By Louise Jackson
The Sierra Nevada mountains are filled with tales of ghosts and spirits. Several prominent Tulare County citizens told stories of ghosts in the early days, and even John Muir had tales to tell of spirits that guided him in his mountain travels. But there is one local story that persists to this day. It seems there is still a ghost that resides halfway up Mineral King road at what is now called Mitchell Ranch, just below Oriole Creek.
The ghost wasn’t always there. After the two-story house was built by the Grunigen family in the late 1800s, it became the most popular way station on the Mineral King road, serving as a stopping point for travelers and teamsters. Alice Crowley remembered staying overnight there in the 1890s as a child.
Frieda, one of the Grunigen daughters, was at the top of a flight of weathered steps to greet the tired people climbing down from the horse-drawn stage. “She held a large home-made whisk broom to brush away the dust and grimy dirt of the day’s journey.” Alice remembered. The rooms had clean, starched white curtains fluttering at the windows. Three commodes sat in the room for convenience and large white bowls with pitchers full of water for washing up.
Meals were served at a long table in the dining room, surrounded by objects carved by John Grunigen who had been an artisan in Switzerland. Most amazing to young Alice was a beautiful Swiss clock Mr. Grunigen had made himself. Mrs. Grunigen was the cook, but all of her children helped prepare and serve it and, according to little Alice, it was delicious.
But the best [art of the evening was after dinner, when everyone gathered on the porch outside. “It overlooked the road and the Salt Creek Pinery nestled high upon the mountain side across the canyon. On the porch, hanging in the cooling breezes, were burlap-covered ollas, producing almost ice-cold drinking water.
“The soft evening breezes, which had changed their up-canyon day-time course, were now blowing down-canyon, relieving the day-time heat with coolness from Sierran heights. It carried a fragrance with it, pungent, sweet, exotic, which the earth emits as it begins to cool at twilight. As the evening darkened, the stars came out, brilliantly clear. Conversation then turned to the constellations, planets, stars and Milky Way, which were well defined.”
Such idyllic pleasures last a few more years. Another visitor, Eugene Allen, recalled his stay at Grunigens in 1911. “As usual,” he wrote, “the meal was served ranch style, platters heaped with home-cooked food, and passed around the table… There were ranch-grown tomatoes sliced with bell peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce. Pickled onions were a side dish. Platters were heaped with roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and string beans. Pitchers of cool milk and lots of hot steaming coffee made the old-fashioned way were passed back and forth. For dessert, tasty fruit pies ended the repast. All of this for 50 cents a person.
Outside, on the porch we relaxed on leather thonged chairs. As if by some magic signal, a cool, cool breeze came down the canyon, bringing with it the sound of tumbling waters with the rising and falling of the wind. Starlight replaced day, and it was bedtime. A lantern was lit, and we made our way down to the barn. Spreading out some hay in the loft, canvas was laid over the same, making a comfortable bed. The dog, well fed from table scraps, nestled at our feet. The song of the wind played a soothing lullaby. Only once or twice during the night was I conscious of the stomp of horses below in the stable.”
The Grunigen home remained a happy, peaceful place to stay until the winter of 1916. That was the year that Luther Mullenix was murdered in one of its bedrooms. Luther was the son of Isham Dykes Mullenix, who first came to Mineral King during the mining boom of 1879. Isham worked in the mined for only three days before deciding it wasn’t the job for him. On his way back down the road, he stopped at what became Atwell’s Mill, and decided he liked the area. Isham homesteaded 160 acres along the Mineral King road, part of which he sold to Judge Atwell in 1886. Still, Isham kept an interest in part of the property and his children spent their summers there. One daughter, Grace Mullenix Alles, made Atwell Mill her lifetime home for over seventy years.
Isham’s son Luther, was not so fortunate. As a young man in the winter of 1916, Luther was working as caretaker and handyman at the Grunigen ranch. One night, when he was alone at the ranch, someone shot him in his bed. His body was found one or two days later by two Three Rivers men, Ernest Britten and Ord Loverin. Tracks could be seen in the snow going from Coffee Pot Canyon to Salt Creek, but from there the trace was lost. A handgun was found in a tree outside the Grunigen house, but it was a common model, and no one knew who it belonged to.
Even so, there were suspicions. Itseems Luther had been courting a young girl in Three Rivers and the girl’s mother did not approve of the courtship. Rumors abounded, with many people believing the girl’s mother had sent her own handyman from Three Rivers up to the Grunigens to do away with Luther. Reinforcing the rumor was the fact that the lady’s handyman disappeared the same day Luther was killed, and never heard from again.
After Luther’s murder, Grunigens no longer was such a happy place, for it seemed a ghost occupied its rooms. Throughout the years, several residents of the old house have told stories of visions, mysteriously opening and closing doors and cupboards, and distinct sounds of moaning in the night. A few years ago, several visitors stayed in the house and the couple who slept in Luther’s bedroom told of a disturbed night filled with strange sounds and the mysterious opening and closing of the room’s door when no one was in sight.
As you go up the road to Mineral King, you might slow down as you pass the Mitchell Ranch/ It is a well-kept holding, with the historic house maintained according to its original structure. You might feel a breeze coming down the canyon, and picture what it looked like a century ago with several wagons and buggies sitting outside while the travelers enjoyed the repast of Mrs. Grunigen. And if you pass late at night, you might even feel the presence of the ghost that is said to still reside on the premises.