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Manifestations
Brookdale Essay Paper

 Gilbert’s Brookdale Lodge "Over A Century Old" Manifestations
 Information gathered by the late Roger Reynolds

Adding to the lodge's long, colorful past is the claim by the current owner that it's haunted. One psychic believes the spirit is a boy who lived on the property (and supposedly was molested and murdered) before the lodge was built. Another tragedy that occurred July 1, 1936 feeds the myth inferring to the ghost of Dr. F.K. Camps 9 year old niece, Sarah Johnson, who drowned in the dining room's creek. It's reported that she was playing on the bottom stage and fell over the railing hitting her head on the rocks. It's Sarah's ghost that is most often seen at the Brookdale Lodge. Over the years there have been many sightings of little Sarah but, Sarah wasn't the only watery death of a young girl at the lodge. In 1972, a 13-year-old girl drowned in the kidney shaped pool above the mermaid room forcing its closure.

The building has had two "exorcisms" and a long list of guests who have seen "Sara" wandering the halls. Glasses clanking upstairs in the conference room and voices whispering in the Brook Room as well as Big Band music wafting throughout the hotel have continued. Doors slamming shut, cold spots and heavy, measured footfalls from upstairs have been noted from early on when the hotel was first under construction for its reopening. "Walking through late at night, I've seen shadows," said Kim Gilbert, daughter of the proprietors. "My kids weren't up, and it wasn't the cats. Many times, I've heard voices, especially in the Brook Room. Whether the creek's rushing, or
whether it's dead calm, you can hear those voices. Gilbert also claims to have seen "Sara" in the hall late one night and mistook her for her own child, until the apparition disappeared into a wall.

A couple were sitting at the far end of the Brook Room facing the windows. They look up toward one of the windows and saw a child running around the balcony. That area is closed; no one was supposed to be up there. Members of the staff accompanied the couple back to the Brook Room, but not a thing suggested a child had been there. The couple commented the child seemed to be involved in her own personal game. We have had TV shows like SIFI Ghostly encounters, Area Back Roads, The Travel Channel and Haunted Hotels of America, come and do clips for there shows.

Over the years there have been many sightings of little Sarah. She is often seen in a white and blue Sunday dress walking through the lobby or near the fireplace between the lounge and Brook room. She has also been seen playing on the balcony of the Brook room, an area off limits to visitors and guests, and sitting beside the fire in the Fireside Room.

Some have even been approached by the crying Sarah asking if they could help her find her mother. As they turn to look for the little girl's mother, Sarah vanishes. The sightings aren't limited to visitors. The owners of Brookdale Lodge have also seen Sarah running about the lodges' lobby. From their description, Sarah was, "very clear, like a whole person" and wore a 1940's style formal dress. She ran silently across the lobby for about five seconds before disappearing through the office window. The owners must have been quite "spooked" because soon after they hired several priests and psychics to try and rid the lodge of its spirits.

The niece isn't the only paranormal activity visitors to the lodge have experienced. In the Mermaid Room visitors have experienced hearing voices, the clinking of glasses, turning the lights on and off in both men and women’s bath rooms, causing cameras to malfunction going on to the dance floor than working just fine after they leave and has been known to play with the pool balls when people are playing.

When the Brook room is empty you can sometimes hear glasses and plates clinking and people talking as if dozens of ghostly diners are having a meal. A ghostly woman has been seen walking over the brook as if supported by a bridge removed long ago. Psychics speculate that she is the mother of Sarah Logan returned to find her daughter. The smell of gardenias often permeates the room at night although there are no gardenias in the Brook room or the lodge. Could this be the perfume of Sarah's mother?

Big band music has been heard playing faintly in the Fireside Room and in the Pool Room. People have also reported cold spots, presences, and even being touched by unseen forces in the Pool Room. Late at night doors slam and footsteps are often heard in empty rooms. They are particularly loud from the second floor conference room. Many have reported strange smells and having a sense that the room is full of people when it is empty. Psychics have identified one of the conference room spirits as a man by the name of George. He is a lumberjack and has also been encountered behind the lodge at a place where in the lodge's early years they chopped wood for its many fireplaces.

In the 1960's a wing of motel rooms was built over the spot where once stood the lodge's camping cabins. Room 46 of the motel wing is reported to be very haunted. A woman who worked at the lodge in exchange for lodging has reported that at night objects and shapes would fly across the room. Ghostly ballroom dancers would swirl around leering at her as they floated by. Ghosts would materialize around her bed, their faces sometimes vague and sometimes very clear.

One of the ghosts was a little boy, perhaps 12 or 13 years old, another was a man with his eye hanging loose on his cheek, and still another was a man with a knife wound across his face. Not all of her experiences in room 46 were visual. She also reports that once she felt somebody sit on the edge of her bed and stroke her arm. Psychics have told the current owners that, in all, there are 49 spirits in residence at the Brookdale. Enough to make it more than worth a visit.

The Brookdale Lodge has a sordid and long history The three tunnels were built to protected the Brook room from flooding However, depending on whom you ask, it was used for gun runner's, booze dealers and Mermaids walking to their rooms after being picked by patrons. Every employee has a story, whether it's a story they've heard or one they experienced themselves, each employee will probably tell you that the Brookdale Lodge is haunted.

Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000

My experience with the Brookdale Lodge happened about 1990 or so. I grew up in San Jose and spent most summer vacations up in Boulder Creek - one of 4 small towns that sit along Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I've read a lot of articles about Brookdale being in Boulder Creek, but actually Brookdale is the next town going south - about 3 miles from Boulder Creek. Anyway, the place has a real interesting history going back to the early 1900's (I won't elaborate since there is a complete history that you can read at brookdalelodge.com) and has changed owners several times, as well as being closed & re-opened many times. During the early 1980's, we used to go there and explore. I used to take dates there. *Grin*. The Lodge was closed at the time and we would sneak in and explore the old dining rooms, find hidden passageways that would come out near the cavernous inside pool area or end in blank walls, and generally have a great time. We never saw anything ghostly, but used to get gooseflesh, particularly in the old Pool area - it was definitely a weird place. One night in the summer of 1990 (I think, might have been '91) a friend and I stopped by to have a drink at the bar there, about 1:30am. We both lived in Boulder Creek at the time and were bored. As you walk into the lobby area, you have the bar on the right, which can be seen through the large fireplace,
and on the left is the lobby proper with glass display cases with merchandise, newspaper clippings and history of the Lodge.

As we walked in, my friend went left into the lobby and I went right towards the bar, where I sat in a chair, still in the lobby area, that faced towards the 4-way open fireplace that looked into the bar. I sat there for a minute or so, checking out the little girl who was sitting on the bar-side of the fireplace; she was looking off towards the left side of the room. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, pretty face, pale complexion, a blue & white knee-length dress tied about the waist with a cloth belt or sash, and looked to be about 5 or 6 years old. I was thinking that I didn't think it was very cool for parents to be bringing a little girl to a smoky bar at almost 2am in the morning. About this time, my friend began reading aloud from one of the display cases about the ghost of a little girl that was supposed to wander around
the Brookdale Lodge. I think the legend is that she drowned in the creek that runs through the building. I turned and looked at him and forgot, for a moment, completely about the little girl and walked over to him. All the hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up. I walked over and took a quick look at the news clipping and then looked back at the fireplace where the girl had now disappeared. My friend, seeing the look on my face and the gooseflesh all over my arms and neck, was more freaked out than I was when I told him I had just been looking at a little girl sitting in the bar on the fireplace hearth. About 20 seconds had passed since I looked away from her, and nobody had come out into the lobby to leave - the only way out at that moment. Both of us went into the bar and there was no little girl. I asked the bartender where "she" went and said that nobody else had been in there, especially not a child. She said I was one of the few people who have seen the ghost of the little girl.

Epilogue

I live in Colorado now and returned to the Bay Area for a business trip about two months ago. I spent most of my free time in Boulder Creek during that week and on my last night I got a room and stayed at the Brookdale Lodge. (Definitely run-down, but neat). I spent a few hours at the bar then wandered the grounds for a while; I couldn't really explore anything since it's all locked up now. Never saw anything, never even got weird feelings, and didn't see any ghosts. But I know what I saw that one night - a little girl as real as you and me. She had substance, depth...she did not look you would think a ghost would be. I must have been looking at her, and looking her way, for at least two to three minutes and she was real, although in retrospect I don't think I ever saw her move, which should have tipped me off. And
then she was gone.
Regards, Jim
Westminster, Colorado (formerly of Boulder Creek, California)

Date: June 26, 2001
This occurred several years ago, sometime around 1995. On one of our visits to the Brookdale, a girlfriend and I commenced to the bathroom before making our way to the rest of the lodge. We'd been there several times before and were familiar with it's history, both starlet and possibly a little sinister in it's previous years. That evening the bathrooms were a little less than spotless and were omitting a scent I wouldn't expect to be a popular one at the perfume counter. This particular evening we were dwelling on it's starlet history, particularly Marylyn
Monroe's visit to the lodge. We were discussing the possibility of Marylyn Monroe using this public restroom...which toilet did she use? Did she put paper on the seat first? Did she leave this smell? And other in depth inquires that derive from a few glasses of wine and a poorly kept bathroom. Now the door of this restroom had a common hydraulic closing mechanism that allows for the door to be opened without effort and close slowly behind you as not to slam shut. Now my friend was the first to leave and the door closed normally behind her. A few seconds after the door had completely closed I reached for the door, opened it and began to walk through. Halfway upon my exit the door SLAMMED shut. Since I was not entirely out of the doorway it struck my back so hard that it sent me flying into my friend waiting about 5 feet from the door. My hand was nearly caught in the door jam as I was sailing through but was somehow agile enough in that split second to pull it away.
Needless to say she witnessed the door slamming shut and saw that I hadn't pulled backwards on the door or any variation there of to cause
the incident. With that we ran the hell out of that hallway but reluctantly returned to attempt to repeat the same action of the door, but with no success. For all I know it was some kind of back draft or freak failure of the hydraulics. We were saying some pretty rude things about famous visitors in that restroom that night. We could only wonder if perhaps any of them were in their listening and thought they'd let us know their disapproval.
Joanne

Date: Nov 7, 2003
Just stumbled across your website while looking up information on this week's Travel Channel's haunted hotels. This summer while visiting the Santa Cruz boardwalk with a girlfriend of mine, we decided instead of driving back to Rio Del Mar or staying with her husband in their condo in Boulder Creek we would get a room in Santa Cruz. The town was sold out with the exception of one room that was on a back alley behind the main parking lot, didn't have electricity, and probably had not changed the sheets in years. We were told an elderly couple had lived there. Deciding against it we headed up 9 (I believe) into Scotts Valley and every stop from motels to cabins were full. We then stopped at the Brookdale Lodge, must have been between midnight and 1:00 am at this point. My girlfriend mentioned as we got out of the car that this place was supposed to be haunted. I told her to knock it off and quit trying to scare me and she immediately dropped the subject. They had one room left; number 47 (?) and we immediately booked it. We decided to stay in the bar, after using the ladies room. Walking down the ramp towards the ladies room it immediately turned very cold, while using the restroom, I swear I thought were in the wrong room because I saw men's work boots in the stall next to me. While exiting the room after washing our hands the site of a used paper towel caused my friend to start gagging. She exited the bathroom and has the hydraulic door shut, I grabbed it to open and it was as if there were no hydraulic pressure and the door slammed shut practically throwing me into her. I thought nothing of this at the time whatsoever. After a couple of drinks we found our way to the room, second to the last one in the two story wing around the left of the hotel. The evening weather was chilly, with tons of trees around us blowing in the wind. Entering the room it was stifling. We opened the large doors and windows that faced towards a grassy area and opened louvered windows above the door on the opposite side of the room. My friend stepped out on the balcony to have a cigarette, her hair blowing in the wind, yet we could not get any air ventilated in that room. The switch on the room a/c was missing, so that could have been no help either. My girlfriend became extremely upset that pictures were obviously missing from the walls, leaving a shadowed area where they had been hanging. I had no idea what was upsetting her so much. Too tired to care
I was going to bed. Only a couple of TV stations available I figured I would try to get some sleep after a long day of fun in the sun. She decided at this point she would head on home to check on her husband and would meet me in the morning. All through the night I could not believe how hot! That room was, there was no air and if felt like a million people were in that room taking up space. I had a hard time sleeping at first because of all the noise, doors slamming, heaving footsteps, I couldn't believe how insensitive people could be in the middle of the night. Sleep must have eventually come because the following morning I could not pull out of it. It felt drugged, oppressed, as if sleep had been induced and I could not seek a level of wakefulness. I was absolutely shocked to see it was 11:00am, that is the middle of the day for me! And it was only because my friend had returned and was waking me up. We decided to head downstairs for breakfast. We went to the coffee shop, ordered breakfast and decided to get a couple of Bloody Marys from the bar. While over on that side we discovered the dining room with the stream running through it. So pretty but a little eerie feeling. We went back to the coffee shop to tell them we were changing our mind and wanted to have the Sunday Brunch but out orders were ready. We ate quickly and returned to the main lobby. It was then I discovered all the newspaper clippings and history. I could not believe growing up in the Aptos area where our vacation home is located and never knew of this place. While reading the clippings, the hair stood up on the back of my neck, my friend had Goosebumps on goose bumps and admitted to me she had left the previous night because she was so spooked. The indoor pool area I had visited earlier was soaking wet, yet there were no sign of swimmers, the cold pockets in the bathroom area, loud noises and footsteps, yet I was at the end of the corridor?
To this day I am spooked just sitting here writing this. My son just walked into the room and I jumped out of my skin. My friend has returned for several visits taking her children with her. Her 17-year-old daughter is adamant someone had drowned in the indoor swimming pool, and my friend, who has had encounters prior, cannot speak of that night without becoming visibly shaken. I, though never a skeptic, now believe that what your naked eye may not reveal, the hair on the back of your neck does.
Michele

