Our Extreme Yard Haunt is based on the legend of the Rosa Witch. The legend itself is based on a story passed down generation to generation by different families. All the families that we know of lived in Sonoma County for decades. Is it a true story? I can’t tell you if it is or it isn’t. All I can say is my grandmother (Nonie) and great grandmother (Nona) along with other local grandparents swore it was true. When I told Nonie, I was going to recreate it….she begged me not do such a thing. She believes it will awaken the evil from our family’s past.

The Legend of the Rosa Witch
In the early 1800s, William Wolcott moved his family from North Carolina to California, the area we now know as Sonoma County. They settled in the small town of Jose Ramon, which later became Santa Rosa. Wolcott purchased some land and a small hotel his family soon called home. The Wolcott's had three children: the eldest Billy followed by Dennis and Tracie whom they called by her middle name Aileen. Over the next several years William acquired more land, increasing his holdings to 472 acres. A number of acres were used for pumpkins and vineyards. The townspeople took a grand liking to the Wolcott’s and appointed William as the county marshal for many years.

On a day like any other, William Wolcott was inspecting his pumpkin patch that grew behind the hotel, when he saw a figure in the middle of the patch. As he approached, the figure took shape of an elderly woman hunched over as if she had been snapped in half. Wolcott called out to her with no response…As he was easing closer to get a better look, something startled him and his gun shot off. The woman pointed at him and vanished into thin air. Wolcott thought he may have had too much to drink and was imagining things…until after dinner. That evening, the Wolcott family heard "beating" sounds on the outside walls of the hotel.

The mysterious sounds grew louder and more forceful as each night passed. Wolcott and his sons often hurried outside to catch the culprit but always returned empty-handed. In the days that followed, the Wolcott children began waking up frightened, complaining that rats were gnawing at their bedposts and something was pulling their bed covers off them. Soon, the Wolcott's began hearing a faint whispering voice that sounded like a feeble old woman singing hymns. The encounters first became violent when the Wolcott’s youngest daughter Aileen was brutally attacked in her sleep. She awoke to what seemed to be a woman in a rose colored dress fleeing out the window. The Wolcott family could no longer keep this a secret. William decided to share what he began calling the Rosa Witch with his closest neighbor and town blacksmith, Bryan McCully.

McCully and his wife Jennifer spent the following night at the Wolcott Hotel. They quickly experienced the same terrifying disturbances that the Wolcott’s had. After having bedcovers removed and being beaten McCully sprang out of bed, exclaiming, "In the name of the Lord, who are you and what do you want?!" There was no response, and the remainder of the night was relatively peaceful.

The following day, Wolcott and his son Billy went hunting in their western acres which remained unexplored. They came to a clearing and an old rundown shack. Wolcott went inside to find the remains of an old woman in a rose colored dress. The shack was full of bones and other strange wicked looking items. Wolcott made no hast declaring to his son Billy that this was the home of Rosa Witch. With the help of his son, Wolcott burned the old shack to the ground hoping this would rid them of the Witch forever.

Burning the shack angered the Rosa Witch more than ever and that night vowed to kill Wolcott. She kept her promise. A few days later Wolcott started experiencing episodes of violent twitching and shaking throughout his body and it became difficult to swallow. By the fall of 1810, his declining health had confined him to the hotel. William Wolcott took his last breath on the night of October 2, 1810. The family surrounded his bed and as they stood by his side a small vial of rose colored liquid fell to the floor. The Rosa Witch’s loud shrill could be heard all over town cursing "Death to Old Man Wolcott!" Billy quickly threw the vial into the fireplace, where it burst into a bright, bluish flame and shot up the chimney.

William Wolcott's funeral was one of the largest ever held in Sonoma County. All the townspeople attended and as they began leaving the graveyard, the Witch laughed loudly and sang a song about haunting the town and bringing evil to all. Story has it that she sang until the last person left the graveyard. On the night of October 31, 1810 the Witch visited William Wolcott's widow Cassandra, and told her she would continue to haunt and bring vast evil upon the townspeople and her family. The Rosa Witch kept her promised. She continued to haunt the Wolcott family and the townspeople. Rumor has it that when the harvest moon aligned with the pumpkin patch behind the hotel, the greatest evil spread across the land. The pumpkins came alive and the town people went mad, having witch hunts and mass hangings. The last record of this was exactly 100 years ago in 1910.

This year, 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of when the harvest moon aligned with the pumpkin patch. William Wolcott’s direct descendants still live in the region that was haunted by the Rosa Witch in Sonoma County. The closest living direct descendant of William Wolcott is Me, Bill Wolcott. The spooky part is, my wife’s name is Cassie (short for Cassandra) and it just so happens we live at 472 Jose Ramon Avenue in Santa Rosa California. Is this a coincidence?? Who knows? It happened to my ancestors and the townspeople in the 1800’s and again in the 1900’s…maybe this year you will experience the Witch and all her evil when you Trick or Treat on our street, Jose Ramon Ave. Hold that thought for now…and see if the truth comes alive…       Pleasant dreams!