8. La Purisima, Lompoc
Founded in 1787, this Franciscan Mission was originally part of an early colonization movement that endangered the local Chumash Indians. The Spanish missionaries inadvertently introduced more than one deadly disease to the area that impacted on the Chumash people because they had no immunity. Thousands died in a relatively short time. La Purisima was abandoned sometime in the 1840s, but visitors still report having heard eerie whispers and shapes on the property of the present-day museum.
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