The Brookdale Lodge was built among the towering redwoods in the beautiful mountains of Santa Cruz California in 1870. It is famous for the creek that runs right through its cavernous Brook room. It's also known for its many ghostly residents, including Sarah Logan, a little girl who may have drowned in the brook. In its heyday, the lodge was THE place to be for the country's elite. Stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, May West, Tyrone Power, and many others frequented the ritzy hotel. It also has a bit of a shady past, with gangsters such as Al Capone hiding out in its secret rooms and halls. Yes, this haunted hotel even has secret passageways and at one time, a tunnel that went underneath it!
The Brookdale Lodge closed its doors in 2011, but reopened in 2015 just as big and fabulous as ever. Sarah Logan still haunts the guests, asking them where her mother is. Ghostly voices can still be heard talking as if sitting down to dinner. And the faint sounds of big band music can still be heard on some nights when the lodge is quiet and no one is around. If you're staying at the Brookdale Lodge, don't be surprised if you're touched by one of its various resident spirits, since they seem to enjoy physical contact as well.
This episode features a very special interview with Brookdale Lodge expert and ghosthunter, Maryanne Porter from Santa Cruz Ghosthunters. Sit back and relax as she tells you of her own spooky encounters at the lodge. You'll be sure to enjoy one of our spookiest episodes to date.
Actress and painter Janet Gaynor was a staple at the Brookdale Lodge
Gangster Al Capone hid out at the Brookdale Lodge
The man who invented creepy cinema, Alfred Hitchcock haunted the hallways of the Brookdale Lodge
Comedian and actor Bob Hope kept 'em in stitches at the Brookdale Lodge
Newspaper article about the suicide of a waitress at the Brookdale Lodge
Rhett Butler himself, Clark Gable went with the wind to Brookdale Lodge
Article written about Bob Hope and the Brookdale Lodge
A celebration of the lives of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan was given at the Brookdale Lodge by their relatives
B Western actor Tom Keene parked his horse at the Brookdale Lodge on more than one occation
Grace Bradley lit up the halls of the Brookdale Lodge just as she did the silver screen
One of the most beautiful and intelligent starlets of old Hollywood, Hedy Lamar chose Brookdale Lodge as one of her favorite hangouts
President Herbert Hoover took a break from running the country at the Brookdale Lodge
Queen of the silver screen, Katherine Hepburn graced the Brookdale Lodge with her presence
The Brookdale Lodge was even mentioned in Ripley's Believe it or Not
In this video, paranormal Investigator Jim Owen captures an amazing ghostly apparition in the bathroom at the Brookdale Lodge. Footage thanks to Maryanne Porter of Santa Cruz Ghosthunters
Trailer for the UK documentary, Brookdale Lodge Uncovered
Front view of the beautiful Brookdale Lodge
Pool at the Brookdale Lodge in previous years
Entrance sign to the Brookdale Lodge in Santa Cruz, California
The stunningly beautiful Brook room at the Brookdale Lodge
Maryanne Porter poses in the Brook room of the Brookdale Lodge
Maryanne Porter of Santa Cruz Ghosthunters conducts a ghostly tour at the Brookdale Lodge
Maryanne Porter looks into the pool from the Mermaid room of the Brookdale Lodge
The James Dean mural at the Brookdale Lodge
Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio frequented the Brookdale Lodge
Virginia Bruce, star of Jane Eyre frequented the Brookdale Lodge
Among the many stars who frequented the Brookdale Lodge was William Boyd, Hopalong Cassidy himself
Depiction of Sarah Logan, who haunts the Brookdale Lodge
Maryanne Porter doing research at the Brookdale Lodge
Silver screen icon Adolphe Menjou was often seen at the Brookdale Lodge
Haunted Santa Cruz California, by Maryanne Porter
The Haunted Brookdale Lodge, by Aubrey Graves
History of the Brookdale Lodge, by Aubrey Graves
Customers have questions, you have answers. Display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits.
The house that producer, creator, co-writer, and author David Oman lives in was built by his family on land adjacent to the land where the Sharon Tate murders occurred. Although some witnesses have seen the ghost of Sharon Tate on the property and David has seen the ghost of Jay Sebring, there are many other spirits on the property.
