My experience with the supernatural is limited to my mattress.

My mom replaced my very old but very comfortable mattress in September with a new mattress that she got for $20 because a guy died on it. Despite her being the most superstitious person I know, she told me that I was the superstitious one when I hesitated to sleep where somebody died. I asked around to see if anyone knew an exorcist. No luck, but my journalism teacher said I might find one on the Fullerton Haunted Walking Tour.

I didn’t meet any exorcists during the FHWT, but it was still awesome. Along a 1.5-mile route, participants make 8 stops at the most haunted parts of our fair city. Below are some highlights and let me tell you, it was a blast.

More information about the Fullerton Haunted Walking Tour, including dates, times, and tickets, is available here. There is only one day available which is the Halloween Special on Oct. 31, starting at $50 per person.

Tours in other areas of Orange County run throughout the fall season. More information here.

The Fullerton Museum Center: The Elevator Apparition

The Fullerton Museum Center (formerly the Carnegie Library) was built in 1907 and became a museum in 1974. Maybe it’s the building’s creepy Spanish–Colonial Revival architecture, but the museum staff have a century-long tradition of talking to the museum’s ghosts. The one that gets the most attention is Gus. He haunts the museum’s elevator.

The museum staff says hello to Gus when they clock in, and say goodbye to Gus when they clock out. As Joey, a museum intern, learned, it’s bad luck not to.

On Joey’s first day—, because at the time he didn’t believe in ghosts—, Joey clocked in without saying hello. Joey boarded the elevator, and it went down not up. The elevator arrived at the basement, its doors opened, and only a lone, faint light could be seen in the back of the dark museum basement. Joey knew that this was impossible: He’d been told that master switches controlled the museum’s lights from the first floor. There couldn’t be just one basement light on. He pressed the elevator’s up button, reached the first floor again safely, and apologized to Gus a lot. He’s not forsaken the ritual since.

The Fullerton Auditorium

The Fullerton Auditorium, formerly known as the Plummer Auditorium, is the most elaborately decorated building at Fullerton Union High School. With four confirmed ghost sightings, it is also the most haunted. Each ghost has a name and a backstory: The Electrician’s Daughter, the Woman in the Red Dress, and even the ghost of Louis E. Plummer himself.

While there are many ways to rid off ghosts, Fullerton’s stage manager plugs in a ghost lamp at night, which is not only set on stage to keep people from tripping over things, but also possesses a spiritual purpose of keeping the ghosts company—or to keep them away.

It must not work very well, and in fact, I’m inclined to believe that it attracts ghosts instead of ridding the auditorium of them.

The first, and most interesting case of the four ghosts, is the Woman in the Red Dress—the man-hating woman who haunts the corridor leading to the balcony. Why does she hate men? Nobody knows. While I wasn’t allowed the chance to see the balcony, I’m glad I didn’t, based on the stories I’ve heard. On my tour, I discovered that about 10 years ago, some men walked up onto the balcony, and reported that while they were cleaning up props, a hand reached up and over the railing, grabbing the edge of the wall. 

There are also other ghosts that are fairly active within the auditorium, like the Electrician’s Daughter. The daughter is known to be playful. After a performance in the theater, staff had blocked off a section of the seats with masking tape in between the pillars. It was reported that the masking tape was swinging repeatedly in a smacking like motion—clearly the works of the Electrician’s Daughter, finding something to play with. There’s also Louis, who is known for being a notorious prankster while watching people from the hallway window on the second floor. During one event, the auditorium staff were setting up props for a performance, and Louis began to make one of the hanging components on the ceiling begin to spin. The staff tried everything to make it stop, and when they told him to stop verbally, Louis began to spin it in the other direction. 

So far, the Auditorium is pretty rich in ghost hauntings! You might have a chance to learn even more about them if you go on the walking tour but beware! You might not make it out alive.  

La Villa Del Sol

The Villa Del Sol, located on Harbor Blvd., was built in 1924, and is stunning for its age. Built with Spanish-Colonial architecture, the plaza has a large fountain in the middle, small shops on the outside, and a hotel on the second and third floors, creating an incredibly unique feeling compared to the rest of Fullerton. The vibrant aesthetic makes it stand out, but unfortunately, it is also crawling with spirits.

On the tour, we heard about an event that occurred in the jewelry and clothing store, Gilding The Lilly.  Apparently, the storeowner’s daughter was walking through the store and found an orange ribbon lying on the ground. When she went to pick it up, she turned around and saw the entire spool of orange ribbon scattered across the floor—feet away from the ribbon rack. Furthermore, later, when she was unbundling more orange ribbon, the entire spool began to spin on its own.

After hearing this unsettling story, we made it to the upstairs area, and got a good view of the hotel’s lobby below. The view was breathtaking, but the beauty was short lived as our tour guide told us about a case of a 79-year-old locomotive engineer who took his own life in 1958. The man had checked in downstairs, went into his room, left his clothes inside before stepping out and jumping off the balcony. 

His ghost must have remained in the plaza, as shortly after his death, the manager of the brewery downstairs saw a man dressed in blue suddenly appear. The man stared at him before retreating into the darkness. The manager ran out of his store as fast as possible, yelling at his coworkers to stop messing with him.

Our tour guide gave us a chilling question: Was the man in blue the ghost of the man who took his own life? Perhaps. 

There are many more stories like these within the tour; these are just little snippets of what you will get to see and hear. So, don’t wait—there are limited spots available! It will be a thrilling experience for your friends and family, so be prepared to get comfortable with the ghosts of Fullerton. 

Paranormal Club

If FUHS students are unable to make it to the Fullerton Haunted Walking Tour, but interested in learning about the paranormal, they can check out the Paranormal Club as an alternative! The club focuses on paranormal activities, types of ghosts, and scientific methods of studying haunted material. They host guest speakers and take exciting field trips to haunted locations. On Halloween, students can play games and eat food with the club, or attend one of their weekly meetings on Wednesday’s at lunch in Room 85.