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75-476: The formerly productive region of the Summerland Oil Field is on the coast of southern Santa Barbara County, about four miles (6 km) east of the city of Santa Barbara, and includes most of the town of Summerland, as well as adjacent parts of Montecito . It covers an area of a bit more than a square mile – 740 acres (3.0 km) – of which 380, a little more than half, is onshore. The climate

150-507: A Ouija-user's mind unknowingly guides his hand upon the planchette, hence he will honestly believe he is not moving it, when, in fact, he is. This theory rests on the embedded premise that human beings actually have a "subconscious mind," a belief not held by all. The exposures of fraud by tool-using mediums have had two divergent results: skeptics have used historic exposures as a frame through which to view all spirit mediumship as inherently fraudulent, while believers have tended to eliminate

225-628: A belief in Spiritualism include the social reformer Robert Owen ; the journalist and pacifist William T. Stead ; William Lyon Mackenzie King , the Prime Minister of Canada for 22 years, who sought spiritual contact and political guidance from his deceased mother, his pet dogs, and the late US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ; the journalist and author Lloyd Kenyon Jones ; and the physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle . A number of artists, including abstractionists Hilma af Klint ,

300-475: A convenient refueling stop for the trains running between the coastal cities. The train line was new then; the tracks between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles were only built in 1887, and the line did not reach San Francisco until 1901, around the time production was peaking at Summerland. Development of the Summerland Field was not entirely without controversy, even in its earliest years. The boom from

375-562: A cumulative total of 27.6 million barrels of oil and 97.8 million cubic feet of natural gas before being demolished in 1996. Peak production from the Summerland Offshore field was in 1964, at almost 3.8 million barrels, but the cost to maintain the operation, combined with the diminishing returns from the field, and public sentiment opposing drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel – as these platforms were close to

450-450: A few years, those same lots were commanding prices up to $ 7,500 because of the seemingly unlimited quantities of oil that could be drawn from the ground. Prospectors recognized that the tar sheen in the surf, along with evidence of natural gas venting, indicated that the oil field extended offshore; they then began drilling not just on the beach but from piers through the shallow water into the sub-marine sediments. Drilled in 1896, these were

525-428: A part of the religious services of Spiritualist, Spiritist , and Espiritismo churches today, where a greater emphasis is placed on spiritual values versus showmanship. The term séance is used in a few different ways, and can refer to any of four different activities, each with its own social norms and conventions, its own favoured tools, and its own range of expected outcomes. In the religion of Spiritualism, and

600-403: A partial or full trance or into an altered state of consciousness. These self-called "trance-mediums" often state that, when they emerge from the trance state, they have no recollection of the messages they conveyed; it is customary for such practitioners to work with an assistant who writes down or otherwise records their words. Spirit boards, also known as talking boards, or ouija boards (after

675-520: A precipitous decline. A severe winter storm in 1903 destroyed many of the flimsy wooden derricks on the wharves and beach, and by 1906 most of the oil production had ended, leaving behind abandoned derricks, many of which stood for decades. Drillers discovered a new deeper pool in the field in 1929, in the Vaqueros Sandstone, at a depth of about 1,400 feet (430 m), but the wells at that time were less numerous and obtrusive. Also in 1929,

750-406: A seance so that all participants speak with various personalities in the spirit world. This held in a seating manner in a circle. Mediumship involves an act where the practitioner attempts to receive messages from spirits of the dead and from other spirits that the practitioner believes exist. Some self-ordained mediums are fully conscious and awake while functioning as contacts; others may slip into

825-643: A specific relationship to the medium or a historic relationship to the body of the church. An example of the latter is the spirit of Black Hawk , a Native American warrior of the Fox tribe who lived during the 19th century. Black Hawk was a spirit who was often contacted by the Spiritualist medium Leafy Anderson and he remains the central focus of special services in the African American Spiritual Churches that she founded. In

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900-496: A séance, because they themselves are not seated; however, this is still called "séance". One of the foremost early practitioners of this type of contact with the dead was Paschal Beverly Randolph , who worked with the spirits of the relatives of audience members, but was also famed for his ability to contact and deliver messages from ancient seers and philosophers, such as Plato . Leader-assisted séances are generally conducted by small groups of people, with participants seated around

975-638: A séance. Fictionalised conversations between the deceased appeared in Dialogues of the Dead by George, First Baron Lyttelton , published in England in 1760. Among the notable spirits quoted in this volume are Peter the Great , Pericles , a "North-American Savage", William Penn , and Christina, Queen of Sweden . The popularity of séances grew dramatically with the founding of the religion of Spiritualism in

