Catalina Island Ghosts

[Cryptoman]

Anyone here ever been to CIMI Camp at Toyon Bay on Catalina Island? Well, if you haven't, their is a ghost story they tell you while your there. The story goes like this:

The camp was previously a school boys and the dean stayed with his wife on the hill over looking the school. The wife wanted to have a baby girl, but instead got a boy. She wanted a girl so badly since she was completely surrounded by boys. One day, after the boy turned 8, he was playing by the cliff side and fell. The mother was shocked and ran out to see the boy hanging off of a branch. She reached down for the boy, but slowly backed away, thinking how badly she wanted a girl. The boy fell to his death afterwards. The wife told the husband that she fell asleep and the boy snuck out. They had another child, a girl this time. When she turned 6, she fell off the cliff and held on to the ledge. The mother ran out to save her. The girl looked up at the mother and said, "Will you save me this time mommy?" Then she let go of the edge and died. The mother was so shocked to hear this that she burned her house down... with herself in it. The husband came home to see only the chimney standing. He was so sad that he left Catalina and closed the school.

Now we take hikes up to the chimney that has a beautiful view of the ocean. So, one day, we went early in the morning to catch the sun rise. I took two pictures; the chimney and a scenic view. I accidentally got my thumb in the chimney pic, but on the scenice view, you can clearly see a white fog in the corner. It was a clear day with very few clouds, and yet their is some sort of fog.

Is this a ghost? What do you guys think?

chimney pic (my thumb un top corner)

scenic pic (fog/mist in bottom corner)

Edited November 3, 2007 by Cryptoman

[JustNormal]

Anyone here ever been to CIMI Camp at Toyon Bay on Catalina Island? Well, if you haven't, their is a ghost story they tell you while your there. The story goes like this:

The camp was previously a school boys and the dean stayed with his wife on the hill over looking the school. The wife wanted to have a baby girl, but instead got a boy. She wanted a girl so badly since she was completely surrounded by boys. One day, after the boy turned 8, he was playing by the cliff side and fell. The mother was shocked and ran out to see the boy hanging off of a branch. She reached down for the boy, but slowly backed away, thinking how badly she wanted a girl. The boy fell to his death afterwards. The wife told the husband that she fell asleep and the boy snuck out. They had another child, a girl this time. When she turned 6, she fell off the cliff and held on to the ledge. The mother ran out to save her. The girl looked up at the mother and said, "Will you save me this time mommy?" Then she let go of the edge and died. The mother was so shocked to hear this that she burned her house down... with herself in it. The husband came home to see only the chimney standing. He was so sad that he left Catalina and closed the school.

Now we take hikes up to the chimney that has a beautiful view of the ocean. So, one day, we went early in the morning to catch the sun rise. I took two pictures; the chimney and a scenic view. I accidentally got my thumb in the chimney pic, but on the scenice view, you can clearly see a white fog in the corner. It was a clear day with very few clouds, and yet their is some sort of fog.

Is this a ghost? What do you guys think?

chimney pic (my thumb un top corner)

scenic pic (fog/mist in bottom corner)

Hmmm great photos but to be honest I dont know. I "think" the ocean view is just mist from the water. The other of the chimney, I see something but doesnt look spiritual..Lets see what others might see instead ok? Thanks for sharing..JN

[JackalnChainz]

I don't see enough to form an educated guess. But I found the twist in the story chilling. Thanks for the post. ~Jackal

[Cryptoman]

It's probably nothing, but thanks anyways. I'm glad you guys are liking the story. If anyone else want to give their opinion as well, by all means do so.

[Pythia]

The twist in the story is creepy!

I love the second pic! Beautiful scenery! I'm jealous.

[Cryptoman]

I love the second pic! Beautiful scenery!

thank you

[Cassu]

Great story, and great photos.

The mist effect certainly is interesting, could it possibly be something reflecting off of your lens maybe? (Probably not since it does have a very 'mist-like' form.) But either way, very intriguing.

[Cryptoman]

the thing is that I remember this trip as if it was yesterday and their was certainly no mist and the flash was off. I'm not saying dust or water particles couldn't be reflected, just not from my camera.

[xXthetimsXx]

LOL I think I once went SCUBA diving only a few hundred yards off shore from were you took the pic with the mist

I dont see anything in the chimney pic though

[Cryptoman]

The other of the chimney, I see something but doesnt look spiritual..

please enlighten me on what you see (or what you think you see)...

