Ok, so I was looking into California Monsters (for OCs) and they aren’t plentiful but they’re weird:
We have Big Foot, the Lizard people under Los Angeles (of course), and Tahoe Tessie and Elsinore Elsie. Chupacabras… but I already have OCs of them, La LLorona and the Cucuy (natch).
The other ones I found though, I can’t believe I lived in Cali my entire life without hearing about:The Dark Watchers in Monterey - shadowy giants that stare at the hills, The Billiwhack Monster of Santa Paula - A goat headed man with claws. There’s the Char Man of Ojai - a badly burned man who comes out and attacks if you call for help? And the terrifying sounding Monster of Lake Elizabeth- the spawn of the devil himself, with the head of a bulldog, the neck of a giraffe and wings like a pterodactyl. That would make an attractive ghoul, no?
Apparently we have a vampire too! From Weird California-
“According to urban legend, a vampire relocated to the Ojai area around 1890 from either Italy or Spain. He acquired a small ranch and kept a low profile. However, as soon as he arrived, local cattle began turning up dead and drained of blood. Shortly thereafter locals were assaulted by strange wolf like creatures. The townsfolk got up in arms and realizing that a vampire was in their midst, raided the vampire’s ranch during the day.
But the vampire was prepared for that and had a huge black phantom dog guard his stone sarcophagus. It also drank blood. The ranchers eventually repelled the dog with a silver crucifix and closed in on the vampire’s above ground stone tomb hidden by underbrush and weeds. Realizing, its master was in trouble, the black beast charged the ranchers again, only to be turned away as they sprinkled holy water at the hell beast.
With the dog retreating, the ranchers opened the stone casket and staked the evil monster that lay within, thus ending the vampire’s short reign of terror. The casket or stone sarcophagus is said to still lie there, hidden away amongst the brush and weeds. It is an above ground tomb with a small window in it. You supposedly can peer in through the window and still see the skull of the vampire.
It has been speculated that this legend cropped up from a possible real life above ground tomb. It is plausible that an old family near the turn of the century could have buried their dead in this manner upon their estate. It is not only not unheard of, but also apparently the custom at the time in certain parts of Europe. Even the window in the stone coffin isn’t completely unheard of. Stating that, however, if you are wandering around Camp Comfort County Park and come upon a stone sarcophagus with a skeleton inside, don’t pull out the wooden stake”
Who knew?
So yeah, I could go with the ghost of a famous starlet, Queen Mary passenger, Arroyo Seco bridge victim (or any one of the thousands that haunt California) but this gives me a bit to work with.
To the drawing board!