This hike is rated “CREEPY” due to past murders and mayhem. Dangers along the way include ghosts and phantoms. Scroll down for the ghost stories. Here is the origin story:
On October 12th, 1936, the Camarillo State Mental Hospital opened its doors taking in the sick and mentally ill. Not just a single building, but an entire campus of buildings, the hospital was very successful and by 1957 had grown to over 7000 patients!
In addition to electroshock therapy and lobotomies was the establishment of a 🐮dairy nearby the hospital. Patients that were able participated in working at this dairy, taking care of the animals, and growing vegetables. The food produced from the therapy programs at this dairy went directly to feeding the inmates and staff at the hospital.
😨Patients were forced to slaughter animals in the dairy. Some say murders happened there. In some stories it’s patients murdering people and in others it’s staff murdering patients
In the 1960s the hospital closed the dairy, simply abandoning the buildings. By 1997, the hospital also closed, and was left slowly falling apart. Many of the structures are heavily graffitied still clearly recognizable.
👻Ghostly Encounters
Numerous phantoms have been seen around or in the bell tower. There is the ghost of a man who appears in the stalls of one of the women’s restrooms, you can see his legs, only to disappear when you open the door. A woman around the bell tower asks for directions to the chapel before disappearing. In some of the abandoned buildings, students have reported running into a woman in a hospital gown who silently screams at them before vanishing. A ghostly janitor haunts the school; the sound of his phantom keys jingling alerting those to his presence. The bus stop near the bell tower is also haunted by a ghost. And with all these ghosts so far, it comes as no surprise that there’s a woman in white. 👩⚕️She is assumed to be a nurse who roams the bell tower’s hallways only to disappear when approached.
Hike is 3.7 miles with 775′ total ascent and rated EASY+ See the HWD Hike Rating Guide
Directions
Take Lewis Road south to Camarillo Street and turn left (east). Cross the bridge over Calleguas Creek and the entrance is on the left. Parking is $6 per vehicle (as of 2023)
