Haunted Costume Shop

In downtown Modesto, California, there’s a costume shop where the creepy atmosphere doesn’t necessarily end when Halloween is over. Daydreams & Nightmares sits at 1219 7th Street inside a building that once operated as a funeral home and crematorium. When owner Dana Walters took over the property, she said remnants of its former life were still present, including cremation ashes near the area where the crematorium had operated.

Not long after moving in, Walters and employees began reporting strange activity. Heavy footsteps when nobody was there. Doors apparently opening and closing on their own. Objects disappearing only to turn up somewhere else. Unexplained voices, whispers, shadows and strange gusts of air have also been reported inside the building. Security cameras have captured unusual incidents as well, including objects seemingly moving without explanation, floating lights or “orbs,” and what has been described as a possible full-bodied apparition.

One particularly strange incident involved a holder filled with travel brochures. According to owner Dana Walters, the brochures inexplicably spilled from the counter three separate times in a single day. Surveillance footage reportedly captured the incidents, including one in which the brochures appeared to spread across the floor in an unusually orderly fashion. During another incident, a strange shadow could reportedly be seen on the recording.

Over the years, Daydreams & Nightmares has attracted paranormal investigators looking for answers. Investigations have produced claims of EVPs, apparent spirit communication and other unexplained activity, although, like most paranormal evidence, none of it establishes that ghosts are actually responsible. What makes the location especially fascinating is that underneath the ghost stories is a very real history involving death, mourning and cremation.

Today, Daydreams & Nightmares remains a working costume and theatrical makeup shop, but it has also become one of Modesto’s better-known paranormal locations. You can walk in looking for a mask, a wig or some fake blood… and according to the people who have spent enough time inside, you might leave with a ghost story you weren’t shopping for.