[Toyon]

Anyone here ever been to CIMI Camp at Toyon Bay on Catalina Island? Well, if you haven't, their is a ghost story they tell you while your there. The story goes like this:

The camp was previously a school boys and the dean stayed with his wife on the hill over looking the school. The wife wanted to have a baby girl, but instead got a boy. She wanted a girl so badly since she was completely surrounded by boys. One day, after the boy turned 8, he was playing by the cliff side and fell. The mother was shocked and ran out to see the boy hanging off of a branch. She reached down for the boy, but slowly backed away, thinking how badly she wanted a girl. The boy fell to his death afterwards. The wife told the husband that she fell asleep and the boy snuck out. They had another child, a girl this time. When she turned 6, she fell off the cliff and held on to the ledge. The mother ran out to save her. The girl looked up at the mother and said, "Will you save me this time mommy?" Then she let go of the edge and died. The mother was so shocked to hear this that she burned her house down... with herself in it. The husband came home to see only the chimney standing. He was so sad that he left Catalina and closed the school.

Now we take hikes up to the chimney that has a beautiful view of the ocean. So, one day, we went early in the morning to catch the sun rise. I took two pictures; the chimney and a scenic view. I accidentally got my thumb in the chimney pic, but on the scenice view, you can clearly see a white fog in the corner. It was a clear day with very few clouds, and yet their is some sort of fog.

Is this a ghost? What do you guys think?

chimney pic (my thumb un top corner)

scenic pic (fog/mist in bottom corner)

[MirrorImage]

Really neat story, confused as to why Tpylon necroquoted the whole story and then didnt comment on it

Edited May 3, 2009 by MirrorImage

[Toyon]

Ok, I lived at Toyon for four years in the 70's as a student.The story you heard is nothing near the truth..There are a NUMBER of spirits at Toyon.The area under the former soccer field to the right of the beach house at the water is an indian burial area.We had a professor "Duke" Snyder,who decided to dig them up in 1970.We ended up going to the bathroom in groups, it got pretty bad. We would see or hear indian spirits frequently.There is a spirit of a electrician in the dorm on the left side of the lower quad -along the road to staff houses-who died during a lunchbreak in the late 60's.He told his work buddys that he's be along and then fried himself. That became a girls dorm in 1973.Lucky guy! The "Little Red Headed Girl" was killed about 1965.Her dad was the commodore of the yacht club (School was founded 1920's/WWII O.S.S. School/Yacht Club/School again).she was about 9 or 10 and was coming from "overtown" during a school break.The seaplane she was on mistook the next cove (Willow) for Toyon and went between the cliff and the rock adjuting out.The props came in on her and she was badly mangled.She always would show up at the right door at the end of the hall under the staff tower room in the dorm across from the Library.She would knock and wait until someone opened the door.Most everyone I know of freaked and ended up in hospital on the mainland.My personal experiences with her were limited to working in the dorm over the summer and the radio going on and off, my dog freaking out and running and so on.The school was a O.S.S. training camp during the war although folks in Avalon were told they were Coast Guard.There was a couple of training accidents and I understand, deaths. The Ravens that lived in the trees over the grave area were HUGE and considered sacred by the indians who were killed by seal hunters and Russian traders in the early 1800's.The first skulls we unearthed had axe like markings on the skull with later ones showing bullet wounds. CMI took over after the school closed in 1979 and then John Davidson -the singer-tried to run a singing school there until he got gored trying to chase a buffalo off the soccer field.The story they told you is bogus.There are more spirits there,but these are the most frequently shared stories.BTW, the "Chimney" you spoke of...there were "Shrines" on three points around Toyon built by students in the original school during the 1920's.They were small huts with fireplaces.We took them apart due to fire danger from all of us 1970's "Tokers" but the chimneys remain.Toyon is considered our home by all who lived there.We like to keep the story straight.

