Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: Almost thirty years ago, my soon to be stepfather was
Speaker 1: trying his best to be a relatable parental figure, as
Speaker 1: many do in such situations. Hearing I had an interest
Speaker 1: in the supernatural, he declared that he knew of a building,
Speaker 1: a haunted castle, near by his home in El Dorado, California,
Speaker 1: and he'd like to show it to me. Being a
Speaker 1: reasonably snarky teenager dealing with the trauma of her parents
Speaker 1: divorce and now her mother's insistence on moving all of
Speaker 1: us three hours away from our childhood home because of
Speaker 1: this man, I remember being a bit apprehensive about doing
Speaker 1: anything cordial with him, but the lure of a haunted
Speaker 1: castle in the middle of California's Gold Country proved to
Speaker 1: be too much. I begrudgingly joined him. On the twenty
Speaker 1: minute drive up Highway four nine on a hot, dusty
Speaker 1: summer day. We passed golden rolling hills and remnants of
Speaker 1: old barns and gold Rush era buildings until we reached
Speaker 1: the small town of Ion, and within seconds of our arrival,
Speaker 1: I saw a glimpse of a large red castle with
Speaker 1: a massive bell tower that looked so incredibly out of place,
Speaker 1: I gasped. We made our way up the driveway and
Speaker 1: got as close as we could to this old Romanesque
Speaker 1: style red castle, and I don't think I had ever
Speaker 1: seen anything like it in person in my life. And
Speaker 1: I also somehow new, just by staring at it, the
Speaker 1: terrible things had happened there. We got out of the
Speaker 1: car and looked past the fence that stopped us from
Speaker 1: getting any further, and I asked my stepfather what was
Speaker 1: this place? He replied, it's Preston Castle. I nudged further,
Speaker 1: inquiring what it had been before. He said it was
Speaker 1: a school for troubled boys. As I peered through the fence,
Speaker 1: trying to get a clear look in some of the
Speaker 1: windows and pondering what it would have been like to
Speaker 1: be a young boy dropped in front of this looming structure,
Speaker 1: not knowing what could possibly be inside, my stepfather added,
Speaker 1: I spent a year here when I was a team.
Speaker 1: I asked him what it was like, and with almost
Speaker 1: a lump in his throat and a quiet whisper, he said,
Speaker 1: I don't talk about it. And headed back to the car.
Speaker 1: Jim Little Page, my stepfather died in and whatever happened
Speaker 1: to him within the walls of the Preston School of Industry,
Speaker 1: he took with him to his grave. I'm Amy Brunei,
Speaker 1: and this is Haunted Road. Preston School of Industry, or
Speaker 1: the Castle as it's been known, was built between eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety and eighteen ninety four in i own, California. In
Speaker 1: eighteen nine, two acre parcel of land where the cast
Speaker 1: still stands was purchased from the Ion Coal and Iron
Speaker 1: Company for thirty dollars per acre, with one hundred acres donated.
Speaker 1: Inmates from San Quentin and fulsome prisons helped make the
Speaker 1: bricks that make up the castle, which were then transported
Speaker 1: by rail to the School of Industry. The cornerstone was
Speaker 1: laid on December nine, with people in attendance what an
Speaker 1: early Christmas present. The one twenty room Romanesque Revival was
Speaker 1: a reform school for young male offenders. The hope was
Speaker 1: to rehabilitate, not just incarceerate. The complex was highly self sufficient.
Speaker 1: The large acreage of the purchase allowed the boys to
Speaker 1: grow their own food, raise livestock, and learn farming trades.
Speaker 1: The forty six thousand square foot mansion had forty three fireplaces,
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty seven windows, overlooking the tawny Amador County foothills,
Speaker 1: a tower festooned on each side by intimidating gargoyles, hallways
Speaker 1: bedecked with ornate Wayne's coating, and as a stone exterior
Speaker 1: in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, hence that now iconic
Speaker 1: red color of the castle. On the first floor, there
Speaker 1: was a reception space, the director's room, a walk in
Speaker 1: vault attached to an office, reception and waiting areas, a
Speaker 1: dining room, bathrooms, office for the physician, and a pharmacy.
Speaker 1: The second floor was home to a dorm for the
Speaker 1: wards in twelve apartments for staff. There was also a
Speaker 1: library and reading room. On this floor, various closets and
Speaker 1: storage spaces, and bathrooms. On a mezzanine level, there were
Speaker 1: two bathrooms with a few tubs. The third floor, unfinished,
Speaker 1: had twelve rooms, the fourth, also unfinished, had six. In
Speaker 1: the basement, there was a playroom, separate laundry for wards
Speaker 1: and staff, shower room, and the infamous dip pool, kitchen
Speaker 1: and pantry. Multiple bathrooms, furnace and fuel storage, storeroom and bakery. Basically,
Speaker 1: Preston was massive in its heyday. The sol boasted one
Speaker 1: thousand total acres, with seven hundred fifty dedicated to farming
Speaker 1: for eight hundred wards. There was a staff of two hundred.
Speaker 1: The entire campus included fifty buildings. Two weeks after the
Speaker 1: school was completed, the first wards moved in. It became
Speaker 1: immediately apparent that while this arrangement could provide structure and
Speaker 1: security for wards, they were under the firm control of
Speaker 1: the superintendent and were expected to adhere to strict rules
Speaker 1: and routines, and if they transgressed, they were given severe punishment.
Speaker 1: The worst offenders were held in Company B, which consisted
Speaker 1: only of a row of beds and a single toilet.
