Watsonville's Tuttle Mansion
The Tuttle Mansion was originally the residence of Morris B. Tuttle, whose family moved to California from Iowa in 1873. Tuttle hired famous architect William Weeks, who created several other notable houses in the Pajaro Valley, to design the home. In 1880 Morris Tuttle married Mary Ingles and in 1892 bought 30 acres outside of Watsonville. In 1899 the mansion was completed. Morris became a successful fruit grower and authority on horticulture and farming in the Pajaro Valley.
Over the years, the mansion has served as an apartment complex and been the home to several different businesses. The current owners’ parents bought the house in 1974.
Kathy and Jennifer Oliver, twin sisters who now run Oliver Property Management and an antique toy shop, are eager to share the house’s history and hauntings!
According to the Oliver sisters, there have been sightings of Morris Tuttle himself, looking out of the large second-story window where his apple orchards once were. His wife, Mary Tuttle, has been spotted toward the back of the house. Several people have claimed to have seen the apparition of a small boy, believed to be one of the Tuttle Family’s many children who died at a young age.
The Tuttle’s were well-to-do and powerful in the community, but their family history, including the house, is plagued with many bizarre and tragic events. A murder in the carriage house, a murder-suicide in one of the bedrooms, a boy falling down the property’s well to his death and various other incidents all lend many to believe the house has become a spiritual portal.
James Durbin
One incident involved a local celebrity named James Durbin. James is an American singer and guitarist from Santa Cruz, Ca. He finished 4th place on American Idol’s 10th season in 2011. He was also the lead singer for Quiet Riot from 2017 to 2019 and still resides in Santa Cruz County.
He and his family frequent my establishment at Miyuki Restaurant in Watsonville, Ca. which is how he ended up being a part of a paranormal investigation at the Tuttle Mansion in Watsonville.
James has had prior experience with the paranormal while performing across the nation at some of America’s most iconic concert venues, finding himself in haunted buildings as he toured. He shared his paranormal experiences with me at the restaurant, not really knowing my connection to the paranormal world. These conversations landed him inside the haunted Tuttle Mansion with me. What James experienced inside the mansion still affects him today.
James is a father of 3 children and has a close bond with his children. This connection to his children opened him up to connect with a female child spirit. At the time, we did not know who the child was or if it was even a child until further investigation into the history of the Tuttle family was learned months later.
Durbin had an experience while we sat inside the conference room of the Tuttle Mansion. Durbin related deeply to this child spirit due to him having his own children of similar ages.
What he experienced was amazing as he described a little girl and the sensation of her presence around him.
Video Clip 1
In the first video clip you hear the spirit box say the number 8! At the time, we did not know what that meant. In fact, we took a guess at everything but the age of 8.
Video Clip 2
In the second video James is experiencing the presence of a female child spirit. He had an overwhelming flood of emotions from the spirit. The spirit was attempting to tell him how she died, but the emotions were too much for James to be able to sort it out at that moment. To this day, he still has residual effects of her presence.
Video Clip 3
In the third video Cherie starts having an itching or burning sensation in her ear as she and James continued to decipher the girl’s presence in the room.
Historical Investigation
Months later I discovered an article written by Mari Porter! A person I have come to know over the past few years. Mari and I have worked on several paranormal projects together between 2021 and 2025.
A decade or more prior to our investigation, Mari and her team, Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters, conducted their own investigation at Tuttle Mansion and found information, confirmed by Newspaper.com, about a young girl who died on the property at age 8. This was long before I knew Mari and long before I knew about their investigation.
One of the worst known death’s was that of Irma Tuttle in 1918, at the age of 8, Irma accidently fell under a roller driven by her cousin out in the fields. The roller which weighed 1800 pounds, passed over Irma’s head and crushed her skull. It took 3 hours for Irma to die.
Conclusions
The Oliver sisters were unaware of Irma’s story. Mari Porter and Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters, despite the information they uncovered a decade ago, were unaware Irma was a lingering soul on the Tuttle property and mansion. Perhaps Irma purposely did not show herself to the Oliver sisters or Mari Porter, and was waiting for the right person to come along to make contact.
This is confirmation about video#1. The number 8 being heard from the spirit box was her age.
This is also confirmation about videos #2 and #3. Cherie experienced itching/burning in her ear and she continued to touch her ear throughout the video.
My personal experience with this phenomena: when I feel dull or sharp pain, burning/itching, or headaches to my head, it means the spirit died from some type of blunt trauma to the head. This was most likely when Irma was run over and had her skull crushed.
The spirit box said “you felt me!” confirms when James and Cherie were feeling the presence of who we now believe to be Irma.
James had the right chemistry as a father figure that drew Irma out of hiding to make contact with James! It was an amazing moment, not only for James, but for the rest of us watching it unfold in front of us.
Cherie and I have investigated Tuttle Mansion twice. There were many other incidents that took place during our investigations. Each spirit we encountered had a story to tell us. We hope to be able to tell you their stories in the near future.
Until next time on Haunted Foodie Traveler…
Sources and credit:
Oliver Property Management
Kathy Oliver
Historypin.com
Pajaronian newspaper: Johanna Miller, 2017
Newspaper.com
Mari Porter and Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters
