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Le Potager Owner John Reed Holds Lillian Yaeger’s Calling Card

Local shop owner John Reed has stories to tell about the ghost of Lillian Yaeger, one of Fullerton’s pioneering businesswomen, who supposedly never left her former home. Le Potager, a lovely two-story antique boutique, is considered by the North Orange County Paranormal Society (NOPS) to be one of the most haunted locations in Fullerton.

Over the past 25 years, the building has become a frequent stop on the Fullerton Museum’s annual Haunted Walking Tours. In fact, Lillian Yaeger’s bio on the Fullerton Public Library’s webpage for “Fullerton’s Female Trailblazers” says that her residence at 108 West Brookdale Place is said to be haunted by her ghost. Recently, I had a chance to interview John Reed in Yaeger’s former residence and listen to his encounters and paranormal experiences with the ghost of the first female automobile dealer in Fullerton.

Reed, who has been in business on Brookdale for the past 25 years, said, “The house that I am in is such a special location because it was built by Lillian Yaeger. Lillian was the first woman back in the early 1900s to start selling Dodge motorcars…She was very persistent and very strong-willed…that was the type of businesswoman she was, and she built a very successful Dodge dealership and repair shop here in Fullerton. This house that Le Potager is now in was Lillian’s house, which she lived in until the age of 90.”

The view of upstairs landing where Lillian died from Lillian’s former bedroom

Through research at the Fullerton Public Library’s Local History Room, I discovered that Yaeger was Orange County’s first service station operator and was known around town for her swearing and bluntness. From reading local historian Deb Richey’s Fullerton Heritage 2017article, I learned that after Yaeger’s mother had passed away and her sisters had married, she hired a well-known local contractor named Arthur M. Thompson to custom-build the Spanish Colonial Revival home. Richey wrote that Yaeger remained in the house for the rest of her life. This property was Yaeger’s residence until her death in 1978, according to Fullerton Heritage. Lillian died from a heart attack on her home’s upstairs landing.
​“Her spirit has always remained with this house,” said Reed. “She looks out for it, and I’ve been told by other paranormal people who have come in here over the years that she looks out for me. I was told that she loves me very much and that even though she never had her own children, she’s taken to me like her adopted son because she loves what I’ve done with her house here.”

Upstairs landing in Le Potager, where Lillian Yaeger died in 1978 at the age of 90

Over the years, Reed has had different paranormal experiences with Yaeger. He said, “One of the things I was told when I was handed the keys by the landlord, who was at that time Lillian’s niece, was, ‘John, did I ever tell you about Lillian?’ And I said, ‘No, who’s Lillian?’ And so she started to tell me about the ghost of Lillian and how she occupies the house. And I’m like, ‘Okay, now you tell me, but okay.’ So I went upstairs into her room, introduced myself, and I had never had a better feeling in a house than I did in this particular place. The energy and spirit of Lillian are just amazing…People who come in here go, ‘What is it about this house that is so…there’s something about it?’ and I go, ‘It’s just a beautiful house.’ It’s got positive energy and the look (decorations) that I do inside of it really complements it.”

One of the things that Reed was told when he was handed the keys was that “you may notice and see lights go on at times that you’ve turned off.” He said Lillian’s niece explained that this is Yaeger’s way of letting you know that she’s around. Of course, Reed has experienced this occurrence too.

An upstairs chandelier inside Le Potager that the ghost of Lillian Yaeger likes to turn on and off

“I’ve had lights turn on when I’ve turned them off,” he said. “Now she used to do it more often, and then I finally had to have a talk with her up in her room. And I said, ‘Lillian, listen, I appreciate you turning the lights on. I know you’re here. But I pay the electric bill and you don’t, so you have to manage that.’ She’s been pretty good with that ever since.”

He explained that he has had people come into the shop over the years who are really in tune with the paranormal or the spiritual aspects of the location. They will come down the stairs and ask him,

“Is this house haunted?” He says, “What made you ask that?” And they usually say that they were upstairs and could just feel something off. He asks them where and they generally point to the landing, and he responds with, “That’s where Lillian passed away.”

The room at the end of the landing used to be her bedroom. Reed said, “It was probably eleven to midnight, somewhere around there. She got up; she might not have been feeling well…but she was walking here to go to the upstairs bathroom, maybe, and she passed away right here in the hall.”

In her bedroom, there’s an ornate antique chandelier that is plugged into the ceiling. Reed explained that the only way to turn this off is to get up on a ladder to access the track lighting. Three or four times, he has come into this bedroom and found the whole chandelier turned off. “It’s something about this chandelier; I think she likes it or maybe she doesn’t like it. I don’t know why she keeps turning it off,” said Reed.

Le Potager Owner John Reed Holds Lillian Yaeger’s Calling Card

He has also had odd experiences upstairs when he has been standing on a ladder putting up seasonal holiday decorations. He said, “The first time this ever happened, it was kind of weird. You know that feeling when you walk into spider webs and it feels like you walked into something? But there was nothing up there, no cobwebs or anything. So, I was up on a ladder decorating, and Lillian was probably walking by me to go either downstairs or something like that…That’s where you feel the energy; it’s like a tingling feeling, and I’ve had other people feel that. And I respond, “That’s Lillian.”

Reed explained that he looks out for Yaeger and the house, and that when he leaves at night, he tells Lillian, “I love you. Good night, and I’ll see you in the morning.” He says that he is very attached to the spirit of Lillian and the house. “But this is all great energy and a great spirit. Lillian loved this house.”

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