Vintage Spirts: St. Brigid's
In 1867 the Monk's of San Armando sold a portion of their vineyard to a small convent of immigrant Irish nuns. They built a convent and a convalescent hospital for Civil War veterans. The rest of the property remained in use as a vineyard; providing additional income for the convent. In 1922 the order disbanded, the nuns sold the vineyard to their groundskeeper Enrique Alvarez. They sold the convent and hospital to child psychiatrist Dr. Owen Wintermute who converted it to a children's mental hospital.
Enrique died in 1966 and the property was passed to his son Jesus. Jesus along with his two sons Luis "Louie" Alvarez and Alberto "Al-Al" Alvarez turned the vineyards into a successful winery producing the famous St. Brigid's Red. Jesus died in 1974, shortly after Al-Al returned from Vietnam. The two brothers took over the vineyard but had a falling out in the '80s; Louie disappeared for several years, while Al-Al continued to run the vineyard. Louie returned to San Armando in 1993, wealthy and married to a woman he met in South America. Louie forced his brother to buy him out of the vineyard and was the primary investor in the Chumash Casino. Today Louie is one of the wealthiest men in town and has a large and successful family. Meanwhile the vineyard is struggling and Al-Al is tired, lonely and bitter.
The hospital under Dr. Wintermute engaged in some of the more questionable practices of the era: eugenic sterilization, electroshock therapy, water therapy, ect. Wintermute retired in the 50's and the hospital was taken over by a small private corporation. It puttered on until 1977 when it shut down. The property passed to a succession of owners who all for various reasons failed to do anything with it and has largely remained abandoned. Currently it belongs to Tyler Realty Inc. which is trying to get it rezoned for commercial development so they can sell it to a mega-store chain. The San Armando Historical society opposes this and is trying to get the hospital recognized as a State Historical Landmark.
The vineyard is host to numerous nature spirits and elementals. The Alvarez men are hereditary shamans of a Southwestern tribe and their house is home to many American Indian spirits.
The hospital is haunted by ghosts dating from it's construction up through the modern era. Additionally the nuns were secret sorcerers and bound several spirits to the premises including a powerful Genius Loci. They also imported a population of Faeries from Ireland which dwell in the hospital's Victorian-style "Secret Garden".