Haunted Sunnyvale Toys R Us (4)
From: Robertodellh@aol.com
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: Toys-r-us.
Date: Friday, June 21, 2002 10:56 AM
I grew up in Sunnyvale from '51 to 73. The orchard behind Toys-r-Us was always considered spooky, before a Whitefront department store was built there in the sixties, the building that Toys-r-Us now occupies. As kids, we rode our bikes over there, hid them in the wild blackberry bushes, and ventured into the orchards, where we knew a man with a rock-salt loaded shotgun would be stalking us. We were brave enough to go into the bing cherry trees and gorge ourselves, but the border between the cherry trees and the plums was where we balked. It was definately weird beyond that. Rumors of ghosts, and a ramshackle village from another time figured prominantly. For several years friend and I shared the same recurring dreams of this muddy village, perhaps from the 1890's, or possibly as late as the 1920's. Robbers and prostitutes, before we were aware of what those types were, figured in these dreams. Also vicious dogs and dirty, mean mules and horses. I believe that the ghost of the man who chopped his arm off at a well there and died, is the main ghost in Toys, but others are involved. The area we were most concerned about was between Wolfe road, and closer to, Laurence Expressway, about a quarter mile south of el Camino, unless I'm confused, 20 years down the line. We also used to sneak onto the grounds of the Winchester Mystery House whe we got a little older. There was a ghost of a doberman pincher there. This was before they built the Century 21 domed cinemas, or whatever that was called, on her orchard there. Also, has anyone heard of a house in Saratoga that belonged to the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, which had once been a Nunnery in which 2 nuns were gassed accidently. In the late sixties we visited the tennant there who performed what we considered a very good parlor trick, where all the windows would be locked by us, and we would take a short walk around the grounds, and return to find all the windows flung wide, supposedly by the asfixiated nuns. Ever hear about that place? I live in London now, and love to explore the zillions of haunted places all over this country. Thanx for your rapt attention!
Robert Hawkins.
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 17:31:16 -0700
From: Alejandra Gonzales (alejandra@santa.com)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org, alejandra@santa.com
Subject: Toys 4 us ghost
Hello,
I 'm a past resident from Sunnyvale, California. I lived there till i was 12 and i'm 20 now, living in san jose. I don't believe in ufo's and I don't believe that elvis is alive either. But i can account to what happened to me when I visited Toys R US .. in sunnyvale.
I used to go to the toys r us all the time,when i was a kid with my
mother. One day after going to burger king
I went to the aisle i wanted... i found a barbie and started down the
aisle to my mother as i turn around to get another outfit for my
barbie.. there are three barbie doll boxes.. on top of eachother... in
the middle of the floor.. NO ONE was in the aisle and it was too quick
for anyone to run get all of them and put them on top of eachother and
then run off. I was too young to think anything of it... again!!..
So.. after i get home.. i told my sister what happened.. after she
called me stupid and all that.. she told me how it was haunted.. i
didn't believe her till i saw the show later.. years to come.. on ..
Sightings.. i was freaked out.. my hair was standing on end...
so now i know .. what happened... i wasn't just a crazy kid ! LOL
From: "Wynter Mitchell" (suprgrrl@pacbell.net)
Re: Toys R Us Sunnyvale
I went there to do a story for my school paper and I felt something push =
me aside as I went to the back of the store, I was there for about 2 =
hours trying to get a sense of the whole atmosphere. Only that push =
confirmed it for me. It was not a strong push, but it was like someone =
was trying to get by, it wasn't hostile, it was similar to a polite =
"excuse me, you're in my way". I was content.
