Secret Santa Cruz, Vol 7

The last of the hidden history of the town... for now.

Soon after Daniel Rittenhaus claimed he had reached a contract with spirits that enabled his house to float a foot above the ground, he was killed in a skirmish with unnerved locals and his dwelling destroyed. This picture of 1899 shows the remnants, two years later.

Edward Morey was a respected priest in Santa Cruz until he alleged that God had stolen a small sum of money from him, and turned instead to the worship of bees. He claimed to be able to set them upon people, and after several local deaths appeared to confirm this, was carefully. expelled from the county.

Santa Cruz resident Elizabeth Trelawny was an early experimenter with the power of pyramids, claiming the shape enabled her to visit distant planets. These claims were mocked by her neighbors, and one afternoon in 1922 she was observed irritably entering her pyramid with her dog, Buster, never to be seen again.

This photograph of 1931 shows The Fourlorn, the ghosts of four women killed by a flood of the San Lorenzo River on December 5th, 1919. Their judging presence continued to be experienced in town until the Corps of Engineers finally constructed flood barriers in 1955.

As a child, Henry Zorton was plagued by nightmares. His concerned mother eventually consulted a local wise woman, who encouraged Henry to manifest his fears. Unfortunately the process was so successful that Zorton’s fears continued to plague local residents for many years after his death in 1901.

This photograph of 1911 shows Returning Mary, who died in 1884. Each year at Christmas she would dig herself out of her grave in the Odd Fellows Cemetery and visit a local family at random. After being fed she returned to the earth for another year. It is said the tradition continues in secret to this day.

The earliest Spanish settlers in Santa Cruz were warned never to interfere with The Sacrifice in The Woods, and told that so long as the location was kept secret, any community sited here would prosper. This image from 1902 is the only known photograph.

Previous Secret History posts can be found here.