When
you enter the fog of Coloma, California,
in the heart of the gold rush country
of the 1800’s, anyone with any
psychic ability can feel the tingling
of lingering spirits. You know with
certainty that the hauntings here
are real, and that your imagination
is not playing a part in the stories
and accounts that you have been told
and feel. A walk down the path of
yesterday is certainly one of goose-bumps
and exceptional recounts, and such
is the history of the VINEYARD HOUSE
in COLOMA. The Celebrities Psychic
NANCY BRADLEY along with Paranormal
Investigator SHANNON MCCABE know this
more than anyone. They have experienced
the energy.
Between owners, the VINEYARD HOUSE
MANSION lay vacant. The beautiful
Victorian was dark, dismal, going
in to disrepair. Then someone would
lease or purchase the building, and
with a little paint it would be re-energized
with history once more. Then, again,
between residents, it became dull,
dark, and imposing once again, making
it and its history a treasure for
ghost hunters.
It was during one of these recent
times that a woman witnessed a strange
occurrence inside the mansion. She
was driving up the hill along the
two-lane country road in front of
the mansion, and saw a light on in
the upstairs bedroom. She knew the
house had been vacant and boarded
up for some time. Glancing up, she
saw a woman looking out the window.
“Did you see that women in the
window?” she asked her daughter.
The daughter nodded in the affirmative.
“I am going to go back and see
what’s going on,” her
mother said, and at that time she
pulled over and got out her cell phone.
She called me. Intrigued once again
with the VINEYARD HOUSE, I got out
of bed, dressed quickly, and hopped
into my car to drive down the hill.
The woman turned her car around and
drove up the driveway. The building
was dark. Spooked by this time, she
did not stay around to ask questions.
It certainly gave her and her daughter
something to talk about for days to
come. I got to the winding cliff-side
road in time to see the light go out
and the beautiful woman in the window
close the curtain. How sad for this
entity. The electricity had been turned
off a year prior.
Another similar incident around that
same time involved people going to
an evening performance at the Olde
Coloma Theatre which sits just below
the VINEYARD HOUSE. Several people
saw lights flick on inside the house.
They saw that the building was roped
off and unoccupied, and being residents
of the area, they also knew the lights
had been shut off a long time ago.
They notified law enforcement. Having
written the book Incredible World
of Gold Rush Ghosts and a known paranormal
personality in the community, I was
called once again. When the authorities
arrived, their investigation proved
the mansion was still padlocked from
the outside. No indication of entry
could be found. To be certain, someone
with a key was summoned to open the
door. The building was dark; the lights
long shut off by the electric company.
A thorough search was conducted by
flashlight. No one was found hiding
inside – at least, no one living
the authorities could see!
It posed the age-old question: Why
do spirits haunt some places and others?
Contrary to some belief, it has been
my experience most apparitions are
not associated with cemeteries but
places they knew in life. Would you
want to remain with rotting remains?
How morbid it would seem if you had
other options! Ghosts to my experience
are often earth memory akashic images,
animated astral body shells, spectral
thought forms. You cannot communicate
with them, they are like videotape
of when someone was there, but the
actual entity or soul has gone on.
The deceased seldom display any interest
in their decomposing physical bodies
to my experience. Nor are they interested
in their ashes in urns. You more likely
find them in places they knew in physical
life. These are usually dwellings,
homes, hotels, pubs, office buildings,
factories, or aboard ships, cockpits
of airliners, roadsides, and along
waterways. This is what makes ghost
hunting so much fun, as we explore
and look for evidence of those gone
by.
But lets get back to the VINEYARD
HOUSE. When I called my partner Shannon
McCabe we knew there was no doubt
that the VINEYARD HOUSE, Coloma’s
historical century-old house in California,
was haunted. It is so proclaimed in
the literature distributed to tourists.
It has been proven fact by my organization,
GOLD RUSH GHOSTS PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION,
and my TRUTH CENTER. Many people have
experienced phenomena there. The tragic
story of this mansion with a colorful
past and a paranormal present that
has been so intriguing, it has been
on such popular television programs
at “That’s Incredible”
and “Ripley’s Believe
It Or Not.”
We had explored it before.
Today it is being resorted (once
again) to its’ old glory.
The VINEYARD HOUSE rests on a hill
overlooking the small hamlet of Coloma.
It is a four-story structure, with
nineteen rooms, nine fireplaces, and
it is encircled by a porch with a
second-floor balcony. The style is
Victorian. The interior contains a
large ballroom. The basement is mostly
red brick. It was build in 1878-79,
erected to withstand the many years
to come, sturdy and solid.
But the story of the VINEYARD HOUSE
began years before. It is the story
of two men whose lives became strangely
entwined and who both experienced
deplorable deaths. It is the story
of Louise, the woman whom they both
loved, and it interplays with lives,
both happy and tragic. Martin Allhoff
and Robert Chalmers came to California
during the rush of gold seekers hoping
to make a strike in the fields of
Coloma. Mildly successful, they found
some hard-earned gold but acquired
no great wealth. They both worked
at odd jobs to supplement their findings,
with the hopes of traveling back east.
They both exited California for Ohio
in 1852. While back in the Buckeye
state, Allhoff married Louise Wever,
a fourteen-year-old girl. He then
brought his bride across the country
and back to Coloma. Chalmers returned
also.
Disillusioned and unable to make
a substantial gold find, both sought
to end their days in the gold fields.
The difficulties of gold mining, bloody
hands, broken bones and beaten bodies
were not for them, especially for
meager rewards. The two men decided
to engage in other occupations. Allhoff
purchased a small portion of land
that he eventually added 160 acres
onto, and became a vintner, Chalmers
an innkeeper down the street. Chalmers
had plenty of room for grapes and
he planted vineyards. Over time the
winery became one of the finest and
most recognized in the state.
All seemed well. And then the bomb
fell!
Allhoff’s was arrested for
tax evasion and liquor license violations.
Depression reached an endless abyss
and one morning as dawn was beginning
to light the eastern sky, he took
his tortured mind to an outhouse where
he committed suicide. He was buried
in the Old Coloma Cemetery, within
sight of the VINEYARD HOUSE.
About this time Robert Chalmers was
looking for new adventures to explore.
He immediately began to court the
lovely dark haired Louise who had
inherited the vineyard cellars, and
the other assets of her late husband.
Together they built a vineyard empire,
and in 1878, nine year after their
marriage, Robert Chalmers began to
build his dream house. He would call
it the VINEYARD HOUSE. On April 4,
1879 upon completion, a grand opening
was held and large crowds of the elite
partied and participated in the festivities.
The VINEYARD HOUSE became a popular
social scene for those who those had
found riches and wealth in the gold
fields. In the ballroom lucky ladies
in the best ball gowns and jewelry
danced with groomed men, one of which
was a famous guest, the former President
Ulysses S. Grant. Historic events
of the gold rush were celebrated at
the VINEYARD HOUSE. All was prosperous
and lovely.
And then MORE bad news came, as an
insidious menace as relentless as
a burglar in a high-class New York
neighborhood. Only this one was unstoppable.
It began with Robert Chalmers loss
of memory. Then he began acting strangely,
fighting with the household staff
and the children. He was entering
a realm of madness. He soon took pride
in watching the graves being dug in
the Old Coloma cemetery across the
street. Soon as the hole was ready,
he would slither over to the cemetery
and lie himself in the open graves
with his arms crossed over his chest
in the traditional position. His family
and staff would have to restrain him
and bring him back to the mansion.
Frightened for everyone’s safety
as the madness increased, Louise had
a cell with iron bars constructed
on the basement of the VINEYARD HOUSE.
It is still visible today. She coaxingly
convinced her husband inside, and
shut and locked the door behind him.
Here, alone in the solitary world
of cold damp brink and his own demented
illness, Chalmers’ drifted into
the crazy darkness that he was destined
for. He writhed and moaned long into
the evening, crying out, banging his
head against the bars that held him
captive. Eventually he lost his eyesight
and mumbled incoherently as he moved
about in his black, miserable cell.
After a while he refused food and
starved to death in 1881. A friend
had come, and it was called death.
Some say Chalmers suffered from the
final stages of syphilis. From a psychic
perspective I know it was Alzheimers.
Alzheimers disease is an extreme form
of senility that attacks the central
nervous system, thus causing disorientation
and then degeneration. This was his
fate.
For Louise the death of her husband
could have been nothing but a blessed
relief, and she managed the vineyards
well having learned from both her
husbands, but alone she could not
pay off the creditors. After years
of fighting and litigation, she lost
her VINEYARD HOUSE to her creditors,
but a judge allowed her to remain
in the house on a non-paying basis.
The cell in the basement was rented
out and used to house prisoners about
to be hung by the huge oak in the
courtyard, their bodies then also
taken to the cemetery across the street.
When renovating the VINEYARD HOUSE,
one of the subsequent owners was to
find an old wooden casket in a crawl
space still waiting for a prisoner.
Louise died in 1900 taking her memories
with her, good an bad, to her grave
across the street.
Strange occurrences immediately became
commonplace at the mansion. Robert
Chalmers, although dead refused to
leave his dream home. Tenants now
complained of mysterious noises, the
sounds of ghostly footsteps and things
being thrown around, echoes along
the corridors. Boarders fled in the
middle of the night so frightened
they would not stay on one more moment.
“I thought I knew what I was
getting into when I purchased the
Vineyard house” Gary Herrera
told the author. When he owned the
building Robert Chalmers’ spirit
would bang on the walls when aggravated.
His spirit took pride in annoying
my guests that did not meet his approval.
