This book contains numerous new accounts of the strange and unexplained in historic Old Monterey (California's first capital city) and its surrounding areas. A number of these tales involve mysterious encounters at such well-known sites as Monterey's famed Stokes Adobe, the old Hotel Del Monte (now the Naval Postgraduate School), and Carmel Mission.

A second mystery connected with the Mission San Antonio area involves the strange tale of a headless horselady who has frequently been seen in the vicinity of the aged church. Referred to by many as "the headless horselady of San Antonio," this ghostly figure and her gallant mount have been observed by old-timers of the Jolon, Lockwood and San Antonio areas, as well as by soldiers of the nearby Hunter Liggett Military Reservation.

In attempting to track down the origin of this strange tale, it has been found that most accounts that mention the legend of the headless lady agree that the story had its beginning over 100 years ago. Also, according to these accounts, in the mid and late 1800s there were groups of Indians still living in the area of the decaying San Antonio church. At this same period of time there were prospectors in and around the neighboring Santa Lucia Mountains . . . As the story continues, one of the Indian squaws living in the San Antonio area was in the habit of slipping away from her husband and spending time with a prospector in the nearby hills.

It was not long before the husband caught the two together, and in a jealous rage he killed his wife and beheaded her with an ax! With this accomplished, the enraged husband buried the body of his wife in one grave and her decapitated head in another.