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Probably just about everyone everywhere no matter where you live has heard an urban legend about your area.

Growing up in Torrance, Ca ours was Vanderlip Mansion.  Just outside of San Pedro in the hills of Palos Verdes stood the mansion. 

From grade school and through high school the stories of ghostly encounters swept through the hallways.  Kids going up and never coming out.  The lucky ones just happy to be alive ..... swearing never to return.

I was actually out of school when myself and three friends decided on a warm summer night with nothing better to do to go and see if we too could experience Vanderlip Mansion and its ghostly happenings.  Expecting to experience nothing, but coming out with a memory ..... a memory of fear.

Driving up the long driveway through a heavily wooded area we could see the large gate up ahead.  Will it be open?  I had heard that sometimes it was and others it wasn't  ..... this night it was.  Through the gate and on down the drive to the mansion.  It was dark ..... you could see its shape up ahead.  We stopped.  Mostly deciding amongst ourselves whether or not to continue. 

It was then we heard the dogs.  Seeing nothing.  Windows rolling upward.  Hearts pounding.  The strange barking all around us ...... yet no dogs to be seen.  It was at this moment we decided to turn around and leave.  We had heard of the dogs before.  And what we were experiencing was real.  With a few light screams of fear from myself and the other girl in the car ..... we left.  And have had no desire to return.

Why I thought about this earlier today, I don't know.  But I googled "Vanderlip Mansion" and this is what I got:


I have lived in the South Shores area of San Pedro, which is not to far from the PBC and Vanderlip Mansion, all of my life and have heard stories of the Vanderlip Mansion since I was about 5 lol. I have had several friends go there, all of them with stories they won't ever seem to forget, yet none of them have ever been inside the actual house. From my understanding the security is very much in effect due to kids constantly going up there before. I've heard several stories, but the most famous is this.

Frank Vanderlip a wealthy owner of land here in Palos Verdes went crazy and slaughtered his whole family and buried their remains out on a patio/stage type thing out in the front of the property (which I somewhat believe is true due to the fact that this is where most of the paranormal activity goes on). And as far as the story of his daughter falling in love with a slave, I've heard that was true as well, but his daughter was actually a cripple who was in a wheel chair, and after discovering this he slaughtered his daughter's lover and child.

This brings me to the most recent story I've heard from about a month or two ago. One of the girls I work with used to go there all the time, and she made a quick visit not to long ago. Apparently there is a gate not too far from the actual house itself with an open field. Her friend had to use the restroom so the two of them went down into this field (apparently where the old barn used to be) and immediately began hearing sounds of something squeaking almost as if a wheel chair were being moved through the dirt. She had shone her light on an area that had caught here eye down at the ground to see a pair of shoes, followed by two pant legs. As she moved the flashlight up the image seemed to fade out into a smoky type substance, and when she went back down to see the shoes they were gone.

I also heard another story of this field of two horses (almost statuesque if thats how you spell it lol), one large white one and a large brown one that seem to disappear into nothing?

Also, as far as the slaughtering of Vanderlips dogs, the rumor is that he took out their voice boxes and they still roam the property so they catch any intruders that lurk by, but from what I've heard this is actually a trick the police have used in recent attempts to stop trespassers, but it still is creepy to hear these dogs rustling around in the brush.

***I will interject here that this was written in 2007, June.  Our experience was probably in about 1977, so whether or not the dogs barking (it was a quiet raspy bark) was a trick by police back then, who knows, or even if it is today ..... I don't know.  But this was the first I had heard of that.***

Best way to probably get in to Vanderlips is just to wait for someone else to enter the gate and follow behind, the area itself is very trippy from what I've heard, something almost out of a horror movie, and not anything like the rest of Palos Verdes at all. If anyone knows the gate password, or any other stories of Vanderlips I'd definitely be interested to hear.


Another encounter ..... this one from 1987.


I LIVE IN SOUTH BAY AREA ALSO, BACK WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL (1987) I WENT TO VANDERLIP WITH A BUNCH OF FRIENDS (5 OF US). WE DROVE UP TO THE ROAD TO THE GATE, THEN WE WALKED DOWN THE TRAIL TO THE MAIN HOUSE, WHICH HAD A 6 FOOT FENCE AROUND IT BACK THEN, AS SOON AS WE GOT THERE WE HEARD THE DOGS BARKING. BRENT HAD BROUGHT SOME STEAKS AND A CHICKEN FOR THE DOGS AND TOLD US TO RUN TOWARDS THE BACK WHILE HITTING THE GATE AND WHEN WE THOUGHT THE DOGS WERE ALL THERE TO THROW THE MEAT OVER THE FENCE. WE DID WHAT HE SAID, AND WHEN THE DOGS WENT TO THE BACK, MY PSYCHO FRIENDS BRENT AND JERRY BOTH WENT OVER THE FENCE AND UP TO THE HOUSE. IT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER WAITING FOR THEM, WE COULDN'T REALLY SEE MUCH FROM THE FOG. BUT WE DID SEE THEM GO IN. JERRY HAD A TAPE RECORDER WITH HIM, BACK THEN WE DIDN'T HAVE DIGITAL PHONES, CAMERAS, ETC.. AND THIS IS WHAT THEY SAW.....

