Latest / Mystery Archives Episodes / The Terrifying Haunting Of The San Pedro House Jackie Hernandez Case - California Revisited Updated & More!

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The Terrifying Haunting Of The San Pedro House Jackie Hernandez Case - California Revisited Updated & More! · Mystery Archives Episodes

0:01
How do you outrun a ghost that feeds on fear?
0:05
How does one fight something they can't see?
0:08
In the late 1980s, a modest bungalow in San Pedro, CA became
0:13
the site of one of the most bizarre and well documented
0:17
hauntings in American history. A young mother named Jackie
0:21
Hernandez reported a series of terrifying paranormal encounters
0:25
in her home, from the apparition of a corpse like old man to a
0:29
disembodied floating head in the attic, the phenomena quickly
0:34
escalated from mere sightings to unexplained lights, foul odors,
0:39
and even a viscous. Blood like liquid.
0:42
Oozing from the walls as Jackie's pleas for help grew
0:46
urgent, A-Team of investigators led by veteran parapsychologist
0:51
Doctor Barry Taff arrived, only to find themselves under attack
0:56
by unseen forces as well. What followed was a two year
0:59
saga of poltergeist activity so intense that it allegedly
1:04
endangered lives. It baffled experts and
1:07
ultimately followed Jackie from one residence to another.
1:12
In today's episode, join me as I re examine the key elements of
1:16
the San Pedro haunting, its background and timeline, the
1:20
documented paranormal activity, the investigator's findings and
1:25
subsequent developments, and also explore additional
1:29
research, theories and community reactions surrounding this
1:34
unsettling case. So grab a drink and a snack,
1:38
snuggle up and get comfortable and ready because this is a case
1:42
you certainly might just want to hear about, albeit for most,
1:46
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3:59
Winter of 1988 in California, a woman by the name of Jackie
4:05
Hernandez had just left her husband.
4:08
Her marriage was rocky to say the least.
4:11
A domestic drama, a story which is all too common in this world.
4:17
Working with a limited budget, she had a small amount of things
4:21
her two year old son Jamie and was pregnant with her second
4:25
child, but should have been a happy development that was now
4:29
bittersweet due to being overshadowed by the problems
4:32
presented by an unhappy marriage.
4:35
She soon found a small house located in San Pedro that seemed
4:39
like it could be just what she needed to get back on her feet.
4:43
Although would take some time, she was willing to do what she
4:47
needed to do to get out of the marriage and take care of her
4:50
children before the family would move into the home and begin to
4:54
inhabit its walls. What they didn't realize was
4:58
that they already weren't alone. Jackie would later say that she
5:02
always had a fear of someone breaking into her home,
5:05
especially when she began to live alone, but that upon
5:09
crossing the threshold of this new house, and although for a
5:13
seasoned criminal it would have been all too easy to break into
5:16
if they had so wished, that fear was somehow gone.
5:20
At first she said that she felt a presence, something that was
5:25
not of this world, but that she fell almost protected and at
5:29
ease, which was something she wasn't used to.
5:32
This presence would begin to show itself in small but strange
5:37
ways. The very first thing Jackie said
5:40
she ever experienced was when she had friends over.
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One of her friends was sitting at a table near her in the
5:46
kitchen and the other on a couch in the living room as she passed
5:51
by another desk that held a cup full of pins.
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Although several feet away, her and her friend in the kitchen
5:58
were awestruck when the cup glided by itself across the
6:01
table it was sat on and towards Jackie.
6:05
It then collapsed to the floor, shattering the cup.
6:09
Stricken with curiosity as to how that could have happened,
6:13
they were confused and surprised to say the least, but not having
6:17
the answers. Before too long, this seemingly
6:21
innocent strangeness would become a distant memory.
6:25
However, the presence that Jackie had been feeling would
6:29
begin to show its true intentions.
6:31
In February of 1989, the activity seemed to escalate.
6:37
As she wakes up, Jackie heads to her children's room to see if
6:41
they're still asleep. Upon walking into the room, she
6:44
is stopped dead in her tracks. Sitting beside her sleeping son
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on the lowest bunk bed is a man in a red flannel shirt and
6:54
jeans. His skin is Gray, his face looks
6:58
angry. A living, rotting corpse is
7:02
staring at her son. She is so scared she can't even
7:06
scream even if she wanted to. The man glances at her
7:11
menacingly and then vanishes. She panics and calls several
7:16
friends to help her, but after they arrive, they find nothing.
7:21
And this would only mark the beginning of the frightening
7:23
specter revealing itself. Multiple of Jackie's friends and
7:27
even her neighbor would witness things they couldn't explain in
7:31
the months to come. The neighbor's name was Susan
7:35
Castaneda, and in her words she would later say.
