The scenic Big Sur coast of California is known around the world for its natural beauty and colorful history. Less well known are the many mysterious happenings and ghostly tales associated with the area. Who—or what—are the “dark watchers” of the Santa Lucia mountains? What grisly secret explains the human remains in Massacre Cave? Did a phantom skipper steer a burning freighter to its watery grave off Point Sur? And who is the ghostly pilot who has been reported to fly a World War I vintage airplane under the Bixby Creek Bridge? Complete with many rare and historically important photographs, Ghosts of the Big Sur Coast offers readers a fascinating glimpse into the haunting memories and unsolved mysteries of one of the world’s most beautiful places.

Softcover
85 pages, illustrated $8.95

According to those who have checked into the story, in the early 1900s this room [in the lightkeeper’s house near the Point Sur lighthouse] was occupied by a young lady of about eighteen. Sadly, the girl suffered from consumption (also known as tuberculosis) and was often overcome by fits of coughing . . . Gradually the disease worsened, and the teenage miss died.

There the story might have ended, except for the strangely similar incidents that have been reported in the years since the girl’s death. I will share two of these accounts here.

The first tale comes from a past lightkeeper who lived in the house with his family long after the teenager died. The family’s eight-year-old son occupied the room next to the one in which the girl had died years before. Even though the boy knew nothing of her death, on several occasions he came downstairs complaining that he couldn’t sleep because a lady (or girl) in the next room kept coughing! As you might expect, no one was in the room at the time.

This story . . . becomes even more striking in light of an event that occurred several years later. The lightkeeper’s house was being reroofed at the time. One night one of the roofers spent the night in the house. The room he stayed in was the same room that had belonged to the eight-year-old boy. Upon venturing downstairs the next morning, the worker—who knew nothing about the history of the house—remarked, “If it isn’t already too late, somebody should do something for the lady in the next room because she has a terrible cough!” Needless to say, the worker didn’t know the room was empty . . .