Forums · HPI Hits the Streets of San Francisco: Haight Ashbury
HPI Hits the Streets of San Francisco: Haight Ashbury
By Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager/Ghostwriter
HPI is an adventurous outfit. When we set our mind on something, we do it. August 16, 2008, Saturday, I was scheduled to set my sights on San Francisco. Knocking at my door was HPI ghosthunter-in-training Chantal Renee Apodaca. Chantal greeted my dogs Pika and HPI (pronounced Hi-Pee) and looked at me and said..."let's do this!" She jumped in my vehicle the Ghost Tracker and we were on our way to Haight Ashbury to meet HPI Ghosthunter and Videographer Bryan Coleman. Haight Ashbury as you may already know was the heartthrob of the peace movement. The place where hippies would gather in the 60s. A place of free love and an abundance of LSD and marijuana. Not too far away from Haight Asbury were the concert halls like Filmore West and Winterland. I remember as a teenage child of the 60s how many times I would go to Winterland to see groups like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Buddy Miles, Tower of Power, Santana and Curtis Mayfield. When I was a teenager, I also stopped over at Haight Ashbury in 1968. I remember seeing Hare Krishna's, hippies and at times a few Black Panthers that came over from Oakland. It was turbulent times, the Vietnam War was going on strong and there was political unrest. Here I am back at Haight Ashbury and the year is 2008 and as I look around there are still hippies here and there. There are Goth, there are reggae, there are colorful people of all types walking the busy street of Haight.
My goal today is to interview the people of San Francisco and see if they have ever encountered anything paranormal in San Francisco. This is a liberal artistic culture that walks the streets of Haight and I feel the people of these streets are in tune to the multilayered Multiverse. They say that artistic type of people are much more sensitive than your normal everyday businessman. Let's see if I am right. Before I got to San Francisco, I got lost and stopped some police officers to get directions. I asked the police officers if they would mind having their names in my article. They didn't mind. The police officers I got directions from were Detective Lt. Mike Stone, Inspector Steve Keller and a wheelchair-bound detective named Robert T. Ironside. After getting their names and having the Ghost Tracker blocking traffic, a real tough looking cop walked up to my car and asked "do you feel lucky punk?" I said "not that lucky and I will happily keep my car moving." I yelled out the window at him and said.."hey, what's your name?" He said.."they call me Dirty Harry Callahan!" I love San Francisco's finest. I was now happily on my way. As I passed the York Hotel, I remember a story about this European style boutique hotel. This is the same hotel that opened up the Plush Room Cabaret in the Roaring 20s. One of the greatest ghost stories originates from this hotel. People remember how a slender man with top hat and coat tails walked up to the stage and sat and played the baby grand piano. He started playing some ragtime tunes. All of a sudden, the music stopped abruptly. The mysterious pianist slumped in his seat and his head came crashing down on the keyboard. The story goes is that the man was already dead, but somehow managed to come back alive to play the piano. His ghost still haunts this hotel.
It was nice when I was no longer lost and I finally ran into Bryan Coleman. Bryan got his video camera ready and the three of us hit the streets. Chantal really surprised me, she was a magnet for people. She would introduce herself to the people of the streets and explain to them that we were writing a story for HPI and doing a promotional video for HPI. I started the interview process as she rounded up people. The people that she rounded up patiently waited their turns to be interviewed. Below are the people I was able to interview on this Saturday. Note: It was extremely hard to multitask the interviews, as I was doing the interviews for the camera and trying to mentally remember their stories in detail for my article. But, from my notes on this day, this is what I gathered from my interviews.
Joy Holland:
Joy believes in the paranormal and is very much a lively creative woman, that has invented and created what are called hand made feather sleeves, that she was actually wearing. She calls them Greensleeves. The purpose of these Greensleeves is to enhance your wardrobe and compliment your costume. They are unique and handcrafted by Joy and her partner Jacqui Langeland of Humboldt, California. You can find our more at: www.myspace.com/faeriegreensleeves[/URL] The paranormal connection for Joy are these Greensleeves, that touches upon fairy lore.
Ryan Holmes:
Ryan lived in Maryland, before coming to San Francisco and remembers how his mother witnessed the haunting activities in her office. She would hear the laughter of a little girl. One time she witnessed an apparition on the 2nd floor window, but the floor was gutted out and there was nothing for a normal person to stand on, which only left one conclusion, she saw a ghost!