7:39
At first, when Jackie said that she felt something, I didn't
7:43
really believe her. I thought it was her own
7:45
confidence in herself. But that was until the
7:49
manifestations began to show themselves to her and then to
7:53
me. I don't know what it is that I
7:56
saw, but I saw it. I smelled it.
8:00
I experienced it. It touched me and it talked to
8:03
me. It even visited my house to let
8:06
me know that it was real. One night, as it stormed outside
8:11
and rain tapped the glass of the windows of her bedroom, Susan
8:15
was sound asleep. But as she slept, something
8:19
supernatural was churning like the storm outside her house.
8:24
She was suddenly startled awake when she heard a massive banging
8:28
noise in her room. However, this wasn't Thunder
8:31
that she was hearing. Her large antique lamp on the
8:34
other side of her bed had somehow been moved.
8:38
It had been thrown into the middle of the room and now laid
8:41
in pieces. As she made this discovery, a
8:45
flash of lightning illuminated the room, and standing before
8:49
her was a man. His face was like that of a dead
8:53
person. His eyes were angry.
8:57
And suddenly, as quickly as the room lit up, as the illumination
9:01
dissipated, he was gone. But something peculiar was left
9:05
in his wake, a putrid and rotting smell.
9:10
After the experience Susan had, which would be 1 of many to
9:14
come, another friend by the name of Darlene, who would regularly
9:18
babysit Jackie's children Jamie and Samantha while Jackie was at
9:22
work, would have an experience of her own.
9:26
One afternoon as the children watched cartoons on TV in the
9:30
living room, Darlene got up to use the restroom.
9:34
As she stepped back into the hallway and headed towards the
9:37
small homes bathroom, she was greeted by a voice that called
9:41
out to her from inside the darkened room.
9:44
It very intensely said don't come back here later, describing
9:49
the voices. Very creepy and spine chilling.
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She did as she was told, fearing that if she didn't, whatever
9:57
this thing was would become violent.
10:00
As the days passed, Jackie only became ever more restless, but
10:05
the activity persisted, only becoming more aggressive and
10:10
more visible. A strange liquid began to drip
10:13
from the walls and various crevices throughout the house,
10:18
with no logical origin. Weirded out by this but not
10:22
knowing what it was, Jackie would clean it up and just try
10:25
to go about her day. However, whatever had been
10:29
causing all of these events was far from finished.
10:33
One evening when placing a storage bin inside of her attic
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to try and conserve what little space she had, she felt as if
10:41
she was being watched. To her shock and amazement, she
10:46
began to see what she would later describe as a floating
10:49
head coming towards her. But upon seeing the spectre, it
10:54
picked up speed dramatically. It came at her so quickly that
10:59
she panicked and fell off the chair that had been propping her
11:02
up to gain access to the attic. Following this incident, she
11:07
began to hear loud noises emanating from the attic above,
11:11
coupled by whispers coming from the small access store above her
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laundry room. Getting no sleep and reaching
11:18
her breaking point, Jackie began to get desperate for some kind
11:23
of help. Her friend and neighbor Susan
11:26
had recently seen a show on TV of a crew who investigated the
11:30
haunting of the Queen Mary, and after some digging she was able
11:34
to find their phone number. So, as Susan's recommendation,
11:39
Jackie gave them a call. After discussing what she had
11:42
experienced, her point of contact passed the information
11:46
along to the group where she was then contacted back and together
11:50
they set up a time for all of them to meet and to begin a
11:54
potential investigation. The group consisted of a fairly
11:57
well known parapsychologist and other professionals in assistive
12:01
fields. The parapsychologist was Barry
12:04
Taft, who had been involved in over 3000 cases and at one point
12:09
investigated the same case that would later become famous for a
12:13
movie adaptation known as The Entity.
12:16
A professional cameraman named Barry Conrad also joined them.
12:21
He had previously worked for NBC and ABC and had won multiple
12:25
awards in his field for his expert work behind the lens.
12:30
And lastly, a photography expert by the name of Jeff Wheatcraft
12:34
would complete the main crew. Having spent multiple years as a
12:38
photography expert in New York, he was well versed in debunking
12:42
photos. He was also a well known and
12:45
heavy skeptic, an important piece when trying to remain
12:48
scientific in the field such as this.
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All three would arrive for the first time at the San Pedro home
12:55
on August 8th, 1989. Upon their initial surveying of
13:00
the home, they would unanimously agree that it felt as if there
13:04
was a massive pressure around them and in their ears.
13:08
His pressure felt as if they were deep underwater.
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Alongside this, the home had a very peculiar scent.
13:16
A foul and rotting type of smell seemed to permeate the air
13:20
within its walls. After an initial walkthrough,
13:24
the crew would then interview Jackie and Susan in the living
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room where they were introduced to many of the details of what
13:31
they both said they had experienced.
13:33
Upon hearing Jackie's account of a disembodied head flying
13:37
towards her in the attic, Jeff, although not voicing it at the
13:40
time, didn't believe her. But knowing what they were there
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to do, he suggested that the group at least take a look in
13:47
the attic to see if they could feel anything.
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He then volunteered to be the first to go into the attic,
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thinking that it would simply be empty and this lady was spinning
13:58
a fantasy. As he climbed above the laundry
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room and into the space, flashlight and camera in hand,
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he began to walk around and the first thing he noticed was that
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he felt as if he was being watched by something that he
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couldn't see, so much so that the hair on his body began to
14:17
stand on end. Trying to shake the feeling that
14:20
someone or something was practically breathing down his
14:23
neck, Jeff began to take photos before he was going to descend
14:27
back to the main level of the house.
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He snapped one photo, two photos, but upon snapping the
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third photo, something, an invisible force yanked his
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camera from his hands. Dumbstruck by what had just
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taken place, he screamed and ran, descending the attic as
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quickly as he could upon seeing the rest of the crew.
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Why does it ghost himself? He took a minute or two to
14:52
collect himself before working up the nerve to go and retrieve
14:56
his camera. As he climbed back into the
14:59
attic, much more cautiously this time, he noticed that the camera
15:03
wasn't anywhere near where he had been standing.
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Instead, the lens was standing up in one corner of the attic
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and the body of the camera was in the complete opposite corner
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from where it had been pulled from his hands.
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He would retrieve it as quickly as he could and descend yet
15:20
again. He would later say that after
15:23
his initial experience that he knew, he just knew in his soul
15:27
that there had to be something up there.
15:29
The group would further discuss a plan of action and continue to
15:33
speak with the ladies in the living room until it was decided
15:36
that Jeff and Barry would re ascend into the attic together
15:40
to try and record some kind of video of the space.
15:43
However, every time that Barry attempted to take the camera up
15:47
into the attic, it would shut off.
15:49
Thinking that this was some kind of battery issue, he would go
15:53
back down only for the video camera to come back on.
15:56
During this troubleshooting process, Jeff was again
15:59
targeted. He was pushed by unseen hands.
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He was pushed with so much force that he had to grab a hold of a
16:06
wooden beam in the attic to keep from falling through the
16:10
entrance. Upon making his way back down as
16:12
well, thoroughly shocked by everything that he had
16:15
experienced so far, the entire group was then startled into
16:19
silence when a loud banging noise began to come from the far
16:23
reaches of the attic itself. They hushed each other to
16:26
listen. The following audio was taken at
16:29
that very moment. Quiet.
16:43
There has been choices in this room that come.
16:46
From right in the centre. Right here.
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Once it finally stopped, the group knew they were
16:51
experiencing something they couldn't explain, and they were
16:55
convinced that this was the real deal.
16:57
Attempting to photograph whatever could have been making
17:00
the noise, Jeff would partially put himself up into the attic to
17:04
snap additional photos. He would then see multiple
17:08
flashes of light followed by what he described as a massive
17:12
black shadow or presence that was huge and moving from side to
17:17
side. The crew would then leave for
17:20
the ninth shortly after this interaction and would plan to
17:24
return several weeks later. However, shaken by what he had
17:28
experienced, Jeff did not want to further participate.
17:32
On August 28th of 1989, the remaining crew would return and
17:37
things at first seemed relatively quiet, this time not
17:41
nearly as active as the first experience.
17:44
That was until about 4:00 AM. Sitting in the kitchen, they
17:48
began to see a strange liquid pour from inside the cabinets.
17:52
This was the very same liquid Jackie had described to them
17:55
that she had cleaned up several times before.
17:58
The crew, since the opportunity presented itself, decided to
18:02
take samples of this mysterious liquid and would have it sent
18:06
off to a lab for analysis. As they collected samples from
18:10
all over the house throughout the course of the night, they
18:13
would also try and determine if there was any sort of potential
18:17
logical source as to where this liquid could be coming from.
18:21
However, they would discover no pipes, no trickery, they had no
18:26
valid explanation as to what could be causing this
18:29
strangeness. The results from the lab once
18:32
they were in were bizarre to say the least.
18:35
The liquid was actually human blood plasma with a high
18:40
concentration of copper and iodine, and the plasma had come
18:44
from a human male. This stunned everyone and
18:47
further deepened the mystery of this very unusual haunting.
18:52
After this night, the crew planned to return after a short
18:55
time while they examined the things they had captured thus
18:58
far to try and determine just what could be causing the
19:01
haunting. In the meantime, Jackie was left
19:04
alone or on rare occasion with a friend.
