Laureen and I recently visited the Agua Mansa Cemetery in the city of Colton. It is supposedly one of the most haunted locations in Southern California. What better place to encounter other worldly spirits?

The cemetery is the only reminder of what was once part of the thriving community of Agua Mansa. Established in 1845, in what was then Alta California, a town of non-native settlers located against the flowing waters of the Santa Ana River. Agua Mansa, actually means – gentle water. It was here folks established a home and it soon became the largest settlement in San Bernardino County.

A church had been built across the river in the town of La Placita, that was later destroyed in 1852, sinking in quicksand. A new church was built in Agua Mansa in 1853, so both towns had a place to worship together.

But in 1862, strong rains came to the area, causing the Santa Ana River to dangerously flood into both towns, destroying the majority of the houses and businesses. People tried to rebuild what they once had, but to no avail. Prosperity never did return, and like many places, both towns were pretty much abandoned.

But the cemetery survived – strange way to put that. The first burial, was in 1852, which could make this cemetery the oldest in Southern California. Though, others make that claim, like the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, which was built in 1877. Math, was never my favorite subject, but something built twenty-five years earlier, would make this one older. 

Anyway, one of the most observed, or imagined hauntings at Agua Mansa Cemetery, is the legend of La Llorona'. It is a sad story about a woman who got rid of her children, won’t go into any more detail here, since it breaks the heart. After what she did, according to legend, she walks the cemetery looking for her children. Her screams can be heard above the whistling winds streaking across the crumbling tombstones.

                                          La Llorona', with her children before killing them

Besides, La Llorona', there are supposed to be ghosts wandering around the place like crowds lining up at Starbucks. Ghosts with no heads, ghosts with no limbs, ghosts with lanterns, ghosts walking dogs, and ghosts reading my novels.

                                                                   Not a bad novel 

I made that up, well, not all of it. Many people claim to have seen ghosts as I mentioned above, with the exception of the ones reading my novels. But, it could happen.

I have no idea what is seen at this cemetery, since it was closed. The cemetery is getting so popular with ghost hunters, that the county has the five acre parcel completely fenced off, including topped with barbed wire. There are hours listed on the high front gate – we were there when it was supposed to be open, but it was not.

Perhaps it has to do with COVID-19 - doesn’t everything now? But maybe, the place is getting too many visitors and those visitors are not respecting that it is an actual cemetery and its history. Not just a place to search for ghosts.

We were there to experience that history, research and investigate, but that ended at the front entrance.

“Now what?” Laureen asked.

“Peek through the chain link, and see if there’s someone walking a dog with no head,” I responded.

“Don’t tell me if you do.”

I didn’t see anything except acres of dry grass, bushes, trees, and tombstones. Nearly two thousand people are interred at Agua Mansa Cemetery. It is truly, hallowed ground.

                                              Just a deserted old cemetery - no ghosts

A sad note – of the two thousand, only about fourteen hundred people have been identified. Maybe, it is the unknown resting there that are so restless, wanting others to know who they are.

Peering even deeper into the fenced off grounds, I didn’t see anything moving about. Snapping a few shots on my camera, I knew this adventure was pretty much over.

“What do you think?”

 “It’s nearly noon, so I believe a lunch at Victoria Garden, and some shopping are in order.”

“Let’s be professional. Did you see any ghosts? How about that lady looking for her kids, or the guy walking his dog?”

Laureen closed her eyes. “I see my husband buying a nice lunch, and a couple of shops.”

That was haunting enough.

But, we weren’t over with our searching just yet.

Turns out, there is a house in the city of Fontana that may be haunted by none other than the infamous gangster, Alphonse Gabriel Capone. Yes, the very Al Capone who was known as Scarface, due to a large scar running down his left cheek. Of course, no one called him Scarface to his face – or head. 

“Whatsa madder with you? Calling me Scarface to my scarred face! Have this mutt thrown into the river, with a pair of nice matching cement loafers.”

Nope, you didn’t call the boss of the Chicago Outfit, anything but Mr. Capone.

                                                              Mr. Al 'Scarface' Capone

Our friend, Paul Bakas, who grew up in Fontana, once told me about Al Capone owning a house in his home town. For whatever reason, I never bothered researching to determine if the mobster actually had lived in the area. But today, it seemed like a good time to see if Laureen and I could find it.

Sure enough, dozens of sites list the address of the home, its history, and all the great rumors about the residence. 

The home is located at – wait, no address will be given, since it is privately owned, and I’m sure those folks don’t want a bunch of looky-loos driving around in their neighborhood.

