Spooky Sunday

One week until Halloween! I have to admit, this year has been pretty lackluster when it comes to my Halloween spirit. Despite that, this weekend one of my long time wishes was granted when Sam, Amanda, and I went to the Strathearn Ghost Tour! Now this ghost tour is not of actual ghosts; the Rancho Simi Park and Recreation district teams up with the Simi Valley Actors Repertoire Theatre to produce the Ghost Tour. If you haven't seen or even heard of Strathearn Historical Park, it's an area that has many original buildings from Simi's history preserved. The Strathearn house in particular is the anchor of the site- it was built around the original Simi Adobe, which was constructed in the 1790's!! In the late 1800's the Strathearn family bought the land, restored the Adobe, and then built their own Victorian style farm house around it.

Every Halloween season they transform the park into a stage for all many of creepy monolouges and scenes, depicting the creepier parts of Simi History. For instance, the east Simi Hills have been a magnet for several cults (not including the Manson Family that lived there on the Spahn Movie Ranch)! Maybe it's something in the water ...

Some of the highlights included:
~ A scene between May Otis Blackburn and her daughter, Princess Ruth, founders of The Blackburn Cult.

~ Dr. Finis E. Yoakum, founder of the Pisgah Grande Colony (another cult!), who was an advocate of walking backward.

~ A creepy monolouge by Krishna Venta, founder of the Fountain of the World (yet ANOTHER cult! Seriously, now we know why Manson was drawn to the place), and was eventually blown up by disgruntled ex-congregants who were mad that Krishna was sleeping with their women.

~ Three really cute, but oh-so-creepy Chumash girls, who died of smallpox. These little girls would go from cute and giggling, to downright scary as they assumed a zombie like shuffle and entreated you to "play with us, forever, and ever, and ever!"

~ Padre Ybarra, a Spanish monk who seems to think a fortune in silver coins is lost in the Simi Hills. He wants your help finding it, but if you keep any to yourself, he'll probably curse you!

There were about 13 scenes in all, and it was very well produced. It's a great way to get a little thrill while learning some interesting history.