19:08
She would very often leave voicemails of what she was
19:10
experiencing on Barry Conrad's answering machine shortly after
19:15
their departure. One night, as she was trying to
19:17
sleep, the banging in the attic began again as she sat
19:22
terrified, waiting for it to stop.
19:25
It would, but something new and equally horrifying would take
19:29
its place. The sound of a deep, almost
19:33
monstrous breathing began to manifest instead, and this
19:37
manifestation made Jackie not only scared for her life, but
19:41
come to the conviction that she wouldn't sleep in the house any
19:45
longer and certainly could not live there anymore.
19:49
Various members of the crew would stay with Jackie to
19:51
further investigate when their schedules would permit and the
19:55
days to come. However, there was one night in
19:58
particular that wasn't just an ordinary episode, no.
20:03
This night was a matter of life and death.
20:06
September 4th of 1989. Drained and exhausted, Jackie
20:11
Hernandez was now alone in the home once again.
20:14
Barry had just left the previous night after capturing additional
20:18
footage, but upon his return and after convening with his
20:22
colleagues, he would soon have a frantic voicemail waiting for
20:26
him. And this voicemail was from the
20:29
woman who he had just left. It was from Jackie screaming as
20:34
things broke in the background. She would describe what happened
20:38
like this. Almost as soon as Barry left,
20:41
things began to go crazy in the house.
20:44
Items like dishes, knives, and other things are being thrown
20:49
across the room. It was trying to hurt me.
20:52
My kids toys were being levitated and then being ripped
20:56
apart before my very eyes. Even more frightening, as Jackie
21:00
was leaving the frantic voicemail as the activity
21:03
surrounded her, her phone line was cut mid cry for help.
21:08
The crew rushed down to San Pedro, but instead of picking
21:11
her up and getting her as far away from the house as they
21:14
possibly could, Jackie was surprised when the guys rushed
21:19
inside the home with their equipment instead.
21:22
At first glance, everything seemed to be calm, almost too
21:26
calm. Jackie began telling the men
21:28
that among the more chaotic activity she had been
21:31
experiencing, she again had heard breathing and whispering
21:35
coming from inside the attic. Jeff and a colleague named Gary
21:40
of his decided that they would go up to investigate, with Jeff
21:44
feeling not so great about being back in the home once again.
21:48
It had been nearly a month since his initial visit and
21:51
experiences. At 12:50 AM, Jeff and Gary would
21:56
crawl into the attic. Within minutes, Jackie and Barry
22:00
would hear what sounded like 3 distinct snaps, like someone
22:04
snapping their fingers as Barry was holding his camera with both
22:08
his hands and Jackie was standing directly beside him.
22:13
They would then yell to Jeff and Gary that the activity was on
22:16
the surface level and to come back down from the attic.
22:20
Gary, who was closer to the exit, began to make his way
22:24
towards it and Jeff, who had been in the center of the attic
22:27
holding his flashlight, began to take his steps towards the exit
22:31
as well. However, little did Jeff know
22:34
that these steps would be ones that he would never forget.
22:38
Before Gary's very eyes and a camera lens, Jeff was hoisted
22:43
into the air and against the ceiling by support beam of the
22:47
attic. He was being strangled by
22:49
something that neither of them could see.
22:52
As his legs kicked several feet off the ground, he dropped the
22:56
flashlight. Unable to see, Gary snapped a
23:00
series of photos to be able to see Jeff.
23:03
He then ran to his aid to try and free him before whatever
23:07
this was took his friend's life. He found that it was some kind
23:11
of cord that had been tied around Jeff's neck and pulled to
23:15
the ceiling. The cord had been secured by a
23:18
bent nail that he actually had to bend straight to free him.
23:22
Once Jeff was freed, he was then dragged as quickly as possible
23:26
towards the exit. As he came to, Jeff would later
23:30
describe what his experience was like like this.
23:34
I remember feeling myself being strangled and then everything
23:38
went black. That dark space of time that I
23:41
lost, I felt so out of control. Once Jeff was out of the attic,
23:47
the cord that was noosed around his neck, which had never
23:50
previously been seen by anyone that had gone into the attic,
23:55
was found and taken off him. These are photos moments after
23:58
his exit as Jeff tried to come to terms with what had just
24:07
happened. As everyone else was frightened,
24:10
Barry, the man behind the camera, was attacked next.
24:14
A surge of electricity from his over the shoulder camera shocked
24:18
him to the point of unconsciousness.
24:21
At this point, everyone was terrified and knew that they had
24:24
to leave immediately. As Jackie gathered her son and
24:28
four month old daughter, she and the rest of the crew began to
24:31
depart the house as quickly as they could.
24:34
Jackie's daughter was now crying due to a large red mark on her
24:38
forehead that came out of nowhere.
