In September of 2008 three San Franciscans disappeared (for the night) into Preston Castle near Ione, California, while hunting for ghosts…A few months later Diana finally handed over her journal so Lela could post it on myspace…
[Because this journal changed hands throughout the night, names of the writers will be posted above the section they wrote. This writer’s additions will be posted in brackets]
[Journal begins]
[Diana]
Septemeber 20, 2008
Ghost Hunt at Preston Castle (Lela, Diana & Ben)
[Lela]
This morning Ben spent, like, two hours practising drums, then right when he stopped, our downstairs neighbors turned on their crappy chinese pop really, really loudly and it made the floor shake. We just loaded Diana’s car, which was parked in front of 540 and on the 540 patio there were four hippies pounding beats on the tables while singing some awful, off-key blues song. So I’m hoping these ghosts aren’t drummers or I’ll have to kick some ectoplasmic a– [edited]
[Lela- a few hours later]
Ahead on the hill, glowing bright red in the light of the setting sun, sits out destination. And we’re only an hour late. Hope we haven’t missed our free buffet dinner!
[Diana turns on the theme song from Tales from the Crypt, and the theme song from The Adams Family, as we make our way up the hill, only to find the gate locked. So we drive around for awhile to discover that’s the only way in. The fourth time we drive back up there someone is finally headed down to let us in, whew!]
[Diana]
7:30-Just arrived (Late!) & the bathroom has very fancy T.P.!!!
So far looks spooky…here we go! Whooo!
[Diana]
8:45pm-Infirmary
*This is a very scary room. The beds are old and rusty + it smells funny.
*Alternating btwn cold & hot. Lela just said “you’re writing in the dark” accusingly.
This room scares me
I keep getting headachy
[Diana]
9:00-Single apartment, Anna’s room. Anna was the head housekeeper. She was killed & left in the cupboard in the kitchen. One min she was seen on another floor & very soon after was found bludgeoned to death in the cupboard of the kitchen w/ no trail of blood from being dragged.
We’re in her room now.
I feel no scary energy.
The infirmary was a much diff kind of energy, scary.
Ok, we’re going to try to speak w/her (well, communicate)
[Diana]
9:15- tried lying down w/hands in the air to engage Anna in acrobatic yoga. Didn’t work.
[Diana]
11:31- EVP in the kitchen where Anna was found, we asked for communication & after awhile there was a soft knock from the hall area. Then it came again from another part of the room. Then again from the cooking area. We examined, tested the sounds & found they matched the knocking on the door frame. Almost each place we heard it from was near a door frame. It was also responding when we asked it to, but then it stopped.
The whole basement level made Lela uneasy. At one pt. I felt suddenly warm on one side that wasn’t touching anything (my body, I mean) & then it got cold again.
Ben asked once “If someone touched me, can you do it again?” When I asked him about it & where he’d felt it, he said “inappropriately” Ha ha ha!
[Diana]
12:45-sitting in the room where they have food for us, & 2 women heard moaning from the bathroom area, so Ben & I went 2 look w/ the thermal camera. I thought maybe the moaning came from someone using the toilet, & sure enough the toilet seat was warm! Ha ha!
Earlier in here we heard noises also, but who knows
[Diana]
2:30-Lela is being skeptical & mean, & not being a good, fun ghost hunter. She just wants to go 2 bed, but I don’t know b/c there’s a lot of snoring going on in there. I’m hoping to be visited by ghostly presences in the middle of the night-oh wait-it already is…
Lela is reading over my shoulder-how rude
[Lela]
Lela’s not being mean. She’s being realistic. If you don’t hold these ghosts accountable for their reactions, they’ll always think it’s perfectly acceptable to give tiny taps in an old, creaky house. This doesn’t do anyone any good. Calling old settling creaks what they are makes it clear to the ghosts that it they want to be taken seriously they’ve got to do better than that. Come on, guys, creaks happen everywhere, stop making us all look like naive kooks and give us something solid to work with. Speaking of solid, Ben and I just found a huge load of bat dung.
[Diana]
: P That’s all I have to say
[Diana]
9/21/08- Ghost tour/hunt over. I had a conversation w/a ghost (apparently). Lela heard me answering ?’s this morning. I was dreaming that she kept dying & coming back to life.
Now we’re sitting in IHOP for the full hick experience (ha ha I’m such a b—-!) [edited] waiting for our food. Let’s find out what our fellow ghost hunters have to report:
Lela-
11:08:07 9/21/08
[Lela]
I saw a chicken eating a skunk on the side of the road yesterday. I know I’m announcing this a little late, but I forgot to mention it earlier and it seems noteworthy. It’s not often you see chickens pecking at anything visable let alone a dead skunk. Anyway, this morning Ben and I got up at 8:00 and went to the visitors center to go to the bathroom. When I walked towards the bathroom, in the hall, I heard the soft, high tones of women talking in low voices. When I got to the bathroom, there [wasn’t anyone there, but there] was electric humming and I assumed it was creating the illusion of low talking. I stood by to listen and realized the tones were way deeper than what I had heard in the hall. I waited to see if it ever varied to that tone. It didn’t during the 10-15 minutes Ben & I spent there. Weird! Shortly before we left I heard the notorious moaning. It sounded so much like wind. It wasn’t very windy, but w/pipes facing the right way with the right wind, it might not take much.
Ben’s Report:
[Ben]
Why couldn’t they put the directions on their website?
Using the thermal imaging device was the best part. My eyes were on it the entire time. Bats flew everywhere, sometimes startling us. There were feces in half the rooms, and I woke up disgusted. The castle, despite holes and the broken windows was very solidly built. There was no noise from the castle settling, which made the noises we did hear very exciting.
[end of Preston Castle journal]
If you think you’d like to go to Preston Castle, I believe they will be offering more tours this spring.
But be warned, Ben wasn’t lying, it’s really pretty filthy in there, though it may be much cleaner by this spring as there is a group working to fix it up. Also, only parts of the basement and the visitors center have electricity, so if you plan on exploring, know that if you venture into the far reaches of the basement (where the horrid kitchen is) or the upper floors (where Anna’s room is) you will be doing it in the dark and you will need a flashlight.