This last weekend, we visited the Preston Castle, which was about 40 minutes down a country road from where we live. This huge Romanesque sandstone structure was completed in 1894 and housed boys for rehabilitation, rather than locking them up with adult inmates at San Quentin and Folsom Prison as young as 12 years old for minor crimes, as had been previously done. It became the Preston School of Industry. This was a place that was operated military-style and they worked the boys hard in areas, such as making shoes, masonry, and working in the fields. To learn more about it's history, visit
this page. We decided to take a tour, especially because I am fascinated by architecture and history. I encountered more than I had expected, though. I took far too many photos to include in this post, but I can offer a glimpse of what we saw.
Here are some shots of the building's outer extraordinary beauty.
And, as for the inside, it was a place of wonderful remains of what once was in the form of deteriorating rooms, unknown corridors, and mysterious staircases.....and perhaps the ghosts of so many boys that died there.....
Here we are in the infirmary, where there seems to be no odd activity, other than a slight orb in the top of the photo in front of the blue paint.
However, in another sect of this great room, there seems to be a lot more activity visible in the photograph.
Now, this is the ceiling of the "troubled" boys' dormitory, as they were separated from the smaller, more docile boys. I took several photos of the ceiling because this was the only original roof on the entire castle. It was beautiful and made of long-lasting redwood. The room was so dark, I kept trying to get a decent shot of the architecture above me. At one point, I noticed several specs, so I actually cleaned the lens, but this made no difference. Look at the floating lights and amoeba-like circles! This was a shot from when everyone in our tour group was in the room.
These shots below were taken moments after everyone left the room when I felt absolutely drawn to this place. I was the one who lingered behind through most of the tour. Look at how the activity increased!
This was after I exited the room and Dylan reentered.
This is the hall outside of the dorm, but there doesn't seem to be any activity in here....hmmm...strange.....
No activity here in a certainly dusty area.... hmmmm.....
Nothing much here, even when I am pointing the camera directly at the bright light of the windows (you know how sunlight can create little circles of light in your photo).
This was a little room down its own staircase with no activity happening. However, there is a room to the right of where I am standing that has its own staircase up to a wooden platform, and there was some definite weird stuff going on...........
This is that room next door. At first, I thought this occurrence was possibly because I was aiming the camera right at the window, but I took a photo of the other end of the room and there were still orbs present in the photo. This room was the second most saturated room. The boys dorm just felt cozy to me for some reason. But this room, I could feel pressure weighing heavily on my body, though I wasn't really creeped out at all.
This was the apartment of Mrs. Corbitt (I am not positive this was her exact name, but it is the one I will use in reference to her). She was a beloved teacher there at the facility and member of the small town nearby. I felt nothing in her sleeping quarters, but there was definitely something going on, where she was murdered in the basement. I will get to that in a moment.
Here, I was attempting to get a picture of Dylan running to Daddy, but I happened to capture a lot more in the shot than I had expected.
This staircase was pretty active......
This is right about where Mrs. Corbitt was killed. Story has it that she caught one of the wards molesting one of the boys and she was then bludgeoned to death here in the pantry next the the bakery and kitchen of the basement. Look at the bright light in front of the door trim.
As I stood here in front of her memorial, I saw something move quickly past my camera. But that was the only time I saw any movement with my naked eye. See how the orbs move from picture to picture. I stood there and took one after another.
This was from when I stepped back out of that room. Interesting.
In the open part of the basement, I took 2 pictures in a row right here, trying to capture a photo of my cute little fast-moving 3-year-old. But instead, I caught these orbs. However, in the next consecutive photo, they were gone.
This room in the basement was the only one that creeped me out a little. I didn't even see any orbs until I put this photo on my computer.
Huh..... still beats me why in some rooms there are transparent circles and in others there are none, regardless of how light or dark the room is.
So, as we were leaving the premises, this "house" was on the right. I believe this was where the agriculture boys stayed. It had it's own creepy essence.
Here is the barn behind the "estate".
And this back door has a lot of character, as well.
And to the left, was what appears to be the current caretaker's quarters because the garage has a brand new fridge and a washer and dryer inside. I just thought it looked like such a quaint little cottage.
And that is a condensed version of our day in photos at the famous Preston Castle. I am convinced there were many presences in there with us, but I am not trying to convince you. Let the photos tell the story. I have taken thousands of pictures on this very camera and I have never seen anything like it. Plus, one lady who was on our tour not only had the same occurrences in her photos, but she also experienced someone tugging her shirt and when she looked back, no one was behind her. Dust? Imagination? Ghosts? You decide...............
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