New ‘Haunted San Jose’ book explores the city’s spooky side
San Jose #SanJose
Elizabeth Kile loves a good ghost story, in part because of her mom’s casual interest in the paranormal when she was growing up in San Jose. But the Branham High School English teacher’s strong interest in history has also kept her from swallowing every spooky tale she hears.
“I do believe in the paranormal, and I’ve had experiences I can’t explain,” she said. “But I am a skeptic. I question things and I don’t automatically believe everything I hear.”
Maintaining that balance was important as she was writing “Haunted San Jose,” a compilation of ghost stories, odd occurrences and places with a grim reputation in the Bay Area’s largest city. She considers the book to be a “blend of history and mystery,” with lots of real San Jose characters making an appearance, including Mary Hayes-Chenoweth, Louise Archer Kelley and Chuck E. Cheese (OK, at least the namesake restaurant off Tully Road that is said to be haunted by the spirit of a girl who allegedly died there, though no deaths were ever reported at the address.)
Kile did her best to bring a little Halloween spirit to Tuesday’s San Jose City Council meeting, where she read a bit from her chapter on Bert Barrett, who lost his arm in a hunting accident in 1898 when he was 13. The arm was buried beneath a tombstone in Hacienda Cemetery in New Almaden — but it’s been said on certain nights of the year to crawl its way toward Oak Hill Memorial Park, where the rest of Bertram was buried after he died in 1959.
Sure, maybe that last bit is bunk — but the guy’s arm was buried in a cemetery. That alone is worth including in a haunted compendium, which includes stories on other supposedly haunted places like Hicks Road, Dottie’s Pond at Santa Teresa Springs and, of course, the Winchester Mystery House.
Kile said she’d been collecting the stories for years, writing down locations that she’d hear about and adding them to the stories she heard growing up in South San Jose. She matched up the lore with interviews and research largely done in the San Jose Public Library’s California Room. While there have been previous books on the ghosts in San Jose, Kile thought she could do better and did most of the writing during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“I found a couple of historical events that don’t necessarily support the ghost stories but might have been turned into legends over the years,” she said, citing a haunting story about Notre Dame High School that may be traced back to a nun who supposedly died there decades ago when an orphanage still existed at the old O’Conner Mansion on campus.
Despite her descent into Silicon Valley’s supernatural past, Kile says writing the book — which was published by History Press and is available on Amazon and at most bookstores — hasn’t made her skittish about San Jose, just the opposite. “I learned a lot more about San Jose,” she said. “In researching the book and traveling to different parts of the city to take photographs, there are parts of the city I was to explore more.”
Just watch out for that arm.
NOW SHOWING: The Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival kicked off this year’s virtual edition Sunday night with “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen,” a documentary about the making of director Norman Jewison’s classic musical movie adaptation. The 31st annual festival continues through Nov. 6, with a slate of 30 movies available to stream, plus several pre-recorded discussions with filmmakers. Get tickets and schedule information at www.svjff.org.
And 3Below Theaters’ Scott and Shannon Guggenheim said Deborah Feng — former Cupertino city manager and a former administrator at NASA Ames Research Center — suggested some space-themed movies to follow up the just-finished social justice series, and they thought it was an out-of-this-world idea.
“Trek or Treat: A Celebration of Star Trek for Halloween” starts Thursday and includes “Woman in Motion,” a documentary about actress Nichelle Nichols and other docs on George Takei and Leonard Nimoy, plus four “Star Trek” movies and the Trek comedy tribute, “Galaxy Quest.” Get all the data you need at www.3belowtheaters.com.
LOOKING FOR YOUNG INNOVATORS: The deadline to apply for the 10th Westly Prize — which honors aspiring social entrepreneurs under age 28 with cash prizes up to $40,000 — has been extended to Oct. 28. Steve Westly, the former controller for California who is managing partner of the Westly Group , and his wife Anita Yu, are again sponsoring the competition. You can see what past winners have done and check out the application criteria at www.westly.org/westly-prize.