Ghostly Tales from Sequoia Mansion
The House at 643 Bee Street
“If these walls could speak…”
Every house has stories to tell. The one on Bee Street in Placerville—the unmissable grand Victorian across from Placerville Union Cemetery—well, you know the saying, “where the past comes alive?” It really does here, and sometimes in strange and frightening ways.
Built in 1853 on the heels of the Gold Rush by entrepreneur, Frederick Bee, the house was expanded in 1889 by Judge Marcus Bennett. It was here that tragedy befell the Bennett family which some believe may have set off a series of eerie happenings still experienced today.
The Porch Swing
Take for example the story of a cook employed by the Placerville chapter of the Elks Club. The club owned the house and used it for gatherings during the 70s and 80s. The cook is unnamed by history, but what happened to her one day has become one of the best known stories in Sequoia Mansion lore.
The cook arrived at the house one afternoon to begin preparing a fancy dinner for that evening’s Elk Club event. She left her car parked near the front of the house, and as she approached the front porch, she noticed a couple, a man and woman, sitting together comfortably on a porch swing.
At first glance they seemed to be enjoying the fresh air on a pleasant afternoon—as if this were part of their daily routine. They were dressed in Victorian clothes which in the moment did not seem out of place to her. This was a Victorian mansion after all. The two fit right in as if they belonged. Her mind was occupied with all the work ahead of her, and she felt rushed to get to the kitchen and begin.
On her way to the door, she passed the gentleman and lady bid them a kind “Hello.” They nodded cordially to her as she used her key and went inside.
She closed the door behind her and headed past the grand staircase and down the hall to the mansion’s large kitchen at the back of the house.
As she tied the strings of her apron, a thought stopped her mid-tie. A strange feeling overtook her as she suddenly realized there had never been a porch swing on that porch before! She could not place the faces of the people she had said hello to, and now it dawned on her that their attire was from another century.
The whole encounter made no sense now—and it unsettled her greatly. She had heard stories about unusual happenings in this house but had never experienced anything odd or frightening herself.
Now her heart thumped hard in her chest and she felt an urgent need to get out of that house quickly!
She dropped her apron where she stood and fled the house through a back way.
As she got to her car she dared to glance at the front porch. It was empty as it should be. No comfortable swing. No man and woman taking in the fresh air. Just shadows of the house’s second story encroaching upon the porch.
She left the employ of the Elks Club and never set foot in Sequoia Mansion again.