The Big Book of California Ghost Stories by Janice Oberding

Author:Janice Oberding [Oberding, Janice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493058624
Google: K0dezQEACAAJ
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
Published: 2021-11-15T23:50:10.387812+00:00

Headless in the Hereafter

There’s just something about a headless ghost. From the headless horseman of George Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, to the headless specter of Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife, Anne Boleyn, a ghost without his or her head demands immediate action. Run! What could be more frightening than going into the hereafter minus one’s head?

In the Central Coast region of the Golden State three headless specters have been roaming the countryside for over a hundred years. The bandit Joaquin Murrieta is our first headless ghost. Murrieta and his wife came from Mexico seeking riches in the California gold rush. There was a lot of hatred for Mexicans in the California gold camps. One night a group of drunks broke into the Murrieta cabin, shot Murrieta, then raped and killed his wife. When he recovered, Joaquin Murrieta was never the same. Full of resentment toward the Americans, he turned to crime. Soon he fell in with a band of murdering thieves that were terrorizing all of central California.

But he hadn’t counted on how far the California government would go to bring him to justice. In 1853 the California Rangers, California’s statewide law enforcement agency, was created to rid the new state of ruthless bandits they called the Five Joaquins. In addition to Murrieta, the Five Joaquins included Joaquin Valenzuela, Joaquin Ocomorenia, Joaquin Carillo, and Joaquin Botellier. The Rangers believed Murrieta and these men were responsible for at least twenty murders and countless robberies in California’s rich gold country.

After four of the men were hanged or captured, Joaquin Murrieta continued his banditry. Harry Love was appointed captain of the California Rangers and charged with hiring twenty men to help in stopping Murrieta. It took the Rangers two months, and then on July 25, 1853, they caught up with Murrieta and his men. First to fall was Three Fingers Jack. And as one after another of his gang members fell dead in the ensuing gun battle, Murrieta mounted his horse and attempted to escape. Ranger Billy Henderson gave chase, yanking Murrieta off his horse. Murrieta pulled his pistol and fired. Henderson’s aim was better. And Joaquin Murrieta lay dead in the dry grass. This wasn’t good enough for Captain Love. He wanted proof.

In order to prove that the Rangers had accomplished their mission, he ordered the hand of Three Fingers Jack cut off and Murrieta decapitated. After which, the head was placed in a jar of bourbon. The head would be displayed in various bars and inns throughout central California until it ended up at a San Francisco museum. And there it would remain until the disastrous 1906 earthquake. Where is Joaquin Murrieta’s head today? No one seems to know.

And this has caused a great deal of consternation to the ghost of Joaquin Murrieta, who has accosted many people asking, “¿Dónde está mi cabeza?” (Where is my head?)

One of the first people the headless Murrieta is said to have haunted was Billy Henderson. And, according to Major Horace Bell in

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