24:41
The activity then began to pick up in the house.
24:43
As they were making their way out, banging noises could be
24:47
heard coming from inside the house as they all exited.
24:51
They would all leave shortly after 3:00 AM this very night.
24:55
In later interviews, Jackie Hernandez would say I wasn't
24:59
away, forced out by a ghost, but if I would have stayed, I would
25:03
have been harmed or have had a nervous breakdown.
25:06
I couldn't see a future staying there.
25:09
I just knew that I couldn't stay there.
25:11
It wasn't very long after that Jackie made her departure from
25:14
the house a permanent one. It would also be the last time
25:18
that the crew and anyone else involved would step foot within
25:22
the San Pedro home. However, this would not be the
25:26
end. October of 1989.
25:29
Wanting to get as far away as she possibly could, Jackie used
25:33
what little resources she had to move to a modest trailer home
25:38
over 300 miles north of San Pedro to Welding, California.
25:43
And although she still feared the nights, she felt as if
25:46
whatever presence that dwelled within the San Pedro house had
25:50
been left there. But she would be very wrong.
25:54
The following year, in April of 1991, moonlit night, Jackie was
25:59
woken up by a series of strange scratching sounds coming from
26:03
inside the small storage shed in her backyard.
26:07
Thinking it was an animal, she grabbed a flashlight and
26:10
approached it. As she got to the door and
26:13
pulled it open, the scratching sound stopped and an all too
26:18
familiar sense of fear came flooding back.
26:21
Although she didn't hear anything else going bump in the
26:24
night, all the hair on her body stood on end, just like it had
26:28
at the San Pedro house. Just weeks after this
26:31
development, Jackie would see a large black mist flow through
26:35
the hallway and towards her daughter's room.
26:39
Rushing to make sure her child was OK, she passed the threshold
26:43
of the room and immediately panicked.
26:46
The comforter in which her daughter was laying on was on
26:50
fire. Bizarrely, it looked as though
26:53
someone or something had touched or sat down exactly where the
26:58
spot was burning. Thankfully, her children were OK
27:02
after she very quickly extinguished the flames and then
27:06
snapped a series of photos as evidence afterwards, believing
27:10
the presence to be back in their lives.
27:13
The black mist, however, was nowhere to be found.
27:17
As a result of the past dealings at the San Pedro house, as well
27:21
as the resurgence in her new home, Jackie began to suffer
27:25
horrific panic attacks and almost constant anxiety as a
27:29
result of the trauma that she had endured.
27:32
She wouldn't be able to breathe when the knocks would begin at
27:35
night, and they were always in threes.
27:38
Having kept in touch with the guys who had been documenting
27:41
the San Pedro phenomenon, Jackie had kept them up to date on the
27:45
new incarnation. Never having seen this type of
27:48
haunting before, the crew wanted to come up and see for
27:51
themselves if this thing, this entity, had indeed followed her
27:56
to her new home. It was midnight Friday, April
28:00
the 13th when Barry and Jeff arrived and later interviews
28:05
Jeff would say, many people have asked me after what you
28:09
experienced, why on earth would you go following this woman and
28:13
her ghosts? The only response I could give
28:17
is that I was compelled to finish this case.
28:20
I wanted to see it through to the end, to some kind of
28:23
conclusion. By this time, Jackie's nearby
28:26
neighbors had experienced some activity themselves, which only
28:30
began to take place after her arrival.
28:33
One incident that happened was that several of her neighbors
28:37
were moving a new television into their home.
28:40
When the face of an old man with evil eyes materialized in the
28:44
screen, it was seen by both husband and wife moving it.
28:49
Ward had slowly gotten around after this. 9 Some of the
28:52
teenage neighbors in the area noticed that there was an
28:55
unfamiliar van parked outside of Jackie's house, and after
28:59
knocking on the door and getting the info as to what was
29:02
happening, the two teens left and quickly came back with a
29:06
Ouija board hoping to assist. Given the time spent coming up,
29:12
the desire to make contact and to try and gain some sort of a
29:15
resolution, and that it was a full moon on Friday the 13th,
29:20
the crew thought that perhaps this was their best and only
29:23
opportunity to contact whatever this thing was and to try and
29:28
elicit a response. And a response they would get.
29:32
As they placed the board upon a table that all of them could sit
29:35
around, the atmosphere was icy cold.
29:39
At first nothing happened, the board sat there idle.
29:43
But within minutes the entire table began to violently shake.
29:49
The planchette began to move around the board and answer
29:52
questions so quickly that all they could do was write down
29:56
letters to try and decipher what it said.
29:59
The candles around them flickered as if there were
30:03
people running in the room creating some kind of vortex.
30:07
They asked us who the entity was and it told them.
30:11
It said it was a man who had been murdered, held underwater,
30:16
and drowned in San Francisco Bay in the year 1930.
