Ghosts of Santa Barbara and the Ojai Valley

Evie Ybarra

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781625859495
• eBook ISBN: 9781439662786
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Stories of spirits, séances, and strange events in Southern California history—photos included! From the Chumash legends of the Dolphins and the Whispering Tree to the ghostly sightings at Sedgwick Reserve, hauntings abound here. In beautiful La Conchita, nightfall reveals dark secrets to anyone who will listen. Sightings of mysterious apparitions are common along Creek Road, considered one of the most haunted highways in California. In the 1800s, Summerland was home to spiritualists who held séances in the Big Yellow House. The Santa Barbara Mission is home to many specters, including the famous Franciscan monk said to roam the cemetery and gardens. Discover these stories and more with author Evie Ybarra as she explores the haunted side of history.

CHAPTER 6

SANTA BARBARA

FRANCESCHI HOUSE

Dr. Francesco Franceschi Fenzi (JD), a writer, horticulturist and environmentalist, arrived in Santa Barbara and purchased forty acres of land. The site was eight hundred feet above sea level and about two miles from the ocean. It was there that he established a botanical garden he named Montarioso, which means “airy mountain.” He had a two-story residence built that was surrounded in glass in order to enable him to view the ocean and the Channel Islands. He introduced hundreds of plants from around the world to Santa Barbara’s ideal Mediterranean climate. Dr. Franceschi introduced plants and trees to augment his new gardens, and they still thrive to this day. The drive leading up to Franceschi House is one of winding curves carved into the hillside of what is known as the Santa Barbara Riviera. The ocean views are breathtaking. Once you reach Franceschi Road, you turn right. Franceschi Park is on the left at 1501 Franceschi Road. Standing below the driveway and hillside is the majestic home that Mr. Franceschi built. Residents and tourists have seen lights turn on and off inside this vacant house and say that shadows are visible as they roam from room to room.

Gated entrance to Franceschi House and Franceschi Park. Robert G Jr.

Million-dollar view of the Channel Islands from Franceschi Park. Robert G Jr.

Westside view and entrance to Franceschi House. Robert G Jr.

THE STORY OF FLORENCE MAYBRICK AND JACK THE RIPPER

Did Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick really murder her husband, Jack Maybrick, by poisoning him? Was Jack the Jack the Ripper, as some have claimed? He was in the habit of taking arsenic and strychnine in combination because of his ailments. This was a practice he had become accustomed to following his bout with malaria. He had recovered from the disease, but not from its treatment. He was addicted to Fowler’s Medicine, a popular tonic at the time, which contained arsenic.

Florence Elizabeth Chandler was born in Mobile, Alabama, on September 3, 1862. She was the daughter of William George Chandler, a former mayor of Mobile and a partner in the banking firm of St. John Powers and Company. After his death, Florence’s mother married Baron Adolph von Roques, a cavalry officer in the German army. Florence met James Maybrick, a cotton merchant from Liverpool, while traveling to Britain with her mother on a cruise ship. It was a whirlwind romance and the nineteen-year-old girl spent most of her time with James, who was twenty-three years older than her. They made plans to get married and, on July 27, 1881, were wed at St. James Church in Piccadilly in London. They lived in Battlecrease House in Aigburth, a suburb of Liverpool. When she married James, Florence gave up her American citizenship.

James had not been honest with Florie, as she liked being called, for he already had several children from a mistress he continued seeing. The family experienced an economic slump, and James resigned from the Norfolk Cotton Exchange on August 22, 1884. Florie had already given birth to a son and, in 1886, had a daughter. The next year, Florie discovered that there had been another woman, Sarah Ann Robertson, in her husband’s life. Sarah had been wife number one. Later in 1887, Florie met Alfred Brierly, a cotton broker with whom she had an affair.

The Maybricks hosted many dinners and parties in Liverpool. During Florie’s marriage to James, they had two children. In 1887, finances were tight, and this placed a strain on the marriage, as did the fact that James had several mistresses—he had five children with one of the women. The Maybricks moved to Battlecrease House in Aigburth in 1888, but they continued having marital problems, despite sleeping in separate bedrooms. James continued with his gloomy disposition, drug addiction and hot temper. Florie suffered a black eye as a result of one of their arguments. James Maybrick became seriously ill on April 26, 1889. His health continued to deteriorate, and he saw his doctor for the last time on May 3. His health rapidly declined, and he passed away the night of May 11, 1889.

Michael Maybrick, James’s brother, came to Battlecrease House and took charge of all family matters after his brother passed away. He confined Florence to her room. She was already suspected of poisoning James.

The back of Franceschi House, showing the location of Florence Maybrick’s medallion (far right, bottom middle). Robert G Jr.

A commemorative plaque on the grounds of Franceschi Park. Robert G Jr.

