Byron Hot Springs Hotel Description:
Byron Hot Springs and the town of Byron are located in California's Central Valley,
near the cities of Stockton and Sacramento.
The sulfur springs originally attracted Indians and then settlers.
The first hotel ran from 1889 to 1901, the second as the Byron Hot Springs Hotel and Sanitarium
ran from 1901 to 1912, and the third as the Byron Hot Springs Hotel and Resort ran from 1913 to 1938.
In 1913 a four-story brick hotel was opened as the Byron Hot Springs Hotel and Resort.
It operated as a vacation spot for the rich and famous.
Various celebrities stayed there including comedian Fatty Arbuckle and actor Clark Gable.
The San Francisco Seals baseball team of the Pacific Coast League sometimes used the resort for
spring training.
In 1942 the United States War Department took over the buildings for use as a World War II
prisoner of war (POW) interrogation center named Camp Tracy after another nearby town.
The first prisoners were German and later most were Japanese soldiers and sailors who surrendered
or were captured.
The camp officials decided not to use Gestapo methods (torture) to get information, figuring that they
would get more and accurate information by humane methods which were usually successful.
Army and Navy interrogators did use various methods pioneered by the British, such as putting
listening devices in the rooms, and bringing in Japanese Americans to socialize with the prisoners.
When the war ended in 1945 the POW camp closed and the place was given back to the owner.
It was then sold to the Greek Orthodox Church to be used as a retreat and after 1956 the property
changed owners several times.
The springs are no more as the Army capped them in 1945.
In 2005 a grass fire ignited the main building which burned leaving the brick frame.
Occultists and paranormalists believe the place to be haunted and various "ghostbusters"
have examined the area.