1050-439: A table in a dark or semi-dark room. The leader is typically asserted to be a medium and he or she may go into a trance that theoretically allows the spirits to communicate through his or her body, conveying messages to the other participants. Other modes of communication may also be attempted, including psychography or automatic writing , numbered raps, levitation of the table or of spirit trumpets, apports , or even smell. It

1125-405: A table was levitating when, in fact, it remained stationary. After the seance, approximately one third of the participants incorrectly reported that the table had moved. The results showed a greater percentage of believers reporting that the table had moved. In another experiment the believers had also reported that a handbell had moved when it had remained stationary and expressed their belief that

1200-426: A warm Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csb ) characteristic of coastal Southern California. Because of Montecito's proximity to the ocean, onshore breezes significantly moderate temperatures, resulting in warmer winters and cooler summers compared with places further inland. With its gentle Mediterranean climate, Montecito has long been a desirable location for horticulturists. As of July 2022,

1275-504: A well casing well below ground surface and capping with concrete, forming a permanent seal. Between 1960 and 1968, eighty old wells were located and capped in an attempt to stop the slow leaking of oil into the ocean. More wells were located, cut, filled, and capped in 1975 and 1993. 34°25′08″N 119°35′52″W  /  34.4190°N 119.5977°W  / 34.4190; -119.5977 Montecito, California Montecito (archaic use of Spanish for woodland or countryside)

1350-433: A well-known brand name) are flat tablets, typically made of wood, Masonite , chipboard, or plastic. On the board are a number of symbols, pictures, letters, numbers and/or words. The board is accompanied by a planchette (French for "little board"), which can take the form of a pointer on three legs or magnifying glass on legs; homemade boards may employ a shot glass as a planchette. A most basic Ouija board would contain simply

1425-679: Is Lutah Maria Riggs , who started as a draftsman in Smith's firm, rose to partner, and later started her own firm. Montecito was evacuated five times in four months between December 2017 and March 2018 because of weather-related events, which included the Thomas Fire , the 2018 Southern California mudflows , and flooding related to the Pineapple Express . The mudflows resulted in 20 reported deaths; 28 others were injured, and at least four people were reported missing. FEMA gave

1500-416: Is Mediterranean , with an equable temperature regime year-round, and most of the precipitation falling between October and April in the form of rain. Freezes are rare. Runoff is towards the ocean. Bluffs rise sharply behind the beach, but rather than having an extended plateau behind the bluffs, as is the case along much of the south coast of Santa Barbara County, the land rises with a moderate slope towards

1575-431: Is a reality include chemist William Crookes , evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace , inventor of radio Guglielmo Marconi , inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell , experimental physicist Oliver Lodge , and inventor of television technology John Logie Baird , who said he had contacted the spirit of inventor Thomas Edison . Among the best-known exposers of fraudulent mediumship acts have been

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1650-668: Is an unincorporated town in Santa Barbara County, California , United States. Located on the Central Coast of California , Montecito sits between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean . Montecito is best known as a celebrity enclave, owing to its concentration of prominent residents. An affluent town, the median home price was $ 7.5 million in 2024. For statistical purposes,

1725-550: The Davenport Brothers as illusionists and the 1887 report of the Seybert Commission brought an end to the first historic phase of Spiritualism. Stage magicians like John Nevil Maskelyne and Harry Houdini made a side-line of exposing fraudulent mediums during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1976, M. Lamar Keene described deceptive techniques that he himself had used in séances; however, in

1800-637: The French word for "session", from the Old French seoir , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one may, for example, speak of " une séance de cinéma " ( lit.   ' a movie session ' ). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in

1875-545: The Latin American religion of Espiritismo , which somewhat resembles Spiritualism, séance sessions in which congregants attempt to communicate with spirits are called misas (literally "masses"). The spirits addressed in Espiritismo are often those of ancestors or Catholic saints . Mediums who give performances on stage of contacting spirits, with audience members seated before them, are not literally holding

1950-609: The Mesa Oil Field was discovered, just about six miles (10 km) to the west of the Summerland field and within the city of Santa Barbara itself; the Vaqueros Sandstone was the oil-bearing unit there as well. Peak annual production for the onshore part of the Summerland field was actually in 1929, at 118,519 barrels, from the Vaqueros, but this too was soon exhausted. Production in the field ceased entirely in 1939, and

