What makes California missions so haunted?
Richard Senate: Because so many of the native peoples died in them. Thousands died young. They were the scenes of battles as well. So much struggle and pain in them has left a psychic scar. When you visit some of the old missions, you can feel the heavy weight of the past lingering in these old buildings. Maybe its all the history they have witnessed or the layers of psychic energy they hold. They are really mysterious. Every one of the missions in California and the west has at least one ghost, many have more. Did any of the missions you investigate in your book have a La Llorona legend attached to it? Yes. But most didn’t. The story of the crying lady is a common Latino tale and oddly enough, though the missions have their share of LIW (Ladies in White) they do not fit the pattern of La Llorona as they have a face (they are not faceless as La Llorona is). Most of the mission ghosts are phantom padres with only a handful of Native Americans. Could it be that guilt is the reason the mo
