In 1850, a gentleman named John Gardner moved to a little town, which is now known as Dorrington, California.
A year later, his wife Rebecca Dorrington joined him from Scotland and the couple built an Inn known as Cold Spring Ranch.
The ranch served as a stage coach stop for weary travelers on their way to see the Sequoias.
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Updated 9/23/2019 – When a post office was established in 1902, the community needed to be renamed.
John suggested Dorrington, in honor of his wife, and the coach stop was called the Dorrington Hotel thereafter.
The Couple’s Vacation
Today, the Dorrington Hotel is a quaint bed and breakfast, and still accommodates visitors on their way to see the beautiful Redwoods.
When Nikki and her boyfriend, Elliot, reserved a room at the Dorrington Hotel a few years ago, they assumed that the most eventful thing on their trip would be visiting the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
“It was supposed to be a romantic weekend, hiking through the state park, having a couple of adventures,” Elliot reminisced.
“We hadn’t been dating for very long at the time, and we were both so excited to take our first mini vacation together.
I didn’t think anything could go wrong.
“After we checked into the Dorrington, we went to a local restaurant for lunch,” Elliot said.
“The waitress was really friendly, and asked where we were staying in town.
When Nikki told her, the woman nodded slowly and said that she hoped ‘Old Rebecca’ wouldn’t disturb us.
“’What do you mean, who is that?’ Nikki asked, concerned.
Oh, she was the original owner of the hotel, along with her husband,’ the waitress replied as she poured us more coffee.
‘Folks say she haunts the place now.’
“Nikki and I both laughed about it afterward…we just didn’t believe in that sort of thing,” he murmured.
“But things got weird that night, back at the hotel.”
Does Rebecca Still Haunt the Dorrington Hotel?
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“It started off with a knock at our door.
I went to answer it but nobody was there.
As I stood there, it felt like a wave of cold air brushed past me,” Elliot gestured.
“I figured it was just my imagination when not a minute later Nikki mentioned that she was suddenly cold, and tugged her sleeves down farther.
She went to brush her teeth, and I started reading things off to her about the park, from a pamphlet,” he said.
“I would glance up every few seconds to look at her, and it seemed like…her appearance was slowly changing.
Her blonde hair seemed to be getting darker, and her skin looked more pale than ever.
’You’re still learning her appearance, it’s bad lighting, you’re imagining things,’ I kept telling myself.
“But each time I looked up, it felt like she became less and less recognizable.
’Hey, why don’t you come to bed, we have a long day ahead of us,’ I called out to her, trying to hide how freaked I was.
“And when she crawled onto the bed, she looked just like she always does,” Elliot said, with a sigh of relief.
“We had been asleep for a few hours when I woke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
I did my business, and was about to turn off the bathroom light, when I see a dark haired, pale woman laying where Nikki should have been.
I dove for the bedroom lamp, and when I yanked it on, Nikki was back where the woman had been, rubbing her eyes and complaining about the light.
“The whole experience was so creepy and so surreal, I insisted we check out that very day,” Elliot admitted.
I didn’t tell her about what happened until we were five hours out of Dorrington.”
Address
3431 California 4
Dorrington, CA 95223
United States