Tom Ogden - Spooky Trails and Tall Tales California: Hiking the Golden States Legends, Hauntings, and History

Tom Ogden is one of Americas leading experts on the paranormal, and, as a professional magician for the past forty years, he has a special insight into ghost phenomena, hauntings, and things that go bump in the night.

Ogdens first book, 200 Years of the American Circus, was released in 1994. The American Library Association and the New York Public Library named it a Best Reference Work, and Tom was subsequently profiled in Writers Market. Ogdens other early books include Wizards and Sorcerers and two instructional magic books for the Complete Idiots Guide series.

In 1998 Tom Ogden released The Complete Idiots Guide to Ghosts and Hauntings, now in its second edition. A recent expanded volume of Haunted Cemeteries was his eleventh book of ghost stories for Globe Pequots Haunted series. Spooky Trails and Tall Tales California is Toms first work for FalconGuides.

Nicknamed The Ghost Guy, Ogden has been interviewed on numerous radio programs and podcasts, and hes in demand as a speaker on the Spirit World. His original ghost videos can be found on YouTube, and hes a member of the Paranormal Investigation Committee of the Society of American Magicians.

Tom Ogden resides in haunted Hollywood, California.

To my friends Mark Willoughby, Joan Lawton, and Michael Kurland, thank you for taking my panicked calls when I wanted to run a passage by you or was struggling to find just the right word. Thank you, too, for pushing me this past year during my endless procrastination.

Thanks to everyone who forwarded me news stories about spooky happenings, shared their personal ghost stories, or described trails I was unable to visit. And, of course, thanks to all of you who graciously supplied me with your trail photos to illustrate the book.

Finally, thanks go out to my editor, David LGere; former editors Evan Helmlinger (who brought me the project) and Ursula Cary; production editors Kristen Mellitt and Meredith Dias; copy editor Brooke Goode; layout artist Joanna Beyer; and cartographer Melissa Baker.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTINE COX

A full list of the books consulted during the preparation of Spooky Trails is too extensive to include, so Im nominating just three works that I consider essential to any hiker who is also a would-be ghost hunter. The first, by Dennis Hauck, has become a classic, and it describes hauntings in all sorts of venues across the United States. The other two books focus on hiking trails or backpacking destinations.

Hauck, Dennis William. Haunted Places: The National Directory. New York: Penguin, 1996. The National Directory is one of the most popular ghost books in print. Its an easy-to-use reference book that lists its haunted sites by state and city in A-to-Z order.

Horjust, Maren. Haunted Hikes: Real Life Stories of Paranormal Activity in the Woods. Guilford, CT: FalconGuides, 2017. This 228-page book has one hundred short chapters, each one detailing a specific hiking trail. The work is separated into eight regions of the United States. Each chapter ends with the location of or directions to the trailhead as well as a few pertinent facts regarding the hike. Most of the tales take place in state parks or wilderness areas.

Lankford, Andrea. Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North Americas National Parks. Santa Monica, CA: Santa Monica Press, 2006. This 373-page paperback contains fifty-one short chapters sorted into eight regional sections of the United States and Canada. The length of the ghost stories varies. There are numerous black-and-white photographs, full- and half-page maps of recommended hikes, and descriptions of the trails.

No commercial video seems to explore haunted hiking trails as its primary subject. Backpackers, members of paranormal societies, and solo ghost hunters, however, have posted countless personal videos of their adventures on social media, especially on YouTube. These self-produced videos visually document their hikes as they go in search of the Unknown.

Some of the videos concentrate on the history of the ghost legend rather than the hike itself, such as the video I produced about the haunted HOLLYWOOD sign found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROSPOJrV0eM&t=3s.

The key words to search online for such videos are the name of a trail or its general location and the word ghost, haunted, or some similar term. Youll find plenty of choices, some of them pretty scary. You may not want to watch them alone in the dark.

In addition to books and video, I consulted more than a hundred websites during my research for this book. The sites fell into four main categories, so here are a couple of examples of each type.

Site managed by the agency that maintains the trail.

nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bridalveilfalltrail.htm

Bridalveil Fall Trail

Yosemite National Park

boyscouts-marin.org

Tamarancho Trail

Marin Council of the Boy Scouts of America

Fairfax

Sites managed by outdoor enthusiasts.

AllTrails.com

If youre a devoted hiker, backpacker, or camper, youre probably already familiar with AllTrails.com. The site offers general and technical information about established trails, including the pathways condition, restrictions, maps, and trailhead GPS, as well as reviews and recommendations from past visitors.

backpackerverse.com

This site is designed for hikers who are also ghost aficionados. Youll find spooky stories, hiking tips, and several Top Tenstyle lists of haunted trails.

There are several paranormal websites that collect ghost stories from users, create thumbnail sketches of the haunted places, and list them alphabetically by county, state, and city. This type of aggregator site constantly changes as users update the existing tales or add new ones. Some directory sites contain thousands of listings.

theshadowlands.net

Online since 1994. Founded by Dave Juliano.

haunted-places.com

Many ghost hunters and research societies, authors, and speakers on spirit phenomena have websites where they recount their otherworldly experiences or offer their services. Some of them limit their sites or services to a particular city or region.

hauntedoc.com

Ernie Alonzo

Haunted Orange County

Working with historian Charles Spratley, Ernie Alonzo founded Haunted Orange County. The organization operates ghost walks, talks, and paranormal-related special events in the O.C. Among their offerings is a 2.5-hour Black Star Canyon Ghost Walk.

ghoula.blogspot.com

Richard Carradine

GHOULA

Historian-researcher-author Richard Carradine founded Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles (GHOULA) in 2006 to give fellow ghost enthusiasts a way to share their experiences. For many years, he also hosted Spirits with Spirits, a casual meet-up on the 13th of each month at a different haunted bar or restaurant somewhere in Greater Los Angeles.

richardsenate.com

Richard Senate

Richard Senate, one the best-known ghost hunters in Southern California, has spent a lifetime investigating hauntings, writing, lecturing, and giving ghost tours in the Golden State.

theghostguy.com

Tom Ogden

The authors website, covering all things paranormal.

Redwood National and State Parks