The haunting of Black Star Canyon

Ominous looking trees litter Black Star Canyon. Ernie Alonzo | Courtesy

On the surface, Black Star Canyon seems like your typical wilderness area in Orange County.

It has beautiful scenery, including a waterfall, a wide range of vegetation and wildlife and a hiking trail that spans 7 miles. However, the canyon has a history of tragedies that led some to believe the area is haunted.

For centuries, the Canyon was settled by the Tongva, Acjachemen, Payómkawichum, and Serrano people, primarily located in the village of Puhú at the base of Santiago Peak. However, an influx of Spanish, American and Mexican settlers in the early 1800s caused tension over the land and eventually turned deadly.

In 1832, a group of fur trappers led by William Wolfskill destroyed the village and murdered most of the population. A few decades later, in 1877, the Black Star Coal Company, which the canyon is named after, set up in the area and established a 900-foot tunnel at the mouth of the canyon.

While no recorded tragedies occurred during the mine’s operation, it still gained the reputation of being haunted by the spirits of the native americans who were massacred decades earlier, and folklore of a ghost that inhabits the mine, simply named “The Miner.”

During a particularly crime-filled time in the area’s history in 1899, farmer James M. Gregg was fatally shot at his ranch by brothers Henry and Thomas Hungerford. Despite eyewitness accounts, a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence, meaning James M. Gregg’s killers walked free, with some saying his ghost still haunts the area. Those are only the most documented incidents in the canyon, but the total amount of tragic events is unknown.

“I would say Black Star Canyon really started developing its reputation as a haunted location sometime during the 1970s and 1980,” said Ernie Alonzo, owner and creative director of Haunted Orange County. “The canyon was a popular place for local teenagers to hang out, often to drink or experiment with drugs. Over the years, stories began circulating about strange experiences and how creepy the canyon could feel after dark.”

Due to the canyon’s secluded location, Alonzo believes it’s a hotspot for cult activity when the sun sets.

“We’ve actually encountered things in the canyon that suggest some people have conducted rituals there,” Alozno said. “Just a few years ago, one of our tour guides, Joel Robinson, came across a pentagram that had been created using salt, with candles arranged around it. Stories about ritualistic activity in Black Star Canyon have been circulated since at least the 1980s”

Several years ago, while Alozno took photos for the company website, he heard a strange noise after dark.

“After walking approximately a mile into the canyon, I decided I had captured everything I needed and would head back to the parking area alone,” Alozno said. “That turned out to be a decision I regretted almost immediately.”

Alone in the dark with only a cellphone as a light source, he couldn’t shake that something was watching him.

“I kept looking over my shoulder, and I could hear noises coming from the surrounding brush,” he said.

While Alonzo thinks it could have been an animal, he doesn’t truly know what made the noise that night.

When you’re alone in a place like Black Star Canyon, your imagination can really get the best of you,” he said. “By the time I made it back, I had thoroughly frightened myself. I can tell you one thing: I won’t be making that walk alone again.”

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