DOGWOOD ROAD GIRL HAUNTING
This story has been passed on for years, but the origin is shrouded in mystery.
The legend is that if you drive down the southern area of this road after midnight, you will see a girl walking alongside the road. Stop to give her a ride, and she will take a seat, remain silent and eventually disappear. Pass her by, and she is rumored to jump on your hood and attempt to make you crash.
The ghost is said to be the unrested soul of a young woman who died in a tragic accident along Dogwood Road.
Staff Writer
It’s the feeling you get when you walk into a dark room.
Something in the corner catches your eye, or a shadow moves
behind the drapes unexpectedly.
The hairs on the back of your neck instantly stand on end and goose bumps run down your arms.
Whether you’ve experienced something like the
following stories or you dismiss tales of floating orbs and see-through Caspers as nothing more than figments of one’s imagination, the Imperial Valley has a number of
haunting stories passed down through the years.
From one woman’s eerie drive home to the noises heard deep beneath Central Union High School in El Centro,
Halloween
undoubtedly
entices visions
of ghouls and goblins.
Fact or fiction … you can’t help but sense maybe there’s a little truth to the
stories that surround
Imperial Valley’s frightening hauntings.
THE GHOST CAR
Twenty years ago, on a lonely stretch of county road near Seeley, Chris Carter had a chilling experience that she remembers vividly to this day.
On her way back from a friend’s house, Carter, then 17 years old, found herself driving down the dark stretch of road at 1 a.m.
“We stayed up late playing Trivial Pursuit,” Carter, now 36, recalled.
So when she saw a car approaching behind her with its bright lights flashing, she assumed the driver was in a hurry.
“I pulled over to the side of the road to let them pass,” Carter said.
But the mystery car
didn’t pass her car — it stopped right behind her.
With no red or blue lights on the hood, Carter knew it wasn’t a police car. Shivers ran up and down her spine.
“I stopped and waited a minute, then looked behind me. There was no car,” Carter said.
Then she turned to her review mirror — the lights continued to shine in her eyes. Turned back, peering through the back glass — nothing.
Shifting the car into gear, Carter said her heart pounded in her chest. Whatever it was didn’t follow her, the lights in her rearview mirror were gone.
“I came home and told my dad, and he said ‘sometimes there’s just things you can’t understand,’” Carter said.
Carter said she’s not quite sure what happened out there that night, but the memory of not knowing has stuck with her ever since.
CENTRAL UNION HIGH SCHOOL “DUNGEON”
It has long been rumored that the library basement here is haunted. Even previous custodians who worked late into the night with no one else around swore they could hear footsteps, talking and doors slamming.
Principal Emma Jones said she doesn’t know how the ghost rumors started although she has been working for the district for more than 40 years.
Likely perpetuated by gossiping students over the years, Jones said there are members of the staff who refuse to go down into the basement to this day.
OLD HEBER SCHOOL HOUSE
Perhaps the most popular Imperial Valley haunting, the Heber School sits vacant, still awaiting its move to a new home next to the Pioneers’ Museum in Imperial.
A number of séances and investigations have been known to go on here, but the school is gutted and has been vandalized over the years.
Legend goes that when the school closed its doors on Halloween night of 1952 a teacher hanged herself on a tree that still stands in the scruffy yard. That woman and former students are rumored to roam the halls at night.
Many wonder if the ghost story will continue once the move is made and restoration of the historic building takes place.
Lynn Housouer of the museum said the school house will always be shrouded in mystery and intrigue and the story will likely continue to be a Valley legend.
The school house is tentatively scheduled to finally be moved to its new resting place on Dec. 7. Maybe then the spirits said to live within can finally find peace.
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