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Lake County has, over the years, accumulated its fair share of stories regarding the supernatural.
Here are just a few of the county's more well-known ghost stories.
Middletown: The Stone House hosts a ghost
Hidden Valley Lake's Stone House, built in 1854, is believed to be one of the oldest houses built in Lake County.
And, over the years, it hasn't been left untouched by the supernatural.
Members of the Stone House Historical Society, who helped save the home from demolition in the 1980s, have reported encountering a ghost that smells like camphor, which was used as a liniment.
Camphor, as they eventually dubbed the ghost, would swing lamps, remove Christmas decorations “she” didn't like and, in general, gently make her presence known.
Historical society members told this reporter that a clairvoyant described Camphor to them as a small, stout woman, her hair in a bun, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, and a long calico dress and an apron. The friendly ghost may have been that of a woman who died in the house, but who the clairvoyant said was happy to welcome visitors.
Lakeport: Myrtle returns to the inn
Karan and Hugh Mackey's Lakeport English Inn, built in 1875, is a wonderful place to visit, and it's also reportedly a favorite stopping place for a ghost.
As Karan Mackey told this reporter, she was restoring the inn's main house that sits on Main Street, and while doing so she found a writing primer from the late 19th century that belonged to a girl named Myrtle Hobbs.
Mackey took the book to the Lake County Historical Society, who related that Hobbs lived her whole life in Lake County.
As Mackey added the Sayre House, built in 1898 and located on Forbes, to the inn property, she also began a major restoration of that building. While the house was being lifted up in preparation for a new foundation, Mackey went underneath to look for treasures, and found an envelope with an 1897 date addressed to Hobbs.
Mackey said when strange things have happened around the inn, either lights acting strangely or doors closing with no one around, she and her staff have jokingly attributed it to Myrtle Hobbs.
Lower Lake: The schoolhouse and Mrs. Lee
The Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum, built in 1877, once housed many schoolchildren, was almost demolished and finally renovated to its present glory.
The 130-year-old building has its own spirit, which is spirit believed to be responsible for the footsteps sometimes heard traveling across the museum's restored Weaver Auditorium.
Museum Curator Linda Lake has reported hearing the ghost, who she calls “Bella,” walking from the auditorium's northeast to southeast corner.
Bella is believed to be Mrs. Isabella Lee. According to Lake, Lee was the wife of a piano tuner who sometimes worked at the schoolhouse, and whose tools are on display there. Isabelle Lee died in 1967.
Jane Weaver, who led the effort to restore the museum, told this reporter in a 2004 interview that a museum worker encountered Bella in October 1995. As the man was walking through the auditorium, he looked toward the piano and saw a music book sitting on the piano close suddenly and fall off the instrument.
The graduation ghost
The following story is written by Marilyn Eachus Johnson and excerpted from Mauldin's "History of Lake County.”
In the good old days, school learning wasn't as easily acquired as it is today, or as lightly taken for granted. What's more, an eighth grade education was an occasion of importance. In Lower Lake's first school house, there were children from a family who had recently migrated from Germany. In Germany, they had been peasants, working the land for a family of the old aristocracy. In their native village, only the priest, the doctor and the burgermeister had been able to read.
One of the dreams of the grandmother of the family had been that all of her children be able to read and write. After coming to live in the United States, she had to a certain extent achieved her ambition. Her children were educated to the point they could read and write, but none of them as yet achieved the dignity of any kind of diploma.
You can imagine her joy when her daughter, who lived in one of the pioneer homes in Lower Lake, sent word that their eldest girl, her granddaughter, was to receive her certificate of graduation from the eighth grade.
Even though the old woman was far from well, she was determined to witness this great event; and so that she would not disgrace her family, she took her best gray shawl and knit a fringed border of black upon it to dress it up.
The idea that the old woman would come to the graduation was debated back and forth by all members of the family. They wanted her to go but she was old and in poor health and travel in those days was trying to even a young person. Nevertheless, she prevailed and set out one morning by stagecoach, her precious shawl tucked inside a suitcase for safekeeping.
It was hot that day, and the graduation exercises were held outside the school grounds in the shade of some big trees. The event was well attended; people sat on makeshift benches while they listened to the speeches. On trestle tables at one side, the boards groaned with homemade pickles, jams, cakes, fried chicken, pies, salads, fancy breads, plain breads, baked hams, and mounds of cold sliced beef.
