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The Haunted Office

 

Twenty years ago I worked in a small agri-business in Salinas CA. The greenhouses and office were the first buildings on that site; no other structure had existed prior to its construction. The area had been mainly fields and ranch prior to the business being there.

The location was very close to Old Stage Rd, which has a well deserved reputation of being haunted. One of the most famous stories is the headless woman who was murdered along the road, who has been reported to have been seen walking along the side of Old Stage with her head in her arms. I frequently saw odd lights during the winter commute home that looked like on coming headlights and then would disappear when you drove towards then.

The haunting started rather subtly; in fact we thought one of the admin people was pranking the rest of the office staff. Office supplies would be moved to odd places at night or mysteriously disappeared to be found in the middle of the office floor days later. The TV in the conference room would switch on at odd times during the day. As time went on, the incidents became more pronounced. People in the office and work crew began to catch fleeting glimpses of a dark haired woman in a white shirt. She bore a passing resemblance to one of the managers to the point where people would catch a glimpse of the ghost and think the manager was actually in the office sitting at desk. I would be working in the front office and hear someone call me from the back, only to walk over and find no one was there.

As time went by, most of us in the office became used to "La Fantasma". We went through a few receptionists during this period and each time someone new started, our ghost became very active as though she was either upset by the change or testing out the "new kid". One time, our poor cleaning person was cleaning up in the lab in the evening. As she worked, she was listening to the radio. All of a sudden, the radio switched stations (from one end of the dial to another) and went very loud and all the lights in the lab went out. The woman refused to work the night shift after that incident.

Along with hearing her call my name and the occasional glimpse of her at a desk, two incidents stand out for me. I was once working late to finish a programming project, so I was the last one out of the office that night. I carefully went through the offices, locked up the inner office doors and shut the lights out. I locked the main door and headed towards my car. All of a sudden all of the lights in the office went back on. While I thought it was funny, I didn't have enough nerve to go back in the building and shut off the lights!

Another time, I went into the computer room first thing in the morning and found that the door was blocked. There was only one door in and out of the room and somehow the garbage can (which was full of green bar computer paper and heavy) had been pushed against the door, which swung into the room rather than out. She never seemed to be malicious, but rather playful in her activities.

The only other haunting at the facility seemed a bit more dark and foreboding. Across from the main office there was a field that came off the main parking lot. On several occasions, some of us saw a tall dark man in a wide brimmed hat that seemed to either pace the field or stand on the edge of the parking lot looking towards the building. He never seemed as substantial as the female ghost of our office, but seeing him gave most of us the willies.

I don't know if the haunting continued after I left the job over 10 years ago. But it was an interesting place to work nonetheless!

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, CA_NJGirl, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

xXelliemayXx (10 stories) (164 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-11-23)
Thats okay 😁
I will look forward to your stories.
Thanks again for sharing this one with us 😉
xXelliemayXx ❤
CA_NJGirl (6 stories) (31 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-11-12)
When I have some time I will tell about some of the unusual experiences my husband and I have had while driving through Pacheco and other areas of this part of Ca. Thanks for all the positive feedback!
xXelliemayXx (10 stories) (164 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-11-11)
It sounds like you live in a interesting area!
I really did enjoy reading your story!
It was so well written 😁
Looking forward to hearing about anything else that have might happened that is linked to this!

xXelliemayXx ❤
CA_NJGirl (6 stories) (31 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-11-10)
We always suspected he was either a field hand or rancher that still lurked the fields. The odd thing is he was very menacing, while our female ghost was just the opposite.

Salinas really has this odd feel to it from a paranormal standpoint. The Salinas High Bell tower is definitely haunted as is the Steinbeck house. There so much history there, and some of it rather violent and emotional, its not too surprising.

The whole area up from San Luis Obispo to Monterey, Santa Cruz and parts of Santa Clara have a high occurrence of paranormal activity. The famous Brookdale Lodge is not that far from where I live. We've seen some really odd things going through the Pacheco Pass at night coming back from So Cal.
hobbyholly (11 stories) (572 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-11-10)
"tall dark man in a wide brimmed hat that seemed to either pace the field or stand on the edge of the parking lot looking towards the building."- Possible Rancher? You did say the land was fields & a ranch.

Very interesting account. I googled the legend of a headless woman you mentioned. In some of the accounts I've read it reminds me of Resurrection Mary.

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