We were sitting around yesterday (8-27-11) trying to figure out what we were going to do for the evening when we decided to go check out a haunted location. We looked up some of the haunted locations that are close to us and decided on Dyer Lane. We have heard so many stories about Dyer Lane in Roseville, CA being haunted. It isn't too far from our home so we loaded up the kids and our investigators in training (Kim Walker and Robert Triplett) and headed out. Usually we don't bring the kids but since we were just checking it out to see if it would be worth doing a full investigation there we decided to bring them. I spent many hours yesterday researching Dyer Lane and trying to confirm and validate the claims of deaths on the road but didn't get very far. I got the same stories over and over again with only confirmation of one, possibly two, deaths. So here is what I found.
The land around Dyer Lane belonged to a man named John R. Dyer. He was born in 1833 in Missouri and died in August 1913. He and his wife, Julia Agnes Dyer, settled in the area sometime between 1854 and 1857. Mr. Dyer was one of the pioneer settlers of the Center Joint District. His wife died in May 1896. Their son continued to run the ranch until it was sold to Mr. Ross Riolo in 1956. I found this information on www.roseville.ca.us. Also, I did find that before settlers came to California the Sacramento Valley was home to the Maidu Native Americans (aka Konkow or Northwestern Maidu). That was the most I could find searching the internet. When you Google Dyer Lane, Roseville, CA you get a lot of YouTube videos and other sites about it being haunted.
There is one story about John R. Dyer having a roaming eye and his wife was very jealous so one day she killed him, their children, and then herself. Of course this story is not true. There are other variations of this story. One is that a farmer and his wife had a slaughter house and the wife went crazy and killed her family then herself. Another is that a man went crazy and killed his family then himself except one son wasn't home so he survived then when he came home to find his family dead he burned down all the homes on the block that belonged to his family.
It is also rumored that during the 1930's and the 1940's the KKK held secret meetings and that lynching may have been done there. There is a story of a police officer having died there in the 1950's due to a fatal car crash or, as some stories go, the police officer died mysteriously. According to the stories there is a phantom police car that will come flying down the road with the lights going only to disappear. I did find that there were three Placer County Sherriff’s officers that died in the 1950's in car accidents. One was not anywhere near Dyer Lane. The other two do not say where the accident occurred.
It is also claimed that in 1972 a GTO and a Duster were racing. Both drivers were intoxicated and the GTO driver missed the 90 degree turn at the end of Dyer Lane causing him to crash into a tree, be thrown from the car through the windshield, and smashing his head into the tree killing him on impact. Some say you can see the apparition of a man walking down the road with his head bleeding. There are claims of a phantom tractor and driver that likes to cut off motorcycles and disappears. From what I have found these stories are possibly urban legends as I could not find any real events to support these claims.
I did find that in 1985 a high school student died from stab wounds during a fight that involved about 100 students from Encina High School and Rio Linda High School. Also, in 1995 Dan Riolo and his family reported hearing gun shots from their ranch home around 9:15 pm or 9:30 pm. Not too long after they heard the gun shots there was a body found on Dyer Lane by a motorist that was on his way to work. The 1995 death confirmation came from Placer County Sherriff’s Office. The 1985 death I haven't been able to confirm as of yet. If I am able to confirm it I will let you know.
We had Kim and Robert meet at our home at 7 pm to go over the claims and stories then we loaded up and headed out. While driving down Dyer Lane we saw many drawings and lots of writing on the street. Most of the writing and drawings were racist, however there are the so and so was here writings as well as other things that we couldn't make out. Our first place we stopped to do some investigating was right at the first 90 degree turn where Dyer Lane turns into Tan Woods Road where there is the story of the GTO driver that crashed and died. We looked around and located a tree that appeared to have been there for some time. It also had some places with bark missing. Could this be the tree that was involved in the accident? Possibly, if the accident really did occur. Also, if the accident did occur we have no way of knowing if the tree is even still there.
We took some pictures, did EMF readings, and did some EVP sessions. The only thing we found there was some animal bones. We did witness a car coming towards us that seemed to disappear but we were able to debunk it as there were two driveways that the car could have turned down. We heard lots of movement in the tall grass and in the trees but we were unable to confirm it as paranormal. There are animals out there so we must dismiss it.
