Haunted Lone Pine

In front of Lone Pine post office c.late 1800s. (Source - Eastern California Museum)

Lone Pine, California has only one road with a traffic light. Whitney Portal Road heads westward across Highway 395, traversing the Alabama Hills and onto Mount Whitney which is nine miles away. It is the tallest mountain in mainland United States. Like many routes that started out as trails they are witness to human traffic and tragedy, and inevitably tales of hauntings.

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El Camino Sierra (dirt road) in Lone Pine, CA c.1873 (Source - Eastern California Museum)

The Paiute Indians lived there, and before the Civil War, settlers moved into the area. Many of them raised cattle and sheep and it was not long before conflicts developed as the Indians' food source was driven away. They resorted to eating the settlers' cattle, and in 1861 the Owens Valley Indian War ensued between the native tribe and U.S. soldiers.

Like many places who have witnessed warfare, a phantom reenactment of the battle takes place, and throughout the years many residents have heard the sound of gunfire close to their homes.

The following describes an incident reported by a woman in the 1960s.

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She lived on Whitney Portal Road and she heard gunfire one evening. Looking out the window she saw a black man dressed as an Indian warrior. He glanced back at her, but didn't bother her or confront her. He was soon joined by several additional Indians. They all crouched behind a tree and began firing rifles, reloading as necessary. The firing went on for fifteen minutes with not a bullet hitting the woman's house. Then, just like that, they all disappeared. Apparently the tale is fairly common amongst those who have lived in the neighborhood. Those who have heard the woman's tale, believe the black man to have probably been an ex-slave, now living amongst the Native Americans. Old bullet holes were even discovered in the direction the ghosts had been firing in.

The Meysans from France were one of the earliest families who settled in Lone Pine. They opened their store in 1868 and rebuilt after the 1872 earthquake.

By 1867, rich mines were discovered and developed in the vicinity of Lone Pine. Like all boom towns, hotels, stores, saloons and fandango houses were erected.

Not all tragedies were due to battles. In that same year of 1867 a Mexican known as Indian Jesus shot a man named William Johnson in the head, but he in turn was shot in the groin, though not fatally. It all started over a card game, and both men had a notorious reputation well known in Los Angeles.

At the same time in another household, a man jealous of the attention his wife was receiving from a male friend of the family attempted to shoot her. Her mother sprang in front of her and was shot in the side. She survived, and the husband was arrested.

During those years, conflicts still existed between the natives and the settlers. In 1868, an Indian chief known as Manassas was ambushed and murdered. The chief was well known in those parts since he led a band of "renegades and cut-throats". Three years before they shot and killed a miner named Dutchy, and a year before he rolled stones down an inclined shaft at Cerro Gordo and crushed a Mexican working there. He went to the man's body, took out his brains and shot the corpse with several arrows. Manassas' murder was believed to be retaliation.

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Meysan store (R) & Lola's saloon after it had been sold to Dick Richards. (L) He stands in front of it. Charles Meysan is at the far right on the porch of his general store. c.1866 (Source - Friends of Cerro Gordo)

Another entrepreneur who settled in Lone Pine during those tumultuous years was Lola Travis who arrived with her brother and three children. In 1868, she brought a property on the corner of Main and Water Street and built a saloon there. She then sold half of the property to Charles Meysan who established his general store. They had become acquainted when they were both at the gold camp in Columbia, and they maintained a good business relationship until the early 1880s when she sold the saloon. It then became known as Richard's Saloon.

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Mules hauling wood in Cerro Gordo (Source - Inyo County Sesquencentennial)

During the 1870s, Lone Pine provided supplies to the nearby mining camps such as Cerro Gordo, Keeler, Swansea, Darwin and Tramway. They were eventually deserted and became ghost towns. In 2019, the show Ghost Adventures filmed at Cerro Gordo.

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Lola Travis once described as a beautiful woman when she ran the Palace of Pleasure, retired to a respectable life in Bakersfield (Source - Friends of Cerro Gordo)

Lola Travis sensing better opportunities than those available in Lone Pine moved on to Cerro Gordo and established a brothel named the Palace of Pleasure. She competed with another madam named Maggie Moore who owned the Waterfall. In a place where mines produced $2 million in bullion in 1874 alone, there was plenty of money to be made by entertaining lonely miners.

