On July 27, 2007, I investigated room 210 at the Santa Maria Inn. This room is reputedly haunted and I arrived at the inn around 8pm just in time for dinner with friends and finally returned to the inn around 10pm. Thus I was forced into an accelerated plan for investigating the room.

In planning this investigation, I remembered that I had to travel over 250 miles to reach this second investigation site. Thus, I had to plan for a "lite" package because of other commitments. So, the following equipment was selected:
  1. EMF single-axis meter.
  2. Creative Zen Vision W digital recorder.
  3. Kodak P712.
  4. Sony SR80 60gb digital camcorder.
On entry to the room, I deployed the SR80 camcorder on a standard tripod and pointed it at the door, which is reputed to have Rudy Valentinio's ghost haunting this room. While unsure that this might be Rudy or anything out of the ordinary, it seemed to be the best part of prudence to go ahead and go with what had been available to me as far as information from the Internet and other sources.

A baseline EMF scan revealed that there was a constant EMF field of 1.5 to 2.0 at the front of the door and this field extended out into the hallway. Standing in the hall for a moment quietly revealed that there was a feeling of vibration or floating that at first made me wonder if there was an earthquake or some other event happening. When it became clear that this was not the case, I began looking for electronic pollution. Inside room 210, there are two electrical outlets on either side of the door. Scanning the inside left plugin revealed a constant 3.0 milli-gauss reading. The right field had a constant 1.0 to 2.0 reading. Extending further into the main room area gave a reading of 1.0 to 2.0 that ran 15 or so feet in towards the back end of the room.

A wait of one hour allowed for a second measurement to be done and these readings virtually duplicated the first set. I set up a voice recorder to get EVPs recorded. The results from this session will be analyzed and results placed into our media gallery and linked here for our readers. I recorded a set of readings of set points in the room and will place these online for future investigators to use for baseline measurements.

I also ran eight hours of video to record the entire evening and noted that I woke up twice thinking I felt the bed shake slightly. I also had two incidents of unexplained noise in the room which I must try to find in the video footage. I will upload any information collected to this site when the full analysis takes place.

The group I was with had a couple who mistakenly  been assigned room 210 before me and we switched out later in the day so I could do my investigation. When told why I was wanting that specific room, they told me they had heard knocking near the head of the bed and wondered where this noise had come from.

In the morning, a final set of EMF readings were done. To my surprise, the readings were down to 0.1 to 0.2. At no point in the room was the reading higher than these values. The only difference was time and the fact it was light outside.

I will extend and alter this article as the evidence is analyzed and added to our site.

Links
  1. Media Gallery albums of photos, audio and video evidence for Santa Maria Inn.
  2. Santa Maria Inn.
  3. Sleeping with ghosts in California.
  4. Silent Spectres.
  5. The Spirit Realm
  6. Haunted Hollywood
  7. Haunted Holidays
References (Article clips with useful information)

From "Sleeping with ghosts in California"

"The Santa Maria Inn - A Central Coast landmark since 1917, The Historic Santa Maria Inn blends the style of an old English country inn, the elegance of a bygone era and the gracious hospitality of the Santa Maria Valley.  Catering to hundred of visitors over the decades, some of them seemingly choose to stay at this historic inn.  Ghost stories abound here of mysterious footprints, a piano that plays by itself, and music coming forth from disconnected speakers.  One legend tells of a sea captain and his mistress who stayed in the hotel long ago.  Murdered by his mistress, the captain continues to appear at the hotel.  The inn is also allegedly visited by Rudolph Valentino, who likes to knock on the door of Room 210.  In this room, an invisible presence has also been known to recline on the bed."

From "Silent Spectres"

"Also, the Santa Maria Inn in Santa Maria is another one of Valentino's haunts. Room 210 has been beleaguered on occasion by mysterious knocking and an invisible presence that likes to recline on the bed."

From "The Spirit Realm"

"Manifestation:  Room 210 has experienced pressures on the bed when guests are in it.  It is often accompanied by eerie knocking on the walls."

From "Haunted Hollywood 4!"

"Another Valentino haunting is said to occur at the Santa Maria Inn in Santa Maria, about 30 miles south of San Luis Obispo. It is said that Valentino returns to his former suite here and that guests who stay in Room 210 feel a heavy presence on the bed and hear eerie knocking sounds from inside the wall. The inn was a favorite getaway spot for the actor."

Tomcat

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