Haunted Huntington

Local lore holds that George the ghost lurks at H.B. High, and the spirit of Ethel Dwyer lingers at school bearing her name.Joe Batte runs a tight ship at Huntington Beach High School Theater, not allowing a lot of funny business at his century-old hall. So it was a surprise to him some years back when he noticed that someone had climbed past him into the rafters and started messing with the ropes, curtains and wires.

The ropes were shaking softy at first, and Batte yelled toward the ceiling, “Who’s up there?”

The next thing he knew, the ropes and curtains were shaking so violently it seemed as if they might come loose and fall to the ground.

“I turned to the lighting director and told him, ‘Let’s get out of here,’” Batte said.

An examination of the rafters revealed that no human had been in the loft, leaving only one suspect: George, the ghost who has haunted the theater for years.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, there are plenty of people in town who do -- some who swear they have seen ghosts, others who claim to be haunted by some of Huntington Beach’s most famous residents. Spirits playing pickup baseball games on Edison field, strange seances at the Newland house -- these are stories ingrained in the psyches of Surf City locals. These tales often get passed around in whispers, treated as a sort of Pandora’s Box -- some residents fear pulling the lid off.

With Halloween just around the corner, the Huntington Beach Independent has compiled a few of the dozens of ghost stories floating around town. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Good Ole’ George

Like most good ghost stories, this one is hard to trace back to a specific era -- Batte said it was best to assume the real George lived a long time ago. Huntington Beach High School, after all, is more than 100 years old.

“A long time ago, there were a couple of students, George and his girlfriend, who decided to try out for the play ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” Batte said. “George was going to try out for the part of Romeo, and his girlfriend was hoping to be cast as Juliet.”

As fate would have it, George failed to land his part, but his girlfriend was cast as Juliet. Predictably, she fell in love with the lucky young man cast as Romeo. George took the news hard, and on the opening night of the play, he hanged himself from the rafters.

For decades now, George has haunted the theater, and he hasn’t always been a friendly ghost. He’s broken things and made scary noises, and on occasion he’s hurt people.

“Every night before a performance, the students sign a play program dedicated to George,” Batte said. “It’s bad luck if you don’t sign it. One time it wasn’t signed, and a student was hurt.”

Performing arts director Dianne Webber said it was normal for theaters to have ghosts.

“Playhouses are usually really dark and weird places,” Webber said. “Before there were all these safety regulations, I think a lot of people died there.”

The Ghost of Ethel Dwyer

When Susan Taylor began teaching at Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach, strange things started happening to her. Pencils would disappear from her desk, and cupboards and drawers would open mysteriously.

Another teacher noticed strange happenings around the school and came to a conclusion: The two were being haunted by the ghost of the school’s namesake, Ethel Dwyer.

A beloved teacher, Dwyer was a principal of the school in 1938 (when it was called Central Elementary) and was known for her mischievous and sometimes bizarre behavior. Apparently, she occasionally rammed her car into her garage door if the attendants didn’t open them quickly enough. Dwyer died in 1970.

Taylor said the ghost that follows her from school to school has all the signs of Dwyer’s personality.

“She never does anything mean, just a little mischievous,” she said.

Many of Taylor’s students were skeptical of the Dwyer ghost until the specter decided to make an appearance in a math class. During a daytime lesson, Taylor had the projection screen pulled down and was reading to her students from a book when the children loudly interrupted her.

“I looked up at the screen, and we all saw the outline of a woman. She just appeared there for a few minutes, but we were sure it was her,” Taylor said. “She was a teacher like me, and I know she just liked being back in school.”

The Man at the Mall

Although many new merchants don’t want to believe it, a male ghost is widely said to haunt the old Huntington Beach Mall.

Chris Hansen of the General Store has seen the ghost on dozens of occasions and even has a picture of him.

“It’s definitely a guy. All you can see is the outline of a tall and kind of dark guy,” she said. “I’m pretty sure he wears a plaid shirt.”

Nicknamed Casper, the ghost likes to knock things off walls, turn off computers and throw switches.

“When the fire department was doing some work in the building, all these strange things kept happening, and one of the men inquired if we had a ghost up there.”

Hansen said the ghost has never hurt anyone, but he has freaked out plenty of new employees.

“Once in a while, you can feel something cold behind you,” she said.

Haunted Huntington

There are plenty of skeptics about ghostly claims in Huntington Beach.

“A lot of people used to think the Old World Village was haunted, but I think it’s just a product of their imagination,” north Huntington Beach businessman Tyler Gallucio said. “Something happens and people blame it on the paranormal.”

What his children thought were ghosts in the walls of their downtown home turned out to be a raccoon, he said. A television that continually shut itself on and off was found to have a faulty electric box.

Other say their experiences with ghosts and the paranormal have made them true believers. Here are a few more scary places to check out in Huntington Beach. Decide for yourself.

* Edison High School: At night, strange lights can be seen dancing around the baseball fields, and apparitions of people have been spotted on the back soccer field. Supposedly the locker rooms are haunted: The showers sometimes turn themselves on and off.

* The Newland House: While it’s scary-looking at night, many volunteers at the historic Victorian say they’ve never witnessed paranormal activity at the house. A physic team in the 1980s, however, detected several spirits in the mansion during a séance.

* The Bolsa Chica mesa: While the spooky World War II bunker has been filled in, many residents claim to see ghosts on the upper part of the mesa, a well-known Indian burial ground. Before you go stomping around looking for ghosts in this area, be aware that the land is private property and sacred to Native American groups.20051027ioy41fknDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)During a séance in the 1980s, a team of psychics detected spirits in the Newland House, one of several sites in Huntington Beach purported to harbor ghosts. 20051027iozgu3knKENT TREPTOW / INDEPENDENT(LA)Joe Batte, facilities director for the Huntington Beach High School Theater, has had run-ins with George, allegedly the ghost of a student who hanged himself.