These suspicions were based on rumor, not any clear evidence. But on May 14, she was arrested and charged with the crime. It was a horrible miscarriage of justice. She had purchased flypaper, but it was later determined that there was not sufficient arsenic on the flypaper to cause death. In spite of that, Florie was tried. After the jury deliberated for thirty-five minutes, she was found guilty. There was no system of appeal at that time. The trial was sensational, and she had supporters on both sides of the Atlantic, in the United States and in England. Robert Todd Lincoln, the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, appealed for her release. He appealed to Queen Victoria herself, but without success. Florie served a fifteen-year prison sentence and was released in 1904. The judge in Florie’s murder case, Justice Stephens, passed away in 1894 in an insane asylum.

She traveled to France to visit her mother, then she returned to America. She wrote her memoirs in a book, My Fifteen Lost Years (1904), and she traveled to various cities to speak about her ordeal and to sell her book. It was during her visit to New Jersey for a speaking engagement that Alden Freeman met Florie. They became friends.

In 1907, Britain’s Court of Criminal Appeal was introduced as a result of the Florence Maybrick case. She was responsible for prison reform, and it is this accomplishment that Alden Freeman incribed on the medallion Prison Reform dedicated to Florence Maybrick. Freeman paid for a small cottage to be built for Florie in Connecticut, and he had a monthly stipend paid to her of $150 a month until his death in 1937. Florie remained in Connecticut until her death on October 23, 1941.

JACK THE RIPPER AND THE DIARY

A diary was uncovered in 1992 written by Jack Maybrick. In it, he admits that he is Jack the Ripper.

There have been numerous “suspects” for the notorious killer. The murders occurred in the Whitechapel district in England between August 31 and November 9, 1888, always late at night. Then, for unknown reasons, the killings stopped. Each of the women murdered were mutilated and had their organs removed. The victims included Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols (August 31, 1888), Annie Chapman (September 8), Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes (both on September 30) and Mary Jane Kelly (November 9). Kelly, the last victim, was mutilated beyond recognition. To many Ripperologists, the case for Maybrick as the Ripper is a strong one, even without the diary. William D. Rubinstein, professor of modern history at the University of Wales, makes his case by explaining that James Maybrick lived alone in the center of the Ripper district and could come and go as needed. All five murders were committed on either a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. He also states that James Maybrick changed doctors on November 19, 1888—ten days after the last killing—to Dr. J. Drysdale, and he changed his treatment medications to homeopathic remedies. This helped him recover. In the diary, Maybrick wrote that he lost interest in further killings.

In Bruce Robinson’s book They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper, he makes the case that the Ripper was not James Maybrick, but his brother Michael Maybrick. This diary, known as “The Diary of Jack the Ripper,” surfaced in 1992, when Michael Barrett produced it. The diary describes the murders in detail and was written in three acts. Michael was a very popular singer and composer in the Victorian era. A song was written in 1887 titled “They All Love Jack” and published before the Ripper killings took place. The graffiti found on the wall at the scene of one of the murders, Robinson theorizes, is a message to Charles Warren, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, that the Ripper was a Freemason. The chief inspector, Donald Swanson, was a Freemason, as was Warren. Robinson states, “I believe that Michael Maybrick was a psychopath, with a hatred of women.…But I think the thing he hated almost more than women was authority, and Masonry fits very well in that authoritarian package, because every one who was in a position of authority was a Mason.” Robinson also believes that Michael Maybrick was responsible for the murder of his brother James. Michael gave evidence at Florence

Maybrick’s trial that helped to convict her. Robinson is certain that, by 1893, the authorities realized that Michael Maybrick was Jack the Ripper. In 1893, Michael disappeared from London society and resigned from his Masonic lodges and his clubs. He married his housekeeper, Laura Withers, and they went to live on the Isle of Wight.

ALDEN FREEMAN, THE MEDALLIONS AND GIANNI VERSACE

Philanthroper and wealthy East Coast social reformer Alden Freeman acquired the property Montarioso, known as Franceschi Park today, in 1926 from Dr. Franceschi’s son and had the house adorned with plaster medallions commemorating Franceschi and other great Italian immigrants and figures from American history. Freeman purchased the surrounding acreage and donated the house and park to the City of Santa Barbara in 1931 to serve as a monument to Dr. Franceschi. The city accepted Franceschi Park and Franceschi House during the Depression, but resources were scare, and the home was not maintained. The upkeep languished over the years. Today, the house is dilapidated and in disrepair. The Pearl Chase Society is attempting to rehabilitate the house by raising funds so that the City of Santa Barbara can hold off on its demolition.

Alden Freeman’s father was Joel Freeman, who was the treasurer of the Standard Oil Trust, known as Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. Joel left Alden an immense inheritance when he passed away. Therefore, Alden retired from his career as an architect and traveled all over the world. Because Alden was a direct descendant of John Alden of the Mayflower on his mother’s side, he had always had a genuine interest in history. Alden went to visit the Alcazar De Colon in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. This was built by Diego Columbus, Christopher Columbus’s son. It is recognized as the oldest residence in the Western Hemisphere.

An example of the medallions that Alden Freeman had commissioned for Franceschi House and for his villa in Florida. Robert G Jr.

In 1930, Alden commissioned a house built in the Mediterrane...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgement
• Introduction
• Chapter1
• Chapter2
• Chapter3
• Chapter4
• Chapter5
• Chapter6
• Bibiliography
• Glossary
• About the Authors