Leo Medrano:
Leo originates from El Salvador. He remembers hearing strange whispers in a home he lived in. When he moved to San Francisco, his uncle told him that his own home is haunted and witnessed a vase move across the table.
Terry Miller:
Terry Miller touches upon the legendary creature known as Bigfoot and remembers the terrifying howls of this creature.
Marilyn Pimentel:
Marilyn is an Indigo child and is in tune with her sixth sense. She has encountered deceased people that are drawn to her like a magnet. She tells me that spirits walk around us all the time. She has one foot in our own reality and one foot in the spirit realm. She is a very unique lady that stands out amongst a crowd of people.
Jack:
Jack remembers one night in Golden Gate Park, he had strange feelings that came over him. He heard strange howling sounds. It was like the sounds of a Banshee. He also once went into a home in which a man died of a smoking disease. He remembers how at times he would enter this home and smell cigarettes. There was no reason for the smell, since no one in the home smoked, but ever so often the smell of cigarettes would resonate through the house and dissipate as fast as it came. He tells me how he was once touched by a ghost. He will never forget that touch.
Alex:
Alex tells me that he has seen full body apparitions in San Francisco.
Jen Burkholder:
Jen is a gorgeous woman jogger, that took time out to be interviewed, she recently moved to San Francisco. Her occupation is a nurse. Her paranormal experience is going on a ghost tour in Salem, Massachusetts. Does she believe in the paranormal? The answer is a definite 'yes'.
Emily C & Megan Sanchez:
These two ladies who live out of town, came to San Francisco to enjoy the festive atmosphere here at Haight Street. Looking at both of them, they look like they have lived in San Francisco forever. Both ladies have radiant smiles and are in tune to the enjoyment of life. Do they believe in the afterlife? Of course they do.
Before we left Haight Street, we conducted a semi-investigation of The Red Victorian Bed & Breakfast, built in 1904. People on the street said that this bed and breakfast falls into the category of urban legend. The reason being is that people that have stayed here claim to hear people walking down the hallway and when they investigate to see who is walking down the hallway, there is no one there. There has been strange tappings on the walls, doors closing on their own and one guest caught a shadow of a person moving across the wall and disappear through a door.
Haight Ashbury is mystical. This is probably what attracted hippies in the 60s to this area. This is probably what is attracting people in the present to this area. Our original purpose of going to Haight Street is to interview people of the Goth culture and try and discover the connection to the Goth culture and Vampirism. The Goths on this day were very elusive and didn't wish to be interviewed. So, I came up with Plan B and decided to interview any and all people that were on Haight Street this day. I found no skeptics walking around Haight Street, everyone I talked to either had paranormal experiences or believed in things that we call paranormal. There are even mystical shops and offices on Haight Street. For an example you can get a card reading from the office of Mya, Psychic. If I had a third eye, I would most likely see the ghosts of the past walking with the people of the present. As one sensitive that I met that didn't want to be identified, claimed that there is a portal to other worlds located at the cross streets of Haight and Ashbury. Perhaps she is right. See the upcoming video we did of San Francisco's Haight Street on HPI's YouTube section and meet the people we interviewed! As I was leaving San Francisco, I contacted Shannon McCabe - Owner/President of HPI and her friend Merrilee via cellphone, who were also in San Francisco attending the Renaissance Faire. I gave my report to Shannon in regard to the interviews I conducted today. She listened attentively about the possible portal at Haight Ashbury. Shan says..."perhaps we should get Nancy Bradley - Celebrity Psychic - www.ghostgirls.net[/URL] - to check out the possible Haight Ashbury portal." Great idea Shan, if anyone can find a portal, it would be Nancy. Perhaps there will be a second story about Haight Ashbury, let's see.
Photos of our San Francisco Investigation can be found here:
http://ghosts.meetup.com/231/photos/[/URL]
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager, Ghosthunter, Ghostwriter & Demonologist
Haunted and Paranormal Investigations International
www.HPI.paranormal.net[/URL]
WPRT Paranormal Radio - Content Editor
Email: JazmaPika@cs.com
Paranormal Cellular Hotline: 916 203 7503 (for comments on this story).
If you have a possible investigation call: 1-888-709-4HPI
Dedicated to Rodney Roberts, Gold Rush Ghosts Paranormal Investigator
Died 8/8/2008
Copyright © 2008 Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Ghostwriter Copyright © 2008
all rights reserved.
By Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager/Ghostwriter
HPI is an adventurous outfit. When we set our mind on something, we do it. August 16, 2008, Saturday, I was scheduled to set my sights on San Francisco. Knocking at my door was HPI ghosthunter-in-training Chantal Renee Apodaca. Chantal greeted my dogs Pika and HPI (pronounced Hi-Pee) and looked at me and said..."let's do this!" She jumped in my vehicle the Ghost Tracker and we were on our way to Haight Ashbury to meet HPI Ghosthunter and Videographer Bryan Coleman. Haight Ashbury as you may already know was the heartthrob of the peace movement. The place where hippies would gather in the 60s. A place of free love and an abundance of LSD and marijuana. Not too far away from Haight Asbury were the concert halls like Filmore West and Winterland. I remember as a teenage child of the 60s how many times I would go to Winterland to see groups like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Buddy Miles, Tower of Power, Santana and Curtis Mayfield. When I was a teenager, I also stopped over at Haight Ashbury in 1968. I remember seeing Hare Krishna's, hippies and at times a few Black Panthers that came over from Oakland. It was turbulent times, the Vietnam War was going on strong and there was political unrest. Here I am back at Haight Ashbury and the year is 2008 and as I look around there are still hippies here and there. There are Goth, there are reggae, there are colorful people of all types walking the busy street of Haight.
My goal today is to interview the people of San Francisco and see if they have ever encountered anything paranormal in San Francisco. This is a liberal artistic culture that walks the streets of Haight and I feel the people of these streets are in tune to the multilayered Multiverse. They say that artistic type of people are much more sensitive than your normal everyday businessman. Let's see if I am right. Before I got to San Francisco, I got lost and stopped some police officers to get directions. I asked the police officers if they would mind having their names in my article. They didn't mind. The police officers I got directions from were Detective Lt. Mike Stone, Inspector Steve Keller and a wheelchair-bound detective named Robert T. Ironside. After getting their names and having the Ghost Tracker blocking traffic, a real tough looking cop walked up to my car and asked "do you feel lucky punk?" I said "not that lucky and I will happily keep my car moving." I yelled out the window at him and said.."hey, what's your name?" He said.."they call me Dirty Harry Callahan!" I love San Francisco's finest. I was now happily on my way. As I passed the York Hotel, I remember a story about this European style boutique hotel. This is the same hotel that opened up the Plush Room Cabaret in the Roaring 20s. One of the greatest ghost stories originates from this hotel. People remember how a slender man with top hat and coat tails walked up to the stage and sat and played the baby grand piano. He started playing some ragtime tunes. All of a sudden, the music stopped abruptly. The mysterious pianist slumped in his seat and his head came crashing down on the keyboard. The story goes is that the man was already dead, but somehow managed to come back alive to play the piano. His ghost still haunts this hotel.
It was nice when I was no longer lost and I finally ran into Bryan Coleman. Bryan got his video camera ready and the three of us hit the streets. Chantal really surprised me, she was a magnet for people. She would introduce herself to the people of the streets and explain to them that we were writing a story for HPI and doing a promotional video for HPI. I started the interview process as she rounded up people. The people that she rounded up patiently waited their turns to be interviewed. Below are the people I was able to interview on this Saturday. Note: It was extremely hard to multitask the interviews, as I was doing the interviews for the camera and trying to mentally remember their stories in detail for my article. But, from my notes on this day, this is what I gathered from my interviews.
Joy Holland:
Joy believes in the paranormal and is very much a lively creative woman, that has invented and created what are called hand made feather sleeves, that she was actually wearing. She calls them Greensleeves. The purpose of these Greensleeves is to enhance your wardrobe and compliment your costume. They are unique and handcrafted by Joy and her partner Jacqui Langeland of Humboldt, California. You can find our more at: www.myspace.com/faeriegreensleeves[/URL] The paranormal connection for Joy are these Greensleeves, that touches upon fairy lore.
Ryan Holmes:
Ryan lived in Maryland, before coming to San Francisco and remembers how his mother witnessed the haunting activities in her office. She would hear the laughter of a little girl. One time she witnessed an apparition on the 2nd floor window, but the floor was gutted out and there was nothing for a normal person to stand on, which only left one conclusion, she saw a ghost!
