The campus of California state university Cal State Channel Islands is nestled in the foothills of Camarillo.
It’s a beautiful place, set aside from the nearby city and surrounded by rolling farmlands.
It also used to be the Camarillo State Mental Hospital, and thousands of patients were “treated” there with inhumane shock treatments and worse.
Photo credit left: mikemcclaughry.wordpress.com right: flickr/_nausika
Updated 2/10/2020 – A variety of ghosts and spirits haunt CSUCI to this day.
Paranormal investigators and ghost hunters have long believed that concentrated populations of the mentally ill attract otherworldly entities.
The theory bears out at the former Camarillo State Mental Hospital.
The place is crawling with the paranormal, and they make themselves known daily.
Haunted Insane Asylum
The haunting began during the site’s final days of operation as an insane asylum.
A nurse named Debbie told of how she was roughly grabbed and shaken during a cigarette break.
When she turned around to face the person who had assaulted her, there was nobody there.
Another nurse reports she was pulled out of her seat by her hair while seated in an otherwise empty room.
This degree of physical manifestation is unusual, and is likely a result of the very high number of tormented souls that passed through the walls of the hospital.
Human pain and suffering is a potent lure for the inhabitants of the next world, and Cal State Channel Islands is the site of one of the highest concentrations of psychic phenomena and paranormal anguish in California.
Ghost Sightings Today
Construction workers renovating the facility before the opening of the college frequently reported missing tools.
Even more disturbing, large equipment and appliances in unoccupied rooms would frequently have moved to a new spot when the workers returned.
During the final days of renovations, several workers quit due to the constant noises and feelings of unease.
One was quoted as saying the place was “too close to the other side.”
Even today, visitors to some areas of the campus report headaches, cold spots, and disorientation.
The ghostly infestation seems to have lessened, and perhaps the true danger has passed.
The intensity of the spiritual anguish at the hospital was so great, though, that it’s likely the haunting will never entirely cease.
