The Ghost of Arana Gulch, an update...

Arana Gulch, just off "the Soquel Road" (now called Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz), is full of strange tales. There is one about a woman run down by a drunk driver and left to die on "the Arana Curve". Another talks about a bordello raid, resulting in murder on Arana Creek, and of course, the famous 'Ghost of Arana Gulch.' 

Some are not so well known, like a tale of a treasure map found in the hands of a dying vaquero in 1890. The map clearly marked the location of  $40,000 worth of gold stolen from a forgotten bandido heist. It was buried, according to the scrawl on the map,  in a cave up at the top of  a gulch.  At first the map claimed to have been located in Scotts Valley, but, according to its owner, the drawing clearly showed Arana Gulch. Today, the story lives on as "Paul Sweet's Gold." Eerily, in 1865, F.A. Hihn engaged a mining engineer to study the possibility of gold up in Arana and other small creeks.

SC Sentinel, 20 Dec 1933

But what about the Ghost of Arana Gulch? A man named Andrew Jackson Sloan was apparently gunned down by three very prominent local Latinos, members of the nearby Branciforte Villa and Adobe, one of the oldest European settlements in the area. Two were known as Bandidos or 'greasers', and were labeled bandits and thieves. Their names were Rodriguez and Lorenzana. In fact, this gulch originally belonged to the Rodriquez/Loranzana/ Villa(grana) families back in the 1860s and was listed on the maps as "Rodriguez Gulch." It was a much desired land, with rushing creeks, some lumber potential, a rumor of gold, but mostly open grazing land.  (Today, Arana Gulch is the city dividing line between incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county and is classified as greenspace. ) Sloan was gunned down, unarmed, and alone, or so the news accounts say. (See my author's notes page for information on the actual crime.) The inaccuracy of the timeline, the mysterious murder of the key witness, the case thrown out of court from lack of evidence, haunted the community.  This clipping, from the newspaper, dated fourteen years later, raises questions we still can't answer. 

So how did this come to be a ghost story? In July, around noon, Andrew Jackson Sloan officially began his tour as "The Ghost of Arana Gulch." He never made the front page when he was murdered, but in 1895, he got his start on a 149 year long stint as a ghost.

After this sighting, A.J. Sloan was sighted regularly and with drama. A spectre seen in twilight, daylight, or midnight, usually clad in a wide brimmed hat and long coat. He was thin, menacing, and of course, clad in black, his boot steps haunting every back yard and deck along the homes gracing the edges of both upper and lower Arana Creek. (My neighborhood abounded with such tales!) A.J.'s "murder" became an annual Halloween tale that inspired many to learn about Santa Cruz History. One home was so badly haunted by the footsteps and the apparition, a copy of the wanted poster of the time (you can view this at the Museum), was placed on the homeowner's deck to "exorcise" it. Many claimed A.J. haunted folk because he didn't have a headstone. (The top was actually broken off).This was taken very seriously at Evergreen and in 2007, a veteran's headstone was installed. During that installation, the historian overseeing the work noticed another headstone. Rather than disturb it, they simply continued with the installation of the modern stone.  Not much else was done on the plot until 2012 when that historian and I met. He told me that there was a headstone in A.J.'s plot, somewhere over by his new veteran's stone. The elderly historian was not specific, simply because, I think, he wanted me to enjoy a sense of discovery. For that I was entirely grateful. For the complete story, read about that unearthed secret here.

What is A.J.'s real story? 

Currently, research is focusing on exactly what happened to A.J. Recent use of Canine Forensic teams have given us a huge clue. A study of a rare collection of federal court documents has given up more clues. During renovation of the headstone base we discovered that 1)both his mother's stone and his were mounted at the same time and 2) of this particular grave site we stumbled onto remains of granulated brick about 5 feet down. To see more on this renovation visit our facebook page.

 For a look into some of the theories and facts about A.J. check out a new fiction book called Ghosts in the Gulch or book a tour to see Evergreen Cemetery. Tours are free but must be scheduled in advance due to the closure of the cemetery and renovations in progress.

  Happy Halloween! To view the complete article on AJ Sloan's gravesite and participate in our upcoming Dia de los Muertos event, drop by The MAH on November 1st to walk the old funeral path to Evergreen. For more information on this event go to DiaAtMAH.

Restoration of the Sloan plot

Spectres in Stone

Back from the Dead
On February 11th, 1865 39-year-old Andrew Jackson Sloan was allegedly ambushed and killed by bandidos in the dark creek gully of Arana Gulch. Popular story aside, Sloan earned his ghost status in 1895 by first appearing to cross Soquel Avenue in  broad daylight, then 'melting' away in front of a very startled witness. Today, Sloan, his mother, two sisters and one brother are buried at Evergreen Cemetery. But Sloan's fate haunted many for over 120 years.

(For a recap and new research go to Author's Notes page on this blog)
The top half of his headstone is gone. The bottom half stuck out of the ground like an old retaining wall. There was another broken headstone next to his, also in the same state, belonging to someone older than him. Both rested beneath a huge cedar tree. Research into a journal, plot maps, and a previous historian's notes about the layout of Sloan's plot told us that Sloan's mother was the owner of this companion  marker.