One of the neighbors, a close friend of the family, was delighted to see them seated to one side with a little white-haired lady in a gray shawl trimmed in black. After the ceremony she went over and said, "Well, I see your mother made it."
The mother of the family shook her head. "No, she didn't. We received word this morning. My mother became very ill when they reached the tollhouse at the top of the mountain, and died there. I haven't told my daughter yet, so as not to ruin the day for her."
"Then who was that little old lady sitting with you?" the neighbor asked.
"I don't know." The woman wiped a tear away. "I don't remember any little old lady, but then, I might not have noticed."
Her friend nodded, accepting the explanation, until three days later, when she attended the funeral of her friend's mother.
There, tucked inside the wooden casket, was the little white-haired lady she had seen at the graduation, wearing a gray shawl trimmed in black fringe.
It was the old European peasant woman, who had been determined no matter what, to witness the eighth grade graduation of her granddaughter.
Lakeport: A not-so-friendly ghost
A story told by Paki Stedwell of her encounter with a ghost in Lakeport is a more frightening tale.
Stedwell and her family moved to Lake County in 1972 and purchased an old Victorian church on North Forbes Street which, in recent years, has been fully restored.
As the family prepared to turn the church into a commercial space – it had been desanctified years before – they began finding out the unusual history of the church, which was finally constructed in 1888 after the building's first two frames burned down. There also was the story of a man who fell while painting the steeple and died.
Working on the building late at night, Stedwell's husband heard footsteps across the ceiling and pounding on the attic wall. Weeks later, the couple was awakened by a crash in the upstairs, but found nothing there.
They started to talk about a ghost, who they called “Elijah.” Other people familiar with the church also shared stories of hearing the spirit pounding in the attic, near the belfry.
Early one Halloween morning, Stedwell – who was staying with her family in the building – was awakened by a loud knock on her bedroom door. The ghost had come downstairs after having been confined to the attic and other upstairs regions.
As she tried to get back to sleep, she happened to look into the living room. “There, shimmering on one of the walls, was a translucent mass of white, undulating slowly and opening and closing its mouth. I must have stared at it, frozen with terror, for fully three or four seconds ... I shut my eyes and shook my head ... When I looked again, Elijah was gone. I decided I definitely did not like him. He was not friendly, all he was trying to do was give me a head of white hair."
Within minutes, Stedwell heard breathing and creaking floorboards outside of her bedroom. She finally jumped up, ran to the door, opened it and yelled, “OK, you, what the hell do you want? Come on, you're such a brave one, show yourself.”
That seemed to do the trick, and the sounds stopped.
A group of psychics Stedwell called on for help located the ghost in the belfry, and said he did of natural causes on the site 150 years earlier, long before the church was constructed.
The psychics also helped Elijah move on to the next world, according to Stedwell's account.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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City Manager Jerry Gillham led the two-and-a-half-hour session, which he said would help drive city priorities.
The Tuesday meeting was a continuation of a brainstorming session held for councilmembers and staffer on Oct. 2 workshop, said Gillham.
Gillham also presented the group with a draft Lakeport Business Plan that drew from the ideas brought forth at the Oct. 2 session (see sidebar, “City of Lakeport Business Plan”).
All five City Councilmen attended, along with nine city staffers and five members of the public.
The group was broken up into smaller groups, which took turns discussing topics including economic prosperity, special projects, effective governance, infrastructure and livability.
At the end of the meeting, participants took colored sticky dots and placed them next to projects they felt are important, with red and orange dots denoting urgency and higher priority, and yellow and green dots for marking lower-priority items.
Issues like adding eminent domain to the city’s redevelopment powers and transparency of government made their way into the conversation, as they were added on various lists of top priorities.
The following is a brief synopsis of the top items chosen on each list.
Economic Prosperity
- Amend the Redevelopment Agency to incorporate eminent domain.
- Retain/assist small businesses.
- Complete one “green” project for the city, which could include a solar or other environmental project.
- Forming a plan for Bevins Court.
- Consider possible opportunities for Green Ranch, the location of many of the city’s water wells.
- Reexamine existing franchises and contracts; consider amendments to benefit Lakeport, especially those using city facilities and assets.
- Establish new contracting procedures to ensure compliance and fiscal accountability.
- Update city personnel rules.
- Transparency of government.
- Follow chain of command.
- Update water and wastewater master plans.
