Known for its amazing natural beauty, Yosemite National Park also has a darker side that is cloaked in myth and mystery. Some claim that the park’s peaceful lake, where a number of people are reported to have died, is haunted by their ghosts.
Come along with us as we explore the terrifying rumors and mysterious happenings that have drawn tourists to this haunted lake for years.
About Yosemite National Park
The breathtaking California national park, which covers an area of over 1,200 square miles, is home to many breathtaking views, some of which can only be attained by hiking some of the most treacherous terrain.
The park’s supernatural hazards can be just as terrifying as the natural ones, such as wild animals and raging torrents that border the hazardous routes.
Behind the breathtaking vistas of Yosemite come legends of ghostly encounters, bad spirits, and Bigfoot sightings.
Over the years, hikers and guests of the park’s historic Ahwahnee Hotel—which is rumored to have served as inspiration for some of the interior design of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”—have related stories of their paranormal encounters.
The park’s natural features are also the subject of myths; in particular, the legends surrounding Grouse Lake, one of the most haunting locations, have given new meaning to the phrase “hauntingly beautiful.”
There are rumors that the ghost of a little child who drowned haunts the isolated Grouse Lake
The journey to Grouse Lake is not for the faint of heart, just like the stories that surround it. Nestled in the southwest corner of Yosemite, the walk from the Bridalveil Creek Campground to the secluded lake is almost 20 miles round way.
After about five miles of paralleling Chilnualna Falls, the route breaks off and becomes a gently traveled path that leads to the isolated lake, which is ideal for ghost sightings.
Galen Clark, the first park ranger at Yosemite, is said to have encountered the area’s earliest known ghost in 1857 while strolling down this particular path.
Clark told locals in Ahwahnechee that he heard enigmatic noises around the lake, which at first he thought were the whimpers of a lost dog.
When he inquired about if they had lost a dog, the native people informed him that the noises were actually the agonized cries of a little boy who had drowned in the lake many years earlier, rather than the sounds of a dog.
According to folklore, the ghost calls out to the living, drawing them to the brink of Grouse Lake and pulling them down to meet his own death, as Clark wrote. Whether true or not, the eerie story is enough to discourage some hikers from venturing into the lake’s murky depths.
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Legend says a terrible spirit also hides in the mists of Bridalveil Falls
Not only is the eerie young boy ghost said to scare hikers away, but there are rumors of another ghost lurking in the mists of Bridalveil Falls, haunting the trail to Grouse Lake.
Known by the name Pohono, which means “evil wind,” this violent spirit is thought to have lured a Yosemite Valley native lady to her death.
According to legend, the woman fell down the dangerous falls below while searching for grass along the creek to weave baskets. She tripped on a mossy rock that Pohono had put.
Her death served as a warning to anybody walking too close to the menacing mists surrounding the river, even though her body was never located.
It is supposed that her soul is imprisoned by the falls until she seduces another unfortunate person to join her in their demise. This identical ghost story is attributed by another legend—which is purported to originate with the Paiute people—to a water nymph who lives in the falls.
There are more amiable ghost stories in Yosemite than just the ominous mists and floods. Numerous experiences with Mary Curry Tressider, the hotel’s former owner, have occurred at the Ahwahnee Hotel.
Visitors have claimed to see Mary’s spectral presence dancing in the shared area and to feel her tuck them in at night.
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