Leo Medrano:
Leo originates from El Salvador. He remembers hearing strange whispers in a home he lived in. When he moved to San Francisco, his uncle told him that his own home is haunted and witnessed a vase move across the table.
Terry Miller:
Terry Miller touches upon the legendary creature known as Bigfoot and remembers the terrifying howls of this creature.
Marilyn Pimentel:
Marilyn is an Indigo child and is in tune with her sixth sense. She has encountered deceased people that are drawn to her like a magnet. She tells me that spirits walk around us all the time. She has one foot in our own reality and one foot in the spirit realm. She is a very unique lady that stands out amongst a crowd of people.
Jack:
Jack remembers one night in Golden Gate Park, he had strange feelings that came over him. He heard strange howling sounds. It was like the sounds of a Banshee. He also once went into a home in which a man died of a smoking disease. He remembers how at times he would enter this home and smell cigarettes. There was no reason for the smell, since no one in the home smoked, but ever so often the smell of cigarettes would resonate through the house and dissipate as fast as it came. He tells me how he was once touched by a ghost. He will never forget that touch.
Alex:
Alex tells me that he has seen full body apparitions in San Francisco.
Jen Burkholder:
Jen is a gorgeous woman jogger, that took time out to be interviewed, she recently moved to San Francisco. Her occupation is a nurse. Her paranormal experience is going on a ghost tour in Salem, Massachusetts. Does she believe in the paranormal? The answer is a definite 'yes'.
Emily C & Megan Sanchez:
These two ladies who live out of town, came to San Francisco to enjoy the festive atmosphere here at Haight Street. Looking at both of them, they look like they have lived in San Francisco forever. Both ladies have radiant smiles and are in tune to the enjoyment of life. Do they believe in the afterlife? Of course they do.
Before we left Haight Street, we conducted a semi-investigation of The Red Victorian Bed & Breakfast, built in 1904. People on the street said that this bed and breakfast falls into the category of urban legend. The reason being is that people that have stayed here claim to hear people walking down the hallway and when they investigate to see who is walking down the hallway, there is no one there. There has been strange tappings on the walls, doors closing on their own and one guest caught a shadow of a person moving across the wall and disappear through a door.
Haight Ashbury is mystical. This is probably what attracted hippies in the 60s to this area. This is probably what is attracting people in the present to this area. Our original purpose of going to Haight Street is to interview people of the Goth culture and try and discover the connection to the Goth culture and Vampirism. The Goths on this day were very elusive and didn't wish to be interviewed. So, I came up with Plan B and decided to interview any and all people that were on Haight Street this day. I found no skeptics walking around Haight Street, everyone I talked to either had paranormal experiences or believed in things that we call paranormal. There are even mystical shops and offices on Haight Street. For an example you can get a card reading from the office of Mya, Psychic. If I had a third eye, I would most likely see the ghosts of the past walking with the people of the present. As one sensitive that I met that didn't want to be identified, claimed that there is a portal to other worlds located at the cross streets of Haight and Ashbury. Perhaps she is right. See the upcoming video we did of San Francisco's Haight Street on HPI's YouTube section and meet the people we interviewed! As I was leaving San Francisco, I contacted Shannon McCabe - Owner/President of HPI and her friend Merrilee via cellphone, who were also in San Francisco attending the Renaissance Faire. I gave my report to Shannon in regard to the interviews I conducted today. She listened attentively about the possible portal at Haight Ashbury. Shan says..."perhaps we should get Nancy Bradley - Celebrity Psychic - www.ghostgirls.net[/URL] - to check out the possible Haight Ashbury portal." Great idea Shan, if anyone can find a portal, it would be Nancy. Perhaps there will be a second story about Haight Ashbury, let's see.
Photos of our San Francisco Investigation can be found here:
http://ghosts.meetup.com/231/photos/[/URL]
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager, Ghosthunter, Ghostwriter & Demonologist
Haunted and Paranormal Investigations International
www.HPI.paranormal.net[/URL]
WPRT Paranormal Radio - Content Editor
Email: JazmaPika@cs.com
Paranormal Cellular Hotline: 916 203 7503 (for comments on this story).
If you have a possible investigation call: 1-888-709-4HPI
Dedicated to Rodney Roberts, Gold Rush Ghosts Paranormal Investigator
Died 8/8/2008
Copyright © 2008 Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Ghostwriter Copyright © 2008
all rights reserved.