By Janice Oberding
It’s that time of year. Pumpkin spice is queen of everything from cupcakes to lattes. The last long dog days of summer are finally behind us. And that brings us to Halloween, ranked just behind Thanksgiving and Christmas as the nation’s favorite holiday. Statistically more candy is sold during the last week of October than any other time of the year. Think of all those little trick-or-treaters in their scary costumes and you’ll know why this is.
Some paranormal investigators have said that if you listen carefully, you may hear the cackling of the cold-blooded “Ma” Spinelli as she shouts orders to her gang.
Candy and pumpkin spice latte aside, Halloween is when ghosts claim the spotlight. But ghosts don’t suddenly start appearing in October. As any ghost research investigator will tell you, ghosts are with us every day and night. And they are everywhere. The Tahoe Truckee area is not immune to hauntings.
The tragic Donner Party
Our region’s best-known ghosts are probably those of the tragic Donner Party. Starving and stranded by heavy snowfall in the winter of 1846, they did the unthinkable — they resorted to cannibalism. The horror they endured may be the reason for ghost activity here. Sightings of Tamsen Donner and other members of the Donner Party, regularly occur at the site of their encampment at Donner Memorial State Park’s Emigrant Trail Museum. Over the years, many campers have reported seeing the ghostly Tamsen as she wanders through the darkness.
Described as glowing and shadowy, she vanishes as quickly as she appears. Naysayers can put this down to a trick of light or overworked imagination. And perhaps it is, but there is also the ghostly bewhiskered man who is sometimes seen in broad daylight or dusk in and around the museum. He appears to be so lifelike that some who’ve encountered him don’t realize he is a ghost until he walks through the wall.
The Blizzard King
It isn’t only humans that can be ghosts. The ghostly Samoyed Rex is said to roam an area around Truckee’s Cottonwood Restaurant, once known as Hilltop Lodge, where he was kenneled. Known as The Blizzard King, for his and his sled team’s help in rescuing stranded travelers, Rex prefers to make his appearances on snowy nights. He is with his beloved handler or he is alone. Either way, you’ll know he’s nearby when you hear his ghostly barking.
Ma Spinelli
All is silent at Truckee’s Old Jail Museum during the day, but things change once the sun goes down. Juanita “Ma” Spinelli, the first woman to be executed by the State of California, cooled her heels for a time here with other members of her gang. Some paranormal investigators have said that if you listen carefully, you may hear the cackling of the cold-blooded Spinelli as she shouts orders to her gang. Is she the shadowy dark figure seen in the jail? Odds are it’s Baby Face Nelson, who also spent cell time here.
George Whittell Jr.
In Incline Village, Nev., Thunderbird Lodge stands as a testament to what an enormous bankroll can do for you. George Whittell Jr. had his summer home built on the lake’s shore in 1936. Although he died in 1969, he’s still here. The lodge has been investigated by ghost hunters’ numerous times; their conclusion is that the ghostly Whittell still oversees his former home.
A ghost hunter who spoke negatively about Whittell learned this the hard way when a ghostly hand gave her a shove. He’s always up for a good time. That old-time music and raucous laughter are only Whittell and his ghostly cronies partying all night in the card house.
Little girl lost
The Hellman-Erhman Mansion Museum in Sugar Pine Point State Park in Tahoma was the home of a little girl who drowned in the lake while visiting the Hellmans many years ago. She appears on moonless nights when the sky is dark and star-strewn, a luminous, little girl forlornly wandering the shore. Call to her and she will disappear into the water. The lake has claimed the lives of many.
Hermit of Emerald Bay
Another of its ghostly drowning victims is Captain Richard Barter, the hermit of Emerald Bay. Barter perished in a dreadful storm on a long-ago October night in 1873. His body was never recovered. This hasn’t stopped his ghost from rising out of the lake on fog-shrouded nights and strolling along the shoreline.
Haunting at Cal Neva
Do ghosts haunt several locations? Apparently, they do. The beautiful blonde actress Marilyn Monroe died mysteriously in Los Angeles 1962. Besides all the obvious places, Monroe haunts the old Cal Neva Lodge (currently closed for renovations) in Crystal Bay, Nev. According to those who’ve seen them, Monroe is there with singer Frank Sinatra, all glittery and glamourous and still partying in the showroom, decades after they died. And as they hoist one ghostly glass of bubbly after another, they’re probably wishing us all a happy Halloween. I’d bet my next bag of candy corn that it’s so.
Janice Oberding, a resident of Reno, Nev., is the author of the new book “The Big Book of California Ghost Stories.” She’s also the author of “Haunted Nevada” and is one of only a few people who have spent an entire night at Alcatraz. She worked as consultant and historian for the Alcatraz episode of SyFy’s “Ghost Hunters.” | Janice Oberding on Facebook, globepequot.com