Speaker 1: Upon arrival to the castle, new wards were taken immediately
Speaker 1: to the infamous Pool of Lie to cleanse their bodies,
Speaker 1: specifically their heads. They were herded through a side door,
Speaker 1: shorn of their hair stripped, and led to a pool
Speaker 1: of harsh chemicals with only a poll for support. They
Speaker 1: were made to walk with their heads underwater about x
Speaker 1: feet to the pool's far end to rid their bodies
Speaker 1: of potential pests meant to target likes. The pool likely
Speaker 1: also exacerbated open wounds on the heads of many young wards,
Speaker 1: which must have been excruciating. Eventually, the state shuttered this
Speaker 1: dipping pool practice due to its inhumanity. Sadly, many of
Speaker 1: the incoming wards were afflicted with tuberculosis and or various
Speaker 1: addictions to alcohol, heroin, and opium. In an effort to
Speaker 1: rehabilitate them, their days were divided between school and learning
Speaker 1: a trade. There was a print shop, bakery, and cobbler
Speaker 1: shop where the boys could learn skills for self preservation
Speaker 1: in the real world. The boys ages seven through eighteen,
Speaker 1: had a tennis court and a rose garden. They also
Speaker 1: had a seven thousand book library with a veranda overlooking
Speaker 1: the town. The more docile and agreeable boys were even
Speaker 1: able to live in cottages surrounding the castle and learned
Speaker 1: traits that were more lucrative and socially acceptable. But of course,
Speaker 1: ideal is and reform didn't always rule the day. A
Speaker 1: Sacramento b article from eight nine seven, just two years
Speaker 1: after the school opened, detailed accusations of abuse by a superintendent, E. S. O'Brien.
Speaker 1: The first paragraph noted whippings that left their back stripping
Speaker 1: with blood. At least one of them claimed that salt
Speaker 1: had been rubbed into his wounds to add to the
Speaker 1: torture he was already suffering. The reports of ill treatment
Speaker 1: were so pervasive throughout Ionn that a group of citizens
Speaker 1: threatened to storm the castle in order to see for
Speaker 1: themselves just how poorly the boys were treated. On numerous occasions,
Speaker 1: O'Brien held boys with one hand while beating them in
Speaker 1: the face with his other. He extended paddlings by ten
Speaker 1: to forty strokes, sometimes beating boys until they couldn't walk
Speaker 1: without assistance. A younger boy named Roderick received a beating
Speaker 1: that left him black and blue from the small of
Speaker 1: his back to the middle of his thighs. For several days. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: the boy walked around literally dragging one it after the other,
Speaker 1: and it said that afterward he had to be sent
Speaker 1: to the hospital. The secretary at the time, H. R. Bernard,
Speaker 1: recounted in an affidavit witnessing doctor O'Brien beat a ward
Speaker 1: in the head and face with the cane. The cane
Speaker 1: soon broke in his hands, but O'Brien continued his blows
Speaker 1: with the part left in his hand, which was also
Speaker 1: broken a moment later from the force of the blows
Speaker 1: when the doctor grabbed a poll about four ft long
Speaker 1: and proceeded to belabor the yelling lad over the body.
Speaker 1: The force of the blows was terrific. The same article
Speaker 1: alleged destructive and uncontrollable behavior of Wards, not limited to
Speaker 1: setting the building on fire at least three times. Escape
Speaker 1: attempts were frequent and occurred nearly every week. Superintendent E. S.
Speaker 1: O'Brien told the wards in or prior to that he
Speaker 1: had given orders to the guards that in the case
Speaker 1: of an escape attempt, they were to shoot, and shoot
Speaker 1: to kill. The property wasn't fenced with barbed wire, so
Speaker 1: wards had one last to turn it. When it was
Speaker 1: discovered that a ward had escaped, a horn would blow
Speaker 1: an i own, which alerted citizens to the situation. A
Speaker 1: hunt would follow, and if someone discovered and returned to Ward,
Speaker 1: they received a ten dollar reward. The kids who escaped
Speaker 1: received corporal punishment in the form of beatings, whippings, and
Speaker 1: solitary confinement. Country singer Merle Haggard made two escape attempts
Speaker 1: during his time at Preston. He had memories of beatings
Speaker 1: with a two by four and attacktoo of p s
Speaker 1: I on his wrist, so he never forgot the abuse.
Speaker 1: Horrific stories of abuse and neglect became known Over the years.
Speaker 1: Wards died of severe illnesses like tuberculosis. Other Wards were
Speaker 1: killed by guards. During the Great Depression, parents sometimes dropped
Speaker 1: kids off at the castle, where the Wards of the
Speaker 1: state received three males a day, housing and a chance
Speaker 1: for a stable life. All of this put into perspective
Speaker 1: why Preston Castle would be harboring ghosts and energy today.
Speaker 1: There were an incredible number of tragedies involving Wards on
Speaker 1: the grounds. The first we see was of Grant Walker
Speaker 1: on June seventeenth, eighteen ninety five. At first, it seems
Speaker 1: like he may have died from typhoid fever. However, historian
Speaker 1: Jamie Rubio dug further and found a conflicting death register
Speaker 1: that suggests Walker may have died from severe internal burns
Speaker 1: after ingesting something toxic. On October seventeenth, nineteen eleven, Herman
Speaker 1: Hubert and fellow Ward and friend John Karaine made an
Speaker 1: escape just as the dinner bell rang well. They tried anyway,
Speaker 1: night guard J. D. French pursued the two escapees and
Speaker 1: fired his weapon, which killed Hubert. French claimed he tried
Speaker 1: to fire a warning shot, but Karaine maintained that French
Speaker 1: shot herman in cold blood. On June sixth, nineteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: a company of boys went to the pond after dinner
Speaker 1: for a swim. Those who weren't strong swimmers were supposed
Speaker 1: to stay in the shallow water, but ta Himavan, confident
Speaker 1: about his doggy paddle, dove in wards. Robert Raines and
Speaker 1: Albert Rubideaux tried to say Van after he resurfaced clearly
Speaker 1: in a struggle. However, they were unable to retrieve him.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until the next morning that they were able
Speaker 1: to retrieve his lifeless body that had sunk to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the pond. He is buried at the Preston Cemetery.
