Things That Go Bump In The Night

Chesapeake Bay Woman is obsessed with loves her Ouija board. She doesn't come right out and say it, but from time to time she brings up that fact that she insists on likes playing with it on sleepovers in creaky historic houses, or on the back porch, or while riding her John Deere.


It's possible that I've gotten some of the details mixed up, but you get the idea. She loves her Ouija board.

They give me the heebee geebee's, and I won't even go to the virtual one online called The Museum of Talking Boards.


In all fairness, I don't know much about the supernatural, except for the ghost that lived with me in Huntington Beach, California. It was at least one female Native American ghost. Probably a member of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation.

The Juaneño Band was one of many that were indentured by the Spanish Franciscan Missionaries in building the 21 Mission system along the California Coast.



This particular band of Native Americans were instrumental in building Mission San Juan Capistrano.

The Juaneños were a coastal tribe, living in small clans on plateaus along the Orange County Coast, living off of the natural vegetation and wildlife as well as the abundant sea life of the Pacific Ocean. Each clan was governed independently, basically like an extended family would. Several clans would gather for ceremonial occasions, or for trading wares and joint endeavors.



This meant several different burial grounds scattered throughout the County. Each number indicates a clan, and probably uncovered artifacts or relics.

Huntington Beach California, like so many other cities, grew from a population of around 12,000 to over 100,000 within a 17 year period from 1963-1980. This was due to the space program and several Aerospace companies building plants on the affordable land in this sparsely populated County along the coast.

The home building boom was in full swing, and every so often the construction crews would unearth human bones, and they would have to halt any digging. If the remains were determined to be Native American, and not the result of some unsolved crime, and there was evidence of this area being a sacred burial ground, then the land was preserved from any further disturbance. Usually, the city involved, along with the developer would landscape the area as a public greenbelt park. It would have sidewalks, trees, plants and grass, but no buildings or playground or sports equipment. To the unknowing, it would be just a park. To the Juaneño, it was a sacred burial ground.

The few native American burial grounds that I was familiar with, were on mesas, or plateaus. This made sense as a matter of preservation and protection from floods. A topographic map of the area would indicate the numerous flood plains.

So, in the mid 80's, Grandma J buys a lovely near new home nestled against a mesa! There's a public easement directly beyond the rear property line, with a concrete gutter/wash running the length of the small development beneath the mesa. The hill is covered with beautiful native ice plant (succulents) that blooms nine months of the year, and requires little or no water, creating a nice vista from the pool area.

Grandma J isn't the first owner of this three year old home, nor is she the second owner. The two previous owners had what seemed like legitimate reasons for not staying. The first was a job relocation, the second was a commercial pilot who married someone with kids and a home of her own. No one mentions the mesa being an Indian burial ground. No one explains the ramifications of erosion and ground movement over the last century or two. No one suspects that things were slipping and sliding eons ago. Grandma J finds out the hard way that she's not living alone after all.....

to be continued.