We walked a bit down the street and did some more EVP sessions and took some more pictures. While we were walking back to our vehicles we heard footsteps behind us and our sensitives felt someone following us. We looked and looked but we were unable to find an explanation for these footsteps. Also while walking back to our vehicles Kim saw a shadow walk in front of our truck. Once back to the vehicles we did another EVP session. Unfortunately, we didn't get anything from that EVP session.
We decided to drive down Tan Woods Road and set up to investigate more on the other 90 degree turn where Tan Woods Road turns into Kasser Road. At this point the kids were tired so only one of us lead investigators was out with our investigators in training at a time while the other sat in the truck with the kids. Steve was the first to go out with Kim and Robert. They took more pictures and did more EVP sessions. Both Kim and Robert felt like spider webs went across them. Kim felt them on her leg and Robert felt them on his face. At this point they were all standing in the middle of the road. They looked for a source of the spider webs and didn't find any. They also heard disembodied voices talking close to them which we did capture on our digital voice recorder.
They came back to the vehicles and it was my turn to go out with Kim and Robert. Since they had gone down Kasser Road we decided to go down Tan Woods Road. We walked down the road looking for a good place to do some EVPs when we heard some noises in the grass and thought we saw someone walking in the field. We took pictures again and did some EVPs. We heard music coming from somewhere but we again have to dismiss it due to the fact that people do live around there and we knew there were other people in the area due to all the gun shots we were hearing. We had just finished an EVP session when we saw a car coming down Dyer Lane and turned onto Tan Woods Road. We were in an area were there really wasn't enough room on the side of the road for us to get safely out of the way of the oncoming car so we turned and started walking back to the vehicles. Once we were out of possible danger we looked back and the car was gone. Unfortunately, we didn't have video running since we were just checking out the place to see if it would be worth doing a full investigation or not so we didn't think about using it.
Since that was the third vehicle that we had seen coming down Tan Woods Road and Dyer Lane that seemed to disappear we loaded up in the vehicles and drove really slow down the road looking for driveways or other roads that a car could turn off onto. We didn't find anywhere on Tan Woods Road that a car could have turned off onto so we are left wondering if it was something paranormal or if it was something explainable. The other two cars that we thought had disappeared we debunked due to driveways on Dyer Lane.
In conclusion, we believe there may be some paranormal activity out on Dyer Lane however; we don't have enough to say it is indeed haunted. Check out our pictures and EVPs that we did get. We will be checking out Dyer Lane, Tan Woods Road, and Kasser Road in the day time to double check that we didn't miss a possible driveway or road that a car could turn down. We will also be going back at a later date for a full investigation! That means we will have all of our equipment and no kids! Keep an eye out for our follow up on Dyer Lane!
The land around Dyer Lane belonged to a man named John R. Dyer. He was born in 1833 in Missouri and died in August 1913. He and his wife, Julia Agnes Dyer, settled in the area sometime between 1854 and 1857. Mr. Dyer was one of the pioneer settlers of the Center Joint District. His wife died in May 1896. Their son continued to run the ranch until it was sold to Mr. Ross Riolo in 1956. I found this information on www.roseville.ca.us. Also, I did find that before settlers came to California the Sacramento Valley was home to the Maidu Native Americans (aka Konkow or Northwestern Maidu). That was the most I could find searching the internet. When you Google Dyer Lane, Roseville, CA you get a lot of YouTube videos and other sites about it being haunted.
There is one story about John R. Dyer having a roaming eye and his wife was very jealous so one day she killed him, their children, and then herself. Of course this story is not true. There are other variations of this story. One is that a farmer and his wife had a slaughter house and the wife went crazy and killed her family then herself. Another is that a man went crazy and killed his family then himself except one son wasn't home so he survived then when he came home to find his family dead he burned down all the homes on the block that belonged to his family.
It is also rumored that during the 1930's and the 1940's the KKK held secret meetings and that lynching may have been done there. There is a story of a police officer having died there in the 1950's due to a fatal car crash or, as some stories go, the police officer died mysteriously. According to the stories there is a phantom police car that will come flying down the road with the lights going only to disappear. I did find that there were three Placer County Sherriff’s officers that died in the 1950's in car accidents. One was not anywhere near Dyer Lane. The other two do not say where the accident occurred.
It is also claimed that in 1972 a GTO and a Duster were racing. Both drivers were intoxicated and the GTO driver missed the 90 degree turn at the end of Dyer Lane causing him to crash into a tree, be thrown from the car through the windshield, and smashing his head into the tree killing him on impact. Some say you can see the apparition of a man walking down the road with his head bleeding. There are claims of a phantom tractor and driver that likes to cut off motorcycles and disappears. From what I have found these stories are possibly urban legends as I could not find any real events to support these claims.