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Article in the Gold Hills Daily News detailing a shooting at the Waterfalls brothel c.1873

However loneliness, liquor and mean tempers make bad bedfellows and in 1873, in Maggie Moore's whore house alone, seven men were shot, and four killed outright. At one point there was an average of one murder per week in Cerro Gordo.

Scared for his life, the town doctor left due to the unrestrained violence, and the law was miles away. The deaths continued and its populace stumbled along until 1938 when the Union Mine closed down.

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Article from 1889, describing where there was an old Indian tradition which spoke of the lake monster

The Owens Lake Monster
Owens Lake is 90 miles in length and 14 miles wide, with a depth of 30 feet. The Owens River and other springs supply it with water, and there is no known outlet. Alkali, borax and strong element charge it so thoroughly that it can cut leather and cloth, as well as destroy grease and soap. Mount Whitney sits off its west side, with rugged mountains rising from the east. Southward lies a dry valley. Despite its inhospitable composition in the 1860s there were reports of a serpent-like creature that made its home there.

In 1868, The San Francisco Examiner reported the following:

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The Owens Lake Monster has been seen once more. Some time before the sun went down, two young men were riding along on horseback, on the west side of Owens Lake. They live in the valley and had heard the story of the Mexicans who saw something strange on the lake one night, but was not generally believed. Both of these men had frequently scanned the surface of the lake, to verify the story, but neither of them had seen anything of the serpent until the night in question.

On this occasion they observed something unusual about a mile from shore. A huge animal was swimming rapidly along, throwing out waves on both sides. It went half a mile, then went below the surface a few moments; when it came up it, and started on the back track for a mile or so.

They described the creature to be 100 feet long and over four feet in diameter, and of a grayish color.

Colonel Sherman Stevens' (eyewitness to the lake monster) Old Mill at lower end of Cottonwood Meadows, Sierra Nevada Mountains. Inyo County, CA

Colonel Stevens, Superintendent of a mining company at Lone Pine saw the monster in June 1868, and his description coincided with the report of these two men in regards to its length and color. The Colonel said he saw it throw water 50 feet high.

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Lone Pine Saloon (Source - Eastern Sierra Museum)

On March 26, 1872, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Lone Pine, which did not leave a building standing. Those that survived described hearing screams and groans coming from many of the populace which were buried beneath the ruins of the mud and adobe structures. The first  shock was followed by three more. Strong trembling was felt for over three hours. A chasm opened up extending for 35 miles down the Owen Valley ranging from 3 inches to 40 feet in width. Twenty-six people lost their lives. A mass grave, just north of the town commemorates the site of the main fault.

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Hopalong Cassidy set c.1939

Lone Pine and the nearby Alabama Hills have been the location for hundreds of films, commercials and television shows. In 1920, the films Cupid the Cowpuncher starring Will Rogers and The Last Roundup were produced there. Godzilla, Iron Man and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen are only some of the ones filmed there in the 21st century.

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Tombstone for W. Low died in 1880, Lone Pine Cemetery established in 1865

These are some of the blog stories about paranormal experiences in Lone Pine:

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Stayed at the Best Western Lone Pine California in 1996. Stayed in the ''Kirk Douglas'' room as it was named at that time. We both awoke at the same time in the early hours propped ourselves up on our elbows and both looked at a tall thin man leaning over the end of our bed. He faced us for a few seconds then turned and walked through the closed door which led outside. The black shadow of a man wore a cowboy hat. He didn't make a sound. We asked each other if we'd seen the same thing - yes we had. Neither of us were frightened by what we saw and promptly went back to sleep.
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• I grew up in Bishop and spent some time in Lone Pine. About 40ish years ago driving to Bishop at night just north/west of Lone Pine I saw bright lights in the hills. I am convinced it was a UFO. On my way to Bishop at night about 25 years ago same thing on the south/east side just before Lone Pine near the river.
  
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• I have worked down in Lone Pine several times during the winter months and stayed at the Dow Villa. On several occasions I experienced hearing like cowboy boots with spurs jingling and walking down the hallway. Every time I would open the door to my room and look out in the hallway the sound would stop and there would be nobody there, this happened to me at least 5 or 6 times the winter of 2006. After a month's stay there in November 2005 it occurred again so I moved across the street to the Mt. Whitney Hostel I never experienced it again I definitely believe the old part of the Dow Villa is haunted!
  