2025-544: The Presidio and Mission Santa Barbara farther west. In the middle of the 19th century, the area was known as a haven for bandits and highway robbers, who hid in the oak groves and canyons, preying on traffic on the coastal route between the towns that developed around the missions. By the end of the 1860s, the bandit gangs were gone, and Italian settlers arrived. Finding an area reminiscent of Italy, they built farms and gardens similar to those they had left behind. Around

2100-466: The Regina Five , and Paulina Peavy have given partial or complete credit for some of their work to spirits that they contacted during seances. Paulina said that "when she painted, she did not have control over her brush, that it moved on its own, and that it was Lacamo (the spirit) who was directing it." Scientists who have conducted a search for real séances and believed that contact with the dead

2175-487: The Santa Barbara Channel . Sometime before 1894, enterprising petroleum prospectors recognized the likelihood that economically viable deposits of oil and gas were the source for these seeps, and began digging. The first finds of petroleum were extremely heavy oil – API gravity of 7, so essentially asphalt – but undeterred, they continued searching for more marketable oil. The earliest known oil well in

2250-424: The Santa Ynez Mountains . The town of Summerland is built on the coast-facing part of this hillside, taking advantage of the ocean view, with modern residential and commercial development covering long-abandoned oil wells. The offshore part of the main Summerland field was in shallow water adjacent to the beach, and was drilled from piers. A popular beach extends the length of the former oil field, immediately below

2325-564: The U.S. Census Bureau estimated a population of 8,638. The 2010 United States Census reported that Montecito had a population of 8,965. The population density was 967.7 inhabitants per square mile (373.6/km ). The racial makeup of Montecito was 8,267 (92.2%) White , 218 (2.4%) Asian , 55 (0.6%) African American , 38 (0.4%) Native American , 6 (0.1%) Pacific Islander , 156 (1.7%) from other races , and 225 (2.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 605 persons (6.7%). The Census reported that 8,033 people (89.6% of

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2400-470: The occult , a tradition has grown up of conducting séances outside of any religious context and without a leader. Sometimes only two or three people are involved, and, if they are young, they may be using the séance as a way to test their understanding of the boundaries between reality and the paranormal . It is in such small séances that the planchette and ouija board are most often utilized. Here spiritualists and practitioners (psychic and mediums) hold

2475-706: The 19th century, a number of Spiritualist mediums began to advocate the use of specialized tools for conducting séances, particularly in leader-assisted sessions conducted in darkened rooms. "Spirit trumpets" were horn-shaped speaking tubes that were said to magnify the whispered voices of spirits to audible range. "Spirit slates" consisted of two chalkboards bound together that, when opened, were said to reveal messages written by spirits. "Séance tables" were special light-weight tables which were said to rotate, float, or levitate when spirits were present. "Spirit cabinets" were portable closets into which mediums were placed, often bound with ropes, in order to prevent them from manipulating

2550-563: The Montecito Board of Architectural Review and the Montecito Planning Commission. Proposals to incorporate as a municipality have been a perennially recurring feature of local politics, but has never come to fruition. Montecito does not include some important commercial areas such as Coast Village Road as they are within the city of Santa Barbara. Access to backcountry hiking trails is obtained through

2625-745: The Santa Barbara County Flood Control District $ 13.5 million in 2020. The funds will be used to buy land in Montecito ;to construct an $ 18 million project that will help control debris flows from San Ysidro Creek with a larger debris basin . According to the United States Census Bureau , the CDP (census-designated place) has a total area of 9.3 square miles (24 km ), 99.94% of it land and 0.06% of it water. Montecito experiences

2700-555: The Santa Barbara Unified School District and commute to Santa Barbara Junior High School, followed by Santa Barbara High School . The four-year Westmont College is located in the hills above Montecito. Notable roads spanning Montecito include East Valley Road, Mountain Drive, and Sycamore Canyon Road, all of which form part of State Route 192 . In addition, the U.S. Route 101 freeway runs along

2775-550: The United States Census Bureau has defined Montecito as a census-designated place (CDP). The population as of 2022 is approximately 8,638 residents. The site of present-day Montecito, along with the entire south coast of Santa Barbara County, was inhabited for over 10,000 years by the Chumash Indians. The Spanish arrived in the 18th century but left the region largely unsettled while they built

