X Rispin Mansion

Rispin Mansion: From Local Legend to
National Spotlight - 2025

For years, Rispin Mansion sat behind locked doors in Capitola, slowly becoming one of those places people whispered about but rarely got to see for themselves.
Built in 1921 by Henry Allen Rispin, the mansion had already lived several lives before the paranormal stories began to take hold. It was once a private estate, later became a convent, and eventually stood abandoned. After the devastating 2009 fire, much of the mansion was left damaged, and the City of Capitola sealed the structure to protect it from further damage and vandalism.
But closing the doors didn't stop the stories.

By the time Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters investigated Rispin Mansion in 2012, the property already had a reputation for strange activity. Our team was given access to the mansion for a late-night investigation, accompanied by then-Capitola Mayor Michael Termini and special guest, local psychic Monnica Sepulveda.
We weren't there simply to prove the mansion was haunted. We wanted to investigate it for ourselves and see what we could document.
And Rispin certainly gave us something to think about.

During our investigation, we experienced unusual temperature changes, unexplained sensations, flickering lights, and reports of being touched or having our hair pulled. At one point, one of our investigators reported being pushed toward a staircase by an unseen force. Later, a footprint was reportedly found on the back of her pants.

Whether those experiences have a paranormal explanation is still open to interpretation. But they became part of Rispin's growing collection of stories.
Then came the possibility of Hollywood. Over the years, producers had contacted Porter several times about Ghost Adventures and the possibility of filming at Rispin Mansion. Eventually, there were rumors circulating within the paranormal community that the series might soon be coming to an end.

Porter states, "I had never been a particular fan of the show, but I knew Rispin Mansion could make an extraordinary location for television.
I saw it as an opportunity—not for the show, but for the Mansion."

The mansion had everything a Hollywood production could want: a beautiful and unusual historic structure, a complicated history, the years it served as a convent, the fire, years of abandonment, and, of course, the stories of curses and paranormal activity surrounding the property.
Eventually, even a representative from the City of Capitola contacted Porter. "I helped push the idea that Rispin would make an extraordinary location for the show and that the exposure could potentially open the doors for future interest from Hollywood and other productions."
After years of attempts to get inside, Discovery Channel producers' efforts finally paid off. Ghost Adventures came to Rispin Mansion.
"And for me, that was the important part—not because I was a fan of the show, because honestly, I am not. But because Rispin Mansion was finally getting some exposure that could potentially open up doors."

After sitting behind locked doors for so many years, the old mansion was once again the center of attention.
This time, the cameras were rolling.
But Rispin's story didn't end there. In 2025, Ghost Adventures filmed inside the historic mansion for its episode “Mystery of Rispin Mansion,” bringing the Capitola landmark to a national audience.

The production portrayed the property in darker terms, revisiting stories of concentrated negative energy and frightening paranormal activity. While such claims have long been associated with the mansion, much of the fear-based atmosphere was clearly part of the television production and the tone they wanted to create for the evening’s filming. After all, you can’t have a paranormal show without at least one person on set who is easily frightened by the unknown. Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters, after all, had already investigated the property 13 years earlier.

Rispin Park
2026

Today, the story of Rispin is changing once again. The surrounding grounds have been transformed into The Park at Rispin Mansion, giving the public access to the property while the mansion itself remains sealed and off-limits. People can once again walk the grounds; they can stand beneath the old mansion, wander its grounds and imagine the lives that passed through its rooms. But they still can't go inside; and perhaps that's what makes Rispin even more intriguing. After all these years, the mansion still has secrets behind those doors.

For Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters, there is something especially satisfying about seeing Rispin receive this renewed attention. Long before television cameras arrived, we were already there—investigating, documenting, and helping keep the story of this remarkable place alive.
We weren't looking for a television moment.

We were trying to make sure Rispin Mansion—and its history—wasn't forgotten. And now, after more than a century of history, the old mansion has entered another chapter.
The grounds are open.
The mansion remains closed.
And whatever stories may still linger inside?....Well, I guarantee they're not finished being told.

