This article is part of an AGDAILY series on the history and lore of haunted farm locations across the United States.
The Graber Olive House located in Ontario, California, is home to some of the best olives in the U.S. since 1894.
At 19 years old, Cliff Graber bought land and planted his olive trees. Only a few years after he started to cure and sell his own olives, his business took off. He created an automatic measuring and sorting system for his olives that hadn’t been done before, which helped lead to his success.
Cliff and his wife, Georgia, were active in the business even after their sons took it over before Cliff’s death in 1955. The last publicly known owner of the business was his grandson, Cliff Graber Jr.
Although the Graber Olive House is still a well known and successful company, they are also known for their “unpaid laborers” — the ones who are working in the afterlife!
The Graber Olive House is a hot spot for spooky activity in California, as there are many ghosts known to roam the factory. The factory has even been featured multiple times on the popular Ghost Adventures show, as well as other such programs!
There are many ghosts and spirits said to call the Graber Olive House home, and the farther you explore on your ghost tour, the spookier they get.
Perhaps the friendliest spirit you will meet in the Graber Olive House is a woman named Inez, who apparently worked there all her life. She has been reported by many people and seen working around the gift shop.
In the artifacts museum on the property, you can find many pieces of antique equipment that were used during olive cultivation and harvest, and you may even find a few friendly ghosts! The artifacts museum has lots of paranormal activity, but nothing spooky. The scary ghosts come later.
Next, caught on camera many times but without much communication, are young boys in the loft of the factory. There are a few boys who hang out up there, and one is always seen playing with a ball. Some people speculate that the loft was used for witchcraft activities, but that has yet to be confirmed. Although a little creepy, you still won’t find the scariest spirit in this stop.
The spirit that makes the headlines is the Graber House Entity — which many people refer to as The Creeper. It is found in the vat room.
This entity is so evil that, during one of the first paranormal investigations, a crew member was so frightened that she ran off the site and drove away and swore she would never go paranormal hunting again. Some people even claim that encounters with The Creeper has led to premature death in three people!
Nobody seems to have an answer as to why The Creeper is at the Graber Factory, or how it got there in the first place. It is said that this entity is not a past employee or previous landowner but something truly evil and from beyond. Surely, if there’s any truth to these stories, it’s not something that you would want to encounter.
But, to pull back from the scares, the vat room is also said to have the spirit of a dog, who is often heard running around playing. I know that I would much rather encounter the ghost dog than The Creeper!
Today the Graber Olive House is well known for their hand-picked, tree-ripened olives, as well as their cured black olives. It was normally open for tours, but that changed during the COVID pandemic, with the business hoping to eventually open back up to public tours.
But if you go, maybe stay out of the vat room!
Elizabeth Maslyn is a born-and-raised dairy farmer from Upstate New York. Her passion for agriculture has driven her to share the stories of farmers with all consumers, and promote agriculture in everything she does. She works hard to increase food literacy in her community, and wants to share the stories of her local farmers.