2850-430: The Vaqueros formation the average depth to oil is 1,400 feet (430 m) in the main Summerland field, and 7,000 feet (2,100 m) in the Summerland Offshore field. Oil and asphalt seeps in the vicinity of the Summerland field were known since prehistoric times, as the native Chumash peoples used tar from this spot and other similar seeps as sealant for their tomols , the watercraft with which they skilfully navigated

2925-404: The alphabet of whatever country the board is being used in, although it is not uncommon for whole words to be added. The board is used as follows: One or more of the participants in the séance place one or two fingers on the planchette which is in the middle of the board. The appointed medium asks questions of the spirit(s) with whom they are attempting to communicate. During the latter half of

3000-413: The average family size was 2.85. The CDP population age distribution was 18.4% under the age of 18, 13.5% from 18 to 24, 16.6% from 25 to 44, 30.0% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.1 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $ 110,669, and

3075-410: The beaches and bluffs of Summerland , completely changing the character of the community. Founded in 1889, originally the town had been a spiritualist community consisting of a cluster of small houses around a central building in which seances were held. H.L. Williams, the founder of the town, had sold lots for $ 25 each, bringing in many people from outside of the area to build small houses. Within

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3150-476: The board is undermined by the fact that several people have their hands on the planchette, which allows any of them to spell out anything they want without the others knowing. They say that this is a common trick, used on occasions such as teenage sleepover parties, to scare the people present. Another criticism of spirit board communication involves what is called the ideomotor effect which has been suggested as an automatism , or subconscious mechanism, by which

3225-444: The census-designated place (CDP). The population density was 1,072.3 inhabitants per square mile (414.0/km ). There were 4,193 housing units at an average density of 449.6 per square mile (173.6/km ). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.0% White , 0.5% African American , 0.3% Native American , 1.3% Asian , 0.2% Pacific Islander , 2.1% from other races , and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.2% of

3300-810: The community. March and April are the months to watch gray whales migrate north from Mexico through the Santa Barbara Channel . The Music Academy of the West is a summer classical music training program and festival with local performances Lotusland is a 37-acre (15 ha) estate and botanic gardens built by Polish opera singer Ganna Walska and managed as a nonprofit . Children in Montecito are enrolled at Montecito Union Elementary School and Cold Spring Elementary School. Both of these K–6 schools are operated by school districts which only run one school. Montecito has no public schools serving grades 7–12. Students who wish to attend public schools must enroll in

3375-583: The county's other unincorporated areas, Montecito's law enforcement agency is the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office . Montecito is part of the Santa Barbara County Supervisor District 1, which elects one supervisor to the five-member Board of Supervisors. Unlike other unincorporated areas in the county, Montecito has two government agencies which together act as its planning commission:

3450-583: The deeper pool of the onshore field, the Vaqueros Sandstone, but the API gravity of the oil was lower (35) allowing it to flow freely. This field was drilled from two oil platforms, Hilda and Hazel, erected in 1958 and 1960 respectively. Platform Hazel was the first platform in California to be constructed onshore and towed to the site by barges. Both were anchored to the sea floor, which was approximately 100 feet (30 m) underneath each platform. They produced

3525-404: The end of the 19th century, wealthy tourists from the eastern and midwestern United States began to buy land in the area. It was near enough to Santa Barbara for essential services while still being secluded. Desirable weather and several nearby hot springs offered the promise of comfortable, healthy living, in addition to the availability of affordable land. The Montecito Hot Springs Hotel

3600-440: The fake seances contained genuine paranormal phenomena. The experiments strongly supported the notion that in the seance room, believers are more suggestible than disbelievers for suggestions that are consistent with their belief in paranormal phenomena. Popular 19th-century trance medium lecturers include Cora Scott Hatch , Achsa W. Sprague , Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–1899), and Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875). Among

3675-456: The first oil find was so spectacular that after the hundreds of wells already put in had begun to run dry, drillers attempted to expand their area of operations uncomfortably close to Santa Barbara. In the late 1890s, a crowd of vigilantes headed by Reginald Fernald, a local newspaper publisher, tore down a drilling rig erected on Miramar Beach itself (now adjacent to a luxury hotel). The Summerland field had an early peak in production followed by

3750-487: The median income for a family was $ 130,123. Males had a median income of $ 81,719 versus US$ 42,182 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $ 70,077. About 2.3% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line , including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 2.2% of those age 65 or over. As an unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County, Montecito has no city council or municipal government. Municipal services are provided by Santa Barbara County; as with

