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Tell me your Christmas ghost stories!
Telling “scary ghost stories” at the holidays isn’t just a seemingly out-of-place line in the song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” or the plot of A Christmas Carol - it’s actually a very old tradition stretching back to pagan Yule festivals and Winter Solstice celebrations. So please share yours with us: true or false, but preferably true.
You've heard of the legend of Zorro? The story about the Mexican swashbuckler who swore vengeance on a corrupt governor for killing his wife?
Turns out, Zorro was based on a real dude. A dude by the name of Joaquin Murietta. He hailed from a little pueblo that's now called Fresno, California. He became an outlaw when, you guessed it, the mayor unjustly executed his wife. He spent his days knocking over stagecoaches in the Pacheco Pass (that stretch of 152 that goes to the 5 from 101). The story goes they caught him, chopped his head off and the mayor had it pickled, sitting in a jar in his office.
But they say, to this day, on a quiet night in the Pacheco Pass, you can still hear the hoofbeats of Joaquin Murietta and his band of outlaws coming to knock over your stagecoach.
Now, I've never heard any hoofbeats, but I have heard gunfire. It's probably just the local ranchers blowing off some steam. Probably.