Red Cross House – The Stoffel House

The Red Cross House, historically known as the Stoffel House, stands as a significant example of California's architectural heritage, dating to 1894 during the early phases of Anaheim's development. The house was constructed during Southern California expansion, representing the domestic architectural traditions and building practices characteristic of the 1890s era when Victorian styles dominated American residential design. The structure incorporates Victorian architectural elements and decorative details reflective of late nineteenth-century American residential construction. The property has been preserved and relocated to Founders Park in Anaheim, where it has been maintained as a museum and historical display. The house represents a connection to Anaheim's early residential history and the domestic life patterns of the late nineteenth-century California community.

Paranormal phenomena documented at the Red Cross House center on the manifestation of an entity identified as an evil caretaker, an individual who served the household in an administrative or supervisory capacity during the house's early operational history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This entity has achieved particular prominence in the paranormal lore associated with the property, with accounts suggesting that the caretaker's spiritual presence has persisted in the house across multiple generations and throughout the temporal span from the 1890s to the present era. The paranormal activity attributed to this entity suggests hostility, malevolence, or negative intent, differentiating the manifestations from benign or neutral paranormal phenomena characteristic of some haunted locations. The intensity and nature of the reported activity attributed to the evil caretaker has created a reputation for the house as a location possessing significant and potentially dangerous paranormal dimensions, despite its identification with institutional and educational purposes in the contemporary period.

A prominent and distinctive feature of the paranormal phenomena at the Red Cross House is the persistent visual manifestation involving a portrait painting displayed within the house at a central location. Visitors and observers have reported that the eyes depicted in the portrait appear to maintain a continuous visual surveillance of the building's interior spaces and the individuals moving through them during visitation. These accounts describe experiencing the sensation of being watched by the portrait's subject, with observers reporting an uncanny or disturbing quality to the visual experience of encountering the portrayed eyes that produce psychological discomfort. The monitoring or surveillance quality of the portrait's presence creates a psychological dimension to the haunting, with the consciousness of being perpetually observed by the depicted figure generating unease and tension among visitors and occupants. The portrait has become a focal point of the paranormal reputation, functioning as a visual embodiment of the evil caretaker's continued presence and attention within the house. Additional phenomena include manifestations occurring on the residence's staircase, with descriptions of mysterious forces or entities producing effects on people ascending or descending. These include reports of ghostly pushes or physical contact by unseen entities, and descriptions of individuals being inexplicably startled while utilizing the stairs.

Beyond these manifestations attributed to the malevolent caretaker, the house harbors another paranormal entity identified as a matchmaker ghost, a female spirit believed to exercise benevolent influence in human relationships. The matchmaker ghost phenomenon represents an unusual paranormal feature specific to the Stoffel House, differentiating it from typical haunting narratives. This entity, identified as a female presence, is theorized to have engaged in matchmaking or romantic facilitation activities during her living existence, and is believed to have continued these inclinations following her death in spirit form. Accounts describe the matchmaker ghost as actively engaging couples encountered within the house, allegedly manipulating circumstances or exerting subtle supernatural forces that bring compatible individuals together or facilitate romantic connection. This benevolent paranormal activity occurs concurrently with the malevolent manifestations of the evil caretaker, creating a complex paranormal landscape where opposing supernatural forces exercise influence within the same structure.