Post by auntym on Aug 30, 2012 11:57:48 GMT -6
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Tree removal brings Monterey ghost story to life[/color]
Removal stirs up stories of haunted adobe
By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 08/23/2012
The remains of the cypress tree in front of the Soto Adobe in Monterey. (VERN FISHER/The Herald)
The removal of a century-plus-old cypress tree next to a historic Monterey adobe earlier this month has stirred up the legend of a little boy's ghost haunting the house.
The tree was taken down to its stump Aug. 11.
According to legend, it was planted as a sapling by Manuel Soto on the grave of his 3-year-old son in the front yard of the Lara-Soto Adobe at 460 Pierce St.
Gary Munsinger, who conducts "Ghost Walk of Old Monterey" tours of the city's historic adobes, said the one-story home was built by Soto and his wife, Doña Feliciana Lara, in the 1830s.
"They soon started their family with the birth of a baby boy," he said. "The baby was taken down to the San Carlos Cathedral, baptized as a Catholic, and returned home to live with his parents."
Legend has it that the child was malformed or suffered some sort of disability, and neighbors thought he might be a demon, Munsinger said.
When the toddler died, rather than bury the child in San Carlos Cemetery, Soto buried him in the front yard and planted the tree, Munsinger said.
"The action of burying the child in the front yard led to many rumors of the child's death and put a curse on the home which the Spanish/Mexican people knew as 'malpaso,' an evil path," he said.
"Because of the malpaso, the Lara-Soto Adobe was left abandoned and unkept. Drunks, squatters and outlaws used the adobe for short periods of time," Munsinger said.
Dennis Copeland, city historian and museum, arts and
archives manager, has heard a slightly different version of the story. "I have heard a story of a child of either the Sotos or Laras who didn't survive," he said.
He said he plans to research the baptismal records of San Carlos Cathedral. He said Lara had a nephew named Manual Soto.
Munsinger said tax records show no tax had been paid on the adobe property until 1940, when artist Josephine Blanche, curator at the old Del Monte Hotel, bought the adobe and renovated it.
Four years later, author John Steinbeck bought the adobe from Blanche, had a priest exorcise the building, and then moved in.
Munsinger said that while living there, Steinbeck wrote "The Pearl," a story about a Mexican couple losing their young son over a huge, apparently accursed pearl.
"He literally used the legend of the tree" for the story, Munsinger said.
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Tree removal brings Monterey ghost story to life[/color]
Removal stirs up stories of haunted adobe
By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 08/23/2012
The remains of the cypress tree in front of the Soto Adobe in Monterey. (VERN FISHER/The Herald)
The removal of a century-plus-old cypress tree next to a historic Monterey adobe earlier this month has stirred up the legend of a little boy's ghost haunting the house.
The tree was taken down to its stump Aug. 11.
According to legend, it was planted as a sapling by Manuel Soto on the grave of his 3-year-old son in the front yard of the Lara-Soto Adobe at 460 Pierce St.
Gary Munsinger, who conducts "Ghost Walk of Old Monterey" tours of the city's historic adobes, said the one-story home was built by Soto and his wife, Doña Feliciana Lara, in the 1830s.
"They soon started their family with the birth of a baby boy," he said. "The baby was taken down to the San Carlos Cathedral, baptized as a Catholic, and returned home to live with his parents."
Legend has it that the child was malformed or suffered some sort of disability, and neighbors thought he might be a demon, Munsinger said.
When the toddler died, rather than bury the child in San Carlos Cemetery, Soto buried him in the front yard and planted the tree, Munsinger said.
"The action of burying the child in the front yard led to many rumors of the child's death and put a curse on the home which the Spanish/Mexican people knew as 'malpaso,' an evil path," he said.
"Because of the malpaso, the Lara-Soto Adobe was left abandoned and unkept. Drunks, squatters and outlaws used the adobe for short periods of time," Munsinger said.
Dennis Copeland, city historian and museum, arts and
archives manager, has heard a slightly different version of the story. "I have heard a story of a child of either the Sotos or Laras who didn't survive," he said.
He said he plans to research the baptismal records of San Carlos Cathedral. He said Lara had a nephew named Manual Soto.
Munsinger said tax records show no tax had been paid on the adobe property until 1940, when artist Josephine Blanche, curator at the old Del Monte Hotel, bought the adobe and renovated it.
Four years later, author John Steinbeck bought the adobe from Blanche, had a priest exorcise the building, and then moved in.
Munsinger said that while living there, Steinbeck wrote "The Pearl," a story about a Mexican couple losing their young son over a huge, apparently accursed pearl.
"He literally used the legend of the tree" for the story, Munsinger said.
CONTINUE READING: www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_21387047?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+C2C-InTheNews+%28Feed+-+Coast+to+Coast+-+In+the+News%29