Episode 8: The Vanishing Hitchhiker ~ Ghosts Wanted

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Episode 8: The Vanishing Hitchhiker

FOR A MAP OF THIS HAUNTED LOCATION PRESS HERE

A strange force drew me to the graveyard...I stood in the dark...I saw the shadows wave...And then I looked and saw my sweater...Lying there upon her grave...Strange things happen in this world. So closes the song, "Strange Things Happen" by Dickey Lee, recorded in 1965 for the album Laurie and the Girl from Peyton Place. This popular ghost ballad has become a part of the folklore tradition of the Vanishing Hitchhiker, the tale of a young woman at the side of the road forever trying to catch a ride home. In most versions, the demure and quiet passenger disappears before arriving at her destination.

This mythic moll has been spotted in San Fernando Valley (on the "Camino Real") just beyond the doors of the old mission, and Ghosts Wanted is on the scene to put the legend to test. Neighborhood gossip circulates tales of a woman in white as well as an apparition of a cat lady with a host of feline followers. Add a splash of neighborhood mortuary and we have a recipe for Ghosts! Watch Episode 8 to see if our fearless Psyhic Lee Barron gets more than he bargained for.

TO SEE THE "MISSION SPIRITS" EPISODE PRESS HERE

WATER LEVEL: HIGH (ACTIVE FOUNTAIN)

3 comments:

Lisa Chandler said...: The ghost of the SF Mission is of a young woman on New Year's Eve at midnight across the street and down a bit from the Mission (west)she is in torn dirty party clothes, dissheveled and frightened, as if maybe a dumped rape victim and probably a little drunk--stumbling along hitchhiking to try to get help and get out of there. Or at least that has always been my understanding of this ghost, and I have heard the story since I was a little girl living in the Valley when there was nothing around the mission. And I have always wanted to go there on midnight New Year's Eve just to see; April 16, 2009 at 1:29 AM
Dave M said...: A lot of people have talked about the ghost of the "Cat Lady " of the San Fernando Mission. I had heard these tales for many years and one night in the mid 80's while driving home, I saw this person walking right in front of the mission with a bunch of cats scurrying behind.When I saw this, I said to myself Naw! Can't be!! So I swung a u-turn went back and pulled up alongside this "ghost". I wasn't more than a few feet from this person and can honestly say that it's no ghost at all! Just some eccentric old lady who used to walk her cats in the middle of the night. Hell I can even tell you where this lady lives or lived because I used to see her a number of times while driving home. She lived in the house just west of the mission. You can't see it because it is hidden by overgrown vegetation on the fence but her mail box had a big sign on it that said KEN WOOD. Anyone that says this lady is a ghost is FULL OF S##T !!; October 24, 2009 at 6:16 PM
l'amore necessario said...: I have heard many stories of this lady....never seen her. But I live across the street from this mission and the park that was also part of the mission and I will tell you THIS WHOLE area right here is haunted ! I have lived here for some 20plus years...we just dont even pay attn to all the weird stuff anymore.; December 28, 2009 at 8:58 AM

Post a Comment

The Skeleton Crew

LEE BARRON is a sketch comedy actor with a special gift. Born into a family with a genetic disposition for psychic receptivity, Lee can consciously small-talk with spirits and uses etheric humor to break the ice and help them along their path through the after-life. His grandfather used to do energy healing on the livestock on their Texas ranch, an ability that has been passed down through the generations.

His first shuddersome experience in tinseltown occurred while working behind the scenes on In Search of Haunted Hollywood with Max Maven and John Davidson. One morning on the Alcatraz set in GMT Studios, he heard tapping on the prison bars when no one was there. Set managers confirmed that they had heard, “strange sh*t, too.” Lee later discovered that the studio lot was built on top of the old Culver City Cemetery.

Since he has accepted his gifts, he has experienced ghosts in many unusual situations, such as haunting an apartment heater, attending a funeral, and possessing a laundry room. Lee’s advice to other ghost hunters; “Keep it Ethe-real, but don’t be a white-light wanker about it.”

RICHARD CARRADINE's passion for spooky subject matter was ignited when he came face to face with a “woman in white” that haunts a 19th century mansion in Pasadena, CA. Since that experience, he has had many unexplainable encounters with the other side, from full-bodied apparitions to heavy furniture sliding back and forth across a room.

In almost two decades of hunting, he has investigated ghosts from all over the world, (Canada, Scotland, England, Wales, Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovenia) and throughout the United States (Florida, California, New York, Louisiana, Virginia, and Montana). In California alone, he has investigated over 200 haunted locations (including all 23 missions).

His approach to each case is academic. Proving or disproving the spiritual activity of a certain spot isn’t what motivates this ghost hunter. Instead, he is more interested in collecting the stories and eyewitness accounts, and archiving them, not only as a means of getting a glimpse into that place’s past, but also as a means of recording them for future studies into these unusual phenomena that clearly affect so many seemingly unconnected people.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008