30:21
They asked how many spirits walk the earth.
30:24
It replied with Phantoms fill the skies around you.
30:29
Jeff then asked it why are you targeting me?
30:32
Why do you hate me? It replied with You have the
30:36
likeness of my killer. They then asked, who in this
30:40
room do you harbor hatred for? The board then spelled out Jeff.
30:46
Within seconds, Jeff himself was picked up multiple feet into the
30:51
air and thrown into the wall behind his chair.
30:55
This violence concluded the session.
30:57
Jeff would come two minutes later with an injured back and
31:01
everyone would soon exit the trailer to try and make sense of
31:05
the ordeal. When day broke, it was if the
31:08
presence was weakened or went back into hiding within the
31:12
darkness. Days after the unearthly
31:15
encounter, Berry decided to take the information that he had
31:18
gained and visit The News Pilot, the local newspaper there in San
31:23
Pedro, to look through old articles to see if he could
31:26
verify what the spectre had told them.
31:29
He soon found an article dating back to March 25th of 1930 where
31:34
the body of a man named Herman Hendrickson had been discovered.
31:38
His body had washed up in San Francisco Bay.
31:42
Police believed he had been a victim of foul play due to a
31:46
compound fracture in his skull, but due to a lack of evidence,
31:50
his death would ultimately be ruled accidental.
31:54
Herman Hendrickson was a seaman who worked upon a lumber company
31:58
vessel known as the Astoria. Feeling compelled that he was on
32:02
to something, Barry then took photos of the cord that have
32:06
been tied around Jeff's neck in San Pedro to the local docks to
32:09
ask around. Upon speaking to an elderly and
32:13
career fisherman, he was told that the knot was a bowline
32:17
knot, a very common knot that had been used on the seas for
32:21
hundreds of years. It was as common now as it would
32:24
have been in the 1930s and prior, and that whoever had tied
32:28
it had been connected with the ocean in their profession.
32:32
Given the resurgence of the supernatural in her new home,
32:36
Jackie's patience was paper thin.
32:38
She decided once again to move in June of 1990 and hopes of
32:42
leaving the entity behind for good.
32:45
She would relocate back to San Pedro and move into a small
32:48
apartment home on 7th St. Not wanting to take any chances,
32:53
she had a local priest come in and bless her home before she
32:57
and her family would live there. But again, horrifically, it had
33:01
moved with her from the very first night.
33:04
The same phenomena began to rear its ugly head again.
33:08
From lights flickering, objects moving on their own, and balls
33:12
of light materializing and moving throughout the room,
33:16
Jackie was once again plagued by an ethereal force.
33:21
She wasn't the only one. Every time the guys would return
33:25
from a separate investigation, a photography shoot, or anything
33:29
in between, they too were met with odd happenings.
33:34
The first, and one of the more worrisome things to happen was
33:38
that their gas burners in their apartment began to turn
33:41
themselves on and ignite. Following this continuous show
33:46
of power, it began to rearrange and move objects such as
33:50
photographs. It then began to scale in
33:53
intensity in the weeks to come as an unseen force broke
33:57
multiple windows and began to place furniture upside down.
34:02
It would eventually reach a crescendo, a blitz of violin and
34:06
vulgar displays. About 50 different items were
34:10
moved, with Gary from the previous investigation also
34:13
being present alongside Jeff and Barry as witnesses in the middle
34:18
of the action. In an effort to communicate once
34:21
again, a letter and pen was placed in the middle of the
34:25
stove at approximately 3:58 AM, only to have the burners be
34:30
turned on by themselves and the letter moved and ignited within
34:35
5 minutes. Whatever the entity was wanted
34:39
them to know that it was there and that no one's home was
34:42
sacred, and whatever doubt that was once present had now been
34:46
extinguished. When the case initially began in
34:52
1989, no one could have predicted the longevity and
34:56
persistence of the paranormal phenomena that was to take place
35:01
and just how many people it would affect.
35:03
Today, Jackie Hernandez still experiences minor bouts of
35:07
spirit activity. The things have long since
35:10
calmed down, from the days of 1989 and through the 1990s.
35:16
Thankfully for her, now she's able to exhibit a relatively
35:19
normal life, although her fear of what could be lurking in the
35:23
darkness still sits in the back of her mind.
35:27
But before we go, I do have some questions about the case, some
35:32
that you may be asking yourself. But ultimately, although I will
35:36
propose these questions, the conclusion is yours to make.
35:41
Just what caused the spirit to haunt the home in which Jackie
35:44
found herself in San Pedro? If it truly was a drowned and
35:48
tormented soul who harbored hatred as it claimed to be, why
35:53
would it find a residence over 400 miles away to haunt?
