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Railroad crossing near Visalia rumored to be haunted
- Jul 06 2011
- 7
There are stories of a haunted railroad crossing in Tulare County, south of the city of Visalia. The railroad crossing is located where Avenue 271 turns into Santa Fe Avenue via two 90 degree turns. The tracks here don't receive much traffic anymore as the line seems to be abandoned now. Yet for whatever reason there seems to be several hauntings at this crossing.
It's said if you park your car on the tracks you can hear the sounds of a train passing by as well as the ghostly images of people walking towards your car. And when you try to start your car back up it seems to take longer for the engine to turn over, almost as if the battery is being drained by something else.
One some nights around 3:00 am a phantom train can be seen. The origin of this haunt is unclear but one can imagine that given the time of the sighting, a train may have derailed sometime early in the morning. It's also said a white figure can be seen walking the along the road next to the crossing late at night. Whether this figure is related to the ghost train is unknown.
It's unknown if any of these haunts are actually true. I did come across several witness accounts regarding the above stories, but whether they are fabricated or not is hard to say. But I wouldn't be surprised if there haven't been a few accidents at this crossing. The fact that there are two 90 degree turns within 250 feet of each other could lend credence to this. But it's hard to say. Haunted railroad crossings are some of my favorite stories and that there is yet another one in the Central Valley area I felt I had to share it.
7 Comment(s) for "Railroad crossing near Visalia rumored to be haunted"
I have seen several trains crossing Caldwell on their way to crossing Santa Fe (this crossing's roadbed was just refurbished and the Caldwell crossing was given considerable attention.) This trackage leads southward to a storage and prep. facility for fertilizer, then is cut, dead ending instead of proceeding south to Tulare, where it occupied the space now given to the Santa Fe Trail (for recreation).
The Track goes north across Santa Fe and switches onto the old Southern Pacific trackage renamed under various owners such as Visalia Railroad, etc. all of which were and are shortlines managed by larger railroads. The trackage for the old ATSF line was removed north of the Santa Fe crossing, but the graded trackbed and small trestles can be seen, along with various stumps of elecrical wires and old ground crossing equipment boxes at their intersections with Santa Fe.
Where the track crosses Santa Fe, the property it goes onto easterly was once the old Olive Plant for Lindsay Olives, complete with giant Oak Barrels (later replaced by poly barrels.
At the intersection of Tulare and Santa Fe, the Packing houses were kept busy (now replaced by office conversions), and the crossing was marked by Wig-Wags, which swung a heavy round white metal plate with a black cross painted on the circle, with a red light in the center. There was a loud bell which rang at the end of each swing cycle. The track continued down the middle of Santa Fe, crossing the freeway on an old steel bridge like the one the railroad uses today at Ben Maddox, and the tracks proceeded north down the middle of the street much like the embedded trackage that goes past the Times Delta building in Visalia.
The bottom line is - is that the old ATSF (Atchison-Topeka-Santa-Fe now called BNSF or Burlington Northern Santa Fe) trackage at the haunted intersection is still active, and you might very well meet a train there alive and well. If fond memories of old country AGribusiness friends long gone are friendly ghosts of the harvest night trains I used to hear loudly and frequently twilling along the tracks and echoing west of Pinkham, crossing Packwood creek and the flooded irrigated orchards for Walnuts and peaches and Almonds in the 1960's, then the hauntings might be many indeed....;}
But then what of the concession stands, novelty games, race track and roller coaster in Mooney's Grove - like lost statues, those wonderful old ghosts haunt me still....
Let's hope the line is actually abandoned now; otherwise, there may be some new accidents, or even new hauntings, if you park your car on a RR track!
Technically any car can be parked on a railroad crossing, but I think I know what you mean. Given the area I think it's safe to say it's abandoned or at least used very infrequently. Two crossings in Fresno that I have always wondered have had any activity are the ones at Palm & Dakota and the one over by Fresno City. Both have have several deaths occur there over the years.
Seriously?
Haunted?
"unknown if any of these haunts are actually true"?
Why am I flabbergasted?
Why is this a leading article on FF?
How about instead; Why is
Fresno mired in the Dark Ages?
Now please, everyone go and be scared of black cats,
ladders, numbers, colors, sounds, people who are
slightly different,
and of course, reason.
And don't forget to read your horoscope,
tea leaves, goat entrails, runes, and dragon bones
before you decide anything.
Oh, excuse me,
your great, great, great, great grandmother,
(who was a princess)
is sending me a message for you from
"the great beyond". . .
gotta go
@hart: Glad you liked the article.
weirdfresno on 07-08-2011 @ 17:24:28
reply
@hart: Glad you liked the article.
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Name: daltonmccleary
Website:lissage bresilien
I have been to this spot 4 or 5 times. it is creepy but not haunted. the noises people here are their car and I looked in different areas and seen nothing. It''s still fun to go with friends who dont know about it and freak them out though.