Secret Santa Cruz, Vol 6

Inevitably there's more.

The “Great Cloud” of 1917 appeared one Sunday evening and remained over the bay for three days. During that period everybody named “Edward” was gradually replaced by a person who appeared identical but insisted they were called “Gregory”. The latter name is regarded with suspicion locally to this day.

The Bryson family were Santa Cruz’s last shadow-hunters. This photograph of 1902 shows them after their successful clearance of the Ellis residence. Paid a bounty for each shadow trapped, the family nonetheless chose on this occasion to let the elder shade on the right leave peacefully, out of professional courtesy.

For a period in 1921 the Santa Cruz Court House was closed due to an infestation of unfriendliness. Citizens were invited to sit in this chair and pronounce judgement instead. Anyone who did so was immediately thrown in jail, and the chair itself remains under active investigation.

The photograph on the left shows “Old Patchy”, an amusement fashioned by local artist John Paine from straw, bees, old clothes and seal blood, for display in the square on Halloween 1889. The second picture shows it four days later. It was destroyed soon afterwards to forestall further developments.

This picture shows the Salt Fall of January 4th, 1929. Once a semi-regular local phenomenon, it has not occurred since, though the quantities on this occasion were so significant that it is credibly claimed the salt cellars of many Santa Cruz restaurants are being replenished from remaining stocks to this day.

The Santa Cruz School for the Difficult was founded for the benefit of turbulent or unmanageable children. Unfortunately the building eventually developed behavioral challenges in sympathy, making unpredictable noises and seldom staying where it was put, and by this photograph of 1908 had been abandoned.

The Santa Cruz Wives appeared from the forest together on the afternoon of March 27th 1897, and came into town claiming to be looking for their missing husbands. Each left several hours later with an unmarried local man, returning to the woods despite the men’s protests. They were never seen again.

Previous Secret History posts can be found here.