Speaker 1: Frank Carterrella had epilepsy and experienced seizures because of it.
Speaker 1: Instead of receiving treatment, Frank was kept in his cell.
Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking to think about. On Valentine's Day nineteen seventeen,
Speaker 1: Frank died by suicide after making a noose from his
Speaker 1: shredded night shirt. In July nineteen eighteen, Samuel Gloin's arrived
Speaker 1: at Preston. He had been convicted of burglary. Samuel made
Speaker 1: three escape attempts, although the punishment after the first two
Speaker 1: must have been terrible. The third proved fatal. While trying
Speaker 1: to escape a third time, John Kelly of Preston Guard
Speaker 1: accidentally shot Samuel in the back. Samuel died from the wound.
Speaker 1: He was twenty years old and only two months from
Speaker 1: being released from Preston. Ward Frank Algiers was admitted after
Speaker 1: having experienced a really bad motorcycle accident. After admission, he
Speaker 1: went straight to the infirmary, where he died just a
Speaker 1: week later on May nineteen two. On July ninety four,
Speaker 1: Ray Baker was shot by Guard Thomas Dooley. Baker was
Speaker 1: trying to escape when Dully intervened. The ward tried to
Speaker 1: strangle the guard, who was able to retrieve his gun
Speaker 1: and shoot Wards. Edgar Howe and Leland Price got into
Speaker 1: a fight during a Saturday night football game in December
Speaker 1: nineteen four. In a confusing decision made to chastise the boys,
Speaker 1: how In Price were locked together in Preston's basement. The
Speaker 1: two Wards must have picked the fight back up or
Speaker 1: a very unfortunate coincidence occurred because Price's skull was fractured
Speaker 1: after hitting the ground and he fell into a coma.
Speaker 1: Leland Price died the next morning. On December four, nine
Speaker 1: Awards were digging a ditch on the property for sewage
Speaker 1: un ex actedly, the ditch caved in and trapped six boys.
Speaker 1: Four were extracted, but two remained buried. William Report and
Speaker 1: Henry Herstein both died after being buried alive. Probably the
Speaker 1: most notable and publicized death that took place at Preston
Speaker 1: was the murder of the head housekeeper on February twenty third,
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty. Her body was found in the then defunct
Speaker 1: pool room, beaten with evidence of a massive struggle. She
Speaker 1: had been strangled with accord, but the cause of her
Speaker 1: death was a fatal blow to the head resulting in
Speaker 1: a skull fracture. A rape had been attempted but not enacted.
Speaker 1: The housekeeper was incredibly well loved and liked by the
Speaker 1: Wards and her fellow employees alike, so much so the
Speaker 1: Wards threatened vigilante justice if her killer was found. The
Speaker 1: superintendent at the time made it very clear that everyone
Speaker 1: was a suspect, even staff and that they would be
Speaker 1: investigating thoroughly. After six hundred fifty seven wards were questioned,
Speaker 1: a case was formed against a ward named Eugene Monroe.
Speaker 1: He was at Preston after being convicted of burglary, but
Speaker 1: had been the prime suspect in a murder case prior
Speaker 1: to that, a murder and rape case involving the strangulation
Speaker 1: of a high school student. Using the same type of
Speaker 1: court in the case of the housekeeper and tied in
Speaker 1: the same fashion. Monroe was given a lie detector test
Speaker 1: and failed, and inconsistencies in his story, plus the fact
Speaker 1: he had been caught trying to incinerate his clothing, was
Speaker 1: enough to charge him. Eugene was tried three times. The
Speaker 1: first two resulted in a hung jury and the third
Speaker 1: reached an acquittal. In nineteen fifty one, Eugene was convicted
Speaker 1: of the rape and murder of a woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: who was pregnant at the time of her death. He
Speaker 1: was given a life sentence. It is said that Preston's
Speaker 1: dark past heavily ways on the old building, and that
Speaker 1: the spirit of the housekeeper, plus so many of these
Speaker 1: wards that never made it out alive still very much
Speaker 1: reside within its walls. There are eighteen boys buried in
Speaker 1: a small sem ma terry on the property. Many died
Speaker 1: of natural causes, and there are certainly more deaths that
Speaker 1: took place there, but the ones buried on site most
Speaker 1: likely had no surviving family or their loved ones were
Speaker 1: financially unable to bury them elsewhere. In nineteen sixty, the
Speaker 1: Preston School of Industry closed. The state planned to demolish
Speaker 1: the building, and a group of local women fought for
Speaker 1: eight years to keep it standing. Finally, the state relinquished
Speaker 1: and said while they wouldn't tear it down, they would
Speaker 1: do nothing to keep it standing. So there it sat
Speaker 1: until two thousand one, when the State of California leased
Speaker 1: the property to the Preston Castle Foundation. In fourteen, the
Speaker 1: foundation was granted ownership of the castle and nearly thirteen
Speaker 1: acres of property. Fundraising and repairs have been the goal
Speaker 1: ever since, and estimates are as high as fifteen to
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars to reverse the years of abuse and
Speaker 1: neglect of the building. Up next, we'll talk to Connie Brenner,
Speaker 1: a lead paranormal investigator at Pressston Castle and a member
Speaker 1: of the Preston Castle Foundation's board will find out what
Speaker 1: kind of activity they experienced there, in addition to how
Speaker 1: you can visit the castle and assist in their conservation efforts.
