Chico, California, USA (1922)

Police Seek Phantom Rock Hurler.

Stones rain on local warehouse.

Passerby hit by steady barrage.

Marshal J.A. Peck and other local police officers yesterday renewed a search, which has been in progress for the past three months, to find the flying ghost or the uncanny hand that has been dropping rocks the past four months on the roofs of the warehouses operated by J.H. Priel and J.W. Charge at Sixth and Orange streets.

At almost any hour during the day one can hear the impact of rocks striking the warehouse roofs and then may be seen bouncing from the eaves to the ground, rocks from a pea to a baseball in size. When first reported to Peck three months ago, he believed it was the work of some youngster living in the neighbourhood who was up to boyish pranks. In fact, Peck said, he thought it was a myth that rocks should apparently fall out of the sky for 30 days. But his belief was changed to wonderment after he had investigated five minutes, for as soon as he stepped in the warehouse door at Charge’s place a rock struck the roof and bounded off to the ground. Within the next hour no less than a dozen rocks were heard landing on the shingle covering.

Peck rallied his police forces and stationed officers at points about the neighbourhood, and Constables H. L. Guerin and H.Z. Guerin secreted themselves in the district in an endeavour to get a glimpse of the phantom rock thrower. One day the pebbles would seem to come from the south and all hands would take to the south side of the block, only to hear a shower of boulders come from the north, and so on, until everybody who has seen the revelation is completely baffled as to which direction the rocks come from. It seems the rocks hit the roof from most every angle. The police have searched every barn and shed for several blocks around for any catapult that might be used by an inventive youngster, and still after three months, are no wiser than the first day they attacked the spooky case.

Several times since the ghost’s first visit to the district, Charge has had to rake up the rocks which have come in windows, doors and through roof ventilators in his warehouse. Almost every window in the building has been smashed by large rocks and the outside walls of the structure bear numerous dents. Priel has been a bit more fortunate than Charge as the former’s warehouse is equipped with a corrugated iron roof and no damage has been done to it so far. Charge soon will have to lay a new roof over his structure because the shingles have been broken and separated by the force of the dropping stones.

It seems the pebble-hurling ghost is on the job early each morning. J.A. Fortier, who resides at Sixth and Cedar streets, declares that he hears the rocks strike the iron roof on the Priel warehouse as early as 6 o’clock in the morning. Wednesday afternoon Marshal Peck counted seven rocks bouncing from Charge’s roof while he was standing at Sixth and Cedar streets.

Mrs Daniel McCarthy, wife of a section foreman of the Southern Pacific company, refuses to let her small children play in the yard of their home at Sixth and Cedar streets because of the shower of rocks that land in the yard and on the roof of their home with frequency. Many of the stones strike on the steel rails of the railroad tracks and break apart.

Not long ago a section hand was painfully hurt when struck by a rock, which apparently came out of the atmosphere.

Recently C.E. Charge was struck in the thigh by a pebble while standing with his back close to a north window. Frank Lyons, a truck driver, was bruised on the finger by a flying rock while at work in the Charge warehouse recently. On another occasion Lyons was alongside his truck in front of the Charge warehouse cleaning a spark plug when a rock about the size of a baseball whizzed from out the sky and buried itself an inch in the ground close by his heels. On still another occasion a hobo, leaning against the side of the Charge warehouse dozing, was rudely awakened by a rock striking him on the foot.

The favourite sport at the Priel and Charge warehouse now is to take a lookout position at various windows and attempt to ascertain from whence the rocks come. Priel asserted yesterday that every time he takes a post at a south window the bombardment ceases. Lyons, however, was forced to beat a hasty retreat recently when he took a position on the roof of the Charge building. He had been there but a few minutes when a barrage of large rocks forced him to seek cover without his having discovered the locality of his antagonist.

Both Charge and Priel confess that the daily rock bombardment has “got their goats” and have offered a reward of $20 to anyone who can put a stop to it. Marshal Peck has talked to a number of boys living in that section of the city and has even offered them money for information about the source of the rocks, but has failed to learn a thing.

The only theory advanced, so far is that some weak-minded person, with a mania for throwing rocks, has come into possession of a small catapult which he uses to throw rocks from some back yard shed several blocks away. It is apparent that the bullet material is kept in a dry place because, it was explained yesterday, that during heavy storms, stones have passed through windows into the warehouses and when picked up were dry. A peculiar thing is that a glass green house across the street has never been struck. Also, the windows in the warehouse of the Western Gas and Electric Appliance company at Sixth and Orange streets have never been struck, although many boulders have been heard to fall on the roof.

A party of citizens, who believed the flying rocks a joke when told about it yesterday, were taken to the warehouses. They were jolted to a realisation of what had been taking place for four months when a boulder struck the roof and rolled to the ground, jarring the whitewash from the inner side of the shingles as it did so. Shortly after a shower of smaller pebbles tumbled down the shingles. The party left the building quite bewildered after being shown the dents on the walls and the broken windows and rocks which had piled up on the roof.

Chico Record, March 10th, 1922.

Rock showers from sky mystify California town.

Periodic downpour centres on warehouse, which is bombarded as investigators gaze.

Chico, Calif., March 10.

Showers of rock that fall “from the clouds” on a warehouse here have baffled the police, neighbours and various official and unofficial investigators.Today J. Charge, owner of the warehouse, posted the offer of a reward of $200 to the person revealing the source of the rocks. While the town marshal and a committee of newspaper men and others were examining the corrugated iron roof yesterday, a shower of large smooth rocks fell, sending the investigators scurrying for cover. Others, standing in the street at the time, declared the rocks seemed to come straight from the clouds. Those employed in the building reported that the mysterious bombardments of the roof had been occurring periodically for three weeks.

New York Tribune, 11th March 1922.

Rain of Rocks Continues to Puzzle Police, Terrorises Warehousemen and Mystifies Adjacent Residents.

Rocks continued to drop yesterday out of a clear sky on the warehouses of J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel at Sixth and Orange streets. Marshal J.A. Peck and a corps of officers were still baffled by the mysticism surrounding the source of the stones, and citizens, taking a curious interest in the mystery, left the warehouses bewildered by the rock shower after visiting the buildings with the belief that reports of pebbles striking persons in the vicinity and of broken windows were nothing but idle talk.

Fire Chief C.E. Tovee and Traffic Officer J.J. Corbett had the scare of their lives while prowling about the Charge warehouse in an endeavour to sight the direction from which the stones are hurled. They had just reached the south side of the warehouse and were standing, looking skyward, when a fair sized boulder struck the wooden wall above them with a mighty force and rebounded to the ground at their feet, leaving a dent where it had struck the timber.