The house is built on top of a hill on Cielo drive in prestigious Beverly Hills. It is built upon a major geological anomaly that causes virtually his whole house to become a massive magnetic field. This is believed to provide the energy that spirits need to manifest, and causing the house to be a hotbed of spirit activity.
In this episode, David talks about his house, its entities, and his strange connections to the Manson murders.
David Oman, owner of the uber haunted David Oman house on Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills.
David Oman's house is situated on a hillside on Cielo drive in Beverly Hills.
A ghostly fog caught on camera at the Oman house.
A ghostly fog caught on camera at the Oman house
A ghostly apparition caught on camera at the Oman house
Seance conducted at the Oman house
This bizarre apparition was captured blocking out someone's head
Many people are terrified of witches, as evidenced by the witch trials throughout history. Many people either flat out don't believe in them, or think they are crazy. The purpose of this series is to paint a picture of real witches and what it means to be a witch. Just like with everyone else, there are good and bad witches, real and fake witches, and any other type of witch you can imagine. Most witches however, are just regular people who use magik, ritual, and nature to heal and make life better for everyone.
Witches are usually very close with nature and use elements of nature for healing. Not all of them dance naked under the moon, although some do. Most of them are just every day people with similar morals and values to non witches. We are neither advocating nor condemning witches. Our goal is simply to educate and to do it with a bit of humor.
“Goodwife” Joan Wright, as she was known, was a midwife in Surry County and the first person in any of the colonies to be legally accused of witchcraft. Goodwife Wright was a healer and most likely a “cunning” woman, the term used for those who practiced low-level magic. This, combined with the fact that she was left-handed (a fact that made her untrustworthy by the superstitious standards of the day), served to make her an oddity in the community. Her accusers claimed that she had accurately predicted the deaths of at least four of her neighbors, bewitched livestock and crops and cast a spell that killed a newborn baby. Although she was arraigned, she never faced trial. No one knows what, if any, punishment she faced, but records indicate that at some point she was fined 100 pounds of tobacco for an unspecified act.
The first known witch trial in the New World took place in Norfolk in 1641. Mrs. George Barker was accused of witchcraft by Jane Rookens of “Lower” Norfolk, although the exact charges are not known. Mrs. Barker was acquitted of all charges and records indicate the Mrs. Rookens later said she “was sorry for what she said.” As compensation for the false accusation, Mrs. Rookens’ husband, George Rookens, was required to pay Mrs. Barker’s court charges and other related expenses.
While Katherine Grady is the only person to be executed for witchcraft in Virginia, she wasn’t actually in Virginia at the time of her death. Instead, she was on a ship headed for the new colony from England. At the time, it was not uncommon to blame sorcery or witchcraft for events like storms or drought. So, when a violent storm blew in, the witch hunt began. Katherine, an elderly woman, seemed the most likely candidate for sorcery and in an effort to stop the storm, she was hung at sea. As Virginia was the ship’s final destination, the event fell under the colony’s jurisdiction and the incident was reported by the captain upon his arrival in Jamestown.
While the majority of those accused of witchcraft in Virginia, and the rest of the nation, were women, on occasion a man would come under suspicion for using dark magic or sorcery. In 1656, Reverend David Lindsay, a Scottish immigrant who had witnessed many witch trials in his home country, accused another Virginia man, William Harding, of witchcraft. Harding was found guilty of the charges, and sentenced to 13 lashes of the whip and ordered to leave the county.
As the most famous of Virginia’s witches, Grace Sherwood may or may not have doled out curses on her neighbors, but after what she went through, you would be hard pressed to blame her if she did. Born in Princess Anne County in the town of Pungo, Sherwood was non-traditional for a woman of her times. Said to be strikingly beautiful, she was also a healer, an herbalist and a midwife who wore men’s trousers when planting crops. The first case against her began in 1698 when Richard Capps began spreading rumors that she was a witch. Sherwood and her husband sued Capps for slander, but their case was dismissed.
The last known case of witchcraft in Virginia occurred in 1730 when a woman known only as “Mary” was accused of using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. While she never received a formal trial, she was sentenced to 39 lashes with the whip. Little else is known about her story, but it does serve as an example of the inconsistency and superstitious fear that seemed to drive witch trials in the 17th and 18th century.