Quicksand Fans

ghost stories
http://cartas.typepad.com/main/santa-ba ... t-stories/
Then, in the evening there came bad news from the priest at San Buenaventura. Some Indians from there were coming from San Fernando with olives. While they were crossing over the Santa Clara River at the fording place, they saw the hoof of a horse sticking up out of the wet sand, a little way off . Do you know the Santa Clara River, senor? It is a bad river, there is not much water, but it has much quicksand and it is dangerous to cross it unless you know the safe places.

The Indians thought a man had sunk in the sand because they could see part of a sombrero in the sand close to the horse. When they got back to the Mission they told the Father and he thought it must be Don Jorge because the horse was black like the one Don Jorge had been riding.

Don Jorge had gone home early in the morning after he had killed Vicente, and taken a new horse and some money and had started to go somewhere and get away - I suppose he was going to Mexico - but no one ever knew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clar ... ifornia%29
http://www.ventanawild.org/news/fall05/ ... pter6.html
santa clara river is actually in ventura co google search brought a couple of hits i don't have time to investigate for now "santa clara river quicksand"

Speaking of ghosts, I think there's a famous one from the east coast (Carolina?) called The Grey Man, who was supposed to be the spirit of a fellow who perished in coastal quicksand. He and a servant were out riding when his horse fell into the quicksand, and both sank out of sight before the servant's eyes.

That's about all I an recall... I used to have a book on true ghost stories where I read this...

The Santa Clara River is quite familiar to me and one of the other producers here. And honestly, it's not any more or less likely to have quicksand in it than any other river in the American southwest.

Having said that, it is historically significant for being the course that the water took when the San Francisquito Canyon Dam failed in 1927. In fact, up until a couple years ago, San Francisquito Canyon Road used to pass right through the remains of the Dam.

The Santa Clara Valley is also quite scenic. For those interested, I would definitely recommend driving highway 126 from Castaic (where Six Flags is) to Ventura (morning is the best time for this - otherwise, do it in the opposite direction). You don't see much of the river, but it's a nice drive and you end up at the ocean.

there is also the tar pits in carpiteria just south of santa barbra