Salinas - Old stage road has been known for many hauntings. One story
goes that in the
early 1900’s there was a woman walking along side the road. She
accepted a ride from a man passing by and shortly thereafter he pulled his
vehicle over and savagely attacked and raped her. After this horrendous act
he took the body out into the fields and decapitated her. He left her head in the fields
along with her body. Many sightings of this woman have occurred on the road
near the crime scene. She's seen walking down the road holding her head.
Salinas - Market Street House - An old woman is said to have committed
suicide by hanging herself in the living room. She has been seen wearing a
black dress. Reports of a feeling of choking, and a feeling of her trying to
interact with humans, especially children, are common.
Salinas High School Bell Tower - Students report seeing a teenage girl looking for her boyfriend by the name of Adrian.
She asks the students to tell Adrian goodbye for her, then
disappears.
CAR CURSE
James Dean was a 1950's celebrity with a youthful appeal and the tough boy
look. Cast for the part of Cal Trask in the screen adaptation John
Steinbeck's novel "East of Eden," Dean's last trip he would make was in his
sports car on a trip to participate in a Salinas car race. In 1955 Dean was
bought a silver gray 1955 Porsche Spyder 550 for an upcoming race at Salinas. Dean
was thrilled with the car but several of his friends were not.
Actor Alec Guiness told Dean to get rid of the car. George Barris said the
car exuded a strange feeling of impending doom. Dean drove the Porsche on
the open road speeding along until at 3.30 when a highway trooper pulled him
over and issued a ticket. At 5.59 P.M. Dean smashed head on into another car
and was killed instantly. (The number 5 was dominant in his
life--coincidence? 1955, died at 5.59 in a 1955 car model 550.
Later the mangled car was sold to a Barris but
upon the car's arrival at the garage, it fell during unloading and breaking
a mechanic's leg.
Then two physicians bought the engine and drive train to place in their own
race cars. On October 2, 1956 they raced the cars using these parts for the
first time.
One was killed in an accident and the other seriously injured in another
accident.
Two of the tires off Deans car were sold to young man who later
reported that both tires had blown at the same time very nearly causing a
serious accident.
Souvenir-seeking fans tried to steal parts off the Porsche only to suffer
severe injuries. The California Highway Patrol decided to use Deans vehicle
as part of safety exhibit.
During one of the exhibits the garage used to house Dean's car went up in
flames. All the vehicles inside were destroyed except Dean's car.
Later when on display at a Sacramento high school the car fell off its
pedestal breaking a students hip. Then after that the car was sent to
Salinas, but on the way the car fell off the flat bed truck killing the
driver.
Two years later it fell off another truck causing an accident. Then in 1958
it caused another accident.
In 1959 the car was on display when for no reason it suddenly collapsed into
11 pieces. In 1960 the car was crated and sent to Los Angeles. But it never
arrived, somewhere on the way it just disappeared.