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• I stayed in Dow Villa in the summer of 2006... well we never actually stayed the night but while Dad was downstairs talking with staff, I had the weirdest and most frightening experience. As soon as we walked into the room I felt incredibly uneasy and once my Dad left the room I began to feel so completely awful, almost frantic. I found that I just couldn't continue to sit in the room. I ran out of the room and down the corridor and the second I left the room I felt normal, I was thinking "what are you doing, you've just left your passports and money in there" so I walked back. The second I got into the room I felt mental again, like totally crazy and hysterical. It was like all of someone else's hurt and pain went into me. Basically I ended up running up and down the corridor many times until my Dad came back upstairs and told me I looked like I'd seen a ghost. This occurred at the very end of the corridor on the left hand side of the old part of the hotel.
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  My husband, daughter and myself have stayed in Lone Pine many times. It was always a good halfway point on the way to Southern California to visit family. The last time we stayed was a couple of years ago, on this trip we decided to bring our well behaved Labrador since it was a dog friendly hotel. All night long she was very distressed. She didn't sleep all night and kept getting up and down like something or someone was touching her. The only time I have ever seen her act this way was in the very hunted town of Virginia City.
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• I frequent Lone Pine for hiking and fishing trips. Last (03/23/18) night I stayed in Dow Villa in room 254 in the old hotel. About 2 am I was awaken by my bed shaking. I looked around the small room and of course nothing. About 10 minutes later same thing, bed was shaking but this time when I woke there was a young blond women sitting on the foot of the bed. I looked at her and she said when ever you remove anything from the night stand the bed shakes. I went back to sleep. I never felt scared or uncomfortable during the night. However, before I went to bed and was watching TV numerous times I heard people walking up and down the hallway and laughing. One of the time I peeked out the door and there was not a person was in the hallway.
  
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• Many years ago when my oldest son was just 9 months old, he's 34 now, we lived in Lone Pine. One night we were in bed watching TV, my husband and I. Our son's crib was at the bottom of our bed. I had just rolled over to go to sleep and the next thing I know, my husband is hitting my arm frantically, saying "Oh My God" over and over. I sat up and he was pointing towards the crib. I kinda shook my head and tried to focus, the only light was coming from the TV. I looked down there, and I didn't see anything. That's when he said "Oh My Good God" really loud and began to pray. He was,white as,a ghost. He said he looked down to the crib where our son slept and there was an old Indian woman bending over the crib, looking like she was cooing and smiling while she tucked the covers over the baby. She wore traditional native clothing. My husband is part native. He said as soon as he got my attention and I focused, she looked at him, grinned an ornery, almost devilish smile, and shook her head. She disappeared as soon as I looked. He was so shook up and real about it that I know he saw her. Things would be moved in our duplex and I was always finding feathers. I believe they were eagle feathers; just laying on top of things. Also, on Whitney Portal Road rather late one night, we were driving, listening to music with his cousins. Then the higher up we went, our cassette tape started playing BACKWARDS. And, get this, no joke, Pat Benatar's, Hell is for Children was the song it did it on. We got so scared, it got SO cold in the car, and the wind started blowing SO hard, we turned around. As,we went down, it started playing right again, the wind stopped. It was mid summer, 110 in the shade! It it rumored there is an Indian burial ground right about where we were. We never went back up there again.
  
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• In September 2001 I was traveling with a friend from Vegas through Death Valley, with no real plan on where to stop, but we were heading to the Sequoia National Park and Yosemite. We got to Lone Pine and decided, we saw the Dow Villa and decided to stop for the night. I think we were given the Deluxe Queen room, it overlooks the main road and is next to the restaurant. After Death Valley we were both fairly tired and after dinner and coffee decided to get some sleep. I had a great night's sleep, but when I woke up next morning all the lights in the room were on and my friend was really on edge. On questioning my friend, he said in the early hours of the morning, he woke up and in the dim light saw a man standing over him in bed watching him. He switched on the light and checked the connecting door to the room next door. It was locked. He then went round the whole room and bathroom and switched every light on and checked to make sure that the door to outside was locked and all windows were shut and locked. I do believe him as he's not the type to make up anything like this.