Brookdale Lodge

Tucked in the tiny, redwood-forested town of Brookdale in the Santa Cruz Mountains, this historic lodge dates back over 100 years and has hosted notable figures including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Herbert Hoover. The lodge is famed for its unique Brook Room restaurant with a creek running through the dining room, a see-through mermaid pool, and a reputation as one of the most haunted hotels in California. The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures filmed an episode here.

The Brookdale Lodge's dark history begins with its most famous ghost: a young blonde girl in a blue and white Sunday dress known as Sarah Logan. According to legend, she was the niece of Judge James Harvey Logan, who purchased the property in 1900 and converted it from the Grover Lumber Mill into a resort. Sarah allegedly drowned in Clear Creek around the early 1900s, and her spirit has been encountered throughout the lodge ever since. Guests consistently describe her the same way—blonde curly hair, white or blue dress—and she has been seen sitting on the fireplace in the lobby, running through the Fireside Room, and dashing along balconies. Most notably, she approaches guests asking for help finding her nanny before vanishing into thin air. However, skeptics note that no death record for Sarah Logan has ever been found, and the famous creek running through the dining room was not installed until Dr. F.K. Camp built the Brook Room in the 1920s.

The lodge's second major tragedy occurred in 1972 when a thirteen-year-old girl drowned in the indoor swimming pool, leading to the permanent closure of the Mermaid Room. The pool was drained, but the ghost of the unnamed teenager lingers. Guests have reported seeing her floating above where the water once was, her long brown hair flowing. Wet footprints appear around the bone-dry pool, and visitors experience cold spots and the sensation of being touched by unseen hands. The jukebox in the shuttered Mermaid Room turns itself on and off, and soft voices and clinking glasses echo from the empty space.

But Sarah and the pool girl are far from alone. In 1991, psychics told the owners that 49 spirits resided on the property. When renowned psychic Sylvia Browne visited, she identified more than sixty trapped souls. One spirit, known as George, is believed to be a lumberjack from the mill's early days—he's been encountered in the second-floor conference room and behind the lodge, slamming doors and stomping through empty halls.

The most intensely haunted location may be Room 46 (now numbered 2209 or 123, depending on renovations). A murder allegedly occurred in this motel wing room, and residents have reported extreme poltergeist activity: objects flying across the room at night, ghostly ballroom dancers swirling and leering, and disturbing apparitions including a young boy, a man with a dangling eye, and a figure with a knife wound across his face. One occupant felt someone sit on her bed and stroke her arm in the darkness.

The lodge's Prohibition-era past adds another layer of darkness. During the 1920s through 1940s, the secluded mountain resort became a haven for organized crime. Al Capone was reportedly a periodic visitor before his 1931 imprisonment at Alcatraz. Gangsters hid bootleg alcohol, drugs, money, and people on the property. A tunnel ran beneath Highway 9 connecting the lodge to wood cabins that served as a brothel. According to rumors, a secret room nicknamed the "Meat Locker" was built underground where victims could be murdered without their screams being heard. Bodies are said to be buried beneath the floorboards of the Brook Room—cement cylinders found under the dining room were allegedly used for bottle storage, but some believe they concealed darker secrets.

The paranormal activity is relentless throughout the property. In the Brook Room, visitors witness a ghostly woman walking across the creek as if supported by a bridge that was removed decades ago. Disembodied voices, clinking glasses, and the sounds of a dinner party emanate from the empty dining hall at night. A strong gardenia scent fills rooms despite no flowers being present. Guests staying in the main building report footsteps above their top-floor rooms and figures walking on elevated walkways that no longer exist. The drained pool has been seen full of water with a young girl swimming—only for the illusion to vanish moments later. Faint big band music plays in the Fireside Room late at night.

Ghost Adventures filmed here in 2012, and the lodge was featured in a 2003 episode of "Unexplained Mysteries" with Sylvia Browne titled "America's Most Haunted." Current owner Pravin Patel, who acquired the property in 2013, has heard the sounds of a little girl laughing and playing with other disembodied voices. When asked about performing an exorcism, he declined—the spirits have been here for over a century, and he believes nothing truly threatening haunts the lodge. The ghosts, it seems, are permanent residents.