THEY SAID WHEN THEY WENT IN THERE WERE STAIRS THAT WENT TO THE 2ND LEVEL AND THERE WAS A ROOM TO THE RIGHT, AND A SMALLER ONE TO THE LEFT. THEY SAID THAT AS THEY STEPPED INTO THE HOUSE THEY COULD HEAR US YELLING OUTSIDE, BUT AS SOON AS THE STEPPED INSIDE COMPLETELY THEY DID NOT HEAR US ANY MORE.
(ON THE TAPE YOU COULD HEAR JERRY SAYING "OH SH*T" OVER AND OVER.) BRENT HAD THE FLASHLIGHT AND HE SAID THAT HE SAW A SHADOW BESIDE THEM GO TOWARDS THE STAIRS. JERRY WANTED TO LEAVE BUT BRENT WENT TOWARDS THE STAIRWAY. BRENT WENT UP THE STAIRS, JERRY STAYED AT THE BOTTOM. WE WERE OUTSIDE AND COULD SEE JERRY BY THE DOOR, WE YELLED TO HIM TO GET OUT BECAUSE WE THOUGHT THE DOGS WERE COMING. HE TOLD US HE NEVER HEARD US. JERRY SAID THAT THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE STARTED GETTING COLDER AND FOGGY, HE CALLED BRENT THEN WENT UP THE STAIRS, HE SAID HE COULD SEE LIGHT MOVING AROUND IN THE ROOM TO HIS LEFT. HE THOUGHT IT WAS BRENT'S FLASHLIGHT. HE WAS CALLING BRENT'S NAME AND ON THE TAPE IT GET' S FUZZY/STATIC WHEN HE WAS DOING THIS. JERRY SAID THAT AS SOON AS HE STEPPED IN THE ROOM, THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT AND HE ALMOST FAINTED. HE SAID THE ROOM GOT DARK AND HE COULDN'T SEE NOTHING. HE WAS SCREAMING AND CRYING AT THE SAME TIME.

BRENT SAID HE WASN'T EVER IN THAT ROOM. HE WENT IN THE ROOM TO THE RIGHT. HE SAID THAT HE DIDN'T EVEN HEAR JERRY COME UP THE STAIRS. HE SAID THAT HIS FLASHLIGHT STARTED DIEING OUT AND THAT'S WHEN HE WAS HEADING BACK TO GO DOWNSTAIRS. JUST BEFORE HE GOT TO THE DOOR , HE SAID HE FELT THIS HEAVY COLD BREEZE/WIND GO RIGHT NEXT TO HIM AND THAT HE SAW THE DOOR SHUTTING AND HE RAN AND STUCK THE FLASHLIGHT IN THE DOORWAY. HE SAID RIGHT AFTER HE HEARD LIKE A LAUGH AND THEN HEARD THE DOOR WHERE JERRY WAS SLAM, AND HE HEARD THE FRONT DOOR SLAM. BRENT SAID HE ALMOST mad HIS PANTS BECAUSE WHEN HE RAN TOWARDS JERRY HE SAW THIS BIG MASS OF BLACK WHATEVER IT WAS GLIDE DOWN THE LAST STEPS OF THE STAIRS AND THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR. HE WENT TO JERRY'S DOOR AND HE SAID AT FIRST HE COULD NOT OPEN IT. AFTER A FEW SECONDS THE DOOR SUDDENLY OPENED EASILY. BRENT SAID THAT JERRY COULDN'T MOVE. HE LOOKED TRAUMATIZED AND SCARED BUT DID NOT RUN. BRENT HAD TO PULL JERRY'S SWEATER BEFORE HE BEGAN TO RUN. THEN THEY FLEW OUT OF THE HOUSE.

FROM THE OUTSIDE ALL WE SAW WAS THEM GO IN, JERRY BY THE DOOR, THEN THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT, WE ALMOST LOST IT OURSELVES. MY FRIEND CRISTINE STARTED CRYING, AND BRIAN WAS IN PANIC. I WAS FELLING LIKE IT WAS ALL HAPPENING IN SLOW MOTION. THEN WHEN WE FINALLY SAW THE DOOR OPEN, WE HEARD THE DOGS. WE YELLED FOR THEM TO HURRY, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME WE STARTED RUNNING TOWARDS THE CAR. WE FINALLY GOT TO THE CAR AND WE THOUGHT WE WERE SAFE BUT WE COULD HEAR THE DOGS STILL COMING. THEY WERE GETTING CLOSER. WE GOT IN THE CAR AND I DON'T REMEMBER HOW WE GOT OUT OF THERE. ALL I REMEMBER AFTER THAT WAS FEELING MY HEART IN MY THROAT.

I AM 36 YRS OLD NOW, AND I REMEMBER THIS LIKE IT WAS LAST NIGHT!.. THIS IS THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS PLACE AND THIS I PUT THIS ON MY SON.


This all just makes me want to go back and explore!  lol

Peace.  J.