35:56
And why would it pick Jackie of all people?
36:00
Or could it have been anyone at that specific time and in that
36:03
specific place? Could it have been the fact that
36:06
she was vulnerable or something else?
36:09
She also claimed to have never opened any sort of doors or
36:13
dabbled in any sort of a cult activity.
36:16
Although most of the time that is the way these entities find
36:19
their way into our world. But perhaps later on when they
36:24
asked and received their answers via Ouija board and the Weldon
36:28
home, maybe they allowed the spirit to become more present,
36:32
although it bothered other people like the friends and
36:34
neighbors of Jackie and followed Jackie to multiple residences.
36:39
Perhaps it was strengthened through this process,
36:41
considering for a time the manifestation seemed to become
36:45
stronger. Although many people consult a
36:47
religious leader like a priest to try and cleanse a home or rid
36:52
themselves of these kinds of entities, why didn't that work
36:55
when Jackie moved into the final apartment on 7th St.
36:59
Could the entity have perhaps attached itself to her?
37:03
Or, and although there is no evidence to support this, could
37:07
her husband or relative unhappy with the divorce have placed
37:12
some kind of hex or curse upon her?
37:15
Just some food for thought as to how she found herself in this
37:19
position. One of the more uncommon traits
37:22
of this haunting, and one that still baffles me and others
37:25
alike, was how was human blood plasma able to seep from various
37:29
areas within the house, and just whose plasma was it?
37:34
I've yet to find another case where this has happened to me.
37:38
It's absolutely bizarre. But then again, these aren't
37:41
normal things that we're dealing with.
37:44
These events are supernatural, so therefore what doesn't make
37:48
sense to me perhaps makes sense in the grand scheme of things.
37:53
And lastly, was it even a human spirit at all, or could it have
37:57
been something from the demonic realm?
38:00
Considering the knocks, especially in the trailer home,
38:04
came in threes, this is usually indicative of the demonic.
38:09
Not to mention the manifestations of power and the
38:12
clear, violent and malicious intent.
38:15
Along with these many questions, we still find ourselves with
38:19
even fewer answers than we'd like to when it comes to this
38:23
now infamous case known as the San Pedro Haunting.
38:27
But a few things are for certain.
38:30
These things do exist, whether you believe based on what you've
38:34
seen or learned, or you're a hardened skeptic.
38:37
Sometimes it takes the other world staring at you directly in
38:41
the face to convince you otherwise, and your fear, your
38:45
vulnerability, can attract and feed the things that go bump in
38:50
the night. And perhaps fear of the unknown
38:54
is a well placed fear indeed. As of 1993, Jackie had reported
39:03
that paranormal incidents had dwindled to only occasional
39:07
minor oddities, nothing like the fury of before, essentially
39:12
indicating that she was no longer living in constant fear.
39:16
However, the psychological scars remained.
39:19
Jackie admitted that she was more scared of dying than she
39:22
was before, haunted by the idea that the spirit she encountered
39:26
were living in hell and that such a fate might await others
39:30
after death. Paradoxically, she also felt a
39:34
strange gratitude for having witnessed something so
39:37
extraordinary first hand. Saying that, in hindsight, I
39:41
think it was fortunate to see and experience something that
39:44
most people never get to. Her children, fortunately, were
39:48
young enough that they were largely unharmed by the ordeal.
39:51
Samantha remembered nothing of it, and while Jamie had a
39:55
lingering fear of sleeping alone in one incident of being
39:58
levitated or thrown against a wall.
40:01
He was otherwise fine as he grew older.
40:04
Jackie's close friendship with her babysitter, Christina, did
40:07
not survive the trauma. Christina found the events so
40:10
disturbing that she became deeply religious afterward and
40:13
preferred not to speak about the haunting at all.
40:16
She observed that Jackie was never truly the same, following
40:20
the events describing her friend by 1993 as jumpy, overreactive
40:25
to everything, and struggling with what sounded like chronic
40:28
anxiety. The two women drifted apart once
40:31
the daily battle with the supernatural was over.
40:34
The haunting, it seemed, was the only true thing that they had in
40:38
common. Meanwhile, the San Pedro
40:40
bungalow itself did not quietly fade back into obscurity.
40:44
In 1996 and 97, Jackie, Barry Conrad and Doctor Taft returned
40:50
with ATV crew from the program Strange Universe, a 90s
40:54
paranormal investigation show, to film a retrospective.
40:58
They interviewed the new property owners, who revealed
41:01
that subsequent tenants also reported eerie phenomena in the
41:04
house. In fact, the owner said that the
41:07
longest any renter had stayed after Jackie was about 6 months.
