I've been working here in Old Town San Diego  for the last 15 years, and consider myself a fairly rational person. So when people tell me that Old Town is haunted, as the child of a physicist, I never put too much credence in such talk.

That being said, it's true that the Whaley House  down the street is ranked as one of the "most haunted" places in America. And I do remember one morning about fifteen years ago when I thought I heard a baby crying upstairs in the old Milton Sessions building, where the Wells Fargo Museum was once housed. I was curious enough to go upstairs and look around, but didn't see anything. Other staff members here at the current Wells Fargo History Museum have commented that they too have "heard things," like strange shuffling sounds and hollow footsteps, from time to time.

Like I said, I think I'm a pretty rational person. But I'm afraid I don't have any logical way of explaining what happened Monday morning.

I'll try to be brief. When I arrived, I unlocked the front door as I always do and proceeded back to the alarm panel to shut off the alarm. I didn't notice anything as I came in, although it seemed a little cold, and for some reason, the light always seems a little hazy when you walk into the empty museum in the morning. After turning off the alarm, I started up my computer and got to checking emails. From where I sit I can see feed from the security camera.

Now before we open the doors at 10 there really should be no movement in that monitor — not unless I let in the cleaning folks or the occasional vendor. But that morning I noticed something out of the corner of my eye coming from the monitor, and let me tell you, the hackles on my back rose automatically. I've never been spooked like that.

I grabbed my digital camera and managed to get a quick shot off before it vanished. You be the judge. The thing I saw had no left arm, which is important. Let me explain why.

We've been displaying the bronze grave marker of Silas St. John in our museum. It was stolen off his grave and then kept at the local historical society until recently. According to history, he lost that arm in a battle with some bad guys. So I don't think…

I had been meaning to call the director of the Mt. Hope cemetery to start the process of getting Silas his fancy grave marker back. It was crafted by Donal Hord , a famous sculptor and it really should be going back soon. To be honest, I've been procrastinating a little — it's been pretty busy around here with school tours and all. After seeing what I saw, though, I'm going to move this project to the head of my queue.

I don't look forward to coming into work by myself, I'll tell you that.