The Haunted Preston Castle

1st Picture: Preston Castle
2nd Picture: Ione Hotel
3rd Picture: Preston Castle different angle.
4th Picture: Michele Stump/Historian/Researcher/Investigator at Private Investigation.


HPI Chronicles: The Haunted Preston Castle, The Ione Hotel, CJs and a Private Residence
By Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Ghostwriter

Jennifer S, a HPI Ghosthunter-in-Training came all the way from San Jose to my home to do some ghosthunting on this super hot Saturday - May 17, 2008. The ghosthunting we will do, will happen in the small town of Ione. Jennifer was very enthusiastic and didn't know what to expect. I didn't have a hard time persuading her to get in my vehicle, the Ghost Tracker. I turned up the tunes...Shotgun by Jr. Walker and the All Stars and headed down the lonely stretch of highway towards Ione. Our first stop was the Ione Hotel. We introduced ourselves to Jennifer Leigh Collado. Jennifer Collado is the hotel manager and head housekeeper. Jennifer with her little girl charm was willing to take us on a grand tour of the hotel. She explains that the hotel was built in 1877. She has worked here since Feb 08 and loves her job! The short time that she has worked here, she has already experienced strange things. Once she was locked in Room 2. She heard the door click behind her and after twisting the door knob a few times, she knew she was trapped in this room. The hotel staff below came running up the stairs to help her and no one could get the door open. She was trapped in this room for 2 hours, finally she had to go out the window. Once, while walking down the hallway, the lights would either get dimmer or brighter and seemed to follow her down the hallway. She has seen shadowy figures run past her. In Room 4, the chandeliers spun around on their own accord.

She has heard stories from guests. One guest claims they saw a smoky haze encircle one of the pillars. Jennifer gleefully shows me some strange photos she took of herself in the hallway mirror. The image shows her face distorted, while below her is a strange mist that almost looks like a smear. There were two photos that depicts the mist image near her face and the third picture is normal. While I am interviewing Jennifer Collado, Jennifer S is taking photographs all over the hotel. Jennifer S captured some orb activity in her photos. One orb looks blue in color. Jennifer Collado explains to me that the hotel caught on fire in 1884 and 1893. George Williams a guest of the hotel died in one of the fires at the hotel and some patrons believe that George still patrols the hallways of the hotel. George was known as a lady's man and jokester. Another victim of the fire was the baby of Mary Phelps (another patron). Mary caught on fire and was screaming for her baby to be saved. Jennifer Collado opened up some of the rooms for us and in Room 13, she showed us the infamous 'upside down black rose' that is on the wall. They have tried to wash the upside down rose off and it still appears on the wall. Room 13 is a strange room and Jennifer Collado has felt something odd in this room. Jennifer Collado tells me how two guests in one room, both woke up and found themselves speaking in a strange language. Jennifer Collado feels like she can sense paranormal activity on a more heightened level, which probably makes her an empath. It was a pleasure interviewing Jennifer Collado, because she really does have a little girl quality and she explains how she loves to slide in her socks on the hard wood floor of the hotel. She even gave us a small demonstration. Jennifer S and I, finished up with our preliminary scouting investigation of the Ione Hotel and headed up the street to the Amador County Library. We couldn't get inside, but I would love to check this old building out, for any signs of past residual energy. Jennifer S and I, were now parched and decided to inhale some sodas at the Pizza Factory before making our next move.

After we quenched our thirst, we headed over to the Preston Castle. We met up with Marie Nutting - President of the Preston Castle Foundation. All I can say is....'wow!' I can see why this place looks like a castle. Check out some of the photos here:

http://ghosts.meetup.com/231/photos/

Marie explains that this was the first correctional youth facility in California. The place does look like a castle! I have seen many castles in Europe and this structure was quite impressive and can be compared to some European castles. It was built in 1894. Some people think that this castle has about 3 or 4 ghosts residing inside. One of the stories, is that an employee was kicked to death by an inmate during the 50s. Her ghost may be one of the resident ghosts. Many inmates have died here and not too far away is an inmate cemetery with about 23 graves. Many people have felt strange things when entering this castle. Many people also say they feel cold spots. The inmates while staying here, were referred to as the wards of the State. The castle staff members also resided in this castle. So, you would have the wards of the State staying on one end, while the staff members stayed on another end. Jennifer S. snapped all kinds of photos inside and captured a green orb inside the premises. As I was leaving Preston Castle, I did an illegal U-Turn and Ione's Finest pulled me over. I always get stopped in these small towns. The officer, a very friendly guy explained what I did and how it was illegal. Then I explained how I was a journalist that was writing a story about the Ione Hotel and Preston Castle. He listened to some of my paranormal stories and did a bit of chuckling. I gave him my business card and told him if he ever witnessed anything paranormal to give me a call. He finally looked at me and said, I am going to give you a warning this time and letting you go! Whew! Close call! What a nice guy!

