Monday, October 11, 2010

Looking for ghosts in the Rose Garden

My family has become fans of a ghost hunting show on television recently.  I doubt any of them really believe it but they like to watch and pretend they're spooked by it (sometimes I think they're not pretending).  My role, however, is that of the skeptic.  I openly (and sometimes loudly) scoff at the supposed "disembodied voices" being captured on digital recorders (voices which are completely unintelligible until they print what the "ghost" is supposedly saying on the screen) and I smirk in a superior manner whenever they claim to have "proof" of a ghostly image.


But the boys have taken it a step further and have started visiting supposedly haunted sites around Los Angeles with Sam, Henry, and Tahoe.  So far they've been to the Hollywood sign, Shadow Ranch Park, and this weekend we went with them to the Rose Garden in Exposition Park at the University of Southern California (USC).  According to the Ghost Hunter's Guide to Los Angeles, "partial apparitions of men and women dressed in clothing of the 1920s and 30s" have been seen around the central fountain shortly before sunset.  We arrived just before sunset but didn't see any ghosts, "partial" or otherwise.



We did see one honest-to-goodness and verifiable ghost, however.  In front of the California Science Center they have an A-12 Blackbird, which was the forerunner of the more famous Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest and highest-flying spyplane ever made.  Me and the boys saw an SR-71 last year at the Edwards Air Force air show, which was really cool.  The A-12 is the only two-seat trainer ever made, so it truly is a ghost from an earlier era.

2 comments:

  1. I've watched this show too and get hooked. A few weeks ago I must have watched three episodes in a row. I would say I take the role as a skeptic as well but some of it is a little creepy! I love that your kids like that!

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  2. We'd like to take the ghost tour on the Queen Mary but I think it's like $20+ per person - kinda hard to do with 4 kids. Jamie's found a supposedly haunted lighthouse, though. Maybe that'll be next.

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