Many locals well into this century continue to be 'haunted' by Sloan. Rumor had it that the modern veteran's headstone currently installed within his plot, was placed there to calm his ghost. (The truth is more mundane. The stone was one of many installations, part of a veteran's restoration project at the time.) During the setting of the veteran headstone marker, the crew found the top section of Sloan's original headstone. A note was made in the cemetery plot map file and it was covered back up, to be protected from wear and vandals.
In 2012 Sloan's headstone, along with his mother's was excavated.  (Here's the blog post about it.) They spent the next 2.5 years in the Museum's  Archives with a few other headstones from Evergreen for company.

Renewed Ambition
This year, Sloan and his mom return to their plots. The project seemed simple. The team had, in the last three months, repaired seven other larger headstones with more complex mounting and breakage issues.
Our team noticed that Sloan's headstone in particular was of poorer quality than his mother's. Small fractures appeared across its face. Drilling rebar holes into its bottom would be trickier than usual. A two inch wide piece was also missing from its center. The first thing to do was a complete search for this missing piece. Naturally we started around the area of his plot.

Well, I was excited to excavate this grave. To kill two birds with one stone, (uh...) we decided it might be a good idea to dig down and check on the stability of the original mounts.
We were expecting to find two individual granite bases, one for each headstone.  (Sloan died two years after his mother.) Many buried during this time at Evergreen had individual bases made from granite or marble. Multiple headstones installed in a single granite base was rare. The sheer size of such an undertaking would be costly and prohibitive. Stone shipments at this time came from Italy. Some were brought down from the Sierras. But the lack of transportation, good roads, and shipping schedules made such ventures costly.
One of the characteristics I had noticed while cleaning these exposed stumps was their remarkable detail and their exquisite workmanship, all signs of a well to do family. I also noticed something else about the stone, they seemed the same age. Since the death dates were close, this made sense.

Family Planning in 1865
Having your headstone carved while you were alive was not unusual. Families planned ahead and bought stones before the death of a loved one, or if one died before the other, they bought a stone for themselves, to be placed "when they followed". Usually they were carved at the same time. Stones were then placed above a grave, a few weeks, or even years later, depending on the family' wishes or financial situation. I had often said to my patient coworkers that I felt these two stones were set in at the same time. 

A Complex Past
I said alot of other things too, such as Sloan may have been murdered by someone other than what history 'recalls'. They were used to my cracker dog theories. (To explore these fanciful theories, buy this book about A.J. Sloan, called Ghosts in the Gulch, available on Amazon on Feb 12th.)
 We began to dig down beneath the headstone. We hit a huge base, granite, as expected. We began near his mother's stone and saw the same edging. The more mud and soil we removed, the more apparent and large this block of dark granite became. Sloan's complicated past just unearthed itself. The stones were mounted into one solid carved  5-foot granite block, and, yes, appeared to have been set at the same time. 

Haunted by Previous Renovators
As we cleaned off the mud from the single base, another shock greeted us.  These stones  broke off from their base before, and were repaired with the closest thing to a quick and dirty method early concrete blends had to offer, (complete with a beer bottle). A quick check on the plot history also revealed that Sloan's brother had purchased the plot a year after his mother had died.

Beer Bottle cemented in place 

So, did they simply have a carved stone ready to go for Sloan? Was he also ill, and they knew he was going to die soon? Or was it simply grief, and a generous (and guilty?) personage gave money to have both stones made, perhaps a few years later? Cracker dog theories aside, it had us all caught up in a mystery about motivation and the need to place such monuments, monuments that leave those of us in the present intrigued and interested in the details of what life in the 1860's meant for these folk. It also reminded us of the power of earthquakes, a quick leveler of many monuments over the years.

Tales of the City
In November of 1865 a powerful quake rocked Santa Cruz. According to news stories, several quakes terrorized residents over the years. One of them or all could have caused the damage that was revealed in front of us. In our minds a time line grew. Both stones were most likely put in either at the time of Sloan's death, two years after his mother, or perhaps a little later. How much later, we don't know.  An earthquake broke the stones from their original base. It was repaired.  A second one must have caused the headstones to break in half again. Which quake? Not  our local Loma Prieta Quake of 1989. Lucky for us the previous renovation crew back in 1987 made a note about the state of this plot. "Top Broken." and "Name Broken off." described this handsome set.

Legacy Set in Stone


Next week we will complete the work of setting these magnificent works of art in place, and continue excavating and exploring this site to get an insight into what the original plot may have looked like. Old brick appears to line the fringes of these graves, some in the delicate artistic curves to form a retaining edge. Found near the now towering non native incense cedar, I wonder, did a grandchild to the Mrs. Eliza Sloan, tenderly plant a tiny cedar sapling within a brick circle, emulating the amazing carving of a willow tree on her headstone?  Would she smile at how large her incense cedar has become? And what of Andrew Jackson Sloan? Will he still haunt Arana Gulch?