They have been seen for centuries, large silent figures in black, wearing a cape, a round hat, and holding a long walking stick.
They appear as the sun is going down in the west or when it is starting to rise in the east, their shape silhouetted against the dimming light and the beauty of the coastal mountains.
They are silent, distant and unapproachable — go near them and they vanish.
They are seen on high ridges or peaks, places virtually impossible for a human being to reach.
Some eyewitnesses report feeling not as much being watched as being watched over, as if these shadowy images are simply observing them for reasons of their own.
They are the Dark Watchers — strange, elusive phantoms who dwell in the Santa Lucia Mountains. They have been seen from Big Sur to Ojai.
John Steinbeck, in The Long Valley, mentions them in “Flight,” and poet Robinson Jeffers refers to them in “Such Counsels You Gave to Me”: “he thought it might be one of the watchers / who are often seen in this length of coast-range.”
An early eyewitness account reads: “They stand on the ridges at sunset, like men, but taller — and they do not move.”
A more recent sighting states, “You don’t see them close — only across a valley, where you can’t be sure.”
They are most often described as looking into the distance, as if waiting for something to happen or for someone to appear on the far horizon.
They do not seem like ghosts, but rather like something that belongs to the landscape itself.
Early Spanish settlers were the first to notice them, dubbing these specters Los Vigilantes Oscuros, similar to the Duendes — the mountain spirits of the Iberian Peninsula — shadowy guardians of wild places, usually seen watching from ridges or hillsides at dusk.
“He saw a black figure for a moment, but he looked away quickly, for it was one of the dark watchers.”
The Dark Watchers of the Central Coast are part of a worldwide phenomenon of shadowy, human-like apparitions often called “The Ancient Ones,” appearing at a distance on ridges and cliff lines, then vanishing when someone comes close.
They dwell in the lonely spaces of forests and mountains, silently looking on, as if they had been there since the beginning of time — and that may not be an exaggeration.
Cave paintings in France and Spain dating back 16,000 years and more depict human-like figures that are otherworldly in appearance.
Ancient Mesopotamia had Apkallū, a guardian who stood at thresholds, and the Books of Enoch, which datesto 300 BCE, describes angels that are sent to watch over humanity.
Ireland has the Aos Sí, the “people of the mounds,” a hidden race living parallel to our world.
In Scandinavia, sagas tell of the Draugr, undead beings who watch travelers from a distance, standing on ridges or burial mounds. Iceland has tales of the “Hidden People,” the Huldufólk, who are seen only at a distance.
In India, folklore tells of the Yakshas, guardians of wild places. In the Middle East, there are the Jinn, created before humanity and, like the Dark Watchers, tall and shadowy — and always far away.
Since the Middle Ages, people have claimed to see the “Brocken Spectre” in the Harz Mountains of Germany — giant, shadowy figures in the mist, thought to be supernatural guardians of the mountain peaks.
The Dark Watchers have become part of Central Coast life and lore.
In Steinbeck’s story, Pepe, after killing a man in a drunken brawl, flees into the Santa Lucia Mountains to escape the police. His mother advises him, “When thou comest to the high mountains, if thou seest any of the dark watching men, go not near them nor try to speak to them.”
Pepe is careful to heed his mother’s advice. “He saw a black figure for a moment, but he looked away quickly, for it was one of the dark watchers.”
Science and psychology offer various explanations for the Dark Watchers and the Ancient Ones.
They could be hallucinations, or the mind’s misinterpretations of natural phenomena.
They could also be the result of “infrasound,” sound lower than 20Hz, below what the human ear can detect.
Infrasound can be generated by ocean waves, and research has shown that it can cause anxiety, insomnia, and can even cause human eyes to vibrate, creating distorted vision and hallucinations.
Pareidolia is also seen as a cause, in that humans are “wired” to fill in shapes or “complete” an image such as a shadow seen at a distance.
The next time you drive north on Pacific Coast Highway, look to your right when you get past Avila Beach as the sun is going down.
You might catch a glimpse of a large, shadowy figure in black, wearing a serape and a big round hat.
But do not try to go near it. The Dark Watchers are just looking, and they do not appreciate being disturbed.