Ghosts and Legends Tour retells Capistrano spirits for Halloween
In San Juan Capistrano a History Society Ghosts and Legends Tour draws about 30 locals in the Historic Los Rios District. Richard Senate, a Ventura ghost hunter and author, calls the town one of California’s most haunted with events like the 1812 earthquake that destroyed the Great Stone Church killing 42. Tour guide Lorie Porter warns tales mix folklore with imagination, yet Senate says beliefs persist. The collection draws from interviews and Pamela Hallan-Gibson’s 1983 Ghosts and Legends book for Halloween storytelling.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lorie Porter
Los Rios
Historical Society
Richard Senate
Ventura
San Juan Capistrano
California Missions
California
Senate
Mission
San Juan
Pamela Hallan-Gibson
The Legend of La Llorona on Trabuco Creek Route
A late 19th century tale recounts a San Juan Capistrano route near Zoomars Petting Zoo where a prostitute known as La Llorona waits for travelers. She marries a man who abandons her, later returns with another woman, and loses her children to Trabuco Creek before drowning herself. Her ghost supposedly haunts the creek in grief as legend spreads across the Americas.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Los Rios Street
Zoomars Petting Zoo
Paseo Adelanto
San Juan Capistrano
la Liorona
la Llorona
Trabuco Creek
Americas
Montanez Adobes Ghost of Rain Prayer Legend Resurfaces
Dofia Polonia Montafiez, village midwife and San Juan spiritual leader, allegedly urged rain on a drought struck town in 1890 by taking children to the hills above Del Obispo. Sightings of a light and chanting at the Los Rios District adobe persist, though locals deny haunting, framing the site as an open place of love during a Ghosts and Legends tour.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dofia Polonia Montafiez
San Juan
Montafiez
del Obispo
Ghost Hunters film at Mission San Juan Capistrano Great Stone Church
SyFy channel crew filmed last fall at Mission San Juan Capistrano where journalist accounts note equipment malfunctions near the Great Stone Church. The mission spokeswoman mentions Magdalena, a young earthquake victim seen in candlelight, plus tales of Father Albert Quetu, a faceless monk, and a headless soldier roaming the site.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
SyFy Channel
Mission
Christina Haakenson
Great Stone Church
Magdalena
Albert Quetu
Lupe Comes House Ghost Tale Spurs 19th Century Rail Conflict
Lupe Avila faced a late 1800s dispute with Santa Fe railroad noise near Modesta Avila’s home. She placed a rail road tie on the tracks to stop the noise, later removed by the operator. Convicted of attempted derailment, she died in San Quentin. Her ghost is said to haunt the site now the Hummingbird House Cafe, seen in the yard and porch at night.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Santa Fe
Modesta Avila
Avila
San Quentin
Hummingbird House Cafe
Spirits and a 1794 adobe haunt tale in Los Rios
Stephen Rios and family claim ancestral home around 1794 hosts restless echoes of a backdoor entry where no one entered. Legends link the haunting to Joaquin Murrieta era miners seeking revenge, with a state marshal ending Murrieta after a string of killings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Stephen Rios
Don Rios
Stephen
Hallan- Gibson
Rios
Joaquin Marietta
Gregorio Rios
Marietta
Murietta
White Lady sighted at Old Mission Cemetery folklore
Historic reports from Old Mission Cemetery describe a White Lady seen near the gate by visitors and a 1930s man who fled in fear after she appeared before him while walking a dog. Cemetery spokesman Jerry Nicblas, 84B, says she is crying and asks for help finding her two children, with no claim of danger.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jerry Nicblas
Juafieno Band of Mission Indians
Nicblas
Saloonkeeper's House Story Tied To Local Tragedies
The O'Neill Museum Pryor House, built by Jose Dolores Garcia between 1870 and 1880, endured a murder in 1896 and years of decline before Albert Pryor's death prompted neighbors to resist ownership. The structure gained new life in 1976 after Alfred Cornwell donated it to the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society and was relocated on Los Rios Street. no further eerie activity has been reported.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jose Dolores Garcia
Albert Pryor
Porter
Pryor
Alfred Cornwell
el Adobe
San Juan
Belford Terrace Mansion Fire Haunts Old Mission Site
Belford Terrace, once north of Ortega Highway, housed a mansion built in the 1890s. Father Albert Quetn, called an eccentric clergyman, bought it in the early 1900s and sought a French colony while neglecting mission duties. A fire killed Denise Duprez, a young girl, whose legend says she haunts the land seeking adulthood.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ortega Highway
Old Mission Cemetery
Belford Terrace
Albert Quetn
Hallan-Gibson
Denise Duprez
The Adobes Ghosts Haunt a Nixon Favorite Spot
The El Adobe restaurant, once a town jail and courthouse, is famed for its Nixon connections and a rumored haunting. Staff report unseen taps and a former waitress quit after spotting a ghost. The basement is now a wine cellar and private room while history recalls inmates’ families supplying food and a son’s death never explained.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Richard Nixon
SyFy
Dead Files
Nathalie Blokdijk
Forster Mansion Ghost Tales Tie to 1910 House
The Forster Mansion built in 1910 and tied to Don Juan Forster’s grandson Frank sold in 1975 to Bill Reid who recalls a cigar smoking ghost. Reid mentions a cemetery visitor, and Martha Gresham reports a ghost named George who smells of cigars. A cigar stub found behind a wall appears. The mansion’s spooky history fuels Halloween events while latest operators filed bankruptcy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Don Juan Forster
Frank Forster
Bill Reid
Reid
Martha Gresham
George
Also Mentioned on This Page
Montanez Adobe
Lupe Combs
Los Rios Adobe
O'Neil Museum
Pryor House
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Mission Cemetery
Forster Mansion
Isaac Arjonilla
Orange County Register
Ron Lance
Lupe
Festival of Arts
Ulero
O'Neill Museum
Doug & Sousan
Robinett
Real Estate
Jeffrey R. Hartmann
Orange County
Attorneyjrh.com
N. el Camino Real
San Clemente
Forster
McUniff
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