Gilded Murder
Description
Filled to the brim with scandal, murder, and historic characters ranging from Queen Victoria to Thomas Edison to Wyatt Earp, the history behind the Golden Gate Villa is nothing to scoff at. In 1907 Santa Cruz was served a salacious historic scandal resulting in a horrific tragedy...leaving the house rumored to be haunted in its wake.
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Episode Transcript: Available below the sources in the show notes
SOURCES:
Hello, and welcome to Crimes and Witch Demeanors, the paranormal podcast where we go beyond the Wikipedia page and delve into historic sources to find the truth behind your favorite ghostly tales. I’m your host and loveable librarian – Joshua Spellman.
Today we have a very exciting ghost story filled to the brim with scandal, murder, and historic characters ranging from Thomas Edison to Wyatt Earp the outlaw but even these prominent figure are obscured by today’s ghostly tale. Trust me, it’s juicy, and we have all the gossipy progressive-era tabloids to prove it. And boy, are some of these newspapers gorgeous, so make sure to check them out on the podcast Instagram.
Also thank you to everyone who purchased some merch from the shop! You are true bibli-ahh-graphers! If you want to support the podcast please go ahead and grab something for youself, crimesandwitchdemeanors.com link in the description!
So, anyway, you’re here for the salacious historic scandal and the modern haunts that resulted from it. So put on your sunnies, grab a parasol, we’re headed to Santa Cruz and learning the legend behind the Golden Gate Villa and the tragedy that transpired there…
Considered one of the most historically significant homes in all of California, Golden Gate villa is perched atop Santa Cruz’s historic Beach Hill neighborhood. It’s face is painted a buttery gold with a bright orchid trim; cheerful colors that belie it’s dark and twisted past.
Major Frank McLaughlin was born sometime around 1840. During his early career he served on the police force in Newark, New Jersey and developed a life-long friendship with esteemed inventor Thomas Edison. He fought with Union forces briefly during the Civil War, but his stint was brief and it’s unlikely this is where he earned his military title. Instead, it is thought he achieved it from his later activity with the California state militia.
McLaughlin became an engineer on the Pacific Railroad, helping to lay tracks across the plains and the Wild West. In the Wild West he earned quite the reputation, known as “one of the quickest men on the frontier” and was one of only a handful of men to ever challenge Wyatt Earp and live to tell the tale.
In 1877, McLaughlin returned to the East coast where he began to court a New Jersey widow by the name of Margaret Loomis. During this period Thomas Edison was developing the incandescent light bulb but ran into trouble finding a dependable source of platinum to use as filaments. Without this precious metal, he would not be able to market his invention.
McLaughlin suggested that Edison source from the Feather River in California, as McLaughlin heard that there had been a find there. Upon this suggestion, Edison commissioned McLaughlin to head out west and prospect for the mineral. Before he did so, McLaughlin married Margaret Loomis and adopted her young daughter Agnes.
Like with most of his endeavors, McLaughlin went all-in. It was said that he "never settled for the petite when the mammoth was available" and his exploits in Butte county were no exception. He soon earned the title “King of Feather” for his domination of the river where his sights quickly turned from platinum to gold. He soon began to make a fortune, but he was smart never to invest his own money – instead he organized companies he would manage giving himself a hefty salary.
During this time McLaughlin commissioned San Francisco architect Thomas J. Welsh to design a home for Margaret and Agnes to escape the brutal summer heat. McLaughlin instructed Welsh to "spare no expense in making Golden Gate Villa the showplace of Santa Cruz” – and that he did. The mansion was named the after Golden Gate Mining Company, which managed the operations back in Feather, and provided all the funds for his lavish home. Naturally, being friends with Thomas Edison, the home was outfitted with the newest luxury available – electricity.
The home was magnificent and the McLaughlin’s hosted many events including costume parties, magic shows, musicals, fireworks displays, and the first moving picture ever shown in Santa Cruz. Agnes became a figure of note in the local community and was pronounced as “indescribably pretty”, a “petite beauty with rose leaf complexion”, and as the “ideal American girl” by a number of publications. Perhaps it’s no wonder the focal piece of the Golden Gate Villa is a gigantic stained glass portrait of a young woman reaching to pick an apple blossomed branch. Rumour has it that McLaughlin cut some of Agnes’ hair to be mixed in with the color of the glass. Despite Agnes’s earthly beauty and love of parties and extravagance, she regularly attended mass with her dog…who she often sprayed with expensive cologne. Agnes had never married, though she almost did once. She was engaged to a man named Sam Rucker, and while the invitations to the ceremony were sent nothing ever came of it.
While the McLaughlin women lived in luxury in Santa Cruz, McLaughlin was busy with various endeavors: From olive orchards to orange groves, to a 9-mile tunnel at Big Bend, a 30-mile flume for the hydraulic mine, and funding development in the area, McLaughlin was quickly amassing a fortune. However, his biggest endeavor was to divert the water of the Feather so that gold could be mined from the river bed.
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