J.A. Fortier, who resides at Sixth and Cedar streets, one block from the warehouses, told yesterday of two different occasions when a newspaper was torn in the middle and clipped from his grasp as he was reading in the doorway of the Charge warehouse. He declared that one each occasion a rock had whizzed over his shoulder and struck the paper. At least a dozen times, Fortier asserted, he had narrowly escaped being struck by rocks, apparently coming from out of the sky, as he was walking in the vicinity of his home. Fortier is not a believer in ghosts but attaches credence to the belief that some person with more than ordinary acumen is having a great joke at the expense of other persons.

Much apprehension is felt for the danger persons in the vicinity of the warehouses are in. It is pointed out that serious injury could easily result if a person were struck by a flying rock, some of which are as large as a baseball. Friends of W.G. Longfellow, who resides at Sixth and Orange streets across the way from the warehouses, told of his narrow escape recently. It is said that Longfellow was washing his face and hands in a sink on the rear porch of his home. He had washed his face while in a stooping posture, and as he raised to dry himself on a nearby towel, a large stone whistled past his shoulder and struck the bottom of the sink. It is said the rock weighed three-quarters of a pound and Longfellow would have been hit on the head if he had not raised at the proper moment.

The only theory which has so far been advanced is that some inventive fellow is practising with some new rock throwing contrivance. Marshal Peck said that a catapult could easily be constructed out of an old inner tube, which could be inflated and rigged up in such a manner as to have great leverage powers. At any rate, the rock hurler seems to have a range of but a block. The only buildings he has been able to strike so far, according to report, are the two warehouses, the Daniel McCarthy residence and the Longfellow home, all of which are in a radius of a half-block from Sixth and Orange streets.

It is feared that M. Farius, a logger, who now is in the city jail, was struck by one of the phantom rocks yesterday afternoon. The man was found wandering near the Priel woodyard at Sixth and Orange streets in a dazed condition a few minutes after he had stepped from a train arriving from Stirling City. Farius was seen to jump as if struck and then fell heavily backwards into a wood pile, where he remained until a call was sent to Marshal Peck who removed him to the city jail.

Streams of curious townsmen visited the warehouses all day to witness the extremely unusual occurrence. Among the visitors were City Clerk Ira Morrison and members of the Board of Trustees. The owners of the two bombarded warehouses, J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel, still offer $20 reward for the capture of the stone thrower.

Chico Record, March 11th 1922.

“The Mystery of the Warehouses, or Who Throws the Rocks?” Unless we are willing to ascribe it to the supernatural, it should be easy to demonstrate that there is somebody so filled with industry that he is willing to begin at six o’clock in the morning and shower rocks for a period of several months on an unoffending warehouse. Of course no one will believe that the spirits have anything to do with this strange phenomena, unless it be through the spirits which Mr Volstead is supposed to have rendered obsolete. And any person so industrious as to continue to throw stones in the manner and with the accuracy described in the bombardment of the Chico warehouses, should be found and brought up town and given a job where energy really counts for something.

Chico Record, March 11th 1922.

Ghost in California throws stones on warehouse roof.

Natives divided as whether to call scientist or Pacific Coast Ball League Scout.

By Associated Press.

Chico, Calif., March 11. – Chico has a rival of the ghost of Antigonish, only the local wraith operates in the daytime and throws stones instead of slapping wrists and starting fires. Its target is a warehouse at Sixth and Orange streets, and, according to a statement by the police today, it rarely misses, although located more than a block away. The school boy explanation is that some outfit in the Spook league has opened spring  training here.

Yesterday the superintendent of the warehouse sent a workman up to sweep the rocks off the roof. The workman had no sooner gotten under way than a big red brick whizzed by his ear. He ducked but a barrage of smaller bricks and rocks rooted him out. He said he had no idea where the missiles came from.

Watches have been been set to ‘lay’ the ghost, who has been operating almost daily for more than three weeks but have found no trace of it. A reward of $20 goes to anyone who can solve the mystery.

Interested Chicoans do not know whether to send for a scientist or a scout from the Pacific coast baseball league.

The Rocky Mountain News (Daily), 12th March 1922.

Local Rock Rain Co-Related to Mystery of Ghosts Now Holding Attention in Canada.

Shower continues and police are unable to find source of falling stones.

Rocks not falling from sky, report.

With all natural theories on the rain of rock which has been deluging the Charge warehouse at Sixth and Orange streets, exhausted, discussion yesterday switched to an investigation of the super-normal agencies which have in the past been responsible for such phenomena. The day did not pass, however, without renewed visual evidence of the phantom rock thrower’s work, for several times during the past 24 hours showers of stones have deluged the warehouse, with telling effect.

Constable H.Z. Guerin, who was on duty at the warehouse in an effort to detect the source of the rock throwing was plainly puzzled by what he first regarded as a “boyish prank.” “I am remaining in the warehouse,” said Guerin. “It is beyond me to tell where these rocks are dropping from when Mr Charge, who has been here for three months has been unable to detect the origin of the rocks which fall on this warehouse.”

All day long a string of automobiles came to the Charge warehouse and the occupants discussed with the owner the rock throwing mystery which has been baffling him for the past four months. “I will not say this is anything supernatural,” said Charge to one interviewer, “but I must confess that I am baffled. These rocks have been falling and I am frank to admit that I do not know, nor have my associates been able to reveal to me the source of the rock throwing.”

On the scientific side of the investigation much progress was made yesterday by the illuminating report of C.K. Studley, vice president of the State Teachers College, one of the best known geologists in northern California, who made a report on specimens of the falling rocks sent him from the office of Marshal J.A. Peck. “The samples are not of the free moving variety,” said Professor Studley. “They could not be expected to transport themselves. Some of them are so large they could not possibly be thrown by any ordinary means for any great distance, neither could they be thrown by a small boy far enough to cause trouble in locating the source. One of the rocks weighs 16 ounces and another weighs eighteen. It would not be a very difficult problem to figure the force necessary to throw a rock the size of these a given distance. But suffice to say it would take an arm with real muscle to cast one the length of a block.”

If these phenomen prove, on more thorough investigation, to be due to no natural cause, it would not be an isolated case of supernormal phenomena. The records abound with such cases, it is said, throughout the literature of psychic research. Phenomena of this nature have occurred in all parts of the world, from the earliest times down to the present and Dr. Prince, president of the American Society of Psychic Research is at this time at Antigonish, Nova Scotiak investigating a somewhat similar case of spontaneous psychical phenomena. The case at the Charge warehouse is co-related to the Nova Scotia case, it was said last night. It falls in the same general class.