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 12:03:28 -0700
I just wanted to write in on the Haunted Toys R US story. My dad used to
pal around with most of the Bay Area Parapsychology folk(and Sylvia Brown)
and almost went on the over-night where the famous photo came from. He did
visit around 1 am one night, a friend of his being a night watchman. What
he saw was not a man, but a black fog-like mass which moved about the board
game aisle. This would have been in early 85. I have heard and seen some
strange things while shopping there, but nothing I can pinpoint(mostly just
hearing things from aisles where there aren't any people, a few things out
of the corner of my eye)
Just thought to drop a line
Chris
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 23:45:14 -0700 (PDT)
Well, I just noticed your website has a section on the Toys R Us haunting and I figured I'd add something to it's section. I worked at that Toys R Us for one christmas season and I live in santa clara (city right next to sunnyvale) so, I've been there plenty of times. I have to be honest in telling you that I didn't see many things happen in the aisles and most of the employees would probably agree that most of the weird activity tends to happen in the stocking areas. The store itself looks HUGE when you walk in and it almost seems like there's no place where stock is kept but the actual store is surrounded by stocking areas (save for the front). The left side where you walk in is shipping and recieving (where my girlfriend worked at the time) and the back of the store is the biggest stock area (where most of the weird stuff happens). Ok, so here's the experiences. On one of my first nights working I was being trained by another employee and we were going through all the boxes on the second floor of the stock room in the back of the store. He informed me that we should take an early break (heh) so, we pulled out one of the large boxes stacked up on other boxes, shifted it to the center of the floor and sat on a box between other boxes to sort of relax and hide from any possible managers. While we were sitting there we started to hear very heavy footsteps heading our way so we peeped over the top of one of the boxes towards where the footsteps were coming from and we were completely alone in the entire upstairs back area. I'm fairly down to earth so I chalked it up to sounds perhaps from the downstairs area (although they were quite apparrent footsteps). Now christmas time is QUITE busy so usually there are people there restocking around the clock. However, one night we got finished very early and my current girlfriend at the time had finished up with one of the managers and they were the last two to close the store. They both incidentally had to be back there in another 6 hours so they rushed home to bed and then back to work. Upon opening the store together, they had found a monopoly board all set out as if someone was preparing to play it. The pieces were on the board but the cash wasn't scattered anywhere or anything. (Monopoly is a very old game btw).
Also, several of the girl employees had claimed that they'd occassionally feel someone 'petting' the back of their hair in the back rooms although my ex g/f had never felt anything. *Shrug* That's about all I know of it. Didn't really feel any 'strange' feelings or hear 'SPOOKY' sounds. Just weird stuff that could have an explanation.
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 00:15:27 -0700 (PDT)
Hello all, I worked at the SUNNYVALE Toys r us for about three years. Alot of the stories I read on this website seemed a bit extreme. But don't get me wrong I don't doubt you all experienced something. I actually had a few frightening experiences when I was there. But nothing major. For example I was the money counter stuck early in the morning in a little room with only one window, so many times I saw someone out of the corner of my eyes watching me. But when I would turn to look no one was there. Yeah it could have been sleep deprivation. The store has now been remodeled but back in the day(1995-1998) there was alot of activity on aisle 15C(that would be where the fisher price items were. legos were just down the aisle). People said they felt the cold chill I also did. Other associates said they could hear him on the roof(like he was walking back and forth kicking the stones), also the toys playing music by themselves and toys falling off the shelves. I personally never heard him. Never really saw him full on. We really did not talk about it at work unless it was mentioned on t.v. You all can imagine how many phone calls we would get "is this the haunted Toys r us?". Honestly I can't really say 100% either way. I am very scared of seeing something tht shouldn't be there(A GHOST!). Maybe that is why I did not have alot of encounters. Let me just say when the power woul go out and it usually would at least two times a year I would be the first one out the front door. There was a few things that i've read in various places that did make me quite upset: #1 I have never heard Toys R Us(big wigs) brag about the fact that there is a ghost at one of their stores. It's not like they chose to have a ghost there. #2 Regardless of what he is doing there he does not pray on or bother the females. He never hurt me and now when I go to that store I feel very at ease not frightened. HE IS NOT A BAD GHOST! Last but not least I am still with Toys R Us, although a different store I thought I finally got away from the "haunted" Toys R Us and then I come to find out that a few people who work at my store think it's haunted. I know I am very contradicting in this very long story. I am sorry I guess I do believe!
Marian :)
If you have an account of a famous haunting you'd like to share,
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Haunted Toys R Us Information Page
This page (http://www.ghosts.org/toycoms9902.html) last updated April 17, 2005.
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: Ghost Stories
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 15:44:31 -0800
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
From: Chris Garcia (garcia@computerhistory.org)
Subject: Haunted Toys R Us
To: stories@ghosts.org
yourname Steve
email broken@wt.net
To: stories@ghosts.org
yourname marian
email mbunchsolorio@yahoo.com
ALWAYS A TOYS R US KID!