Rustic Roses, Sonora, California
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Sonora, California in Tuolumne County, near Yosemite National Park, was your typical gold rush town of 1849. But unlike other gold rush towns, Sonora was founded by Mexican miners, hence the name Sonora.
Also in the cultural mix were Chinese immigrants that arrived by the thousands during the height of the gold mining years. The Chinese helped build the railroads, worked in mining camps, and labored on farms and ranches.
And just as many Americans and Europeans arrived making many of the Chinese immigrants servants to the Englishmen. Eventually the Chinese were pushed out of Sonora, relocated 10 miles to the north, and settled in what would be called Chinese Camp.
The original names were Camp Washington and Washingtonville and it had its own zip code 95309. The Chinese Camp post office was established in the general store in 1854. Today the post office operates on a plot of land rented from a local resident. Chinese Camp is a California Historical Landmark #423, dedicated on March 4, 1949.
The region of Sonora suffered deadly fires, extreme violence, accidental deaths, and murders, making this area ripe for hauntings. That’s what drew me and Lingering Souls Paranormal to Sonora, California.
Lead Investigator/Empath, Cherie, previously scouted the area and found Ed and Mary Ann, the owners of Rustic Roses antique shop in downtown Sonora. And guess what? Yep, their place was haunted! It’s not your typical haunting that one would expect from an antique shop.
This shop sits on top of an old tunnel system used before prohibition. Back in its day of the gold rush, the tunnel was actually an opium den and where most of the Chinese immigrants lived during that era.
Many people died during the fires and from the living conditions of the time. Many of the bodies were never recovered from the fires and lay in the earth exposed by the tunnels. Bone fragments can be found everywhere under the stores that line the downtown area of Sonora.
We discovered that the souls lingering below are in mass and when they tried to communicate with us, it was too overwhelming, as they all tried to communicate at the same time. Our time underground was brief due to the overwhelming energy level that inundated us.
The Lingering Souls Paranormal Team loves to eat before investigating. And we found a great restaurant (Emberz) on the same street as Rustic Roses. That’s were my story begins…
Rustic Roses is located at: 7171 S. Washington St. Sonora, Ca. 95370. They are on Facebook.
Emberz Restaurant
The Tomahawk steak! Yes, it’s expensive. In a restaurant the price range can be $140 to $160 or higher. Buy it at your local butcher shop, $40 to $50 ish…
I always have mine medium rare! I didn’t finish it. I even shared it with others and I still had left overs. But, it was really good. I had no table manners when it came time to eat the meat off the bone! I devoured it in short order.
I didn’t even waste my time with the side dishes…I went straight for the kill!
Revive Coffee
Besides great coffee…they had a really good panini style chorizo burrito with cheese, potato, and egg in it.
Revive purchases and serves quality coffee that is grown certified organic or with Rainforest Alliance approved practices. In case you were wondering.
Historic Sonora Inn
Emberz and Revive are all within walking distance of the Historic Sonora Inn, where we stayed, which is also a haunted hotel!
The "Walk Through" of Rustic Roses
Part of our investigation includes doing a “walk through” of the entire building and/or property before the start of all our investigations. Typically done during daylight hours, it gives us the chance to look at the layout of the area for camera, lighting, and other equipment set up, as well as to give the team’s empath a chance to get a “sense” of each room or space.
Walk Through With Store Owner...Ed
Opium Den
Stones in the Wall
Under the Floor
The Investigation
Our investigation started with the secret under space of the main floor of the antique shop. In its day during the gold rush era prostitutes were forced to hide under ground, waiting, for a client to service. It’s unknown how long or how many days the women had to stay under the floor waiting for clients.
Lead Investigator/Empath, Cherie, crawled into this space with co-empath Mykensie. Cherie immediately felt sadness and even started to cry as the energy in this space expanded. This crawl space was small and you will get a sense of it in the following videos below as Cherie explains what she was feeling.
Rem Pod Session on Top of the Secret Floor Door
The Tunnel
The tunnel presented an interesting picture of the past. It showed when fires happened. It showed evidence of sediment from a stream/river of water created from run off by the gold miners. And it was littered with bone fragments, most likely human bones. It’s partially why this area is haunted.
The Opium Den
Opium smoking in the United States came when a large surge of Chinese arrived to participate in the California Gold Rush. The arrival port for those seeking gold was San Francisco. The city’s Chinatown became the site of numerous opium dens around 1850. This photograph (above) of one opium den in 19th-century San Francisco was taken by I.W. Taber in 1886.
The opium den under Rustic Roses is where Cherie became inundated with many spirits attempting to communicate with her all at the same time.
We are the first team to come in and investigate. And for the first time the other side had a source to communicate with, the team’s two empaths…Cherie and Mykensie.
In the video below you will see what happened to Cherie when she was overwhelmed by the energy in the room.
Lingering Souls Paranormal Empaths
We did not experience any demonic energy underground, but we did feel the overwhelming energy of many spirits! So many untold stories of individuals that lived and died in the underground, in the mines, in the fires, and throughout the town of Sonora. So many lost souls all wanting our attention at the same time. All wanting to tell their story.
It’s definitely a place we will come back to and continue to explore.
If you want more information about Lingering Souls Paranormal or Lingering Souls Paranormal-Nevada Chapter go to their website: http://lingeringsoulsparanormal.com
You can find LSP on Tik Tok, You Tube, Facebook, and Instagram.
All video footage is the property of Paul Tashiro.
See you next time on Foodie Booze Explorer…
Love the videos that allows us to feel some of what you are feeling.
Thanks Dave!
WOW! Those Spooks sure make you hungry and thirsty.😯😯😯
Lol thanks Kevin!