Date: Tuesday, August 03, 2004
I was talking about ghosts with my friend the other day and how spooky The Brookdale Lodge is, so I decided to look it up. I have lived in Boulder Creek all my life, born and raised... The Brookdale Lodge is like 5 min away if you drive to it. In order to get where I wanna go I have to drive by the Brookdale Lodge, so I drive by it about every day and knowing all the stories and the history I have always been spooked. I have known about Brookdale lodge being haunted and how the little girl had drowned and so on.

Well my friend had always invited me to go swimming in the indoor pool there. I barely even knew what ghosts were at the time, I was probably around the age 8 or 9 but I knew that the Brookdale Lodge was haunted. I went swimming there probably about twice a week; an indoor pool to an 8 year old is like the coolest thing. One day I was swimming and in the deep end of the pool there is a window that's underwater that you can look into a dance room and it leads into the dining room. So I thought it would be fun if my friend went in the room and wave or whatever. Before she had even left to go down to the room I had went underwater and looked around down there. But when I
went under I saw a little girl just standing there looking at me blankly. She was small like around the age 5 I'm guessing and had a blue and white dress on. I was a little confused at why there was a girl down there. So I went back to the top of the water to catch my breath and went back under and she was gone. Shortly after that, my friend showed up in the room and I started to yell at her to come back up to the pool. I was really scared, I told her what happened and how the girl wasn't there when my friend went in the room. The scary thing is when
she was in the room she said she had felt a sudden breeze of cold air, and all her arm hairs had stood up and had many Goosebumps. I have never been back to the Brookdale Lodge since then... the fact that the little girl made eye contact with me creeps me out till this day.

In the summer of 2005 with a few psychic friends, who didn't want to be named. One person said she interacted with a spirit of a man who had been killed. That encounter happened in the oldest part of the lodge, the remaining log cabin part of the lodge was opened to us for the first time in 60 years after renovation and that's where the encounter occurred. Another encounter happened in the Mermaid room which is used when big name bands come to play it has a bar and dance floor with the wall that viewed the lodge's swimming pool. One member briefly saw an apparition up on a small balcony.

Date: August  5, 2005:
The API (American Paranormal Investigations)
You can see meaning interesting things by going to there web site at http://www.ap-investigations.com