{"id":32225,"date":"2025-10-31T18:20:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/32225\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:20:14","slug":"8-california-gothic-reads-for-a-literary-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/32225\/","title":{"rendered":"8 California-Gothic Reads for a Literary Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"

California does eerie especially well.<\/p>\n

From desert ghost towns and artist-built cults to gilded-age poisonings and true-crime mythologies, the West\u2019s darker corners have long inspired both fear and fascination. This Halloween, we\u2019ve collected eight Alta stories\u2014true tales, essays, and reported features\u2014that explore the strange, haunted, and often beautiful intersections of California\u2019s past and present.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a marshmallow laced with strychnine. A haunted house that doubles as immersive theater. Ghost towns where the real hauntings might be economic. And at the center of it all: a state that never quite lets its weirdest stories go quiet.<\/p>\n

The Poisoned Past of Carmel\u2019s Artist Colony<\/p>\n

\"marshmallows\"<\/p>\n

Laura P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n

A 1914 poisoning, a community of creatives, and a marshmallow filled with strychnine\u2014this isn\u2019t a ghost story; it\u2019s true crime by the sea. By Joy Lanzendorfer<\/p>\n

Where the Ghosts Still Haunt California\u2019s Abandoned Towns<\/p>\n

\"calico<\/p>\n

Visit California<\/p>\n

Spectral babies, abandoned saloons, and paranormal whispers echo across Bodie and other long-dead boom towns. By Lauren Markham<\/p>\n

The Case of the Missing Chacmools<\/p>\n

\"castenada\"<\/p>\n

EDWARD KINSELLA III<\/p>\n

Six women disappear after following a New Age mystic. This is the haunting true story of deception, manipulation, and unanswered questions. By Geoffrey Gray<\/p>\n

Step Into the Ritual at San Francisco\u2019s Terror Vault<\/p>\n

\"peaches<\/p>\n

Terror Vault<\/p>\n

A real artist, a fake cult, and one of the weirdest haunted experiences in the Bay Area. By Zack Ruskin<\/p>\n

Who Poisoned Jane Stanford?<\/p>\n

\"jane<\/p>\n

Stanford University Libraries<\/p>\n

The cofounder of Stanford University didn\u2019t just die\u2014she was almost certainly murdered. Why is no one talking about it? By Julia Flynn Siler<\/p>\n

How True Crime Turned Charles Manson Into a Brand<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/p>\n

NEIL LEIFER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t stop talking about him. But why? This essay explores how one of California\u2019s darkest stories became pop culture. By Denise Hamilton<\/p>\n

Still Behind Bars: The Long Shadow of Bruce Davis<\/p>\n

\"bruce<\/p>\n

Joe CIardiello<\/p>\n

A chilling deep dive into the parole system, the Manson family, and the moral calculus of release. By Joe Garcia and Kate McQueen<\/p>\n

Creep LA Returns With Horror You Can Touch<\/p>\n

\"old<\/p>\n

Just Fix It Productions<\/p>\n

Want to lie in a bed circle or walk through a tunnel of nightmares? This Halloween experience is for the brave\u2014but not the claustrophobic. By Zack Ruskin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California does eerie especially well. From desert ghost towns and artist-built cults to gilded-age poisonings and true-crime mythologies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23409,7,9,8,23410,22829,23411,22825],"class_list":["post-32225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-8-california-gothic-reads-for-a-literary-halloween","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-ghost-towns","tag-ghosts","tag-literary","tag-spooky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}