Speaker 1: So I'm sitting here now with Connie Brenner, who is
Speaker 1: a lead investigator at Preston Castle and also a member
Speaker 1: of the board. She's now been involved kind of on
Speaker 1: a professional level with the castle for about two and
Speaker 1: a half years, but her history with the castle goes
Speaker 1: on even before that. So I think you've probably got
Speaker 1: some great info for us, Connie, as far as what
Speaker 1: the history at Preston, what has happened haunting wise there
Speaker 1: due to what happened there when it was in operation. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely so. Can you just kind of how me how
Speaker 1: you came about being involved with Preston. I started out
Speaker 1: as just a guest one night a friend of mine
Speaker 1: was involved with the castle, and she's like, Okay, you know,
Speaker 1: you totally got to come up here and check this
Speaker 1: place out because we had just kind of gotten started
Speaker 1: in the whole paranormal field. I went up there for
Speaker 1: a public investigation and I had never really had any
Speaker 1: crazy experiences, and like right off the bat that night,
Speaker 1: I mean I think. I don't know, I saw like
Speaker 1: the holy grail of you know, in doing the paranormal stuff,
Speaker 1: where I actually saw a full body apparition. We were
Speaker 1: in the doctor's office and I was facing the doorway
Speaker 1: into the hall, and I saw what looked like a
Speaker 1: man in a white jacket walked right past the door.
Speaker 1: And there was another group located in the castle, but
Speaker 1: they were pretty far and like not even really close
Speaker 1: to that area. And so one of the girls that
Speaker 1: had had her back to that doorway, I asked her,
Speaker 1: you know, did somebody just walk by? And she went
Speaker 1: out there and looked, and she says, there's nobody. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was pretty quick that she went and looked. It
Speaker 1: just you know, it took me a second to realize that,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I just saw, you know, an apparition
Speaker 1: walked right past the door. So I bet you were
Speaker 1: hooked at that point. I mean, that's all it takes. You.
Speaker 1: Either at that point you're completely terrified and never want
Speaker 1: to do it again, or your interest is peaked. It
Speaker 1: was definitely peaked. And you know, I also got touched
Speaker 1: that night. We have an infirmary area in the castle,
Speaker 1: and I was touched you know, there was nothing that
Speaker 1: could have bumped into me. It wasn't my clothing, and
Speaker 1: so whoever's there was definitely getting my attention. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's interesting that you say they were wearing a lab
Speaker 1: coat like they were maybe a doctor or someone that
Speaker 1: you know, obviously tended to the I guess they called
Speaker 1: them inmates there or whatever they called them. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say patients even, but who do you think that could
Speaker 1: possibly be. I think it was a doctor, you know,
Speaker 1: I see to me now that I know a whole
Speaker 1: lot more. But definitely seemed like a residual type haunting
Speaker 1: because it wasn't like it stopped and waved, you know,
Speaker 1: through the doorway. It was almost as if he was
Speaker 1: just going about his business, you know, maybe checking in
Speaker 1: on the patients that were there. They actually called them wards.
Speaker 1: Apparently he was also seen by another guest earlier that
Speaker 1: evening in the same area. He was definitely making his rounds. Then,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's interesting. I'm hoping that no one you
Speaker 1: know in your group was running around in the lab
Speaker 1: coade or anything. So and it's interesting because he was
Speaker 1: see through, but I could also see that in in
Speaker 1: a weird sort of I don't even know how to
Speaker 1: describe it, but like he had like he had dark hair,
Speaker 1: you know, if it was a guy that was a
Speaker 1: part of the investigation that night. You know, usually usually
Speaker 1: if you're going to wear some sort of a jacket,
Speaker 1: it has logos or something on it. But this definitely
Speaker 1: did not. No, No, definitely not. That's interesting just because
Speaker 1: I think about Preston Castle's history and I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you about that a little bit, because obviously it's
Speaker 1: a very historic place. The history there is very dark.
Speaker 1: And I mentioned kind of in the beginning of the show.
Speaker 1: My stepfather actually spent time there when he was a teen,
Speaker 1: and he would never speak of it. And he was
Speaker 1: a pretty he was an open book. He passed away,
Speaker 1: but his time at Preston he never spoke of, not
Speaker 1: even to my mom. He said it was a horrible experience, basically,
Speaker 1: is the most we could get out of him. And so,
Speaker 1: how do you obviously, for historical purposes, we want Preston
Speaker 1: Castle to stick around. People work really hard to make
Speaker 1: sure that it's still standing and it's it's got the
Speaker 1: foundation and everything. How do you all reconcile kind of
Speaker 1: the history and what you do we go in. We
Speaker 1: are extremely respectful of the spirits that could be there.
Speaker 1: You know, we have to think about how young that
Speaker 1: the kids were that were there. You know, we think
Speaker 1: that there could have been kids as young as seven,
Speaker 1: and so, you know, we try really hard to be
Speaker 1: somewhat I don't know, maybe nurturing towards the children that
Speaker 1: were there, because it wasn't all fun and games there.
