Psychic Archaeology at Olivas Adobe

Dateline: March 28, 2010

The two dowsing rods trembled in her hands, and then, slowly, they moved together, crossing one over the other. The look on her face was one of surprise as the rods in her hands seemingly moved by them selves! It was all part of an experiment conducted by students from a class in ghost hunting offered by the Ventura College. The team was at the site of the historic Olivas Adobe located in Ventura, California. The old 1847 hacienda of the rich Olivas ranching family is filled with unknowns. The team was to use the new and controversial science of “Psychic Archaeology” to uncover the mysteries of the site. The expedition was a qualified success.

The team had three goals: A) Locate and confirm the existence of a family burial ground within the courtyard, to determine how many were buried there. B) Find and trace the location of the legendary lost tunnel of the adobe, and C) Discover if a Chumash Shaman’s allegedly discovered a Chumash Native American Burial grounds was really true and how many were buried there. These were tall questions. The courtyard cemetery is mentioned in local lore and several groups have used such means in the past—but would this new team, operating completely independently, find the same results?

The team members, armed with dowsing rods, scanned the corner of the old courtyard where stories claim there was once a cemetery. They first targeted “Skulls” and at each point the rods crossed a coin (showing heads) was placed on the location. A second scan was conducted with the team focusing on “Feet”—more markers were placed where the rods crossed. Next the points between the two markers were measured. Three “burials” were discovered. A woman, 5 foot two, a man, five foot six and a baby were found. The burials were strangely orientated to the path of the sun—typical of early Spanish burial practices. This was the same findings as teams who investigated nearly a decade ago, yet none of this team knew of early California burial Customs or the maps drawn by other teams! Using the rods questions were asked and the answers confirmed that all were members of the Olivas Family, the baby was an un-baptized infant who died at birth from a woman named Dominga (Such a name is found in the records of the family).

The team then went to the East Lawn in an attempt to locate the legendary lost tunnel. Stories say it was built as an escape route if the hacienda was surrounded and went to the river nearly a quarter mile from the house. Other teams had failed to locate the site in the past. At first this team met with frustration. But they continued and found that the tunnel didn’t start at the house at all but in the walled courtyard. The team found it was four and a half feet wide and came right out of the courtyard and turned towards the water well. It may have provided access to water and the adobe homes of the Native Workers employed by the Olivas Family. Stories, not as well founded as the rumors of a family burial plot in the courtyard, exist of a cemetery for the Native Chumash workers. Years ago a visiting Chumash holy man claimed he “felt” there was a burial ground near three trees on the east lawn. Could he have felt something? The team went on to try to use dowsing rods to locate these burial grounds. They found four burials using the same methods they employed in the courtyard. Two, a man and a woman, were buried side by side oriented to the path of the sun. The woman was short, about five foot tall, but the man was nearly six foot tall! This was too tall for a Native American of that era. Dowsing rods were used and a question and answering code set up. The male form claimed that he was part Irish, this might be the cause of his tall height. The surprise came when they asked his occupation. It said no to vaquero (cowboy), worker, sheep man, vintner, cook, servant, only answering yes to the job of coachman. A tall man, perhaps wearing a top hat, sitting in the box, driving a matched set of thoughbred horses would have been impressive. His job would have also included that of groom, making sure the horses were ready and in good health to take the family to church or any appointment, perhaps as far away as Santa Barbara. Tax records do show that the Olivas Family owned two fine carriages, so such an occupation was possible in the mid 19^th Century. Questions also reveled that the man and woman were husband and wife and died of disease, a common problem in those days. There were two other burials; both appeared to be young people.

Did the team really find these lost elements? We can not confirm them until excavations locate the bones of these people. Something no one is planning at this time. So, until more data comes to light, the discoveries are merely speculation. Other teams well be employed in future expeditions, and as data is collected, a case will be made that the tools of psychic archaeology can discover the past in new ways. I want to express many thanks to the Olivas Adobe Docents for their help and for all member of the team who gave up a Sunday morning to attempt to gain more knowledge about this historic treasure.