[Chasen Alibrando]

Ok, I lived at Toyon for four years in the 70's as a student.The story you heard is nothing near the truth..There are a NUMBER of spirits at Toyon.The area under the former soccer field to the right of the beach house at the water is an indian burial area.We had a professor "Duke" Snyder,who decided to dig them up in 1970.We ended up going to the bathroom in groups, it got pretty bad. We would see or hear indian spirits frequently.There is a spirit of a electrician in the dorm on the left side of the lower quad -along the road to staff houses-who died during a lunchbreak in the late 60's.He told his work buddys that he's be along and then fried himself. That became a girls dorm in 1973.Lucky guy! The "Little Red Headed Girl" was killed about 1965.Her dad was the commodore of the yacht club (School was founded 1920's/WWII O.S.S. School/Yacht Club/School again).she was about 9 or 10 and was coming from "overtown" during a school break.The seaplane she was on mistook the next cove (Willow) for Toyon and went between the cliff and the rock adjuting out.The props came in on her and she was badly mangled.She always would show up at the right door at the end of the hall under the staff tower room in the dorm across from the Library.She would knock and wait until someone opened the door.Most everyone I know of freaked and ended up in hospital on the mainland.My personal experiences with her were limited to working in the dorm over the summer and the radio going on and off, my dog freaking out and running and so on.The school was a O.S.S. training camp during the war although folks in Avalon were told they were Coast Guard.There was a couple of training accidents and I understand, deaths. The Ravens that lived in the trees over the grave area were HUGE and considered sacred by the indians who were killed by seal hunters and Russian traders in the early 1800's.The first skulls we unearthed had axe like markings on the skull with later ones showing bullet wounds. CMI took over after the school closed in 1979 and then John Davidson -the singer-tried to run a singing school there until he got gored trying to chase a buffalo off the soccer field.The story they told you is bogus.There are more spirits there,but these are the most frequently shared stories.BTW, the "Chimney" you spoke of...there were "Shrines" on three points around Toyon built by students in the original school during the 1920's.They were small huts with fireplaces.We took them apart due to fire danger from all of us 1970's "Tokers" but the chimneys remain.Toyon is considered our home by all who lived there.We like to keep the story straight.

I just returned an 8th grade Toyon trip. There was some rumor going around that room 606 (in the Barracuda dorm) was haunted. Is that true? Also, i read about the girl turning on and off your radio. While i was staying there my iPod would play and pause itself several times. Once it happened in the upper quad and several times at night while i was staying in room 502 (Bald Eagle dorm). As i was laying in bed at night talking to my friends, i asked them if they believed in ghosts and 10 seconds after this question, my iphone played itself.

[Toyon]

I just returned an 8th grade Toyon trip. There was some rumor going around that room 606 (in the Barracuda dorm) was haunted. Is that true? Also, i read about the girl turning on and off your radio. While i was staying there my iPod would play and pause itself several times. Once it happened in the upper quad and several times at night while i was staying in room 502 (Bald Eagle dorm). As i was laying in bed at night talking to my friends, i asked them if they believed in ghosts and 10 seconds after this question, my iphone played itself.

Hi Chasen,

Hope you enjoyed your trip!ALL dorms are haunted.It's not the buildings themselves,rather it's the canyon.I lived in Bald eagle my freshman year 1971 in two places.Through the main arch of upper quad,left through the doors,all the way down to the last door on the right (corner room) and also all the way down the hall past the bathroom to the littlest room at the end. Lived in Barracuda all the way down the hall towards lower quad second door from end right at the "T" on the left and all the way down the bath hall last door on the right.We never really noticed stuff in the upper quads,mostly it was lower.The electrician was on (facing ocean beach) the left side dorm and the little Red headed girl was in the right dorm all the way down ,last door on the right.A teacher was in his house on the lower quad left towards the field one night.Went to bed, heard his name mentioned by young girlish voices and laughter all around his bed.While working early summer to work off demerits (I broke a 60 year record) in the red headed girl dorm, my radio would go on and off frequently,this was a pluged in model.My labrador went nuts,started howling and ran away for two days.We once saw two indian spirits sitting in the tree next to the bridge by the mess hall.At night in winter fog, it got really weird sometimes.I spent hours and hours in the library and never noticed anything.We would all have expeiences though at one time or another.The soccer field at night could get pretty strange.For the most part, these are Cabrillo indian spirits.We were told at one point,Russian seal hunters or Spanish slavers (heard both stories,going with the spanish) hid on the hill sides before dawn after landing in Willow cove and climbing over the ridge.As the indians woke up, the spanish massacred them.Moments before the 1969 L.A. earthquake, a teacher went into a trance like state,said some words nobody could understand,collapsed and the quake hit a minute later.I hearda classroom was shut down but we never noticed anything.We got hit with a mudslde in 1972.No water,bad storm prevented our getting to town by boat.No roads, no power.For two weeks.We ended up all sleeping in the main commons room next to the dining hall and going to the bathroom in groups it got so weird.My youngest is in 8th grade,maybe she should do a trip like yours :-)

Ask anytime.My name is Doug.

