind it has not been deciphered. Man should not go to New Zealand to write or think of Greece and Rome, nor more to New England. New earths, new themes expect us. Celebrate not the Garden of Eden, but your own.
Henry David Thoreau, Journals, 1852

THE CHUMASH LEGEND OF THE WIND SYCAMORE

Originally, the Whispering Tree was part of a sacred site following Highway 33 north toward the Ojai Valley from Ventura. In the area where the road turned off toward Foster Park and Ojai was a group of sycamore trees known as Khsho, meaning The Sycamore. The revered tree was known as the Wind Sycamore. The Chumash people believed that if you made a wish while standing under the tree, the wish would come true. Lovers would go to the tree and share a kiss; the tree was also known as the Kissing Tree or the Wishing Tree. Relics would be placed on the tree or inside of its trunk. The Chumash people revered the trees in the area. To this day, Ojai has numerous sycamore and oak trees within its city limits and beyond.

Sycamore tree in the approximate location where the Wind Sycamore once stood. Robert G Jr.

The recent discovery of the Chumash Jarborglyph in San Luis Obispo County illustrates the importance of trees to the Chumash people. The Spanish missionaries, recognizing the importance of this sacred site to the Chumash, located a satellite mission to the San Buenaventura called Santa Gertrudis close to the spot where the Wind Sycamore stood. The former site of Santa Gertrudis is recognized as archaeological site VEN-166. Many stories evolved around the Whispering Tree or Wishing Tree. The Chumash would make a wish and leave a relic inside of the trunk. The Chumash would hang their offerings of feathers, bright cloth and skins of wild animals. A strong belief held that a wish breathed beneath the leaves of the sacred tree would come true. When later generations of lovers came to whisper their promises to each another, it became known as the Kissing Tree.