One of the best attested of such cases was that of the owner of a wine cellar in Turin, Italy, which was investigated by Lombros, the eminent Italian criminologist and scientist. In this case the wife of the man witnessed the overturning of a tumbler containing liquor which was on her dining room table with no apparent cause to explain it, followed by other startling incidents of a similar nature. This so alarmed her that she sent for her husband, who was out of town. By the time he had returned the police had taken charge and, apparently suspecting a trick on the part of some human agency, had forbidden any recurrence of the incident, intimating that further performances would result in an arrest.

Lombroso, upon his arrival, found some difficulty in getting the owner of the wine cellar to talk, but finally was granted permission to enter the wine cellar which was apart from the residence where the first occurrence had taken place. Upon entering the cellar, he found rows of wine bottles arranged in tiers on racks and saw them jumping off without human contact and breaking upon the floor. Suspecting that there might be cords or wires attached to the bottles, which someone was working, he carefully examined them all and found nothing suspicious. The bottles continued to jump and break while others lying on the floor rolled together and broke without being touched by anyone. This continued until all but two of the wine bottles had been broken and just as Lombroso was leaving, one of these broke.

According to authorities there are other incidents just as well attested as this one, which would fill volumes and are recognised as authentic by those high in the world of scientific research.

On the natural side of the investigation yesterday Marshal Peck visited the home of an aged Chinese, arrested three months ago as an insanity suspect. He has been seen gathering rocks in the neighbourhood of his home, about two blocks from the Charge warehouse. Peck found the Chinese ill in bed, however, although the rocks continued to fall. No rocks were found in his house.

Peck yesterday considered the advisability of roping off the area where the rocks are falling to guard against accidents which are liable to occur to passersby if the rock fall continues.

Chico Record, March 12th, 1922.

Spectral Stone Shower Renewed.

Psychic Scientist Visits Scene.

Chico is centre of interest in investigation on puzzling phenomena.

The hand of witchcraft which has been casting its spectral spell over the warehouses of J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel at Sixth and Orange streets for the past four months renewed its activities late yesterday afternoon when three vagrant stones fell on the Priel warehouse. This, according to unofficial observers, was the first fall since Saturday afternoon, to the disappointment of Sunday crowds many of whom motored from out of town points, to see the downpour of stones which has been puzzling official Chico for the past four months.

Paul Reimer, L.G. Bonnifield and Priel were witnesses to the last downpour which was immediately reported to Constable H.Z. Guerin, who was on the scene yesterday in a renewed effort to trace the phantom rock thrower to his lair.

The most startling development in the case came Sunday when Chico was for a few hours made the most important point in the world of psychic research by the visit here of Vincent Jones, vice president of the California Association who conducted a detailed investigation into the supernormal side of the rain of rock. Vincent’s probe took him to the scene of the downpour, but no rocks fell while he was there. He received abundant proof, however, from a dozen witnesses, as to the phenomena which resulted in his making an official report on the subject a copy of which was given to the Record for exclusive publication in this issue. Jones’ investigation differed radically from the one being conducted by Marshal J.A. Peck who aided him supplying much data regarding the previous mysterious happenings. Peck’s investigation was that of the experienced detective, working only through human agencies, while Jones confined his probe to the well defined principles of psychic research, backed by abundant proof of such phenomena similar to the rockfall case.

Jones made no pretext of covering the case by a detailed investigation. He started his work shortly before 10 o’clock Sunday morning and left the Charge warehouse at noon. Between the hour of his arrival in Chico Saturday night and his visit to the warehouse Sunday, he familiarised himself with every detail of the case. He also examined samples of the rock which were gathered from the scene by Marshal Peck and later made the basis of geological report by C.K. Studley, vice president of the State Teachers College.

It became known yesterday that local spiritualists held a seance at the home of their leaders here Sunday night and indulged in the favourite ghoulish sport of table tipping from which came the name of a person who lives in the neighbourhood of the warehouse and whose name was given to the police yesterday by unofficial investigators. News of the spiritualistic activities were filtered out by a person who was permitted to attend the gathering and described the findings of the table-tippers as “bunk.” Persons who claim to have been in communion with the spirits almost wore the linoleum thin in Marshal Peck’s office over the week-end. The most striking of these visitors was a tall man of ungainly build with thin sparse wirey beard who entered the police station with a peering eye Sunday afternoon and asked to interview Marshal Peck. “Be ye not alarmed,” he said pointing his long finger at the amazed official. “This is only the beginning. The end will see the end of it all.”

Mrs Rafena Nelson, coloured, 930 Orange street, declared the rocks which are falling on the Charge warehouse, a block from her home, are not the work of “any human hand.” Mrs Nelson told Constable H.Z. Guerin yesterday that she was a spiritualist with all the power of a recognised medium and that she would – for a cash consideration of $100 – stop the rock throwing in the vicinity of Sixth and Orange streets. “How do you know this rock throwing is not the work of some boy?” queried Guerin yesterday as he sat in the parlour of the Nelson home conversing with Mrs Nelson. “Because I know it’s the spirits,” she answered. “Who told you that?” queried Guerin. “The spirits,” answered Mrs Nelson. “When?” “The day I first read the story in the paper,” said Mrs Nelson. Mrs Nelson would not expect compensation for calling a halt on the phantom activities, she told Guerin, unless she stopped the rock throwing. Supporting her contention that she is in communication with the spirits Mrs Nelson said that she formerly resided at the home of William Hutchins, 743 Cherry street and while there the place was haunted by an incessant rap on the front door.

Mrs Hutchins said the rapping had bothered her since she moved to the place and it could not be stopped. Although she was entirely out of communication with the spirits at the time, Mrs Nelson says she was able to completely re-establish her old status within a few days, determined the knocking was the work of spirits, and by a concentrated effort brought the malevolent prank to a halt within a few days. As if to conclusively prove her statement, Mrs Nelson pointed from the door of her home to the deserted house formerly occupied by the Hutchins’ just a block away. The windows in the building were smashed and the interior of the abandoned house was covered with rocks of the same type as is falling in the Charge warehouse. Guerin visited the place after he left Mrs Nelson, but could find nothing which would throw further light on the case which is interesting the public at present.

The last human clew which the police are investigating will be run down within the next 48 hours, it became known last night. Marshal Peck and his aides are concentrating their investigation on one person which came under the searchlight of the police investigation Sunday night. This clew is being worked quietly and the police are not at liberty to make public their findings until an arrest has been made.

Wong Quong, an aged Chinese residing about one block from the warehouse, in new Chinatown, who was taken into custody Saturday as an insanity suspect, suspected of hurling the rocks, was adjudged insane in Oroville yesterday, but the stones continued to fall.

