The Lone Woman Haunting
The Arlington Springs Man was discovered in 1960 at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island. The remains were dated to 13,000 years BP.
 |
| Channel Islands, California |
The islands are divided into two groups; the northern Channel Islands and the southern Channel Islands. The four northern Islands used to be a single landmass known as Santa Rosae.
 |
| Channel Island 14,000 years ago during the Ice Age (aka Santa Rosae) |
Historically, the northern islands were occupied by the island Chumash, while the southern islands were occupied by the Tongva.
The earliest known Chumash village site is on Santa Rosa Island. It belongs to the period around 7,500 BP. The Chumash people lived in large villages or towns with up to 1,000 residents.
By 1,500 BP (500AD) the Island natives had developed tomol boats. Tomol boats were highly sophisticated boats that were able to transport multiple families across the islands.
Tomol boats were made from tule which made the boats very buoyant and nearly unsinkable.
Tragedy of the Nicoleño:
At the time of European contact, two distinct ethnic groups occupied the archipelago: the Chumash lived on the Northern Channel Islands and the Tongva on the Southern Islands (Juana Maria's tribe, the Nicoleño, were believed to be closely related to the Tongva). In the early 1540s Spanish (or Portuguese, according to some accounts) conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the California coast, claiming it on behalf of Spain.
 |
| Nicoleño village circa 1800 |
After many years of conflicts with various fur trading expeditions a massacre occurred. In 1814, a party of Native Alaskan otter hunters working for the Russian-American Company (RAC), massacred most of the remaining islanders after accusing them of killing a Native Alaskan hunter. A mass grave was found which provided proof of said event.
 |
| Bones of Nicoleno natives discovered en masse |
Although there was speculation that the Franciscan padres of the California missions requested that the remaining Nicoleños be removed from the island, there is no documentary evidence to back that claim. The missions were undergoing secularization in the 1830s and there was no Franciscan priest at Mission San Gabriel from mid-1835 through spring of 1836 to receive any Nicoleños brought to the mainland.
 |
| Juana Maria (The Lone Woman) |
Juana Maria:
In late November 1835, the schooner Peor es Nada, commanded by Charles Hubbard, left southern California to remove the remaining people living on San Nicolas. Upon arriving at the island, Hubbard's party, which included Isaac Sparks, gathered the islanders on the beach and brought them aboard. Juana Maria, however, was not among them by the time a strong storm arose, and the Peor es Nada's crew, realizing the imminent danger of being wrecked by the surf and rocks, panicked and sailed toward the mainland, leaving her behind.Juana Maria would continue to live alone on San Nicolas Island from 1835 until her removal from the island in 1853, when men discovered her inside a hut made of whalebones and brush. Juana Maria's fondness for green corn, vegetables, and fresh fruit caused severe attacks of dysentery. In her weakness, she fell from a porch and injured her spine.
On Oct. 18, 1853, only seven weeks after arriving on the mainland, she died of dysentery in Garey, California at age 43. Before she died, Father Sanchez baptized and christened her with the Spanish name Juana Maria. She was buried in an unmarked grave on the Nidever family plot at the Santa Barbara Mission cemetery.
There is speculation that Juan Maria had a child that tragically was killed by a wild dog; however, this is unproven and no evidence could be found to back the claim.
 |
| Statue of Juana Maria with child |
In 1939, archaeologists discovered Juana Maria's whale-bone hut on the northernmost end of San Nicolas, the highest point of the island. The location of the hut exactly matched the descriptions left by George Nidever.
▪️ CRYPTIDS ▪️ HAUNTINGS ▪️ PARANORMAL ▪️
I had no idea this happened. I had never thought about the west coast indigenous populations.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, the video was actually spooky, then sad.