After our preliminary scouting investigation, Jennifer S. was fully satisfied with her experiences today and headed out to Livermore to see an old time friend, while I prepared myself for a private investigation. Yes! This day is a busy day!

The private residence we were headed out to, Michele Stump, our historian/researcher did a preliminary investigation. She shows me two photos that shows something that looks like a rope hanging from the roof, the third photo there is no rope. Michele gathered the following information. One month ago, a two year old girl drowned in the apartment swimming pool. Another apartment there was a home invasion. The men that broke into this apartment attempted to rape the female occupant. They also severely beat her. This happened two years ago. In 2005, there was a stabbing by the rental office over a drug deal that went bad. Some of the apartments were reputed to have wild parties and drug dealings. At one apartment complex, there is still police tape around the apartment. You can see that the apartment caught on fire and the door was kicked in. Older history is that the apartment complex is built over the trail leading to Sutter's Fort along the American River.

Before heading over to this private residence, I met up with the lead investigator Tim Hawkins at the Coffee Garden, we went over Michele Stump's historical findings of this residence. I rode with Tim in his SUV to the complex and we met up with the rest of the investigative team, which consisted of Holly DeLaughter - Sensitive and of course Michele Stump - Historian/Researcher. The equipment we were using this night were video cameras, TV monitor, digital cameras, digital audio recorders, dowsing rods.

While Tim was setting up the equipment and everyone was preparing to conduct the investigation, I started interviewing the two occupants David and Luz. David explains that they moved into the complex in November 2007. In one month's time, the activity started. He remembers how Luz felt uneasy. David felt evil and fear and found himself trying to scream, this happened to him twice. He felt like he was getting angry for no apparent reason. On March 21, 2008, Luz started sensing fear, then one night she felt pressure on her neck and found it difficult to breathe. The same thing happened to David at a later time. David has a history of paranormal experiences. In the State of Washington, at the age of 6, he looked down the hallway and saw a full body shadow creature, that seemed to be sliding down the hallway and then it seemed to swoosh underneath his brother's bed. Ages 12 to 15 he was confronted by a 4 foot creature that now reminds him of a 'gray' alien. He had a second encounter in which the same creature was just staring at him. During this same time, he felt he was missing time, that lasted the whole night. His brother was going through his own paranormal experiences and saw a phantom dog creature out on the road in the State of Washington.

David explains to me, that one time the TV was tinted bluish gray and there was a strange hand outline in the middle of the TV screen and something was dripping from the hand. To the left hand side of the TV screen, the numbers 16 appeared. One night he was walking down the hallway and saw a see-through shape with legs and he walked right through it. He has felt negativity. He recalls nighttime attacks by an unseen force. He has felt movements, tickles, touches and remembers how Luz went into convulsions and she was saying she felt something on her legs. David saw a silhouette of a child that said 'sssshhh!' He remembers that this phantom child had no face and was dark. There has been the smell of rotten food. He had a vivid dream of children only being able to leave the apartment complex via death. While laying with Luz on the bed, they both felt a shaking between them. Luz has seen shadows, flashes and figures peeking at her.

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Now it was time to interview David's significant other Luz. While I was getting prepared to interview Luz, the investigative crew were seeing orbs that seemed to have intelligent movement on the TV monitor. The video camera was in the main bedroom. There was also some orb activity captured by digital camera also. Luz starts explaining to me that when she felt 3 fingers to her throat and had a difficult time breathing, the next day her one eye was very red, like a blood vessel popped in her eye. Luz is not a stranger in the paranormal either. She tells me when she was 9 years old or perhaps 10 years old, she had reoccurring dreams of her dad throwing her uncle into the canal, she was with her dad in this dream. She can't explain these strange reoccurring dreams. Then as a child in Hawaii, she remembers seeing a giant eye staring at her in the middle of the night. But, going back to the apartment, she had loud ringing in her ears and even pain in her ears. She had a feeling of dread, she explains the shadows that she has seen darting around her apartment. She has seen strange circles and lines. When she burns sage in her apartment, the activity seems to increase, as if the entities are angered by the burning sage. On one night, she went blind for 2 minutes and ran towards the window and like a veil that was lifted, she was able to see again. She has felt a snake like thing slithering by her feet while she laid in bed and later it felt like a floating in water sensation. David recalls the same thing and both of them looked at the TV and it seemed to warp in and out. When she felt sensations on her feet, it either felt like a human finger or a cat brushing up against her feet. David and Luz asked me to bless their home. The investigative group holding hands and encircling David and Luz conducted the 'hedge of protection' prayer. Using holy water, I marked all corners of each room and in holy water placed the sign of the cross on each entry way. I did a 4-winds prayer at the back door first and a 4 winds prayer at the front door asking for any entity to leave this home and go towards the light. I can only hope that whatever may be troubling this couple, has left them for good. Checking my digital recorder, I have found no indication of EVPs.

