Elfin Forest & Questhaven

The Elfin Forest was rumored to be inhabited by Gypsies and their social kin at the turn of the 19th century and well into to the 20th century, legend has it that when other natives of the land and citizens of local communities came in and drove off the Gypsies, slaughtering those who stood in their way, the Gypsies cursed the land of and around Elfin Forest.

Apparently it was this curse that has caused many of the urban legends and paranormal activity that has been reported throughout the years. Coincidentally, there are also accounts of native Northern Diegueno Indians who once inhabited this land, dating back 9,000 years.

There are legends of abandoned insane asylums, gigantic owls that come down and swarm on helpless humans, and a witch that marks you the first time you enter the forest and if you return will kill you without hesitation. Even though all these are clearly fables there is something in that forest that you can feel just driving on the crooked roads as the deformed and gnarled trees reach out for you from the side of the road. You get the feeling something’s watching you somewhere in the darkness, and they may not be alive.

You start on Harmony Grove Rd which leads into Elfin Forest Rd and that’s where things got creepy for us. The highway goes from an obscure road near home depot and travels all the way to San Marcos.

The sun was painting a golden picture on the Elfin Forest Rd. when Neo and I drove down it. It was dusk, during late summer and the leaves were beginning to change. We were on the hunt for the Questhaven Insane Asylum. Rumor has it that one day the crazy people got out of their cells and murdered their torturous attendees and burned the place down.

The internet says Questhaven is a church for born again Christians or some sort. So we drive and drive until we see a board with Questhaven on it and drive down a dirt road with trees encasing us and blocking out the golden light.I was instantly uncomfortable. I felt someone was watching us from the right hand side of the road. I tried to work past my fear but the further we went down the road that seemed to lead to no where, the more freaked out I felt.

Neo said he felt a presence of a Caucasian male in his early 50’s watching us; possibly a former owner of the property. We drove pass him again when we were leaving the road that really did lead to no where and we decided to come back later that night.

11 o’clock it was almost pitch black on the road. With only headlights to keep us from driving off the cliff we drove until Neo felt like he drove through something. It seemed like a presence that was lingering around and shook him up pretty bad. He said even though it wasn’t negative it saw him and he felt it. Maybe someone died on the road and it haunting that one spot replaying getting hit by a car like it did many years ago.

We drove down the dark dirt road again and noticed that the male presence that was there earlier was gone. It seems he only appears at dusk. We then drove down the road more but Neo felt if we kept going something bad was going to happen. A fog had began to roll in and there was nothing but dark trees and foliage to both of our sides. The deeper we got the less we could see and it felt that at any moment something could pop out and scare us off the road.

Neo pulled over and sat there for a while, he hadn’t told me what he felt but he said in a whisper to me, “I think we should turn around”. I said why and he told me about the bad vibe. I didn’t argue with him and we headed back to where we came, the ominous feeling lessing the farther we got away. The mountains were glowing in the moonlight and certain creases in its fold seemed to be smirking at us calling us scarredy cats.

A few weeks later we drove the road again at 1 o’clock in the morning. We made it through the area that was covered in fog and after being turned around a lot found Questhaven. Low on gas and not knowing where we were kind of freaked us out but when we saw the Questhaven gate and the large security light came on we instantly felt settled.

Neo felt the presence of a living security guard watching us just beyond the light and when we made a u-turn I saw the vehicle. We parked there a bit and took some pictures but it didn’t seem like there was anything spooky going on.