A visual companion to "The Placer Life" podcast series episode, "The Placer Dead: Real-life Ghost Stories from Placer's Museums." Click here to listen to the episode and explore the history and people behind the stories below.
Placer's Historic Courthouse in Old Auburn has been closely associated with death - and the undead - since its earliest days.
The Sad Story of Little Leroy Coan
It was supposed to be a fun family excursion to take in the views from the cupola of the Old Historic Courthouse in Auburn, where Leroy Coan was jailer. But on that fateful day in 1899, his young son, also Leroy, would suffer a horrible accident.
"On reaching the fourth turn he looked down to see if Leroy was where he had left him. He saw nothing but a broken pane of glass in the skylight and instantly the thought came that his boy had fallen through the skylight on to the hard floor below."
"The accident happened in this way. Mr. and Mrs. Coan and Leroy had gone with Mr. and Mrs. Albert Maring of Ophir and their two children up into the dome and when they started to go down the spiral stairway Mr. Coan went first carrying Leroy. When he reached the foot of the stairway he put Leroy down and started up again to help to take one of Mr. Maring’s children who was badly scared. On reaching the fourth turn he looked down to see if Leroy was where he had left him. He saw nothing but a broken pane of glass in the skylight and instantly the thought came that his boy had fallen through the skylight on to the hard floor below. In a few seconds he stood by the side of his bleeding and seemingly lifeless child stretched upon the hard, cold, stone floor." (From the 1899 Placer Herald newspaper story recounting the episode.)
Is Leroy still at the courthouse?
The Historic Courthouse in Auburn also houses the Placer County Museum, which years ago featured an exhibit sharing the history of the courthouse.
Museums Administrator Ralph Gibson started one morning in 2005 by cleaning all the exhibit display glass before the courthouse opened for the day. Just as he returned to the office, an alarm sounded in the museum - indicating one of the displays had been disturbed. Ralph went back to investigate. There wasn't another living soul in the courthouse that morning. But there on the courthouse exhibit case he had just finished cleaning, he found two, child-sized hand prints.
The Adolph Julius Weber murders
The case of accused murderer Adolph Weber of Auburn was an international media sensation in 1905.
(Click here to read this story in larger print.)
"I said out loud, "Adolph, why did you do it?" And the moment I said that, there was a loud snap from my office. I went running back in. All four shades - two shades on two separate windows - had completely snapped up. And that has never happened before or since." - Ralph Gibson
(The inside of Placer Museums Administrator Ralph Gibson's former office at the Historic Courthouse in Auburn)
Gum Smoke
Elmer Gum was elected Placer County Sheriff in 1918 and served in office for 22 years. Cigars were a near-constant fixture of his office at the Historic Courthouse. Gum’s career gained national attention when he was assigned as a special deputy in the Weber family murders in Auburn.
To this day, every so often, museum staff will catch an unmistakable whiff of cigar smoke when opening up the old sheriff's office at the courthouse.
The former sheriff's office at the Historic Courthouse is open to the public and free to visit.
The Ghosts of the Bernhard Museum
The complex includes the Bernhard home, a carriage barn and a wine processing building, still used to make wine to this day.
"I walked up to the front porch as usual. And there are two really skinny, narrow windows. There's one on either side of the front door. And I saw a white, flowing figure go past." - Diane Adams, Bernhard Museum docent
"A woman, with a long, flowing white dress, just kind of went from one window to the other." - Diane Adams, Bernhard Museum docent
Several docents at the Bernhard Museum have reported supernatural experiences at the house.
"As we were leaving, she turned to us and asked, 'Are there any ghosts in the house?' And then she said she saw a man in the sitting room. And she said it was a good man, he was in a dark suit, he was turning around looking at things. And she basically described Mr. Bernhard." - Rebecca Denniston, Bernhard Museum Docent
Join museums docents and staff for the Old Auburn Cemetery Tour - free and no reservations required - Oct. 6 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.