A Haunting Tour of Evergreen Cemetery Spooks Locals

A sunny morning at the Evergreen Cemetery was punctuated by goosebumps and hair-raising tales Saturday, in a free tour put on by the Musuem of Art and History. The tour revealed hidden stories about ghosts, murders and tragedies from the gravestones at the cemetery, which is built into the quiet and serene hillside behind Harvey West Park. 

The first person to be buried at the site was a 19-day-old baby, Julia Arcan, whose family lost her while crossing Death Valley in 1850. In fact, the Arcan family not only initiated the cemetery, they were also the first to name Death Valley.

Mary Jo May, a docent for the MAH, also told the bone-chilling story of the ghost of Arana Gulch, believed to be the spirit of Andrew Jack Sloan, a man who was shot dead in the gulch in 1865 by Jose Rodriguez and Faustino Lorenzana. The 39-year-old Sloan was living on 7th Avenue in Santa Cruz at the time he was murdered, and was riding his horse on old Soquel Road, coming back from having dinner in downtown Santa Cruz.

The Santa Cruz Daily Sentinel reported that his funeral was one of the largest in Santa Cruz history, and his death sparked racial tensions. 

The ghost of Arana Gulch is said to be a figure that floats among the trees in a long black jacket and broad brimmed hat, and was first reported by a woman and her daughter driving their buggy through Arana Gulch in 1895. The Santa Cruz Daily Sentinel even ran an article titled “Saw An Apparition” about this first encounter.

“Thomas A. Sweeney was one of the men to carry the body of Jack Sloan from the gulch and recognized the description of the apparition,” said May. 

Several sightings of Sloan’s ghost have been reported, always wearing the same heavy jacket and broad brimmed hat, and the most recent was reported by a young couple who lived in a new home in Arana Gulch, saying that Jack Sloan often floated across their deck on foggy nights. 

After a glimpse into Santa Cruz history, curious children and adults wandered through the five different sections of the cemetery making gravestone rubbings.  There is a Grand Army of the Republic section, where veterans of the Civil War are buried, as well as a Chinese section with a little stove where the deceased’s clothing and money were burned so that he or she would have them in the after life. 

“I grew up in Santa Cruz and we used to come here all the time as teenagers," said Alicia Doan. "We used to dare each other to see who could walk up this path the farthest at night, and I remember one night a homeless man walked out of the shadows and scared us all to death. It’s just always fascinated me.”

The scattered grave stones reach high up the hill and into the forest, and tour participants picked through them in quiet awe. 

“It’s very cool just to think about these people, who were they, what were their lives like...“ said Suzanne Zavala who walked around with her son, Nick.