Speaker 1: This It was run military style, right, yeah, And I'm
Speaker 1: sure there were plenty of success stories that came out
Speaker 1: of there as well. But just having that kind of
Speaker 1: first hand knowledge, but then also just kind of reading
Speaker 1: through the history, I do that too, where I kind
Speaker 1: of look back on it and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: what was it like to be dropped off there as
Speaker 1: a young boy and just not even know what was
Speaker 1: coming to you? And and you know, some people were
Speaker 1: sent there because they genuinely had um issues that needed
Speaker 1: to be taken care of, and then others were sent
Speaker 1: there just because their parents couldn't take care of them anymore,
Speaker 1: you know, especially during the depression. And so I think
Speaker 1: that's great that you guys approach it in that way
Speaker 1: of being kind of nurturing and you know, humanizing them,
Speaker 1: which I think is huge. This is their home. We
Speaker 1: are guests in their home, and we tell all of
Speaker 1: our guests this is not a place to come in
Speaker 1: and demand and treat the boys, even if there's staff
Speaker 1: around there. We really come in there with kind of
Speaker 1: love and respect for entities or spirits that are there.
Speaker 1: So that's definitely our approach when it comes to that,
Speaker 1: and I think it works because they're still around. You know,
Speaker 1: they're there. And since COVID and you know the fact
Speaker 1: that we had to be shut down for a year,
Speaker 1: things have really ramped up. We're getting a ton of
Speaker 1: activity now, I'm sure. And actually that's something that we've
Speaker 1: noticed in our investigations, especially in some of these larger
Speaker 1: places that you know, the only real visitors they get
Speaker 1: are historians or you know, people visiting in the museum sense.
Speaker 1: But then also panormal investigators are the ones that really interact.
Speaker 1: And I think in some cases the spirits really missed that.
Speaker 1: And you know, when we come back in, you know,
Speaker 1: when Adam and I investigator, if I'm out investigating, it's
Speaker 1: interesting how eager they are to speak again, Like I
Speaker 1: can't imagine, I don't I don't claim to know what
Speaker 1: time is like for them. I don't claim to know
Speaker 1: how any of that works, but it does seem like
Speaker 1: they're more eager to interact at the moment. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and we have different stuff like going in there,
Speaker 1: we have our hot spots in all that other stuff,
Speaker 1: but it's changed and we're getting more activity in areas
Speaker 1: that we never used to, which makes it really interesting
Speaker 1: and exciting, you know, force because we're like, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: we get to kind of show people different areas and
Speaker 1: all that other stuff. I mean, you know, we try
Speaker 1: to actually let them kind of discover it themselves. We
Speaker 1: try not to give them too much information, you know,
Speaker 1: but we're able to validate that after they talk with
Speaker 1: us when and if they haven't experience. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that's great. I know, like it was open during the
Speaker 1: Spanish flu pandemic, and I was reading through the history
Speaker 1: because we felt like that a pandemic might be kind
Speaker 1: of triggering for some of these older locations that had
Speaker 1: kind of been through it. And remarkably, I guess a
Speaker 1: lot of people had the flu and pressed them but
Speaker 1: they didn't lose anyone, which was kind of unheard of
Speaker 1: for that amount of people coming down with the flu
Speaker 1: back then. So just an interesting fact I found when
Speaker 1: I was digging through the history. Yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's crazy to think, you know, something like that that
Speaker 1: they didn't lose people like I guess you could say
Speaker 1: we are now. So yeah, it's it's very interesting how
Speaker 1: that all happens. So what is the state of the
Speaker 1: castle right now? Obviously a post pandemic, you guys are
Speaker 1: probably bringing people back in, But how are things going?
Speaker 1: I haven't been, unfortunately in a few years. I used
Speaker 1: to go quite often just because it was about twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes away from my family home, which now my
Speaker 1: sister and her husband owned, But it was originally built
Speaker 1: by my stepfather, and so I can't remember the last
Speaker 1: time I was there. I think it must have been
Speaker 1: about seven or eight years ago. So how how are
Speaker 1: things going there now? Things are great? Actually, you know,
Speaker 1: we've done so much as far as you know, the
Speaker 1: construction of the castle or the reconstruction of the castle,
Speaker 1: We've been able to um do a lot of repairs.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much prepare that needs to be
Speaker 1: done to that place. I doubt I will ever see
Speaker 1: it completed in my lifetime, and maybe not even my sons,
Speaker 1: who's like, you know, he's seventeen or almost seventeen, and
Speaker 1: there's just so much and you know, it's extremely expensive
Speaker 1: to do all the repairs on this castle, but you know,
Speaker 1: we just keep kind of plugging away at it a
Speaker 1: little bit at a time. Our parking lot is no
Speaker 1: longer a gravel parking lot. We actually have asphalt now,
Speaker 1: and which is great, you know, trying to repair some
Speaker 1: of the windows. And there are areas in the castle.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember, but where there was
Speaker 1: no floor from like the basement to like the fifth floor.
Speaker 1: You know, that is still unfortunately in that type of condition.
Speaker 1: I do remember that. I do remember that it's still
Speaker 1: you know, empty in there. You can still see all
Speaker 1: the way up, but there are areas that are the
Speaker 1: floor has been replaced. Unfortunately, they're not open to the
Speaker 1: public yet, but the public still has three floors to
Speaker 1: do their investigations or tours, which you know, the castle
Speaker 1: is huge, it's shaped like a giant tea. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: no shortage of space in there. I remember roaming those
Speaker 1: halls and I do remember actually because we were doing
Speaker 1: a public investigation there many years ago, and I do
Speaker 1: remember I think there was some sort of fire code.
