What happens to us when we die? That’s the big question. Some of us, many believe, might stick around after we die. Some of us might become the next generation of ghosts! When that happens, some of us will find a place to haunt, be it a favorite home, an old workplace, or possibly a cemetery.
Resting comfortably among the cypress, eucalyptus, Monterey oak, and pines trees of the California coast is the Monterey Peninsula. It’s changed little over the years but grown large in notoriety. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is held here every year, car shows are a daily part of life in the summer months, and festivals bring both music and food. Sailing, kayaking, and exploring sea life are pastimes enjoyed by residents and tourists alike. The Central Coast has a long, sometimes sordid, history, but people love it. It’s been featured in a number of films and television shows, including Turner & Hooch, Basic Instinct, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Play Misty for Me, Big Little Lies, and more.
My newest book, Haunted Monterey County, will explore the many haunted locations found in this popular California community. Due in bookstores around Halloween 2019, this book will join a distinguished library of haunted, ghostly collections published by The History Press, a number of which I have enjoyed in the past. The nearest such book, Haunted Santa Cruz California, by Maryanne Porter, is a wonderfully spooky read! Their Haunted America series runs from the East Coast to the West!
In Monterey, I am hard at work on stories surrounding a number of haunted sites, including the Custom House near Old Fisherman’s Wharf, Tor House, Steinbeck’s home in Salinas, Los Coches Adobe, and many other locations said to be inhabited by the restless dead.
I plan to write updates as I progress, so be sure to check in on me from time to time!
Patrick Whitehurst 
Cool project! The research should be far out.
Hoping it will be!
It’s been just that!
No question about it—–the “Peninsula” has managed to trap many spirit entities in it’s ectoplasmic web. Suicide literary clubs in 20’s Carmel. Banking heiresses threatening to haunt high end resorts. Pebble Beach exudes that restless spirit world from the Indian graves discovered now and then to the stone cold mansions of the super wealthy. R.L. Stevenson felt it too. “Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!”
Suicide literary clubs? How have I not heard of this? Yo ho ho to you as well!
Ok people…ghosts, while they make great fodder for imaginative fiction writers, past and present, do not actually exist. I’ve lived on the peninsula and worked for 30 years in and around the buildings often described as “haunted,” and have never seen, felt, sensed or smelled anything resembling a disturbed spirit moving about – in daylight or darkness. Come out of your fog and enter the world of the living. It’s quite an interesting place.
Thanks for writing, Michael! I’ve not seen anything either having grown up here amongst these beautiful landmarks, but find the belief and study of the paranormal a fascinating topic worthy of discussion. I’ve certainly felt chills in certain locations here, however, be it from my own nerves or knowledge of the stories that surround it. Ghost encounters, while not popular with everyone, also serve many as a bridge into history and a compelling way to introduce new minds to old ones.