In 1932, Camarillo State Hospital, a California state-run mental facility, was built and  connected to Lewis Ranch. It is now known as Scary Dairy, which is rumored to be haunted.  The state mental hospital’s treatment of patients was also frightening. Some say that shock treatments were performed to “cure” the patients of illnesses such as schizophrenia and others that could never be cured. The dairy farm was utilized, which was in the back of the facility, as a way for the patients to experience work while in the mental hospital, according to the website adventurecollector.wordpress.com.

The employees allowed the patients to grow vegetables and take care of the animals. No one ever knew if the animals were slaughtered for their meat or if it was strictly a dairy farm.  The institution actively treated patients until 1997. When it closed, there were plans to convert it to a prison, but shortly thereafter, the California State University system opted to buy the land for what would eventually become California State University, Channel Islands.

Scary dairy is now a place where people go to get frightened due to the rumors of it being haunted. “I heard little kid laughter,” said Oxnard High School junior, Kadi Wood.

The abandoned Institution is gated and police keep an eye on the abandoned dairy farm, but it is legal to trespass. To get to the farm, one has to hike to the facility.

Its haunting reputation is partially based on the lack of knowledge regarding the number of people who died in the mental hospital. “There was a cross hanging with a lot of flowers — it made us wonder if someone actually died there,” said OHS senior Amanda Valdez.  

Many people believe it is haunted; others say the haunting words are all a myth. OHS senior Jason Nelson said, “I feel like stuff is planted there to scare you.”  

Many are just thrown off by the vibes they get. Junior Michael McMann said “It’s more of the knowledge of their spirits being out there. It’s a gut feeling of it being real scary. It felt disturbing like there were people around you, but there was nobody around you.” Still, the truth is a mystery.