41:11
People kept moving out due to disturbances tenants had
41:15
experienced, flying objects or objects moving on their own, the
41:19
sound of disembodied voices, and unseen forces that sometimes
41:24
pushed or attacked them, much like what Jackie had described
41:29
During The Strange Universe filming, the crew themselves
41:32
heard loud knocks and thuds from the attic, and their modern
41:35
audio and visual equipment repeatedly malfunctioned inside
41:39
the house. However, the same equipment
41:42
worked fine outside. This was striking confirmation
41:46
that something unexplained still lingered at the old bungalow
41:49
years later. Even late as 2008, there were
41:53
reports among neighbors that the house was still haunted,
41:57
suggesting that the legend had only grown with time.
42:01
Today, the San Pedro haunting has cemented its place in local
42:04
lore. The case is sometimes referred
42:07
to as the Hernandez Poltergeist House, and it's cited as one of
42:11
the most intense hauntings ever recorded on the West Coast.
42:16
The San Pedro haunting stands out not only for its high
42:19
strangeness, but also because it sits at the crossroads of
42:23
multiple theories and paranormal research.
42:26
Was it a genuine ghostly infestation or a case of
42:30
reoccurrence? Spontaneous psychokinesis
42:33
centered on Jackie herself. Investigators on the case were
42:37
split on this question. Barry, Conrad and Jackie favored
42:41
the interpretation that external spirits were at work,
42:44
specifically the ghost of Herman Hendrickson as the malevolent
42:48
force and possibly John Damon as the benign source.
42:53
They had historical data, Hendrickson's death and Damon's
42:56
grave, and the subjective Ouija board communications supporting
43:00
the idea of actual entities seeking attention or revenge.
43:05
Doctor Barry Taff, on the other hand, leaned toward a different
43:08
explanation. He believed that Jackie herself
43:11
might have unknowingly caused the phenomena via psychokinesis
43:15
or PK, triggered by her emotional turmoil.
43:19
Taff noted that the disturbances began during extremely stressful
43:23
period in Jackie's life amidst a separation of pregnancy and
43:28
single parenting, and seemed to diminish as her life settled
43:32
down, a pattern consistent with many poltergeist studied
43:36
scientifically. In his view, a living person
43:40
subconscious mind could project energy that produces physical
43:43
effects such as knocks, object movements, apparitions, and much
43:49
more. Jackie may have been the initial
43:51
agent of this PK and the effect may have spread to others like
43:56
Jeff, Conrad or Tina as they became entangled in the case.
44:02
The San Pedro Haunting remains a remarkable case study and
44:06
paranormal research. The case encompassed everything
44:10
from traditional ghostly apparitions to poltergeist like
44:14
kinetic activity and even hints of demonic oppression or what
44:18
some may call obsession. But despite being deeply
44:22
frightening, it provided a wealth of evidence that
44:25
researchers still analyze and debate to this day.
44:29
In the end, whatever forces were at work gradually subsided,
44:34
allowing those involved to return to a relatively normal
44:37
life. Jackie Hernandez survived her
44:40
ordeal and moved on, but the story of what she and others
44:44
endured continues to intrigue and spook new generations.
44:49
But yet, to this day, over 30 years later, there is still no
44:53
consensus as to exactly what happened.
44:56
However, what is clear is that whatever did occur was
45:00
extraordinary, and that extraordinary thing happened to
45:04
a very ordinary person in San Pedro.
45:08
The case remains an open mystery that straddles the worlds of
45:12
believers and skeptics. As the Los Angeles Times
45:16
headline aptly put it, Jackie was followed by puzzling and
45:20
persistent ghosts. Whether those ghosts were
45:23
literal or figurative, they left behind a story that was as
45:27
chilling as it was fascinating that it truly is not a story for
45:33
the faint of heart. Thank you guys so much for
45:37
watching this latest episode. I truly apologize for the wait
45:41
as always. I've been sick for like a month.
45:45
It's been one thing after another.
45:46
It seemed like I had two upper respiratory type viruses and
45:50
then. Either had a flu like.
45:51
Bug or the flu itself? I'm not sure but I'm still kind
45:54
of coming out of that just now. But with that being said, I
45:58
really and truly appreciate your guys' support so much more than
46:01
you know. If you could do me a favor and
46:04
hit the like button, comment your thoughts below, subscribe
46:07
if you aren't already, and share this around if possible.
46:11
All that stuff helps me out tremendously.
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Please also consider grabbing a copy of one of my books from my
46:17
merch store shown on screen now and take advantage of the Black
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Friday and Cyber Monday sales both there.
46:24
And I'll also link it down in the description alongside the
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check out and grab some awesome headphones for yourselves.
46:34
I'm forever grateful guys, truly, and I will see you again
46:38
very soon with another brand new episode.
46:41
Until then, this has been Cody here at Mystery Archives.
46:45
Please stay safe out there and take care.