Built by Kenneth Kitchen, who also went by Claire, Clarke and Clarence, the weird home is known to all in Santa Cruz as the Court of Mysteries.

Known as the "Gate of Prophesy" it once held windows through which the sun would stream, and which were lit at night. Though the windows are long gone it still holds a mysterious triangular relief, which some believe is meant to align with the temple's chimney, before a great catastrophe or even apocalypse. The well house on the property, described as crypt-like, was also once surrounded by four minarets which were smashed by sledge hammer in the 1990s. There are tales that the house, now empty except for a coating of graffiti, once held shells decorated with astrological symbols.

Even stranger is the story that during WWII, Kenneth erected a "submarine stopping device," in his yard – not a particularly crazy idea, since 10 ships on the coast of Santa Cruz were attacked by Japanese submarines and six people killed – built out of a large metal wheel with the electronics held in the well house. According to one source (an unnamed interviewee in the oft-cited The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture), the device actually worked and caused problems for the US Navy. Kenneth left Santa Cruz in 1957, and his path after that is lost to history. Local historians have traced all of his relatives, but after 1957, Kenneth, aka Claire, Clarke and Clarence Kitchen vanished from historical record. After his disappearance the house was briefly turned into a Greek Church earning the nickname the "Unorthodox Chapel." It has been abandoned since the 1990s.

There was a trailer on the property, but the house is being sold for a lot (or so we heard) and we're more than certain the guy on there doesn't own the property. We were scared off by the guy who CLEARLY had lost a few marbles, but the place is worth a drive by. Before we got shooed off, a friend of mine managed to get in and found a staircase leading to nowhere (the ceiling) and other weirdly shaped rooms. We joke that we discovered the location of the illuminati.

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Crazy hippies.

Nice find!

Posted by nonconmat Crazy hippies. Nice find!

Thanks! It's really worth checking out. It totally screams "conspiracy theory."

Interesting spot

Interesting spot

Posted by pgathriller Interesting spot http://i.imgur.com/MScmTXa.jpg

Nice! When were you able to go?

Posted by Flashyfashionfraud Nice! When were you able to go?

It was about a year ago -- we planned out a bunch of random stuff in the SC area and swooped by this one

Posted by pgathriller It was about a year ago -- we planned out a bunch of random stuff in the SC area and swooped by this one

Did you run into crazy guys with trailers?

Posted by Flashyfashionfraud Did you run into crazy guys with trailers?

Haha nah; was someone living on-site in a trailer??

Posted by pgathriller Haha nah; was someone living on-site in a trailer??

Sort of. There was this guy in a super small trailer on the property who claimed he lived there but we had a strong feeling the guy didn't own the property. We read up on how there's a guy that goes there to keep the property up so we think it was him. But he was severely off his rocker.

Note the abalone-inlaid astrological sign.

Didn't see anyone when I visited a while back, but the trailer was there and I had the feeling of being watched; didn't stay around very long.

Posted by pgathriller Haha nah; was someone living on-site in a trailer??

I remember the trailer from when we went, you can see it in this photo:

Posted by Guybrush I remember the trailer from when we went, you can see it in this photo: http://farm3.stati...4_f7e8d546be_b.jpg

Did you get chased away at all?

Posted by Flashyfashionfraud Did you get chased away at all?

Nope, but we didn't see an obvious POE, so we were probably just there for 10 minutes to snap a few photos.

Posted by Guybrush Nope, but we didn't see an obvious POE, so we were probably just there for 10 minutes to snap a few photos.

Still odd. We were literally about to put one foot into the entry we found when this guy came storming over to us for being on the property. I guess maybe he was out when you guys were there?