I did find that in 1985 a high school student died from stab wounds during a fight that involved about 100 students from Encina High School and Rio Linda High School. Also, in 1995 Dan Riolo and his family reported hearing gun shots from their ranch home around 9:15 pm or 9:30 pm. Not too long after they heard the gun shots there was a body found on Dyer Lane by a motorist that was on his way to work. The 1995 death confirmation came from Placer County Sherriff’s Office. The 1985 death I haven't been able to confirm as of yet. If I am able to confirm it I will let you know.
We had Kim and Robert meet at our home at 7 pm to go over the claims and stories then we loaded up and headed out. While driving down Dyer Lane we saw many drawings and lots of writing on the street. Most of the writing and drawings were racist, however there are the so and so was here writings as well as other things that we couldn't make out. Our first place we stopped to do some investigating was right at the first 90 degree turn where Dyer Lane turns into Tan Woods Road where there is the story of the GTO driver that crashed and died. We looked around and located a tree that appeared to have been there for some time. It also had some places with bark missing. Could this be the tree that was involved in the accident? Possibly, if the accident really did occur. Also, if the accident did occur we have no way of knowing if the tree is even still there.
We took some pictures, did EMF readings, and did some EVP sessions. The only thing we found there was some animal bones. We did witness a car coming towards us that seemed to disappear but we were able to debunk it as there were two driveways that the car could have turned down. We heard lots of movement in the tall grass and in the trees but we were unable to confirm it as paranormal. There are animals out there so we must dismiss it.
We walked a bit down the street and did some more EVP sessions and took some more pictures. While we were walking back to our vehicles we heard footsteps behind us and our sensitives felt someone following us. We looked and looked but we were unable to find an explanation for these footsteps. Also while walking back to our vehicles Kim saw a shadow walk in front of our truck. Once back to the vehicles we did another EVP session. Unfortunately, we didn't get anything from that EVP session.
We decided to drive down Tan Woods Road and set up to investigate more on the other 90 degree turn where Tan Woods Road turns into Kasser Road. At this point the kids were tired so only one of us lead investigators was out with our investigators in training at a time while the other sat in the truck with the kids. Steve was the first to go out with Kim and Robert. They took more pictures and did more EVP sessions. Both Kim and Robert felt like spider webs went across them. Kim felt them on her leg and Robert felt them on his face. At this point they were all standing in the middle of the road. They looked for a source of the spider webs and didn't find any. They also heard disembodied voices talking close to them which we did capture on our digital voice recorder.
They came back to the vehicles and it was my turn to go out with Kim and Robert. Since they had gone down Kasser Road we decided to go down Tan Woods Road. We walked down the road looking for a good place to do some EVPs when we heard some noises in the grass and thought we saw someone walking in the field. We took pictures again and did some EVPs. We heard music coming from somewhere but we again have to dismiss it due to the fact that people do live around there and we knew there were other people in the area due to all the gun shots we were hearing. We had just finished an EVP session when we saw a car coming down Dyer Lane and turned onto Tan Woods Road. We were in an area were there really wasn't enough room on the side of the road for us to get safely out of the way of the oncoming car so we turned and started walking back to the vehicles. Once we were out of possible danger we looked back and the car was gone. Unfortunately, we didn't have video running since we were just checking out the place to see if it would be worth doing a full investigation or not so we didn't think about using it.
Since that was the third vehicle that we had seen coming down Tan Woods Road and Dyer Lane that seemed to disappear we loaded up in the vehicles and drove really slow down the road looking for driveways or other roads that a car could turn off onto. We didn't find anywhere on Tan Woods Road that a car could have turned off onto so we are left wondering if it was something paranormal or if it was something explainable. The other two cars that we thought had disappeared we debunked due to driveways on Dyer Lane.
In conclusion, we believe there may be some paranormal activity out on Dyer Lane however; we don't have enough to say it is indeed haunted. Check out our pictures and EVPs that we did get. We will be checking out Dyer Lane, Tan Woods Road, and Kasser Road in the day time to double check that we didn't miss a possible driveway or road that a car could turn down. We will also be going back at a later date for a full investigation! That means we will have all of our equipment and no kids! Keep an eye out for our follow up on Dyer Lane!