On the scientific side of the investigation, Jones held the centre of the stage Sunday. In order to lend an ear to his findings and theories, one must accept the basic principal of psychic research in a case of this kind; that the phenomena is caused by Poltergeist activities of some super-normal agency working through an unconscious conductor. It was to locate the conductor that Jones wanted to have every small boy in the neighbourhood lined up on Sunday morning. Psychical research history, he says, contains proof positive of cases where children were conductors of Poltergeist activities of a necromatic nature. The children were not asked to line up, however, as a hurried investigation showed most of them were attending Sunday school at the hour when the scientist desired their services.

Here’s Report on Rock Rain.

A scientific version of the strange rock-fall which has been annoying J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel and amazing hundreds of residents of Chico, was obtained Sunday from Vincent Jones, vice president of the California Psychical Research Society who came here from San Francisco late Saturday night and investigated the phenomena on Sunday, although no rocks fell while he was present. Jones’ investigation began at 10 o’clock Sunday morning and his findings are based on the statements of eye-witnesses whom he interviewed taking depositions from Clarence Charge, son of the owner of the warehouse, Marshal J.A. Peck, Fire Chief C.E. Tovee and J.E. Brooks, an eye-witness to the actual rock fall. His official findings are as follows:

“In approaching any scientific investigation, the most important thing to guard against is bias. One sort of bias is as objectionable as another. In all cases of super-normal happenings, the observers will be found divided into two camps, those who give entirely materialistic interpretation, attributing all that occurs to human agency, explained or unexplained, and those who credit the spirits with everything. Either attitude is fatal to truth. The approach should be made with an absolutely open mind and all testimony received and evidence examined impartially. Everyone is aware of the folly and futility of the ready surrender to spiritistic interpretation of super-normal happenings before every materialistic explanation has been exhausted and found wanting.

The public is not as deeply impressed as they ought to be with the unwisdom of an equally ready surrender to the materialistic interpretation. This is nowhere more convincingly demonstrated than in the sixteenth page appendix to Mr Andrew Lang’s “The Making of Religion,” where the author flays Podmore’s “explanations” of the Poltergeist phenomena in the Worksop case. In this attack Lang convincingly shows that Podmore, who was a prominent member of the English Society for Psychical Research, disregarded utterly, local newspaper accounts which had been recorded by careful observers and indulged in a “dubious and tortuous philosophy” in attempting to explain away what more open minded investigators have concluded was genuine supernormal occurrence.

In this open minded attitude then, I endeavoured to lay some foundation for further investigation of the rock throwing phenomena in Chico. I can truthfully state that I have not thus far encountered any observers of the phenomena who attributed it to a super-normal agency, all of them affirming almost vehemently their belief that it will be found eventually to be due to some mischievous human agency. I secured four signed and detailed statements from people of good standing and apparent veracity in Chico, the gist of which is as followed:

Some four or five months ago J.W. Charge, his son Clarence, and employees in their warehouse situated on the side of the Southern Pacific railway tracks in Chico, became aware of the falling of pebbles and small rocks upon the roof and sides of the building while they were working within. At first they thought nothing of it, attributing it to mischievous boys, but when the occurrence was repeated often they began running immediately to the open doorways to determine who was responsible, but were never able to discern any apparently responsible source. After some weeks of endeavour to fathom the matter, Mr Charge called in Marshal J.A. Peck and Fire Chief C.E. Tovee, who began to keep watch, finally enlisting their subordinates in the search, but so fr without any conclusive results.

There seems to be some little confusion among the witnesses as to the direction from which the rocks are thrown, one witness insisting that they all come from a certain direction, and others affirming that they come from various directions. Only two witnesses have testified to actually seeing the missiles before they strike the building. In each of these cases the witness testifies that the missiles came almost perpendicularly from above and was first discerned at a distance of 30 or 40 feet from the landing place.

City Marshal Peck affirms that he has frequently heard sounds as of rocks striking the building when close observation revealed nothing either striking or bounding off the building. All witnesses agree that immediately upon hearing the sounds of striking rocks they have rushed to doorways when they were on the inside, and have instantly looked about when they were on the outside to discern, if possible, the source. They have never been able to fix suspicion upon anyone who happened to be within sight at the time. Various suspicions have been probed and careful search has been made of the neighbourhood in every direction to no avail.

The officers who have been thus engaged are men whose testimony would readily be accepted in any court on other matters, and I can see no reason for doubting their sincerity in this. Tests have been made to ascertain how far rocks could be thrown by human agency and still produce the physical effect that these missiles have done, and every suggested theory examined carefully, with the result that there appears to be complete agreement that if there is a human agency back of these occurrences it is located at some distance necessarily greater than two ordinary city blocks and is employing some device much more powerful than the human arm or even a catapult.

As so often occurs in investigations of this nature, there was a lull in the phenomena when I came upon the ground, and I saw nothing occurring, but I cannot avoid attaching much weight to uncontradicted testimony of the large number of witnesses from whom my limited time only permitted me to take four detailed statements. Further observation will be made in the conviction that every result has a cause which can be determined in time through the application of precise methods of investigations. However, it is only fair and scientific to state that should such further investigation reveal no human agency at work and observers are forced to the conclusion that super-normal causes only are responsible, this will not be the first authenticated case of spontaneous physical phenomena known in psychic literature as “poltergeist.” This word is of German origin and means a rude and mischievous fellow, and is applied to phenomena of this class, because of their apparently pointless and aimless character.

Careful analysis, however, of this class of phenomena demonstrates that they are not as pointless as they seem. The motive being easily traceable in many instances at least, to a desire on the part of the intelligent non-human agency, either to gain revenge for some fancied wrong, to attract attention in order that he may get into communication with living people and entrust to them some mission to be performed, or merely to stir up mischief as an irresponsible school boy might do. That there are forces unknown to present day science, more powerful than any that have been revealed, will hardly be disputed by the most conservative scientists. Only yesterday we read the statement of Dr Aston, a British scientist, to the effect that “the quantity of hydrogen in a teaspoonful of water contains enough electrical energy to generate 200,000 kilowat hours of electricity.” Statements of this character from reliable sources, have become so common that they no longer occasion wonder.

Occultists who have studied such phenomena in the past are pretty well agreed, following the lead of Reichenbach that there is in existence a psychic force or energy which can intelligently be directed by giving humans who know the laws of nature and which in its cruder manifestations can be and is used by discarnate agencies to affect and modify matter and the known laws pertaining thereto. It must be admitted that in all similar occurrences, authenticated cases of which are very numerous in psychic literature, no natural laws are laughed at or transcended. The level headed investigator knows that there is nothing in the universe supernatural. All that is in accordance with nature and nature’s laws. That which seems supernatural is only super-normal and the scientist can only conclude that the explanation back of these apparent defiances of natural law involves some other law of nature not yet discovered or only glimpsed.

It is my hope that these phenomena will continue and that the responsible authorities will persist in their efforts to locate the human agency, if one exists, but should it develop that the phenomena continue and no natural explanation can be found, then the officers of the California Psychical Research society will arrange for another and longer visit in order to pursue a further study of the phenomena and their cause.”

Chico Record, March 14th 1922.

Phantom Rock Hurler Takes Rest.

Only one stone dropped yesterday.

Oakland evangelist visits scene to investigate mysterious downpour.

Despite a $20 standing reward, which offer was renewed yesterday, the intense investigation being conducted by local police, and probes by psychical experts and spiritualists, the scary hand of some rock throwing ghost still swept through Chico’s atmosphere. Its activity was greatly modified, however, and although there were reports of numerous rock showers on the roofs of the warehouses at Sixth and Orange streets owned by J.H. Priel and J.H. Charge, the striking of but one rock on the roof of the Priel establishment at 4 o’clock was authenticated. The impact was heard by Priel and a traveling salesman in conversation with him and the stone was seen by several onlookers who were packed curiously about. Marshal J.A. Peck was called and questioned those in the neighbourhood without learning from which direction the rock seemed to originate.

Yesterday was given over to re-checking all information previously gathered and after a thorough inspection of the field, Marshal Peck, Charge, Priel and other interested persons were as baffled as ever.

That this is not the first happening of its kind was recorded in a letter written to Charge by man in Houston, Tex., who told of a like occurrence. The letter said: “Dear Sir, – The same phenomenon occurred in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, over ten years ago (as best as I can recollect) upon the warehouses of Coyle and Diehl. It has ever remained a mystery and I suppose some interesting data could be had from the files of that town’s newspaper, (The Valley Spirit). Yours Truly, George Britsch, Box 161, Houston, Texas.”

The spiritualistic side of the rock downpour of the last four months was again brought out yesterday by Roy N. Studt, an evangelist and director of a Bible class in Oakland, who is in Chico to conduct evangelistic services in the Chico Vecino tabernacle and to investigate the peculiar happenings about the warehouse. After gathering a good deal of information in connection with the rock shower from Marshal Peck and C.E. Charge and others, he was not ready to say whether it was due to a spiritualistic cause but contented himself by stating that it was possible that the rockfall could be caused by an evil force induced by Satan. If this was the cause, Studt asserted, it probably could be stopped by prayer. Studt declared that Satan does exert a power of witchcraft in the world and says it has been proven beyond manner of a doubt. He further declared that the day is soon coming when super-natural good and evil will conflict. Supporting his beliefs Studt cited the case of W.A Sweeney and wife in Jamaica. In this case, Studt declared, Satan’s evil influence caused the table and chairs in their home to jump around each night after they had gone to bed. This was immediately stopped, Studt said, when Mr and Mrs Sweeney resorted to prayer.

He also cited the case of Harrison Phillips, a carpenter in Iowa, who believed his house haunted by reason that every time he reached his hand for the doorknob of a certain door it would swing away from him. This was also alleviated by solemn prayer and faith.

Returning to the materialistic side of the case, Marshal Peck reiterated his belief that some human agency was responsible for the downpour of stones and discredited any spiritualistic theory.

C.E. Charge, son of J.W. Charge, asserted that he found a large bolt yesterday lodged between two slats of a roof ventilator at the warehouse. He stated that he believed the bolt was hurled about a month ago and lodged there. At that time Charge heard something strike the ventilator but thought it just one of many other rocks that were then raining daily and paid no attention to the noise.

As the matter now stands, the police are still diligently searching and investigating to uncover the source of the mystery and each day crowds swarm about the warehouses curiously looking on.

Marshal Peck Deluged With Letters On Mystery.

Published reports of the rock rain which has been dropping the last four months on the roofs of the warehouses operated at Sixth and Orange streets by J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel have brought a shower of letters to Charge and to Marshal J.A. Peck from interested persons offering solutions. One letter, however, was mailed from Chico and to read it one would believe that the “goblins is goin’ to git Peck ef he don’t watch out.” Anyway the chief goblin, the grand kleagle and the riders of the invisible empire are after the police chief. The letter, which is anonymous, purports to be from the local order of the Ku Klux Klan and is as follows: “Mr Ted Peck, Dear Sir – As an officer of the law you are the —. You know the bootlegger that is selling lickor to my son and other boys and who’s still is near the warehouse that is being bombarded. Do you see the connection? Signed Chief Goblin, Grand Kleagle, Riders of the knights, knight of the invisible empire, Ku Klux Klan. See that this is stopped in 10 days and the bombardment will stop. Remember the ten days.” Peck is almost certain from whence the note originated and probably will call the culprit to task.

Two other letters were received by Peck offering suggestions and theories. They are as follows:

“Chief of Police, Chico, California. Dear Sir – I have been following the articles in the papers regarding the mysterious bombardment or shower of rocks that has been taking place in your city. I am a student at Stanford University and I have been deeply interested in these occurrences. Do you not think it possible that someone is experimenting with a high powered air-cannon and that his cannon is situated say one, two or even three miles from the warehouses which seem to be the target of the stones? This thing could be easily accomplished by some fanatic who thinks he has a great invention. Those rocks fall hard if they put a hole in the roof and certainly must come from some distance. I am merely offering this as a suggestion and am enclosing a sketch. Why not look within a radius of one or more miles for the offender and perhaps you may find him? Very truly yours, Harold E. Pilph.”

Another letter says: “To the Marshal of Chico. Dear Sir – I make free to give you my opinion as to the cause of the hurling of rocks on Charge’s shed. Experiences along those lines in haunted places in the Indies and Europe, have convinced me that nearly all those cases can be traced to the unconscious mediumship of a person in the vicinity of the attacked places. If you should succeed in finding a conspicuously hysterical girl (woman) (once in a while a nervous boy) you should take them out of town for some time and the trouble will cease if it is the right person. In that case you’ll know the unaware perpetrator. It is clearly a case of apostrophe strongly developed larvated auto somnabulism [sic]. If you should wish to have me work on this case I shall be glad to so arrange with you. Hoping I have been of some assistance, I am dear sir, Yours very truly, D.H. Veltman, 1216 Escobar St., Martinez, Calif.”