[filmkid]

i heard that same story in high school when we went for a field trip. im trying to figure out how real that story actually is for certain reasons. do you know anything else about it? just wondering. so glad you posted this cuz i couldnt find the story anywhere. there was so much i forgot like that part about the all boys school.

[orangepeaceful79]

Anyone here ever been to CIMI Camp at Toyon Bay on Catalina Island? Well, if you haven't, their is a ghost story they tell you while your there. The story goes like this:

The camp was previously a school boys and the dean stayed with his wife on the hill over looking the school. The wife wanted to have a baby girl, but instead got a boy. She wanted a girl so badly since she was completely surrounded by boys. One day, after the boy turned 8, he was playing by the cliff side and fell. The mother was shocked and ran out to see the boy hanging off of a branch. She reached down for the boy, but slowly backed away, thinking how badly she wanted a girl. The boy fell to his death afterwards. The wife told the husband that she fell asleep and the boy snuck out. They had another child, a girl this time. When she turned 6, she fell off the cliff and held on to the ledge. The mother ran out to save her. The girl looked up at the mother and said, "Will you save me this time mommy?" Then she let go of the edge and died. The mother was so shocked to hear this that she burned her house down... with herself in it. The husband came home to see only the chimney standing. He was so sad that he left Catalina and closed the school.

Now we take hikes up to the chimney that has a beautiful view of the ocean. So, one day, we went early in the morning to catch the sun rise. I took two pictures; the chimney and a scenic view. I accidentally got my thumb in the chimney pic, but on the scenice view, you can clearly see a white fog in the corner. It was a clear day with very few clouds, and yet their is some sort of fog.

Is this a ghost? What do you guys think?

chimney pic (my thumb un top corner)

<a href="http://img489.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0344lb3.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

scenic pic (fog/mist in bottom corner)

<a href="http://img489.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0343vo3.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

Here is my problem with the story. If the mom let the little boy drop to his death and presumably never told anyone, taking the secret with her to her suicidal death, then how is there a story to begin with? Dead people tell no tales generally.

[orangepeaceful79]

Anyone here ever been to CIMI Camp at Toyon Bay on Catalina Island? Well, if you haven't, their is a ghost story they tell you while your there. The story goes like this:

The camp was previously a school boys and the dean stayed with his wife on the hill over looking the school. The wife wanted to have a baby girl, but instead got a boy. She wanted a girl so badly since she was completely surrounded by boys. One day, after the boy turned 8, he was playing by the cliff side and fell. The mother was shocked and ran out to see the boy hanging off of a branch. She reached down for the boy, but slowly backed away, thinking how badly she wanted a girl. The boy fell to his death afterwards. The wife told the husband that she fell asleep and the boy snuck out. They had another child, a girl this time. When she turned 6, she fell off the cliff and held on to the ledge. The mother ran out to save her. The girl looked up at the mother and said, "Will you save me this time mommy?" Then she let go of the edge and died. The mother was so shocked to hear this that she burned her house down... with herself in it. The husband came home to see only the chimney standing. He was so sad that he left Catalina and closed the school.

Now we take hikes up to the chimney that has a beautiful view of the ocean. So, one day, we went early in the morning to catch the sun rise. I took two pictures; the chimney and a scenic view. I accidentally got my thumb in the chimney pic, but on the scenice view, you can clearly see a white fog in the corner. It was a clear day with very few clouds, and yet their is some sort of fog.

Is this a ghost? What do you guys think?

chimney pic (my thumb un top corner)

<a href="http://img489.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0344lb3.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

scenic pic (fog/mist in bottom corner)

<a href="http://img489.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0343vo3.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

Your second pic looks like lens flare. The angle of the sun would support this as well.

[RockabyeBillie]

I find it odd that she would let her child fall to his death... but then there are mothers today who do worse things to their children...

[orangepeaceful79]

I find it odd that she would let her child fall to his death... but then there are mothers today who do worse things to their children...

She didn't. Its a plot device in a made up story. but you are correct - there are people out there who do worse things than that to their children.

[ChrisVosburg]

The Catalina Island School for Boys was a college prep school, and as such, had no "deans"-- it did have Masters, and of course a Headmaster.