THE CURIOUS HISTORY OF THE RISPIN MANSION
written: 2015
The legend of Rispin Mansion is one that many Santa Cruzan's do not take lightly. From tales of a dreaded curse that prevents anyone from successfully owning its historic walls, to rumors of the dead who still haunt its empty shell and wander its cavernous halls.

The 92-year-old mansion, which stands four stories tall and once housed 22 bedrooms, has remained vacant for 57 years—well over half of its existence.

The legendary curse begins with Henry Allen Rispin himself, a well-off San Franciscan who acquired the mansion with the intention of turning it into a resort known as “Capitola by the Sea.” Instead, he endured a series of misfortunes that resulted in the death of his only son, the divorce of his wife, and the final blow—complete financial ruin.

But Henry’s plight did not end there.
He wandered the city streets, a homeless vagabond, penniless and alone. Even upon his death, he endured the ultimate indignity when neither the love of a relative, a friend, nor even an empathetic former wife would claim his remains.

Instead, Henry Rispin was left to decay in a pauper’s grave, with not even as much as a marker to say...
“Here lies Henry A. Rispin—Poor Bastard.”

Henry’s calamity left him to decompose amongst Alcatraz’s finest—nothing more than heinous serial murderers and death-row inmates—in the empty fields of Olivet Cemetery in Colma, California.

The story doesn’t end there. Before Henry’s string of bad luck ended so tragically, another lucky soul tempted fate. Lured by the majestic manor, millionaire Robert Smith Hays acquired the estate and all of its tempting riches.

Perhaps he was not so lucky.

Even before Hays could enjoy the mansion’s lavishly furnished halls, which he had purchased at a banker’s foreclosure price, his lovely wife soured on its grand décor—if for no other reason than that she herself could not take credit for its copious interior design and indulge her ego amongst her high-society friends.
Alas, Smith too suffered bankruptcy, and by 1936, all of his holdings had been liquidated. He, too, lost his interest in the mansion.

Henry Allen Rispin

Olivet Cemetery

Colma California

For approximately five years, the mansion remained vacant until 1941, when the Sisters of the Oblates of St. Joseph—Poor Clares—acquired it as their new monastery. The nuns would live on the premises for approximately fifteen years. During their stay, several additional outbuildings, including a chapel, were erected. The nuns now had a place to rejoice in the name of God and carry out the Lord’s good work.

However, it was not long before the sisters began to grow uncomfortable with their surroundings.
Interviews conducted by Sarah Harvey in the 1990s with surviving sisters of the Oblates claimed the large monastery was simply too cold. The sisters wore open-toed sandals, and the cold floors made their feet miserable.

Others mentioned there were too many onlookers, frightening the sisters who would stare through the windows. And still another account mentioned something “unholy” wandering through its vestibule.
The Catholic Church eventually abandoned the property and relocated the sisters to a new monastery in Aptos, farther away from the prying eyes of local inhabitants.

A move to a colder climate, for certain, so, did the sisters move out because they got cold feet?
Seems it would have been more cost-effective to purchase closed-toed shoes.
Or perhaps it was still something else?

The mansion became vacant after the Catholic Church left the property in 1956 and would continue to remain vacant and forgotten for decades. Eventually owned by the City of Capitola, its resurrection remained uncertain.

Then, in 1998, the dreams of another wealthy potential owner arose from the depths to rescue the mansion from its foreboding, neglected state.

Developer Ron Beardslee, along with Dan Floyd, united with hopes of investing in a multimillion-dollar venture to transform the Rispin Mansion into a bed-and-breakfast. The developers embarked on a long battle with the city over their plans to resurrect the dilapidated mansion, eventually winning approval to move forward with the project.

The old mansion had survived bankruptcy, foreclosure, abandonment, and decades of neglect.
But perhaps the curse wasn't finished with it just yet.

After battling for nearly a decade, and only days before plans were to commence for rehabilitation of the manor, a devastating and unexplainable fire broke out and gutted the mansion in 2009. Once again, the mansion's curse thwarted habitation of the living, and developers were forced to cut their losses. The mansion was ultimately mothballed by the city and boarded up. It continues to remain vacant.