A letter received by Charge is as followed: “Mr J. W. Charge, Chico, Calif – In the Chicago Evening Post of March 10, I have read an account of a rain of rocks on your property and the streets nearby. The article says you offer a reward of $20 to any person revealing the source from which the rocks come. Scientists tell us that the sun spots on the sun are cyclones and that great masses of sun matter are being thrown off at the present time. Frederic L. Rawson of England, a noted scientist, has just been in Chicago and in his lectures made mention of this class of phenomena that are likely to appear at this time. Recently on the coast of South America and of Alaska great meteors have been seen, so large as to have lighted up the entire heavens. The stones you have seen on your property are undoubtedly small meteorites whose fire long since has died out. In the light of Rawson’s knowledge I feel sure that this is the reason for the phenomena. I refer you Rawson’s great book, ‘Life Understood.’ Respectfully, E.B. Sherman, 4706 Sheridan road, Chicago.”

Chico Record, March 15th 1922.

Rockfall Recurs With Added Violence; Story Told by Boy Exploded by Investigators.

Three verified showers show phantom hurler is up to old tricks.

Developments came thick and fast yesterday in the phantom rock hurler’s activity which has harrassed J.H. Priel and J.W. Charge, owners of the warehouses which have been targets for the continued downpour which is focusing nationwide attention on Chico. Aside from three verified rock showers, the first at 11 a.m. the second at 2 p.m. and the last at 3 p.m. on the Charge and Priel warehouses, the most startling development came in a report from a workman, who claims he is employed at the Diamond Match company retail yard, that a shower of rock fell at the yard yesterday afternoon about 4 o’clock.

The man, who refused to give his name, appeared at the Record office last evening with a bag of rocks, said to be serpentine bedrock, material similar to that found in the Magalia ridge section and unlike any rocks previously fallen. He declared the rocks fell in the driveways and on the shed roofs of the retail yard at Third and Cherry streets, three blocks from the Charge warehouse. He said they seemed to fall all at one time and he would judge there were about 100 of the stones came apparently from out of the sky. They came with such force, he said, that several of them buried themselves in sacks of cement laying in an open truck. He said that a number of workmen at the yard could verify his statements.

J.H. Gunby, manager of the retail yard, was not at the yard when the rocks are reported to have fallen but his assistant, Thomas F. Rawson, asserted that he was present between 4 and 5 o’clock and did not hear any rocks drop in the yard nor did he know of any stones having fallen in the vicinity. He also said no cement was hauled by any of his subordinates yesterday.

Several clues were run down yesterday by Marshal J.A. Peck and other policemen but failed to reveal any useful information. At the conclusion of the day Peck said he still was completely baffled and would welcome any outside experts, psychic, spiritualistic, or otherwise, although he believed only in materialistic views, to help solve the mystery.

Private investigators were “taken for a walk” yesterday by 11-year-old Ted Kessler, a young lad with vivid information who told a yarn about seeing a catapult located in a tree. The police were not even taken in on this investigation, the boy was hustled out of his class at the Normal Training school at 11 a.m., but he was unable to lead investigators to the spot where he believed he saw the rock throwing device.

The source of the Ku Klux Klan letter, threatening Marshal Peck unless he wiped out alleged bootlegging in the vicinity of the Charge warehouse, was revealed yesterday when Cecil Payne, called on Marshal Peck, accompanied by his mother and said he knew the name of the boy who wrote the “Grand Kleagle” letter which was received by Peck Tuesday. Payne said he was present when the letter was written, but refused to divulge the name of the writer. He was not detained by the police.

Bombastic Serenade.

Dear Teddy:

They say a ghost is in Chico town, Is scaring folks for miles around By hurling bolts and rocks and bricks That they’ve been falling fast and thick

From out the sky a month or more, Till everybody’s feeling sore And saying something must be done To stop such foolish ghostly fun.

But the “Bee” says now Teddy Peck is roused (at last), and mad as heck. Ted thinks that ghost sure has a crust And will find the cause, or bust.

He won’t admit that he’s afraid Of this bombastic serenade. My goodness no, not Teddy now. No Sherlock Holmes I claim to be Altho I’ve solved this mystery.

All the ranchers miles around Drive old Ford cars round Chico town. And as they rattle, shake and race And bump along at breakneck pace. The bolts and nuts come loose and fly And catapult from out the sky

Because Just Whisper this Instead of filling Liz with gas, Those ranchers substitute jackass.

– Observer for the Marysville Democrat and a former Chicoite in Fourth street.

Chico Record, 16th March 1922.

Baseball Pitcher Ghost Still Throwing Things.

Chico, Calif. March 18. – An iron washer today passed close to the head of Miyi Sako, a Japanese, while he was loading wood at the Priel warehouse, which for several days past has been the target for mysterious showers of rocks and other missiles. The washer dropped on the ground near Sako’s feet. The belief was expressed by the authorities that the washer came from the same source as the nut which struck a man, in the vicinity of the warehouse yesterday. C.E. Little reported today that a large rock fell in the vicinity of the warehouse yesterday, and struck the wheel of his automobile.

The Rocky Mountain News (Daily), 19th March 1922.

Chico Sighs at Rockless Days.

Now mystified by downpour.

S.F. Argonaut makes comment.

No sooner had the inhabitants of this poor stone-bruised city finished heaving a deep sigh of relief over the absence of any rock bombardment since Saturday morning than a shower of stones peltered the J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel warehouses in the industrial district and again sent a shaft of mystified fear into the hearts of local residents. “From whence do these rocks come?” “Is human or ghost throwing them?” “How much longer will the bombardment continue?” “Will uptown buildings be struck?” These are the questions that are foremost in every Chicoan’s mind and have been asked and re-asked a million times in the past week.

Police are still up a stump and declare they are no nearer the solution of the mystery than they were three months ago. The sheriff’s office even declines to make more than a birdseye investigation and is rather passive. In a way this attitude can easily be understood. The fact that the sheriff’s office is in Oroville would incline those connected with it to say: “Oh well, let the spirits stone Chico. She is getting what she deserves.”

Authenticated reports yesterday were to the effect that two showers of rocks fell on the Priel warehouse at about 7.30 and 8.15 o’clock yesterday morning and a third shower struck the same corrugated iron roof in the middle of the afternoon. Letters were still piling up in the office of City Marshal J.A. Peck, and at the warehouse offices of Priel and Charge. The letters, as in the past, offered phony solutions and freak suggestions and many commonplace things which have been worked out by investigators many weeks previous.

The latest editorial add to the rock comment comes from the San Francisco Argonaut, the ultra conservative fashionable weekly around the Bay. The editorial follows: “It is likely that the appetite for signs and wonders is only exceeded by the thirst for light wines and beers. There is a type of mind, and if it is not in the majority it represents at least a very large minority, that seems to need something supernatural to think about, and to believe in. It has not thus far been possible for rationalism to catch up with the birth rate, and so there is an active market for modern miracles. At one time the best people took a hand in the hanging of witches, or approved the practice when indulged in by the grim pietists of that day. Today, the prevailing disposition is not sanguinary, nor igneous, but wondering, and perhaps grateful for something at which to wonder. As long as credulity takes this harmless form it may be regarded with charity and tolerance, until we get better school teachers.

“In addition, most people like to guess. Hence the profits made by the composers of puzzles, who minister at least to the great recreative instinct of the race. Fishing has its closed seasons, but guessing is open all year. At the pleasant little town of Chico, in Butte county, the guessing has recently been very good, the wondering and believing of the best quality. Last Sunday a lot of people who had long been puzzled about Jonah and the whale and where Cain got his wife seem to have given it up and flocked to Chico in their automobiles to guess at the origin of the showers of stones that have piqued curiosity for the past two months.

“It appears that Mr Charge owns a warehouse, and from time to time its iron roof resounds to the impact of a cobble; sometimes a whole volley. Mr Charge can not explain it. The petrological dew may fall at any hour, but the downfall is more likely to occur at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. The direction whence the stones come is unknown. The town marshal put on his star and examined the heavens but to no avail. An operative psychologist, as distinguished from a mere empiric, or faculty psychologist, rushed to the scene from San Francisco. He searched a number of witnesses and set down their answers in a note-book thoughtfully brought along for the purpose, but could find no material or mundane explanation. Because of this negative finding, the positive conclusion is now established in the minds of many that this is a business of spirits, a proper study for the Society of Psychological Research, perhaps for the speculations and explanation of Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Camille Flammarion, or some other restless intellect unsatisfied with physical causes. The operative psychologist has encountered competition of the gravest character, for a negro woman medium has offered, for a price, to stop the cobblefall, and is willing to forego payment until it has ceased for 48 hours. Nothing could be fairer.

“Human, and physical, explanations have been offered in abundance, but they are not desired. They are regarded as faith-destroying, and hence sinful. Credulity appears to be the primal instinct of our race. As far as we know, the horses, cows, and elephants are not gifted with it. Dogs seem to have it to some degree, for they believe in the goodness of men, despite the persecutions of women. But in human beings it springs eternal, like the hope of which it is probably a supporting part.

“There are those who have believed in banshees. Others have believed in the “precipitation of matter,” whereby, in defiance of physical law, matter of one sort has penetrated matter of another sort, and, as mist, has passed clean through it, to reorganise on the other side. Some believe in spirit photographs, admitting they might be produced by double exposures, but certain they are not. Long before photography the sect of Omphalopsychites, if that is the way to spell it, believed that by sitting in one posture and gazing at the umbilicus until their overstrained optic nerves began to play strange tricks they could see the “light of Mt. Tabor,” which illuminated the transfiguration; and the kennels of Constantinople ran blood about that. Some have believed in the fourth dimension. Others have believed in the “lost Atlantis,” sunk somewhere out in the roaring ocean by the subsistence that formed the latter, although it was not formed that way. Others have believed that the American Indians were the ten lost tribes of Israel, although those ten lost tribes were merely swallowed up in the surrounding ragamuffins on the fringe of Judea […] It is amusing and it is pathetic. People have the will to believe largely because they are dissatisfied with anything that can be known. Belief is rosy and romantic. Science is hard and dry. The Argonaut has, of course, its own theories about the Chico rockfall. But why break down all that beautiful faith in the work of malignant spirits? Why put an end to all the good guessing?

Chico Record, March 22nd 1922.

Rocks Showered on Chico in City’s Greatest Mystery.

Every city and town has a case or two on the police records marked down with the simple words – unsolved. Chico is no exception. On November 10, 1921, a few stones dropped on the warehouse at Sixth and Orange, belonging to J.W. and Clarence Charge. Nobody could figure out exactly where they came from. And out of this simple episode grew one of the most baffling mysteries of modern times – a mystery that brought scientists, psychic research workers and investigators of all kinds to Chico, including agents of the FBI. The unexplained happenings brought the name of Chico to the attention of practically every large paper in the country, and letters poured in from all over the world.

The hail of stones began in 1921, and it was not until the last of October in 1928 that the city was finally freed from the phenomena. For nobody could ever explain the source of the rock showers which amazed and frightened the people of Chico and the surrounding countryside. The only solution was one not universally accepted. Psychic research workers maintained the phantom hail of stones was caused by poltergeist – malicious and mischievous spirits or forces that delight in hurling all kinds of objects – sometimes outside, sometimes in closed and locked rooms.

The stones that dropped on Chico from the sky ranged from a few ounces to 10 pounds in weight. Scientists succeeded only in showing that the rocks themselves were not supernatural. The oddest part of the whole thing was that the downpour of rocks and stones was confined almost solely to the warehouses of J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel. Only on rare instances did the stones fall in other places. Also, the showers of rocks were usually confined to the daylight hours. Sometimes the poltergeist would let two or three days elapse would be continued. Sometimes only one or two rocks would fall. On other occasions several stones of all sizes and shapes would come hustling down.

Many old-time Chico residents remember the mystery of the falling rocks, but one offer a satisfactory explnation. Two telephone linemen, working outside the Charge warehouse one day, witnessed a shower. They claimed they first spotted the rocks hundreds of feet above the warehouse. Workers in the Charge and Priel building said rocks would fall inside the warehouse – suddenly dropping at their feet, and apparently coming from nowhere. The heaviest barrage occurred on March 24, 1922, when almost 75 stones dropped from the skies. According to Clarence Charge the rocks fell with alarming rapidity. However, the Poltergeist did something very strange for one of his species. He wrote letters and signed them simply SPOOK.

The only explanation offered is that the poltergeist took possession of, or inhabited the body of some ignorant person and forced him to write the letters. Poltergeist usually don’t bother to write letters, though Poltergeist possession is known to have happened. Previous to the record shower of 1922, a letter from SPOOK was received by J.A. Peck, then marshal of Chico. the letter said a farewell shower, the heaviest in weeks, would bombard the two warehouses. Peck gave the letter no consideration. Then came the shower, and an examination of the letter showed a postmark of 1 p.m. that day. The letter stated that shower would be the last. Evidently SPOOK changed his mind, for the showers continued for a good many years.

About that time Vincent Jones, vice president of the California Association for Psychic Research, visited Chico. His visit confirmed the Chicoans’ suspicions that the rock showers were caused by malicious spirits. On January 22, 1925, Clarence Charge received a letter written by the “ghost” enclosing a five dollar bill. The letter explained: (sic) I am sending you $5 to pay your glass in back your car. you said i did it but i never but i send you money anyway because you think i did. i know who done i saw him do it. Maybe someday i TELL who it was. YOu are AwAy so i am using your typewriter. (signed) SPOOK.