Herrera eventually sold the VINEYARD
HOUSE. Other owners complained of
beds newly made by staff being torn
down by unseen hands. Staff would
be locked into the restroom by those
unseen. Some guests, newly tucked
into their beds at night would hear
and then watch someone open their
locked bedroom door, walk in and sit
on the bed beside them. Unseen feet
would make noise on the stairs as
the approached the landing. The kitchen
was another matter. Pots and pans
would be all thrown over the floor
in the morning having been put tightly
away the night before.
The Coloma community has many stories
to tell about the VINEYARD HOUSE,
they accept without question that
it is haunted, and the GHOST GIRLS
have stepped up the plate. We will
share more with you as time goes on.
The VINEYARD HOUSE is a great experience
in ghost hunting if you watch it from
the cemetery across the street where
Louise, Chalmers and Allhoff are buried.
Please do not bother the new owners
the VINEYARD HOUSE is now a private
residence. GHOST GIRLS would love
to take you along on their next excursion
so you can get the full and complete
scoop. The VINEYARD HOUSE is a sordid
tale of wealth, greed, luck, bad and
good, love, insanity, and death. What
more could ANY ghost hunter ask for!
And, GHOST GIRLS are on it! NANCY
& SHANNON will be sharing further
adventures and updates of their experiences
at the VINEYARD HOUSE and in Coloma
shortly.
Excerpts for this article have been
taken from the book INCREDIBLE WORLD
OF GOLD RUSH GHOSTS by the Celebrities
Psychic NANCY BRADLEY.
About Nancy Bradley
- The Celebrities Psychic
Nancy is a Psychic Healer, Counselor,
Hypnotist around, and yet she keeps
her readings affordable to all. A
great animal lover, Nancy tithes all
events where animals are concerned.
Nancy gives tirelessly to people in
stress, charities, as well as working
with police and families that are
victims of crimes across the world.
This is the eighteenth year that Nancy
Bradley has been considered One Of
The TOP TEN PSYCHICS IN THE
WORLD!
THE NANCY BRADLEY PSYCHIC HOUR is
every 2nd and 4th Wed. night on, T
V Channel 17, 8:00 p.m. in Sacramento,
California. Your call-in questions
are answered
KMAX (Good Day Sacramento) Channel
31 Check Local Listings. THE NANCY
BRADLEY PSYCHIC HOUR is on in Placerville,
CA every Mon. night at 8:30 p.m. on
channel 2
The Celebrities Psychic
NANCY BRADLEY
PO Box 911 –
Diamond Springs, CA. 95619
WWW.NANCYBRADLEY.ORG
~ (530) 622-0977
WWW.GHOSTGIRLS.NET
~ WWW.GOLDRUSHGHOSTS.COM
Lisa Lee Harp Waugh
The first lady of conjuring the Dead.
The ancient art of Necromancy is still
alive today with Waugh at it's main
investigator. LISA LEE HARP WAUGH
Is a necromancer in the 21st century.
www.ghosthuntersofamerica.com.
Waugh is not a witch though she has
studied the occult she has never claimed
to be a bone conjurer or a wiccan.
"I have learned many things
from witches", states Waugh.
"And if you just choose to be
a Necromancer or practice the art
of Necromancy thats enough."
" And if I need to consult with
a wiccan or call them in for a investigation
i certainly do."
Waugh talks to ghosts. She questions
them and records their answers. Astoundingly
many of the predictions these spooks
and specters and shades of the night
tell her seem to be very accurate.
You can read them here New SPIRIT
AND REAL GHOST PREDICTIONS FOR 2008!
The ghosts and spirits she questions
often give her very accurate info
on things to come. Nightly Waugh retires
to her Necromantic chamber to converse
with the many apparitions she calls
forth. She also experiments at times
with a Franks'
Box.
Ghosts love to talk tell their stories
and in Waugh's opinion like to be
interviewed and love to expound on
the afterlife. The ghosts that come
in and out of my home tell me many
tales. How they died, and how they
survive the afterlife. " I have
spoken to ghosts that want to move
on, and those that want just to be
noticed." Waugh states.
"Ghost have predicted many things
to me from great changes in the world
to personal things in my own life."
"The percentage of what they
tell me mostly will come to pass."
But remember says Waugh" Some
Ghosts " Do" Lie!"
Also
in her home exist the mirrored chamber
where each night she visits with the
many spirits of loved ones passed
on and questions them of their existence.
" Ghost tell me the damndest
things." Said Waugh. " One
asked me how should they go about
getting over their living husband
and move on, to who should they seek
out to let their loved ones know they
are now OK." Waugh says sometimes
she feels like she is playing psychiatrist
to the lost souls. She only wishes
she could do more to help them by
this. And in her heart she is helping
them transit to the afterlife."
PARANORMAL
TASK FORCE™
"Your One Stop
Paranormal Resource Center"
Also
read: Is It
Really Paranormal? Questioning The
Unknown Side Of Ghosts And Demonic
Possession - With tales of being raped
or beaten by ghosts, to stories of
even a ghost giving a person a loan
of some cash. I ask myself do these
things really happen? -- Ginalanier.com
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