Tales from the Monsterey Boo Ascaryum

Then and now

Old buildings, historic industries, people who worked endless hours are ripe beginnings for ghost stories—and the Aquarium is no exception. Numerous staff, volunteers, and even visitors have said they’ve seen or experienced things they can’t explain. 

Many suspect the shenanigans are caused by ghosts of workers at the Hovden Cannery, the site on which the Aquarium now sits. Structural elements of the old cannery were purposely saved and incorporated into the new Aquarium building, such as the silo-like pump house outside near the Great Tide Pool.

Who knows what else was preserved?

The vault door

Early one morning a motion alarm sent Aquarium security officers to the area housing our vault. They found the vault door open but nobody inside or in the adjacent area.

Was the door opened from inside? Other cameras showed nobody in the area or inside the vault when the door opened. Was the door left open by mistake? Officers patrol the Aquarium throughout the night, and always check this specific door to make sure it is latched. It was reported secure each time it was checked that morning and the night before. 

This area is part of the original cannery and one of the oldest sections of the building. Some security officers think the vault door was opened by ghosts of old Hoven Cannery workers playing a trick.

The woman in black

Our security officers work around the clock, including during the aptly-named graveyard shift. Several have reported odd sights, eerie sounds, and hair-raising feelings during their late-night rounds.

Some reported the appearance—and sudden disappearance—of a woman in a black gown who haunts the Open Sea wing. On monitors inside the security office, one security officer saw her standing under the anchovy roundabout; another watched her glide by the huge Open Sea exhibit. When they went to investigate, she was nowhere to be found.

One officer’s encounter was too close. Walking through the Ocean Travelers gallery adjacent to the Open Sea exhibit, he passed a woman in a black gown sitting on a bench only a few feet away. She nodded, and he said “hello” and kept walking. He stopped abruptly a few steps later, thinking “Wait a minute!” but when he turned around, the woman had vanished.

Jingling keys

Security Manager Kevin Wright typically flips his keys over his finger as he walks, making a jingling sound that lets others know he’s nearby—especially during his rounds on graveyard shifts. 

Late one night, flipping his keys as usual, he crossed the bridge between the Ocean’s Edge and Open Sea wings. After just entering the Open Sea galleries he heard the bridge creak and instinctively turned to see who was coming across. Nobody. Puzzled, he stopped flipping his keys and could hear somebody and their keys jingling behind him. He slowed down and asked out loud, “How’s it going?” No answer, but the sound of jingling keys stopped. He turned on his flashlight. Nobody was behind him. 

He kept walking toward the Open Sea exhibit, once again flipping his keys. Rounding a corner, he again heard keys jingling behind him, but much closer this time. He spun around to see who was behind him, assuming it was somebody playing a joke. Nobody was there. He backtracked to the bridge, but never saw anyone. He called the security office to ask where the night crew was, only to be told that everyone was gone.  

At this point, the usually unflappable Kevin was “slightly creeped out'' and went back to the office. Absentmindedly he crossed back over the bridge. It creaked right behind him. He spun around and saw nothing—but this time a draft brushed past his arm. Kevin said he kept his flashlight on for the remainder of his rounds.

The napping ghost

Another night, Kevin saw someone in front of him while crossing the bridge to the Open Sea galleries. The silhouette made him think it was another officer on duty—a big and tall man named Essex who had a very distinctive walk. Kevin watched as the figure walked to the sardine roundabout and laid down on the carpet below. 

Bewildered, Kevin shouted out, “Essex, why are you taking a nap right there?” From about 15 feet behind Kevin, Essex replied, “What are you talking about?” Kevin spun around to see Essex walking behind him. When Kevin turned back toward the Open Sea wing, the napping person had disappeared.

Kevin called the Control Room to ask if anyone was doing rounds, but was told that person had already left for the night. Kevin shared what had just happened to him with Essex, who’s a firm believer in ghosts and supernatural events. Kevin said Essex laughed and said, “You’re on your own! I’m not going over there until the lights come on!” as he walked back to the security office.

Bubble, bubble... boiler trouble

Two different Aquarium employees said they experienced odd occurrences at the old steam boilers just inside the entrance. These large, two-story metal machines are historical artifacts from the sardine heyday of the Hovden Cannery.

One night, staff member Kristin Molle was helping set up for a sleepover event and sharing stories with her teen volunteers. The discussion came around to the nearby boilers and the rumors of ghostly goings-on at the Aquarium. Kristin reassured everyone that the boilers had behaved very well in the years she’s worked at the Aquarium.

But later that evening Kristin noticed that the huge metal door to one of the boilers was open! Kristin swears she can’t remember ever seeing that door open before. But then she rationalized to herself that it had probably been open all along and she only just noticed it because the group had been talking about haunted boilers.

A few days later Kristin was working at another sleepover. It was already nighttime, and dark and quiet inside the Aquarium as she talked to security staff near the boiler exhibit. She glanced up and noticed that the same boiler door was still slightly ajar. She told security her previous story and her theory that the door has probably been open all along. The security officer said the boiler doors aren’t kept open for any reason and definitely not opened and closed regularly.

She asked security if someone had climbed up to open the door as a joke. An officer assured her it’s neither easy nor safe to open those doors, and that no one would be allowed to climb on the historic structures to play pranks on other staff.

Maybe the prankster was related to an apparition seen by former Aquarium staff member Rachel Wong. She was setting out decorations for the Halloween Dance Party for members and stopped when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a person standing on the narrow, second-story landing of a boiler—where no one is allowed, or has access. When she fully turned around, the person vanished.

Rachel swears there was nothing at that location she would mistake for a person. No decorations, nothing. She’d worked at the Aquarium for seven years and said she’d never seen anything like that. She suspects the scary specter was the ghost of an old cannery worker, just going about his business tending to the boilers.

Visitors from other lands

The Open Sea’s anchovy roundabout is at the heart of another ghostly tale. Local author and historian Randall A. Reinstedt has written several books about haunted places around California, and especially the Central Coast: Ghost Notes and California Ghost Notes.

One chilling story involves a woman who visited the Aquarium with her husband and daughter in 1996, the debut year of the Outer Bay galleries, now known as the Open Sea. As the family marveled at the shimmering school of anchovies in the roundabout at the gallery entrance, the woman felt a hand on her shoulder, heard someone whisper in her ear, and felt breath on her hair. The voice was soft and foreign. Thinking it was another visitor, the woman turned around but saw no one except for her family, still watching the anchovy exhibit.

She realized they didn’t have the same experience, which unsettled her enough that she quickly went to the bookstore to feel safe around people—living ones, that is….

The man in the yellow plaid shirt

One employee was working at the former member entrance off Hovden Way when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Thinking it was a guest, she turned around but no one was there. This would happen repeatedly.

Once she caught a glimpse of a man’s hand resting on the desk that moved closer and closer until she saw not only the hand, but also an arm up to the elbow inside a yellow plaid shirt. The vision disappeared instantly when she turned around.

One day she’d had enough and—out loud—asked her ghostly guest to stop pestering her. The number of encounters dropped after that, but she said she’d always catch one glimpse of “the man in the yellow plaid shirt” every time she worked at that desk.

Footprints—and laughter—out of nowhere

Another officer had an unforgettable experience on foggy nights many years ago when the entrance was gated. Large, wet footprints would appear out of nowhere on the sidewalk outside the entrance. The footprints would always travel from the sidewalk underneath the locked gate before disappearing.

Another officer heard the laughter of children, as if they were running and playing somewhere—but in this case it was the middle of the night and in the basement.