Excerpt
Entry for Verde Hills California.

About Verde Hills: Privately owned track of land near Truckee.

Haunting: The house was built by Donner party member J. Alfred Birdwell and his wife. The house “seemed a little off” from the start according to legend in Verde Hills. Birdwell was believed to be into voodoo and cannibalism.

The story of the house became even stranger when Veronica Wiley, her boyfriend Marty Lipton and Veronica’s son Aaron moved in. Marty was an abusive, alcoholic, drug addict who abused Aaron starting at the age of four.

At the age of seven Aaron snapped, poured gasoline on a sleeping Marty and set him on fire, supposedly trying to cook him. Marty was investigated for abuse but no charges were brought and Aaron spent time in a mental hospital from which he disappeared.

Two local residents bought the Birdwell house and turned it into a haunted house attraction. There were reports that the attraction was not safe; one person died and two others were amputated.

Piling lawsuits against the owners caused them to burn down the house and collect on the insurance, they claimed that Aaron Wiley had appeared and set the house on fire. As their rouse unraveled one committed suicide and the other disappeared into the woods. To this day hikers claim to have seen him running through the forest.

While the house sustained considerable damage, from the fire, it was restored in the 1990’s and is now a museum. The curator claims the house is haunted by Aaron and Bird-well. Visitors to the museum report seeing the ghost of Birdwell, who appears tries to bite them then disappears.