3825-596: The mid-nineteenth century. Perhaps the best-known series of séances conducted at that time were those of Mary Todd Lincoln who, grieving the loss of her son, organized Spiritualist séances in the White House , which were attended by her husband, President Abraham Lincoln , and other prominent members of society. The 1887 Seybert Commission report marred the credibility of Spiritualism at the height of its popularity by publishing exposures of fraud and showmanship among secular séance leaders. Modern séances continue to be

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3900-401: The most commonly reported physical manifestations of channeling are an unusual vocal pattern or abnormal overt behaviors of the medium, it can be quite easily faked by anyone with theatrical talent. Critics of spirit board communication techniques—again including both skeptics and believers—state that the premise that a spirit will move the planchette and spell out messages using the symbols on

3975-437: The name of the religion. The psychical researcher Hereward Carrington exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums such as those used in slate-writing, table-turning , trumpet mediumship, materializations, sealed-letter reading and spirit photography . The skeptic Joseph McCabe documented many mediums who had been caught in fraud and the tricks they used in his book Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? (1920). Magicians have

4050-583: The notable people who conducted small leader-assisted séances during the 19th century were the Fox sisters , whose activities included table-rapping, and the Davenport Brothers , who were famous for the spirit cabinet work. Both the Foxes and the Davenports were eventually exposed as frauds. In the 20th century, notable trance mediums also include Edgar Cayce , Arthur Ford and David Marius Guardino . Notable people who have attended séances and professed

4125-492: The physical form. Generally Spiritualist "message services" or "demonstrations of the continuity of life" are open to the public. Sometimes the medium stands to receive messages and only the sitter is seated; in some churches, the message service is preceded by a "healing service" involving some form of faith healing . In addition to communicating with the spirits of people who have a personal relationship to congregants, some Spiritual Churches also deal with spirits who may have

4200-615: The population) lived in households, 932 (10.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and none were institutionalized. Of the 3,432 households, 831 (24.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them; 1,936 (56.4%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 234 (6.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 93 (2.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 110 (3.2%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships , and 36 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships . 941 households (27.4%) were made up of individuals, and 527 (15.4%) had someone living alone who

4275-405: The population. Out of the total of 3,686 households, 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.1% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 27.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and

4350-750: The religion of Divine Metaphysics (a federally recognized religious branch out of Spiritualism in the United States), it is generally a part of services to communicate with living personalities in the spirit world. Usually, this is only called "séance" by outsiders; the preferred term for Spiritualists is "receiving messages". In these sessions, which generally take place in well-lit Spiritualist churches or outdoors at Spiritualist camps (such as Lily Dale in upstate New York or Camp Cassadaga in Florida ), an ordained minister or gifted contact medium will relate messages from spirit personalities to those here in

4425-402: The remaining abandoned structures – wharves and derricks and associated equipment – were removed. During the entire period of operation of the field, over 412 oil wells were drilled. The Summerland Offshore Oil Field – distinct from the offshore portion of the main Summerland field, as it was more than a mile from shore – was not discovered until 1957. Its oil was from the same source rock as

4500-527: The researchers Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research , Harry Price of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research , the professional stage magicians John Nevil Maskelyne (who exposed the Davenport Brothers ) and Harry Houdini , who clearly stated that he did not oppose the religion of Spiritualism itself, but only the trickery by phony mediums that was being practiced in

4575-462: The same book, Keene also stated that he still had a firm belief in God, life after death, ESP, and other psychic phenomena. In his 2004 television special Seance , magician Derren Brown held a séance and afterwards described some of the tricks used by him (and 19th-century mediums) to create the illusion of paranormal events. Critics of channeling—including both skeptics and believers—state that since

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4650-437: The site of the notorious 1969 oil spill – led their operator, Chevron Corp., to shut them down. While neither field is producing in the present day, periodic attempts have been made to find and cap leaking wells from the operations in the late 19th and early 20th century. In those early years of the petroleum industry, there was little to no regulation of operating practice, and abandoned wells were often filled with whatever

4725-493: The south end of town, connecting it with other cities in Santa Barbara County and the rest of Southern California . The nearest train station with Amtrak service is Santa Barbara (SBA) . Notable current and former residents include: Seance A séance or seance ( / ˈ s eɪ . ɑː n s / ; French: [seɑ̃s] ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word séance comes from

