Monterey Peninsula in California: Pebble Beach, ghost trees and the ghost of a Lady in Lace ~
3 min read
Pebble Beach was the original name of the rocky cove located on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula in California. The owners of the near-by Hotel Del Monte purchased the cove and surrounding area and constructed a scenic drive throughout the property. The drive was 17-miles long (about 27 kilometers) with the Hotel being both the starting and finishing point for any excursion.
Today, the Monterey Peninsula is home to eight public and private 18-hole golf courses.
In the area, there are also haunting and beautiful trees, but doomed to die: the area of Pescadero Point, is better known as Ghost Tree, and derives its name from the disturbing local cypress trees. This area, in fact, call to mind paranormal entities like ghosts and witches.
In reality, it is a blight of beetles, and foresters predict that, over the next 20 years, will kill most of the pines and cypresses in California.
So, it seems that the few still living cypress trees will soon join their ghostly brothers.
Over the years, there have been many sightings of a beautiful lone “Lady in Lace” walking barefoot along the 17-mile drive, specifically, and most often, in the area of Pescadero Point near to the Ghost Tree. It is usually on dark, foggy nights that she has frightened many a motorist who, when swerving to miss her, have found that she instantly disappears just as their car would hit her.
The “Lady” is a large part of the area’s local stories especially in the small cafes and quaint quiet towns around the Peninsula.
She could be Dona Maria, who once owned much of what is now the area of Pebble Beach, and according to some account, perhaps the Lady in Lace is just surveying her vast property. However, as more sightings are made, others continue to speculate about the unknown lady’s identity.
Some people who have seen her think she is wearing a wedding dress, and her sadness leads people to speculate that she is a desperate bride wandering for all eternity.
There is, however, another less ethereal and more rational explanation: these are just optical illusions created by fog and refracted light!
More recently, in 2007, a popular surfer is drowned near the Ghost Tree while attempting to paddle into the massive waves. The huge wave and the entire surfing area has now become known as Ghost Tree, and when locals catch a good wave there, they often remark something like “The Ghost Tree is with us today.”
The Ghost Tree is often confused with one of the most photographed tree in the world, the Lone Cypress, which is located a few paces down the road and it is the official symbol of Pebble Beach. Unfortunately, the Lone Cypress is mostly made of cement today. Fortunately, Pebble Beach has put up wooden markers to designate which is which, and a guide book if you go to Pebble Beach that calls out all points of interest aren’t absolutely useless…..