Headmaster from the twenties until WWII, when the school was evacuated, would be one Keith Vosburg (my Uncle Keith), who founded the school. Keith never married. When the school re-opened in the early sixties, due to the efforts of some high-powered and well-heeled alumni, aging Uncle Keith came out of his Azusa orange grove to once again play the Headmaster, and was followed by Paul Sherbert and John Iversen (late sixities, and early seventies, respectively), both married but with no children on the island (and well past child-rearing age in any case).

Some of the Masters, with the help of their wives, did in fact have children, but I know of no incident such as the one you describe, and I'm sure I would have heard of it, if not from Uncle Keith himself, who loved to talk about the school, then from any of the other students while I was there, while huddled around a bong up the canyon or down among the rocks on the beach after "lights out".

We did hear lots of ghost stories, but they usually had to do with the local native americans, and involved stuff like mysterioous lights and sounds. The only ghosts in the dorms were the shiprats, and whoever kept stealing my goddamn munchies.

Same goes for "Toyon's" seaplane story. Trust me, I'd know--

Chris Vosburg, CISB '72

[ChrisVosburg]

Uh, one other thing:

Most of the stories consisted of specious rumors about who was banging which faculty wife. Sorry about that, faculty wives, I'm sure you were all quite faithful and are very nice, but hey, we were teenaged boys with raging hormones; what are ya gonna do.

[Toyon]

Hi Chris,

Gee...haven't seen you for forty years and I'm gonna have to disagree with you.I'm sure you remember the red headed girl story involving the seaplane? I would probably agree about ghosts in the dorms but we were usually stoned back then so....I did notice things though.Andy Bleecker and I had a reall weird experience in Eagle and Sam Graham woke up to giggling girls around his bed in the staff home across from Bushing's and the Herrick's places.So, I guess one believes what one has experience with huh? Given your talents back then in art work it would have been nice to do a ghost comic with Harry.Iverson would have just said,"Write me a letter" if we'd said we'd seen anything....you were there when Duke started opening the graves at the boathouse so I'm sure you remember stuff then.Your comment brought back John Simons and a faculty wife,after you left the wives improved considerably.And yeah,hormones were definitely raging in Toyon.... ..Back to the seaplane story...we had a couple of kids that apparently saw "something" in the dorm under Bushing's room and the result was a sedated trip to a room overtown.I am aware of two of these incidents personally.I remember either Mike Taylor or Bill Munz relating a similar story at one point.Hope you are well.Gotta go on a junction run......

[ChrisVosburg]

No one who has lived on the island for any length of time ever really leaves, I often say, Doug (Toyon), and your memoir brought a lot of those days back into somewhat hazy focus [laughing]. Ah, those were the days.

I recently got reacquainted with Biology Master Dr Bill Bushing, (who we simply called "Boo") who actually never left and happily spends his days diving around the island cataloging kelp species or something, I'm not real sure what. He lives in the Avalon suburbs-- seriously, there's housing developments up the Avalon canyon now.

The only little red-haired girls I ever knew of at Toyon would be the offspring of that crazy Scots Maintenance Engineer Hugh Macintosh, who once threatened to beat me to death when he caught me stealing lumber from his workshop, and again, I never heard the seaplane story.

Re the "other stories", yeah, you heard the same ones I did. Boo related another to me in a recent email, involving him, late evening, the fairly hot wife of a History Master who was over town, and negligee. Woo woo.

And give yourself a slap upside the head for me from Duke Snyder for referring to the local natives as "Cabrillo indians". As Duke would tell you, they were Pimu, and Cabrillo is the name of a Spanish explorer who slaughtered them while plundering up and down the California coast.

Jeez, didn't you learn anything at CIS?

[ChrisVosburg]

Incidentally, for those not acquainted with islandspeak, "over town" means "on the mainland."

As a last add, in El Monte, California, there is a small museum housing relics of California culture, and among them is a telephone switchboard: magnificent: polished oak and shiny brass plug bay, which they acquired from Avalon, Santa Catalina Island.

Avalon holds the distinction of being the last place in America to use a switchboard and operator to place calls-- you'd pick up the phone and wait for the operator to answer and then tell her who you wanted to talk to, and she'd connect you up. As you might imagine, the operator knew you and the person you were calling and couldn't resist listening in on the call, so she knew your business, and so did everyone else in town as a result.

This egregious invasion of privacy will no doubt raise a few eyebrows in our current paranoid age, but back then, well, it actually was sort of endearing, and one of the things that bonded islanders together-- if you have no secrets, you can tell no lies, you might say.