- Continue the chip/seal program on city streets.
- Examine alternative funding for parks and grounds ongoing maintenance, to include Westside Park and Westshore Swimming Pool.
- Paving streets and roads.
Gillham said city staff will now tabulate the results into a spreadsheet which he’ll bring back to the council.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The 5.6-magnitude quake occurred at 8:04 p.m., according to the US Geological Survey.
Its epicenter was five miles north northeast of Alum Rock, approximately 9 miles northeast of San Jose City Hall, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake occurred at a depth of 5.7 miles.
The US Geological Survey had received 47,715 reports from people in 461 zip codes around the state who felt the quake.
Two reports were filed by Lakeport residents who felt the quake, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake was reportedly felt in other areas of the North Coast, including Santa Rosa, Windsor, Guerneville Ukiah, Arcata and Eureka.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Participants will be able to directly ask Congressman Thompson questions about issues that impact the 1st District and he will respond on-the-spot for all participants to hear.
“Telephone town halls are a great way to bring residents from across Northern California together to share their concerns and get real-time answers,” said Congressman Thompson. “I’m looking forward to hearing questions on important issues like health care, the war in Iraq and climate change and then sharing what I’m doing in Congress to help. I hope everyone will use this opportunity to make their voices heard.”
The town hall meeting will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1.
To join the toll-free call, dial 1-866-447-5149 and enter the pass code 13293.
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On Oct. 22, a team of five engines – one each from Lakeport Fire Protection District, Northshore Fire Protection District, Lake County Fire Protection District, South County Fire Protection District and Mendocino County's Anderson Valley – and 14 firefighting personnel reported for duty in Southern California, as Lake County News reported last week.
The group was assigned to the Lake Arrowhead area, where they helped protect homes, Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Ken Wells reported last week.
On Monday afternoon Wells said the contingent was released from duty and by 2 p.m. were on their way home from Victorville.
Wells said he wasn't sure if they would stop along the way to rest or push to drive straight home.
The firefighters are returning home with “no injuries whatsoever,” said Wells.
“They'll probably have some nice stories when they come home,” he added.
On Monday Cal Fire reported that a total of 517,797 acres burned across San Diego, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Riverside and Ventura counties.
Five fires are still burning as of early Tuesday morning, including the Witch, Harris and Poomacha in San Diego County, the Slide Fire in San Bernardino County and the Santiago Fire in Orange County.
Last week, in response to the severe fire conditions in Southern California, Cal Fire reopened Northern California's fire season, which allowed the agency to retain seasonal firefighting personnel to both respond to the southern wildfires and keep the northern areas staffed.
As of Monday, Cal Fire had not changed fire season's open status.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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However, Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Craig McMillan says the infection is nothing new, and is confident that local doctors have the knowledge to deal with it when it appears.
McMillan said Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is everywhere, literally in every county across the state, including Lake County.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that MRSA is resistant to common antibiotics including methicillin, oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin.
The infection is found most frequently among people with weakened immune systems who are often in hospitals and facilities such as nursing homes, according to the CDC.
A fact sheet from the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA) stated that 85 percent of all MRSA cases are related to exposures to health care delivery.
Health care facilities aren't the only places where MRSA is found, said McMillan; jails around the state also are having a constant problem.
The AMA also reported that the estimated number of people who developed a serious, invasive MRSA infection in 2006 was 94,360; among those, 18,650 people died during a hospital stay related to these serious MRSA infections.
McMillan said MRSA has been found in Lake County, where there have been as many as 100 cases over the last two years. “And those are just the ones they choose to report to us.”
There could be more cases that have occurred locally, said McMillan, because MRSA is not a disease that must be reported to local health officials.
McMillan noted that MRSA cases are not appearing in “extraordinary numbers” in Lake County.
He said local health care providers are very knowledgeable about MRSA, and hospitals pay a lot of attention to it. A state expert on MRSA spoke on the topic to local doctors and nurses at a June continuing education session, and Sutter Lakeside Hospital held a training for Lakeport Unified School District.
There is some good news when it comes to fighting MRSA, said McMillan.
Some antibiotics can help control MRSA, he said. In fact, a sulpha-type antibiotic works very well in controlling MRSA, working 99 percent of the time.
Strains of MRSA resistant to all antibiotics are rare, he added.
For more information about MRSA, visit the CDC online at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa.html.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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