All of the evidence has not been fully analyzed yet and I will keep you informed with my next article.

Before I close this article. I was able to go inside CJs in the town of Franklin. Here is what I found:
Let's take: A Stop at CJs.

On May 10, 2008, Saturday, I did a solo scouting mission back to the town of Franklin. CJ Jensen, the owner of CJ's found my article on Calvin Colt of Franklin and contacted me. He gave me an exclusive tour of CJs. He explained to me that this establishment was built in 1897 or 1910. It was built by Archie Gillam. It was originally a mule station. CJ has owned this establishment for 11 years and he has many fond memories of this bar. He also has some bad memories of CJs. CJ is from a prominent family that has lived in this area for many, many years. His great, great grandfather was a well-established man that owned banks, farm property and even some canneries. The business savvy that CJ has, came from his great grandfather. He saw potential in CJs and bought it. For a while, the place was doing good business, he has fond memories when a large group of beautiful women came walking through his door and partied all night at CJs. As time went on, things started deteriorating with his clientele. People that he knew would come into his establishment and it was like they had split personalities. Their attitudes would change in his establishment. Many customers became rude and obnoxious. It almost felt like there was a curse on CJs. CJ started noticing that strange things would happen around his establishment. It started with a bright red flash that seemed to come from out of nowhere. That was the start of the paranormal activity. He was ready to place a dedication sign for a deceased attorney friend on the wall and the screws were ripped out of the wall and placed on the bar. He would put the screws back into the wall and again they were ripped from the wall and placed back on the bar. Another time, he was ready to put up a picture in the bathroom and put in 3 inch wood screws into the wall. They were screwed out the next day. There was negative energy felt at CJs and the patrons seemed to be influenced by the negativity. It would seem that the patrons just started acting weird in his bar. After a while CJ felt his place was cursed and he started losing money from his bar. At one time his bar was prosperous and local celebrities, along with politicians would flock to his place. Those days were gone. It was time to sell, before he lost his mind.

The first time I went to CJs, I captured many sharp crystal orbs in front of CJs. Note: Orb photographs are not absolute proof of a haunting. When I took pictures inside of the bar, I did not get one orb picture. I also checked my digital audio recorder and I recorded no EVPs. Perhaps, the entities of this bar were hiding, because I have no signs of any haunting activity. CJ was very consistent with his stories and I have to honestly say I believe him. I wish CJ the best of luck in his future endeavors.

To see the pictures of inside CJs and a picture of the owner CJ, click on the link below:
http://ghosts.meetup.com/231/photos/?photoAlbumId=353419&photoId=4085763

In the case of investigating CJs, it's not that CJs is not haunted. When a ghosthunter enters a place that is reputed to be haunted, ghosts are not performers. They will not cause havoc while you are there, enabling you to witness the activity and record it. You have to be Johnny-On-The-Spot. Case example, my story on The Haunted Office. I get a call and the activity was happening right there and then and it usually lasts up to 2 hours. I swiftly made it to that office to witness the paranormal activity. The paranormal activity at this haunted office is rare, but it does happen ever so often. I was lucky to witness this activity, because on that night I was Johnny-On-The-Spot! So, I cannot say that CJs is not haunted, the ghosts of CJs were not performing on this day. Simple as that.

Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Paranormal Investigative Reporter, Ghosthunter
WPRT Paranormal Radio - Content Editor
Email: JazmaPika@cs.com
Paranormal Cellular Hotline: 916 203 7503 (for comments on this story).

If you have a possible investigation call: 1-888-709-4HPI

Copyright © 2008 Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Ghostwriter Copyright © 2008
all rights reserved.