Speaker 1: We got shut down by the by the fire department
Speaker 1: or something because not this was before the event happened,
Speaker 1: because they were waiting to get sprinklers, installers something. And
Speaker 1: that's just indicative of like what you face when you're
Speaker 1: trying to get these historic places up and running, and
Speaker 1: not necessarily running, but just keeping them open so people
Speaker 1: don't forget that places like this existed. And so you know,
Speaker 1: how important do you think the haunting aspect is in
Speaker 1: keeping Preston open? Because I find that some of these
Speaker 1: historic places, I don't know that they all fully grasp
Speaker 1: how important their ghosts can be for them as far
Speaker 1: as funding and raising interest. Um, it's huge. Honestly. We
Speaker 1: have so many different events that we do up there
Speaker 1: at the castle, even like the day tours. During the
Speaker 1: day tours, people ask, you know all the time about
Speaker 1: is this place haunted? Or if they know that we
Speaker 1: do paranormal investigations there, they want the information on how
Speaker 1: to get involved in that. I have people wanting to
Speaker 1: be actually on the paranormal team, and it's huge. I
Speaker 1: think that if we didn't do our paranormal investigations, it
Speaker 1: would definitely play a loss in the interest in coming
Speaker 1: up there. I mean, and I'm not undermining the day
Speaker 1: tours because the day to words are phenomenal, but the
Speaker 1: place takes on a whole different feel when it gets
Speaker 1: dark versus the daytime. Have you ever had any of
Speaker 1: your daytime tour attendees have experiences that they didn't expect?
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know, but I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised because even myself, when I've been there during the day,
Speaker 1: I've had my hair tugged, I've had whispers in my ear.
Speaker 1: You know, I've seen things. So I would not doubt
Speaker 1: that the guests during the day don't have their own
Speaker 1: paranormal experience there. Yeah, what would you say? The majority
Speaker 1: of the activity is like there we have, and it
Speaker 1: seems lately we've been getting a lot of disembodied voices
Speaker 1: where we're all in one room and it sounds like
Speaker 1: there's conversations going on. I remember my actual first night
Speaker 1: of running the paranorm investigation and I heard, we all heard.
Speaker 1: We were in the infirmary and everybody in the group
Speaker 1: heard talking, and I thought somebody had broken into the grounds.
Speaker 1: And we're out walking the grounds, the castle and I
Speaker 1: panicked because this is my first night and you know,
Speaker 1: somebody broke in, and I truly panicked. But after a
Speaker 1: couple of the dose ents went outside to take a look,
Speaker 1: there was nobody there. And so I mean, not only
Speaker 1: did we hear voices, but we heard footsteps two at
Speaker 1: the same time, So we get a lot of that.
Speaker 1: You will hear voices all throughout the castle day and
Speaker 1: night in my experience. Now, what would you say is
Speaker 1: the most commonly reported activity in the castle? Probably the
Speaker 1: most common is the disembodied voices, and that seems to
Speaker 1: be what we're getting most of all right now, we
Speaker 1: have seen some white mists lately, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty hot in the castle right now, so there's
Speaker 1: really nothing weather related that would necessarily cause that, you know,
Speaker 1: like the cold or you know, somebody's breath or anything
Speaker 1: like that. Also, we've got a couple of shadow figures
Speaker 1: that we've been seeing also in a couple of the rooms.
Speaker 1: One of our dose since she just recently saw her
Speaker 1: first shadow figure and she's never seen what I mean,
Speaker 1: she's been doing this and she's been to like she's
Speaker 1: been to so many different places that you would see
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, But this was her first time
Speaker 1: seeing the shadow man. Oh gosh, I know this miss
Speaker 1: that you're describing, is it taking the shape of like
Speaker 1: figures or is it just kind of a missed hanging
Speaker 1: in the castle itself. I haven't seen it where it's
Speaker 1: taking actual, you know, the shape of a figure. Some
Speaker 1: of it seems to be kind of just forming and
Speaker 1: then like floating around UM but staying together in like not.
Speaker 1: I don't not even know how to describe it. Again,
Speaker 1: not the form of a figure, but just not spread
Speaker 1: out as what you would see like fogs or anything
Speaker 1: like that. Right. I do remember when I was there
Speaker 1: with ghost hunters, there was reports of a mist hanging
Speaker 1: in there was like a really tall and open area.
Speaker 1: I feel like it was where the wards used to
Speaker 1: be and they used to be beds in there. But
Speaker 1: I do remember it seemed like it was almost an
Speaker 1: attic or something that's spent so long. I do remember
Speaker 1: there was an owl in there that was attacking me.
Speaker 1: I do remember an owl swooping down me. So, you know,
Speaker 1: when when I'm talking to UM the guests that come,
Speaker 1: I tell them that we have our own ecosystem in there,
Speaker 1: and so the owls um, We've had fall box, We've
Speaker 1: had you know, other critters in there in the bats,
Speaker 1: the bats. We have a lot of bats. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I've been attacked by many a bat. I think that
Speaker 1: still stands at the only owl. It scared the crap
Speaker 1: out of me because I was just standing there and
Speaker 1: this thing swooped down across the room and I could
Speaker 1: feel the breeze of it like going over my head. So, um,
Speaker 1: it was probably in Company B because we had an
Speaker 1: owl in there for quite a while. Most of the
Speaker 1: time they stay up in the tower, you know, but
Speaker 1: you can hear them, of course when their chicks hatch.
Speaker 1: They are screaming all night. Oh I'm sure. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: so that it was Company B then yeah. I do
Speaker 1: remember specifically looking for this missed hanging in the room.
Speaker 1: I did not witness it, but it's just such an
Speaker 1: interesting phenomena that you don't care about that often kind
Speaker 1: of along those lines, what do you think would cause
Speaker 1: something like that or why do you think that would
Speaker 1: be happening at the castle, You know, it's it's really
Speaker 1: hard to say. I do feel like things are trying
Speaker 1: to manifest there, and that's just their way of coming
Speaker 1: through in the form of a miss, whether it's the
Speaker 1: energy that the guests and us are providing for them
Speaker 1: or just whatever equipment that we have going at that time.
Speaker 1: It's I don't know, it's really hard to say. You know,
Speaker 1: the MISS thing is is a little new for me
Speaker 1: as far as that goes there, and I mean, I've
Speaker 1: heard about it, but i've actually just recently, just since
Speaker 1: we've opened up this year, is when I've seen the
Speaker 1: miss and as well as some of the other docents.
Speaker 1: That's what they're retorting. How is Preston Castle kind of
Speaker 1: received in I own? Is the town really interested in
Speaker 1: skiing it kind of succeed you know? How do they
Speaker 1: feel about the ghostly history being so prevalent. Do you
Speaker 1: guys ever get any pushback or are people mostly very
Speaker 1: welcoming of it? I think the town is pretty welcoming that.
Speaker 1: I mean, if anybody's been there. The castle sits on
Speaker 1: top of a hill that overlooks the entire town, which
Speaker 1: is super super tiny, but you will see, you know,
Speaker 1: if you go to the different restaurants or shops in
Speaker 1: the town, you can see some picture of the castle,
Speaker 1: whether it's part of their logo or whatever. But the castle,
Speaker 1: the way that it sits looking over this town, it's
Speaker 1: not something that you can miss. Um, it's hard to say.
Speaker 1: It seems like they're pretty open to it. There's, of course,
Speaker 1: with anything, you're going to have people that say, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's not haunted, there's nothing there, and then your fair
Speaker 1: share of people that are like, oh my god, I've
Speaker 1: been there, and yes it's totally haunted. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's probably a mixture. How often do you have
Speaker 1: people kind of visit the castle who actually spent time
Speaker 1: there or work there. I believe we have one volunteer
Speaker 1: that actually worked it, or maybe he was a war there.
Speaker 1: I can't remember, but we do have quite a few
Speaker 1: people that will come through. We had an event not
Speaker 1: that long ago, or I should say it feels like
Speaker 1: over a year ago now that he was visiting. I
Speaker 1: think he said he was visiting from Oregon or he
Speaker 1: had been out of state and he came back. I
Speaker 1: was talking to him and he was telling me about
Speaker 1: spending time in one of the units called Tamarack, and
Speaker 1: that is the solitary confinement unit. It like he was
Speaker 1: really shook up just talking to me about it. He
Speaker 1: said that he had actually never been in or was
Speaker 1: never part of the main building of the castle, but
Speaker 1: he said his experience in Tamarack was just it was
Speaker 1: not good, but he had come up there. I guess,
Speaker 1: I don't know, like just to resolve things with himself.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, But yeah, we do. We do have
Speaker 1: people coming up there and talking about how either they
Speaker 1: spent time or that they had family members that either
Speaker 1: spent time or work there. When people bring things like
Speaker 1: that up, or when they kind of talk about what
Speaker 1: it was like there, or even just kind of what
Speaker 1: the routine was and things, does that ever seem to
Speaker 1: instigate activity. I don't know. I don't know. You know,
Speaker 1: when I was talking to this particular guy, we were outside.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if he had gone inside. I
Speaker 1: think it was just more of him sitting on the
Speaker 1: grounds or standing on the grounds talking to me. But
Speaker 1: I don't see why it wouldn't people coming through there,
Speaker 1: it could definitely spark some of the activity. Have you
Speaker 1: ever gotten anything identifiable or as far as who could
Speaker 1: be haunting Preston or are there any ghosts that you
Speaker 1: think you know who they are specifically? You know, I
Speaker 1: don't think we've gotten any specific ghosts or people that
Speaker 1: had been there. It's really hard to say. We suspect,
Speaker 1: but I don't think, you know, we've never really gotten
Speaker 1: solid confirmation of any names or anything like that while
Speaker 1: we've been investigating. And it seems like, you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of the activity you describe is pretty residual in nature,
Speaker 1: meaning that it's almost like a recording playing over and
Speaker 1: over for people listening, like the energy of someone just
Speaker 1: kind of going about their routine. Is there anything there
Speaker 1: that you would say is maybe more intelligent or like
Speaker 1: seeking some sort of help or needing something. I definitely
Speaker 1: sense that there is one particular one that we've all
Speaker 1: kind of had some sort of interaction with down in
Speaker 1: the basement area or the intake room, which is where
Speaker 1: the boys came in. And I've seen him as a shadow,
Speaker 1: I've felt him as oh gosh, like he's followed me
Speaker 1: through the basement before, and it's definitely a male presence.
Speaker 1: And sometimes we've, like I said, we've seen him kind
Speaker 1: of walking back and forth, but more of a shadow figure.
Speaker 1: And that one, in particular, I think is intelligent and
Speaker 1: definitely interactive. Okay, so the intake room was that the
Speaker 1: room that had the pool. Didn't they have some sort
Speaker 1: of pool that they kind of washed them. I think
Speaker 1: they stopped using it eventually because it was harmful, but
Speaker 1: it was that where that was. Yeah, So they enter
Speaker 1: in through the intake and then immediately they were taken
Speaker 1: into what we call the de lousing pool, which um is,
Speaker 1: I think is barbaric personally, they were you know, thrown
Speaker 1: into this pool whether they knew how to swim or
Speaker 1: or not, with chemicals and all the other stuff. And
Speaker 1: not to mention that the staff kitchen was like right
Speaker 1: across from that, which kind of grosses me out to
Speaker 1: think that you know, those chemical and there could have
Speaker 1: been kind of floating around. But yes, that's where we
Speaker 1: feel a presence for sure, and we've seen you know,
Speaker 1: a shadow down there and it's definitely male. Okay. Aside
Speaker 1: from that area, are there any other like major hot
Speaker 1: spots in the castle where you feel like there's just
Speaker 1: i know, the infirmary because that's where you saw the
Speaker 1: doctor or where the doctor was seen, right. Is there
Speaker 1: anywhere else that you feel like it's almost like guaranteed
Speaker 1: activity if you go into a space. So, yeah, the infirmary,
Speaker 1: the basement, the basements. Definitely a hot spot because we
Speaker 1: have like a chapel school area that we've gotten, you know,
Speaker 1: some activity in. We just had an investigation this last
Speaker 1: Saturday and they were getting activity up in Company B.
