GHOSTS LINGER AT NEWHALL; HERITAGE JUNCTION HAS A NUMBER OF SPOOKY SPIRITS HAUNTING THE OLD BUILDINGS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

Local residents who want their teeth rattled by an unsettling ghost story this Halloween need look no farther than their own Santa Clarita Valley, for it offers a smorgasbord of haunting tales.

Legends and sightings of specters in this historic mining and cattle region stretch across Route 126, Vasquez Rocks, Plum Canyon, San Francisquito Canyon and Old Town Newhall, according to local historians.

But it seems a popular stomping ground for ghosts is Heritage Junction in Newhall, where the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society continues to renovate historic buildings. Sightings of ghosts and accounts of paranormal experiences have been reported at the Newhall Ranch House, Pardee House, Old Saugus Train Station and the 1920s Edison House cottage.

The most recent incident at the Newhall Ranch House occurred five months ago, when a security guard on his rounds heard a child giggling in a room. He immediately entered but found no one there, according to Pat Saletore, a docent trainer and restoration volunteer for the historical society.

But sightings of Heritage Junction's most well-known ghost, Martha, began more than a decade ago at the Ranch House, a 19th century home built by Thomas Barden and Thomas Scott and later sold to Henry Mayo Newhall.

``People started calling us and asking who the lady was that was living upstairs,'' recalled Saletore. ``They all saw the same thing. They saw a woman wearing a blue dress in the upstairs window, but the house had been locked up and we didn't have anyone there those nights.''

In recent years, a psychic who toured the Newhall Ranch House free of charge identified the ghost as ``Martha'' and said she often was accompanied by a young, 8-year-old boy named Timmy, who clung to her dress.

``We've been told Martha's there because she's keenly interested in us getting the house fixed,'' said Saletore, adding, ``You could say Martha's become a welcome figment of our imaginations. We like to razz the little kids a bit when we bring them through there.''

Strange happenings at Heritage Junction also have been reported by other visitors, including docents who periodically are rewarded with sleepover parties at the Ranch House.

Saletore recalled one sleepover several years ago, when the group reported smelling baby powder throughout the night. One woman ventured up the attic staircase and saw a somewhat transparent image of a baby floating.

About a year ago at another sleep over, Saletore and several teen volunteers got up from the dining room table and walked into an adjoining room.

No sooner had they stepped into the room than each heard the distinct sound of the cheese-and-cracker plate and its knife clanging against the table, as though it had been lifted and dropped.

Startled, they immediately returned but found nobody there.

Saletore said others claimed to have seen strange, hovering lights with no apparent origin at the Newhall Ranch House.

Another sighting was from a filmmaker who wanted to shoot a scene in the Ranch House. The man's dog refused to enter the house, and when the filmmaker later entered the attic he saw a family seated at a dining table.

As he spoke to them, they ignored him and slowly disappeared, Saletore said.

``He turned and ran out of there pretty quickly,'' said Saletore.

Dr. Larry Montz, of the International Society for Paranormal Research in Los Angeles, said his agency has not investigated Santa Clarita sightings but has studied paranormal experiences worldwide for 28 years, using teams of reputable clairvoyants and scientists who test for physical environmental changes.

Legitimate sightings and experiences turn out to be either residual or active hauntings, said Montz.

``Residual hauntings usually produce a sound, image or smell that represents a repetitious event from the past, or an event that left a lasting impression,'' said Montz. ``It's like a video in that we're seeing something that plays over and over again, but it doesn't move anything in our environment.''

For example, a San Jose couple reported seeing an elderly woman walk down their hallway every morning at 6 a.m. then disappear, while other clients have smelled breakfast each morning at a certain time, he said.

``Active haunting involves an actual, constant presence, an entity without a body,'' said Montz. ``The entity's remained earthbound and has not crossed over to the next plane of existence.''

They stay behind for hundreds of reasons, he said, and many stay to look after their families. Some feel they died before they were ready to leave Earth or they find comfort in their surroundings.

``Here in L.A., we say they stay on to protect their Mercedes,'' said Montz.

None turned out to be demonic, he added.

Most local legends and ghost stories were preserved and passed on in writing by the late Jerry Reynolds, a Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society member.

``Nobody could tell or knew the ghost stories as well as Jerry,'' said Saletore.

Beyond Heritage Junction, Reynolds wrote of sightings of a horse-riding ghost in Elsmere Canyon, a ghostly hitchhiker on Route 126, Tiburcio Vasquez riding his favorite palomino through Vasquez Canyon, the ghosts of San Francisquito Dam disaster victims, phantom soldiers and the sounds of thundering horses and cannon fire in Plum Canyon.

Reynolds also wrote of hog farmers in the 1950s seeing a ``spirit woman'' wearing a traditional 19th century Mexican dress and veil floating through Plum Canyon.

There have been sightings of the late western film star William S. Hart at his early 20th century mansion in Hart Park. Park volunteers claim to have seen him seated and reading a newspaper, while others have smelled coffee brewing in the kitchen during early early morning hours.

One security guard at the Hart Mansion reportedly quit after seeing two phantom Great Danes barking at him through the window.

Psychics who have toured Heritage Junction have reported seeing ``crowds'' inside the Old Saugus Train station and chatting with famed Newhall prohibitionist Henry Clay Needham - who in the 1850s attempted to form an alcohol-free community in Newhall and in 1920 failed to win the Prohibition Party's endorsement for the presidential race.

``The psychic said she was talking to a man who felt betrayed politically,'' Saletore recalled.

The small Edison House supposedly is inhabited by an entity named Anna Maria, who was happily married there during the 1920s but later divorced. Anna Maria remains there now because those were the happiest years of her life, according to one psychic.

The stories and sightings used to frighten Saletore, but over the years they have become comforting. ``Martha's there because she's keenly interested in getting the house fixed. She likes what we're doing,'' said Saletore.

Regardless of whether people believe in the Heritage Junction ghost stories, Saletore says, the tales are relayed to visitors in fun. Often the stories are requested during Historical Society tours.

And it helps that ghost stories seem to make visiting children and adults alike more eager to learn about factual points of their local history, she said.

Added Saletore, ``I end all the stories I tell the kids one way: They're fun stories, but you can choose to believe it or not believe it. It's up to you.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Top, Pat Saletore, docent coordinator for Hart Mansion and the old Saugus train station, is silhouetted against Heritage Junction's old chapel. Above, a ghostly image of Saletore crosses a room at Heritage Junction. Ghosts reportedly inhabit several old structures in Newhall, where the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society is renovating historic buildings.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer