The Hayward Plunge...Haunted??

A post shared by Wait What (@courtney.patterson) on Oct 2, 2016 at 10:02pm PDT

A chiller and a thriller. Beloved local haunt The Hayward Plunge, shown here as it appeared in 1939. . A BRIEF HISTORY OF HAYWARD PLUNGE . The Hayward Plunge swim center opened in 1936. America was suffering the catastrophic impacts of the Great Depression. To aid the nation’s recovery, President Franklin Roosevelt established his landmark New Deal domestic agenda. Its largest agency was the Works Progress Administration. . The WPA created jobs for millions of unemployed people to carry out public works projects including the construction of public buildings and roads. One of those projects was the Hayward Plunge. . The famed municipal pool’s first swimmer was Hayward local Jim Rose, the son of a city inspector. Rose, a boy of 10 at the time, tagged along with his father on the day of the final inspection. . "They started putting water down in the deep end,” he recalled in a 1976 interview. “When it got to the first 'V’, I took off my shoes and socks and dove in with my clothes on. Father yelled, 'Get out, you darned kid!' because he was embarrassed with all the contractors there." An auspicious christening for a pool that has delighted generations of Hayward children and families ever since. . Some people claim that the Hayward Plunge is haunted. Long time locals know well the dubious reports of “ghost" encounters over the years. Legend is that in the 1960s a swim coach marched his entire team far up the trail behind the Plunge. He told them to wait by the creek for his return. After dark, he came back and murdered them all in cold blood, dumping their bodies in the running water before making his escape. . Some locals claim that if you visit the Plunge late at night, you’ll hear the ghostly cries of children running around you. Others have claimed to experience mysterious cold spots and unexplained rockslides there after dark. . Back in the real world, the only chills and thrills at the Plunge are the chill of the cold showers in the locker room, and the thrill of leaping from the diving board into the refreshing waters of the grand pool. . #ihellalovehayward #heartofthebay #hayward #bayarea #haywardca #haywardthrives #haywardplunge #pool #history

A post shared by Hayward Thrives (@haywardthrives) on Dec 12, 2016 at 6:04am PST

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