All previous communications had been signed SPOOK. In this particular instance, the letter followed the discovery of a broken pane of glass in the rear of Charge’s subsequent remark that he “believed the spook did that.” One of the most peculiar things about the whole business was the seeming inability of any eyewitnesses to tell from which direction the rocks fell. They seemed to fall from the sky. Some thought it the prank of children who played along the railroad tracks, but the size, frequency and length of time the showers continued seemed to disprove this theory. Besides, children could hardly throw the rocks and stones hundreds of feet into the air.

Another theory was that some “crackpot,” equipped with a sling-shot or catapult, was behind the phenomena. However, nobody who worked in the warehouse believed that. That would hardly explain the rocks falling inside the warehouses.

The Poltergeist didn’t confine his activities to rock throwing. Several times sacks of rice were moved from outside the warehouse to within the wall sand piled neatly inside. A note would usually follow.

Gradually the rock showers and strange goings on ceased. SPOOK remained silent for some time, and Chicoans believed the whole episode was over. However, during the last week of October, 1928, another strange thing happened, and the citizens were sure the poltergeist had returned to his old tricks. For more than a week eerie happenings had been going on in the home of Everett Anderson on Nord Avenue. Edgar Rugh, special investigator for the district attorney’s office, was finally called in to probe the mystery. The women members of the household told Rugh a strange story. A mysterious visitor pulled the clothes from closets, tore them to shreds and deposited them in a neat pile on the floor. The “ghost” showed a strange attraction for women’s garments. Nobody could catch the intruder. The family went so far as to bar all the doors and windows, thoroughly search the house, and then gather together in one room. They waited for a while, and then examined the room again. Upon entering the women’s rooms, clothes torn to shreds were found piled on the shelf. In addition, occasional showers of rocks pelted the Anderson house. Several windows were broken, and once the family rushed from the house – terrified by the uncanny happenings. Investigator Rugh found nothing. The psychic investigators found nothing.

The weird happenings continued for a while longer, and then suddenly stopped. The poltergeist of Chico has never been heard from since. Rumours have it that he got tired of our town and moved on to greener pastures. At any rate – that is one case that has remained strictly unsolved. Old times sometimes wonder. Will SPOOK ever come back? Or has he foresaken us forever?

Chico Record, 25th March 1948.

The Spook That Got Chico Stoned.

Chico’s most famous mystery never was solved.

By Jim Haynes.

The following is one of the most famous of all Chico tales, and there isn’t an old-timer in town who hasn’t heard it or read of it. But, because it’s Halloween and for the benefit of newcomers, we present this updated account published recently in the Sacramento Bee.

No Halloween prankster today could match the “spook” who caused it to rain rocks on Chico. For months, some say for years, in the 1920s, part of the town was showered with stones. The rocks – some as small as pebbles and others the size of oranges – pelted the roofs of grain warehouses along the railroad tracks several blocks west of the downtown area. The rocks dropped at any time of day in bursts that lasted for several minutes before ceasing as suddenly as they started.

“One of the strange things about these rocks was they gave the appearance of falling straight down from the sky,” local historian John Nopel recalled recently. “They looked like any other rocks around Chico [but] the things persisted in falling.” The phenomenon, which never has been explained, also showered attention on the town. Spiritualists and psychic experts – the ghostbusters of the time – came to search for a “spook” being blamed by the locals for somehow hurling the rocks onto their community. Constables questioned witnesses and searched for a culprit. The Sheriff’s Department obtained a “John Doe” warrant to arrest the person responsible – if ever caught. “They were really in a tizzy as to what was happening,” said Nopel.

A geologist at the teachers college, now California State University, Chico, studied the rocks to determine if they could be coming from meteorite showers. But, geologist C.K. Studley reported, “two of them show signs of cementation, either natural or artificial, and no meteoric factor was ever connected with a cement plant.” Studley added that “the samples are not of a free-moving variety and could not be expected to transport themselves.”

As word spread about the falling rocks, Souther Pacific trains slowed when rumbling past the Chico warehouses so curious passengers could see the site of the mystery. The newspapers had a ball with the rocks. A headline in one Bay Area paper read: “Chico Rocked in Cradle of Deep Mystery.” One of the local newspapers scolded the “phantom rock hurler” in its news columns: “If that miscreant has any fear of padded cells or steel bars he will desist from the ghoulish sport which has annoyed Chico police officers for the past four months, and worn thin the weatherbeaten roofs of the J.W. Charge and J.H. Priel warehouses at Sixth and Orange streets.”

But for all that, no one was ever injured, although some people reported being hit by the rocks, and there was no real damage to the buildings. In fact, said Helen Bradt, who was then the young bride of Mansfield Priel, one of the owners of the afflicted warehouses, “it got to be kind of a joke. We didn’t take it seriously.” Bradt, who did the bookkeeping for the family business, was at one of the warehouses with her husband one morning in 1928 or 1929 when a rock suddenly landed at her feet. “We were standing beside the pillars or posts that support the building when a rock fell down in front of us,” she recalled. The stone was about 3 inches in diameter and startled, but did not frighten the young couple, she said. “You just didn’t realise it was dramatic when it happened,” she said. Similar baffling incidents of falling rocks went on “for years and years,” she said. In later years, Brandt speculated, various pranksters picked up on the idea and tried to keep the mystery going.

Even today, said Bill Priel, Bradt’s son, “we still get a kid or two who will pick up a rock along the railroad tracks and toss it onto the warehouse.” Priel still owns the warehouse where most of the rocks hit, although it was rebuilt of concrete after the original wooden structure burned in 1943. As a boy, Priel recalled recently, he hung around the building and listened to the warehousemen talk about “when it rained rocks in Chico.” “Every time you heard the story told, they told it differently,” he said. The warehouse walls were covered with graffiti, such as “Beware, Luke the Spook will get you” and “Look out for the rock thrower.” Priel said some people thought the rocks had been hurled by a giant slingshot fashioned into the crook of an almond tree. But the nearest orchard was 1000 to 1500 feet away, Priel said. “It really was a big mystery.”

One anonymous writer in 1922 claimed credit for the rock bombardments in letters to the warehouse owners and Constable Teddy Peck. Signing himself “The Ghost” the letter writer said, “I have a little invention whereby I can shoot [rocks] near the mark at 600 yards.”

Local historian Nopel, who was a small boy when the rocks fell, said, “I guess there were as many theories as there were people. I believe they must have been catapulted somehow.”

But neither Nopel nor others who lived in Chico then seem very concerned today that the source of the raining rocks was never determined. “They never did solve the mystery, did they?” said Bradt, chuckling.

Chico News and Review, 31st October 1985.