2012
The Investigation
In August 2012, the Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters team investigated inside Rispin Mansion. For the investigation, S.C.G.H. founder Maryanne Porter invited local psychic and medium Monnica Sepulveda to join the team. They were also accompanied by then-Capitola Mayor Michael Termini, who had agreed to take part in the late-night investigation as they attempted to determine whether the old mansion was, in fact, haunted.
They arrived at the mansion before midnight. Almost immediately, Monnica began picking up on the energies within the building.

She repeatedly sensed the presence of women, more specifically, she described two female presences.
One appeared to her as a nun dressed in white, carrying a calmer, more peaceful energy. The other appeared as a nun dressed in black. This second presence felt much sterner and imposing—strict, watchful, and almost authoritative. She did not seem evil, rather, she seemed to have the presence of someone who was there for a purpose. A protector.

Porter had not told Monnica that the property had once been a monastery, nor had she mentioned the stories of a black-clad nun reportedly seen on the upper levels and balcony of the former convent.
Yet Monnica was describing one.
Monnica believed the darker nun was protective of the mansion, almost as though she still considered it her responsibility. She also sensed that the nun was saddened by the condition of the old monastery and what had become of the place she had once called home.
The presence in white seemed more peaceful, the nun in black was different. she was stern.
Watchful, perhaps she seemed to be guarding something.

Then Monnica’s attention turned downward, toward the basement.
She described a male presence dwelling somewhere below them, toward the lower levels and boiler-room area. She did not describe him as an evil man, but rather as an angry one—a bully, someone who should not be messed with.

The description was unsettling, considering the long-standing stories surrounding Rispin Mansion. Local lore has spoken of a man said to wander the basement and boiler-room area, sometimes described as a priest from the former convent or, in other accounts, as a caretaker of the property.
Which, if either, is true remains uncertain.

During the investigation, the team noticed multiple cold and warm spots moving through the building, accompanied by sudden changes in airflow that could not be explained. Even if Porter were to conclude it was some sort of backdraft, the entire mansion was boarded up. She could not account for the drastic and sudden temperature changes that were registering on their equipment.

Then Monnica gave them another warning. She told them they might feel someone touching them or pulling their hair, she was right. Porter, along with team member Tim Loe, recalled feeling what seemed like someone walking directly behind them—touching their hair or tapping them on the shoulder.
At one point, Porter even had the distinct sensation of an animal walking behind her. There was almost a grunting or growling sound, reminiscent of a dog.

The old stories claimed that a dog had been heard barking inside the boarded-up mansion. Standing there in the darkness, with no animal anywhere in sight, Porter could not help but think about those stories.
It gave her goosebumps. But the most disturbing part of the investigation was still to come.

Monnica told them that the female entity she was seeing had given them a warning. They would all be safe if they remained on the top floor. At the time, they had no reason to understand why. As they approached the witching hour, one of the newer investigators had been taunting the negative presence believed to be somewhere below them, toward the basement boiler room. She eventually asked to speak privately with Porter.

The pair started down the stairs. By then, the earlier warning had slipped from their minds.
Then Porter turned. The investigator suddenly fell on the staircase with such force that it appeared as though someone had pushed her from behind. She reached for the railing and managed to catch herself before tumbling farther down the stairs. Almost immediately, she looked up and asked,

“Who pushed me?”

Standing directly behind her was investigator and former law enforcement officer Tim Loe. He could account for what he had seen—and he had seen no one push her. There was no one behind her.
The investigator was visibly shaken and disoriented afterward, as though she had experienced something more than an ordinary fall. As the team began preparing to leave, another team member noticed something on the back of the investigator’s pants—the same investigator who had fallen.
There was a distinct boot print on the bottom of her pant leg. It looked as though someone had kicked her.
By then, the clock was approaching 3:00 a.m.