So, just Google – Al Capone’s house in Fontana, and see what you will see. There – no address given, I feel so much better.

According to Inside the Inland Empire, in an article written by Ghostpainer (how apropos for this article) on May 3rd, 2007 – you knew it was the house owned by Capone, because it had a large ‘C’ on the exterior of one of the fireplaces.

That was enough for me. Forget lunch for the moment – we were off to see the Capone house.

“What if the people who built the house, were named the Carpenters?” Laureen asked.

“Why would a singing act build a house in Fontana?”

Within twenty minutes we were looking at the house, definitely built in the early twentieth century. The style of the house, from its rounded entryway, tiled roof, large iron double gates, tennis court, and large property just told me this was Capone’s west coast hideaway.

                                                    Now, that's a gangster's house

There are other articles, stating closets lead to escape hallways. Tunnels beneath the property to another street, where a getaway would be certain. Rumors after rumors.

But is the place haunted?

Capone was supposed to be terrified during his prison stay at Alcatraz, in the San Francisco Bay. Guards and other inmates recalled that Capone would scream all night at someone named Jimmy.

“Jimmy, leave me alone!” the prisoner would yell from his tiny cell.

This made sense – perhaps the house in Fontana wasn’t haunted, but only Capone himself, from his lifetime of misdeeds.

The terrible St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, on February 14, 1929, orchestrated by Capone to wipe out a rival gang, had an Albert Kachellek (alias, James “Jimmy” Clark) as one of the murder victims. 

Could it be this ‘Jimmy’ that tormented the sadistic killer while on the Rock? 

Don’t know and don’t really care. But, we were at the house and took some photos. That’s all one can do, unless you know the owner, and we didn’t.

“Well, that was interesting,” I stated.

“And a little creepy.” Laureen agreed. “Now, how about that lunch?”

“Of course.”

“Then shopping,” Laureen replied.

And that, is my true spectre this day – shopping. 

New Beer's Eve

Here's to you, my friends!

Doing research, as we have written numerous times in the past, is one of the major joys of this blog. To really dig down and learn the truths and untruths of certain topics is intriguing while also being enlightening.

One such topic that was discovered was that April 6th is National 'New Beer's Eve.'

What a great sounding holiday!

It seems that when the 18th Amendment was passed banning beer and alcohol in 1920, some people were rejoicing with special messages about the consumption of alcohol.

A threat? Anyone's opinion.

But the majority of citizens of the United States were pretty upset and found ways around the ban.

Ingenuity at its best.

May be alcohol - I'll drink it to make sure.

This is why, in 1933, a much wiser congress decided to get rid of the 18th Amendment. The 23rd Amendment made having an alcoholic drink no longer a federal offense.

It may also be because the prior congress of 1920 hadn't realized that such a ban would make millionaires of such wonderful upstanding citizens as Al Capone. He knew what the American people wanted and was happy to supply the 'evil' liquid to those willing to purchase it from his henchmen.

The 18th made him an extremely rich and dangerous man.

Fourteen years after the ban, booze was back on the store shelves.

Since the 23rd Amendment was passed at 12:01 a.m. on April 7th of 1933 it just seemed appropriate to celebrate 'New Beer's Eve.' Knowing it was going to pass congress, citizens from around the nation started lining up at stores and bars in anticipation of being able to legally purchase alcohol again after the 14 year hiatus.

An IPA please.

Urban legend has it, or perhaps it is true, that someone somewhere screamed: 'Happy New Beer's Eve' at the stroke of midnight on April 6th, 1933. Then promptly entered a bar and had a few drinks. We enjoy urban legends - they're so cool.

And of course, April 7th had to be 'National Beer Day.'

On March 22, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act into law, effectively repealing prohibition. The law became effective on the 7th of April, 1933 and people went out happily to buy, drink and sell beer legally.

Thank you Mr. President!

The real reason for him signing to end prohibition - God bless you Sir.

An actual 'National Beer Day' didn't become official (if these are actually official days to begin with) until 1993. Official or not, Americans downed 1.5 million barrels of beer on the very first official 'National Beer Day" in that year.

It's gone international - how about that?

So, sit back and enjoy a cold on the 7th of April in honor of those poor souls who couldn't from 1920 until 1933. And, as always, drink in moderation and stay safe.

Forgetaboutit

The Mob Museum - Las Vegas

The following blog was never written and you never read it! J and L state unequivocally that they never visited the Mob Museum in Las Vegas - the what and where - and if they actually did would not admit it.

It's the way of the 'family' - we took an oath - had to be real since it was on the tour.