4800-584: The southeast, also once contained a pair of platforms dismantled that same year, and its three remaining platforms outside the 3-mile (4.8 km) limit are visible from the shore at Summerland. The Summerland field is contained in a series of sedimentary rock units in a trough known as the Carpinteria Basin. Oil is trapped in the Pleistocene -age Casitas Formation underneath impermeable sediments, although petroleum regularly makes its way to

4875-597: The surface in the form of asphalt seeps, here as elsewhere on the south coast of Santa Barbara County. Another unit underneath the Casitas Formation, the Oligocene -age Vaqueros Sandstone , also has considerable quantities of petroleum, with the capping unit being the impermeable Miocene -age Rincon Formation . Oil in the Casitas Formation is shallow, at an average depth of only 140 feet (43 m), accounting for its early discovery and easy exploitation. In

4950-511: The town, and a park – Lookout Park – sits atop the bluffs. Summerland Offshore Oil Field is a separate field in the Santa Barbara Channel about one and a half miles offshore, but within the 3-mile limit inside of which oil leasing is subject to state rather than federal regulation. Two oil platforms , named Hilda and Hazel, formerly stood on this field; Chevron Corp. dismantled them in 1996 and production from this field ended. The Carpinteria Offshore Oil Field , about four miles (6 km) to

5025-475: The use of tools but continued to practice mediumship in full confidence of its spiritual value to them. Jews and Christians are taught that it is sinful to attempt to conjure or control spirits in accordance with Deuteronomy 18:9–12. Research in anomalistic psychology has revealed the role of suggestion in seances. In a series of fake seance experiments (Wiseman et al. . 2003) paranormal believers and disbelievers were suggested by an actor that

5100-421: The various aforementioned tools. Scientific skeptics and atheists generally consider both religious and secular séances to be scams , or at least a form of pious fraud , citing a lack of empirical evidence. The exposure of supposed mediums whose use of séance tools derived from the techniques of stage magic has been disturbing to many believers in spirit communication. In particular, the 1870s exposures of

5175-421: The vicinity of Summerland dates from 1886, and was drilled on the side of Ortega Hill, the topographic prominence just west of Summerland. While the well failed to produce marketable quantities of oil, it showed that there were indeed petroleum-bearing strata only several hundred feet below ground surface – well within the reach of late 19th-century drilling technology. By 1895, wooden derricks had sprouted across

5250-686: The world's first offshore oil wells. Seeing that the Southern Pacific Railroad line ran along the blufftop through the oil field, John Treadwell, a mining engineer with that company, decided to try to power locomotives with the heavy oil from the field rather than coal, and to help with this enterprise built the largest of the wharves out into the ocean. Named the Treadwell Wharf, in 1900 this structure alone had 19 wells along its length, which reached 1,230 feet (370 m) by 75 feet (23 m) wide. Summerland thereby became

5325-597: Was 50.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males. 4,238 housing units represented an average density of 457.5 per square mile (176.6/km ), of which 2,522 (73.5%) were owner-occupied, and 910 (26.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.7%. 6,081 people (67.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 1,952 people (21.8%) lived in rental housing units. The census of 2000 counted 10,000 people, 3,686 households, and 2,454 families residing in

5400-424: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34. There were 2,263 families (65.9% of all households); the average family size was 2.79. The age spread of the population accounts 1,515 people (16.9%) under the age of 18, 1,234 people (13.8%) aged 18 to 24, 1,169 people (13.0%) aged 25 to 44, 2,716 people (30.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 2,331 people (26.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

5475-424: Was available – earth, wooden poles, old mattresses and other rubbish were commonly stuffed down the holes, but these methods are ineffective for long-term plugging of an oil well. Since petroleum migrates upwards from pressurized source regions, over time it will find any open pathways to the surface; in the case of natural gas, this can cause an explosion hazard. Modern well abandonment techniques involve cutting off

5550-576: Was built near the largest of the springs, in a canyon north of the town center and directly south of Montecito Peak, in Hot Springs Canyon. The hotel burned down in 1920; it was replaced a few years later by the smaller Hot Springs Club. The architect George Washington Smith is noted particularly for his residences around Montecito, and for popularizing the Spanish Colonial Revival style in early 20th century America, as

5625-518: Was thought spirits of the dead resided within the realm of dark and shadow, making the absence of light a necessity to invoke them. Skeptics were unwilling to accept this required condition. Saying,"You would not buy an automobile if it was only presented in the dark." This is the type of séance that is most often the subject of shock and scandal when it turns out that the leader is practicing some form of stage magic illusion or using mentalism tricks to defraud clients. Among those with an interest in

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