The team had no interest in finding out what else the mansion might have in store for them. They began packing their equipment and preparing to leave. That was when the lights began flickering.
The motion-activated lights inside the mansion began switching on and off rapidly, despite no visible movement to trigger them. Porter would prefer to think that perhaps a breaker needed to be reset, but she could not say for sure.

What she could say was that it had not happened throughout the entire investigation.
It began only after the investigator had fallen on the stairs.
And it continued as they prepared to leave.

After everything that had happened, the team decided it was time to go.

2009–2010
The Investigations - Before the Entombment

Before Rispin Mansion was mothballed and its entrances sealed, there was still a way inside.
Passageways and entrances remained accessible, allowing curious investigators the opportunity to step beyond the weathered exterior and explore the forgotten rooms of the old estate. For Maryanne Porter, founder of Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters, that access was impossible to resist.

Porter began visiting the mansion during this period for research and photography, long before the 2012 investigation. What she discovered was that Rispin Mansion did not always feel the same.
The atmosphere seemed to change with the day.

On a Sunday afternoon, the mansion could feel almost hospitable. There was a warmth, a lightness to it—a strange sense of peace and contentment that seemed almost spiritual in nature.
It raised a curious question.

Could the presence of the nun, reportedly seen wandering the upper levels of the former monastery, have something to do with it?

Perhaps the peaceful atmosphere was simply a reflection of the building’s history. Sunday was traditionally a day of worship for Catholics, and this had once been a place where nuns devoted their lives to prayer.
Or perhaps something of that devotion had remained behind.

But then to return to the mansion during the middle of the week, and the feeling could be entirely different.
The warmth was gone.

The mansion felt cold, uninviting, dark, and foreboding, it was as though the building had changed personalities. Was the nun in white the peaceful presence?

Was the stern, black-clad nun the guardian of the old monastery—still watching over the property and protecting those who entered from something darker below?

And what of the man said to inhabit the basement?
Local stories described a male presence sometimes identified as a priest from the former convent, while other accounts described him simply as a caretaker of the property and still more described Rispin himself. Could the angry presence Monnica Sepulveda later sensed during the 2012 investigation have been the same entity described in those earlier stories?

There was another story, too.

The dog.

For years, people had claimed to hear a dog barking or growling from somewhere inside the abandoned mansion. With the building vacant and increasingly inaccessible, there seemed to be no logical explanation for why anyone would hear an animal inside, yet the story persisted. We knew that the area had once been used as a training ground for police dogs, which offered one possible explanation—but it didn’t necessarily account for the reports being described. Especially when there were, yet again, claims that the dog itself was something far more sinister—a manifestation of something that did not belong there.

At the time, Porter could only file it away with the other strange tales surrounding Rispin Mansion. There were plenty of them.

-A black-clad nun seen on the balcony.
-A nun in white.
-A man - often said to wander the basement.
- A man that could be Rispin himself.
-And a dog that, according to local accounts, could sometimes be heard barking from inside an otherwise empty building.

For investigators, the mansion was a dream; for the curious, it was an invitation. And for those who believed the old stories, perhaps entering Rispin Mansion meant stepping into a place where the past had never completely left; eventually, that access would disappear.

The mansion would be mothballed, its entrances sealed, its windows boarded, and the old estate effectively entombed. But before the doors were closed for good, Maryanne Porter and Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters had already walked its halls and documented a side of Rispin Mansion that few would ever have the opportunity to see again. And some of those old stories would follow them into the 2025 investigation.

When asked what Porter thought should be done with the mansion:

“My thoughts? – I think the Historical Rispin Mansion would best be served as a wax museum, filled with historical figures of Santa Cruz County, along with a local coffee and maybe a gift shop. It could still be purposeful and educational – besides a wax museum is something this county doesn’t have, what better way to memorialize a haunted mansion? " , Mary Anne Porter

For a dark imaginative tale, of Rispin lore, check out the book Santa Cruz Weird, by Nancy Lynn Jarvis. - Their you will find "Secrets" a short tale of horror - based on haunted tales from locals and the darker creations of author, Maryanne Porter.
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