People on Facebook should think this way

Okay, say you belong to one of the infamous Mafia five families from back East - that would be New York (set up by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky dividing New York up so the often fatal 'wars' would stop between rival mafia gangs) and you put up the money to build a rather luxurious hotel in the middle of a 'frigging' desert, wouldn't you want it a secret? That's the way it was back in 1947 when the finishing touches for the Flamingo were finished, after going way over it's budget of four million - it cost 6 million which did not make the families happy. But the man behind the hotel/casino was Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegal and everyone liked him - he was handsome, endearing, charismatic, and a cold-blooded killer. Bugsy (never say that to his face) was a founding member of Murder Inc. - the infamous gang that boasted at least 1,000 mob hits during its heyday. Not a man to be fooled with unless you happened to be the head of one of the five families. Bugsy didn't scare them much and after spending more than two million of the mobs money your good looks can only get you so far.

Good-looking guy, this Bugsy.

Not a good end for Bugsy

Actually, it was Beverly Hills that Bugsy got before multiple 30 caliber bullets found his head in June of 1947.

The families (the hit was authorized by Meyer Lansky himself) don't like their money spent at what they believed at the time was a waste - today - they would have given him a raise for the forethought he had in knowing Las Vegas would go from a hole in the desert to a thriving mega-capital of the rich and famous.

At forty-one, Bugsy was way ahead of the mob members who had sent him West to develop sand - so sad for the Bugsmeister and within thirty years so with the families. In the eighties and nineties the Mafia was pretty much kicked out of Las Vegas after investigation after investigation and they sold their holdings to legitimate businessmen and women. Supposedly, as of 2015 there is no mob connection in Las Vegas - of course with gambling, prostitution, drugs and such who would doubt such a statement.

A few places the Mafia had control in - as far as we know

The Mob Museum at 300 Stewart Ave in Las Vegas is a three story tell-all on organized crime in the United States. Starting on the third floor descriptions and exhibits explain how the immigrants from Ireland and Italy came to America looking for a better life and that some of those immigrants decided it was easier to steal to make a living than it was to work. The entire history runs floor to floor with sometimes graphic details and photographs sowing the brutality of the Mafia in America. There are actually signed warnings about certain rooms which may be to terribly bloody and graphic for some viewers - we visited them all.

Please stand against wall with hands behind your back

There are some rather macabre exhibits like a gas chamber chair actually which had been used in multiple death sentences, a mock up of an electric chair that the visitor can calmly sit and have a person pull the switch giving off otherworldly sounds of imminent demise, weapons of all calibers owned and used by members of the Mafia for other than good deeds, and the actual wall from the famous Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 where 7 members of Irish mobster Moran's gang were executed by Capone's gang in a mechanics garage. That was really weird seeing the bullet holes and blood spatters - unless they really red paint - no, the MOB Museum wouldn't paint over blood since that would ruin the ambiance.

Shave and a Haircut 2 bullets

Infamous names jumps out to the visitor - Al Capone, Albert Anastasia, Mickey Cohen, Sam Giancana, Tony Spilotro, Whitey Bulger, and John Gotti to name just a few litter the museum as the guest walks and reads the tales of these men. No good virtues any of them had but there was something in that museum that shed a bit of light on what most would believe were people who had no moral compass - they did in a sick and twisted way.

The Mafia code called for no harm to any family members of a 'Made Man'. Wives and children were out of bounds for killing. As poor old Bugsy Siegal was once quoted while talking with Del Webb (yes, the developer) - "Del, don't worry, we only kill each other."

We don't know a thing, Copper! Go blow your whistle elsewhere.

There, from a murderers mouth - there was a code of ethics within the Mafia.

Famous names are also present at the museum with notables such as Ralph Lamb, Estes Kefauver, Thomas Dewey and J. Edgar Hoover (no photos of him in a dress though) along with dozens of other FBI and government law men who made life as difficult as they could to those who tried to buck the system - the Mafia.

Three floors of walking, reading, watching, and learning what impact the Mafia had on America from the beginning to the present - yes, there is a present and a sad commentary is that since 9/11 and so much time and resources from the United States Government is spent on National Security the Mafia is slowly climbing back into the American mainstream. We don't hear about it since who cares about someone running a prostitution ring or drug trafficking when there are terrorists among us?

We're back - actually never left

Hmmm - a new beginning

What anyone may think of the Mob, they are not stupid but very opportunistic.

See what can be learned when a museum like this one can be researched and explored - amazing and scary.

              ~~~

Again - you didn't read any of this here.