Speaker 1: That isn't you know typically um I would say a
Speaker 1: hot spot, but once in a while we do get that.
Speaker 1: And also on the second floor. Lately we've and getting
Speaker 1: some activity down the hall. We actually us as docents,
Speaker 1: got some activity in the visitor center, which is kind
Speaker 1: of what we call home base where we had We
Speaker 1: were sitting there, there was three of us and we
Speaker 1: probably people were sitting there for a good forty five
Speaker 1: minutes to an hour and there's like this little sink
Speaker 1: area and all of a sudden, we heard this big
Speaker 1: bang and we went over there and it appeared that
Speaker 1: a knife fell off one of the shelves and hit
Speaker 1: I mean like nothing, there was nothing there that could
Speaker 1: have knocked it down or anything. And the fact that
Speaker 1: we were just sitting there for so long and nothing
Speaker 1: had happened, and then boom, you know, this knife falls
Speaker 1: out to the shelf. So I don't know, that's pretty wild.
Speaker 1: Is there any activity that people experienced there that you
Speaker 1: think has like violent or aggressive tendencies, like any scratches
Speaker 1: or pushing or anything like that. No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: We've had one instance of a scratch not that long ago.
Speaker 1: She you know, is an intuitive and she didn't feel
Speaker 1: threatened by the scratch. I think she felt more that
Speaker 1: they were trying to get her attention and that was
Speaker 1: down again in that basement area, and it might have
Speaker 1: been that male presence that we all feel down in there.
Speaker 1: And as far as pushing, maybe people have reported occasionally
Speaker 1: a push, but I personally don't feel that there's anything
Speaker 1: bad there or evil or violent or anything like that.
Speaker 1: I think that it's more that they're just besides the
Speaker 1: residual that we have there, they're just trying to get
Speaker 1: our attention, right, I mean, I think that sometimes aggressive
Speaker 1: activity is just that and it's mistaken for something more,
Speaker 1: you know, sinister. But sometimes they think that some entities
Speaker 1: just really want to get your attention and when they allies,
Speaker 1: they can touch you or imagine being that desperate, like
Speaker 1: you're trying to get some sort of message across, and
Speaker 1: you desperately reach out to someone, And sometimes I think
Speaker 1: that is kind of misconstrued as negative type activity well,
Speaker 1: you know, I have a lot of respect for everything
Speaker 1: you guys are doing at Preston. I know this last
Speaker 1: year has been incredibly hard for historic locations, but it
Speaker 1: sounds like you guys are back up and running and
Speaker 1: have a lot happening soon. So if people want to visit,
Speaker 1: what can they do and what do you have coming
Speaker 1: up that people might be interested in. Definitely check out
Speaker 1: our website which is Preston Castle dot org. And we
Speaker 1: have a huge event coming up which is our Halloween Haunt.
Speaker 1: It's one of our biggest events of the year and
Speaker 1: that will be all through October on Friday and Saturday
Speaker 1: nights starting October and they can go to the website
Speaker 1: to perk as tickets, but they are selling fast. We
Speaker 1: sell out fast on this. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1: It's three floors of the castle and it's just it's
Speaker 1: amazing and we change it up every year and so
Speaker 1: the people that have come through in years past absolutely
Speaker 1: love it. Well, that's great and obviously all the money
Speaker 1: raise goes to a great cause and that's fabulous. Hopefully
Speaker 1: I'll be able to get back out there soon. I
Speaker 1: will be visiting families soon, so I will have to
Speaker 1: pop by the castle and say hi. Absolutely all right, well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and hopefully I will see you soon. All right, thank you, Amy.
Speaker 1: I have to admit, after researching Preston so intensely and
Speaker 1: hearing the stories that came out of that building, I
Speaker 1: wondered why we're all so intent on preserving it. But
Speaker 1: there is something special about that red castle, so out
Speaker 1: of play in the California Foothills. Architecturally alone, its significance
Speaker 1: cannot be denied. And yes, there were tragedies, but there
Speaker 1: were also many who left there, changed and reformed, who
Speaker 1: might not have had the lives they did without some intervention.
Speaker 1: I also feel like repurposing the space into something more
Speaker 1: positive can be a forever reminder of the growth and
Speaker 1: evolution we and all of society is capable of. It
Speaker 1: can also serve as a reminder of a place we
Speaker 1: don't want to go back to. So I urge you
Speaker 1: to explore the California Foothills, particularly Amador and El Dorado Counties,
Speaker 1: often overlooked areas closer to Nevada than they are to
Speaker 1: San Francisco or Los Angeles, and they're filled with gold
Speaker 1: Rush history and ghosts and as you do, make the
Speaker 1: stop and I own to see the castle. If you
Speaker 1: can book a tour or a ghost hunt and let
Speaker 1: them know you know a former local me. I'm Any
Speaker 1: Brunei and this was Haunted Road. M Haunted Road is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild
Speaker 1: from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and hosted by
Speaker 1: Amy Bruney. Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rima Ill Kali
Speaker 1: and Trevor Young. Taylor Haggerdorn is the show's researcher. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.