A Supernatural Mystery That You Can Help Solve

Last week I described a recurring dream, or past-life memory, related to me recently by Scott Perry of Decatur, Illinois. Scott started off with the very intriguing words “You’re going to think I’m crazy…”
He’d been having the exact same vivid dream since before he was 2. In the dream, Scott seems to be seeing through the eyes of a little girl, and I recounted that terrifying dream of death in last week’s column. Scott wakes up panting, sweating and often sobbing. The dream happens not every night, but at least multiple times each month, and has always been exactly the same for decades. Scott had always felt strongly that this was some sort of supernatural memory.
Early retirement gave Scott the time to research what truth there might be in this recurring dream. He came across a reference to our famous 1934 New Year’s flood. Looking at photos of the devastation, he came across a photo of a car upside down in a culvert and recognized it immediately as the car from his dreams. The caption told him that there was indeed a little girl in the car, along with her mother and father, and a young man and woman in the back seat, all of whom died. In his internet search on the 1934 flood, he came across my name and contacted me.
I helped Scott find other pertinent facts around the accident in 1934. It turns out that the accident happened in South San Gabriel, near Whittier Narrows. During that awful night, deaths occurred all over Los Angeles as water and debris from the San Gabriel Mountains roared down the various drainage channels. In this case it was the channel that drains Rubio Canyon and passes through the San Gabriel Valley.
Several newspapers covered the accident, each with a different set of facts, as papers do even today. Piecing together from the various newspapers, here’s how I think the accident happened. Compare this to Scott’s dream from last week.
The Moore family, John and Elizabeth, and daughter June, celebrated New Year’s Eve at the house of a friend, Bertha MacCasland. With them were the Moores’ cousin Earl Dennison and Bertha’s grown son and daughter Sherman and Ethel Hubbard. A group left the MacCasland house in the Moores’ car: John, Elizabeth and June in the front seat, Ethel and Sherman in the back seat, with cousin Earl apparently in the rumble seat. They were headed to the Moores’ house at 3109 San Gabriel to spend the night with plans to attend the Rose Parade in the morning.
As we know, there was a massive downpour in the burned-off mountains at midnight sending huge walls of mud and debris roaring down all the drainage washes. They were on Rush Street (perhaps named Mesa Street back then) just west of Walnut Grove where it crosses the Rubio Wash. Either the bridge was already out and they went off the edge or they were on the bridge when the wall of debris hit. The Moores and the Hubbards died, and Dennison survived.
So what is Scott Perry looking for? After a lifetime of being haunted by little June’s traumatic memory, he basically wants to know “Why me?” Why has he, a random stranger, picked to relive that horrible night over and over?
I know it’s not my usual local story but I think it’s intriguing enough to pursue. I’m asking my readers to use their quarantine time to do a little genealogical sleuthing. Here are the details on each person: John E. Moore, 40; Elizabeth L. Moore, 44; June Edna Moore, 6; Ethel Mae Hubbard, 23; Sherman Lee Hubbard, 21. All died on Jan. 1, 1934 and are buried in Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena. There are no details on survivor Earl Dennison (or Denniston).
Are there any living relatives? Are there any photos of the family? I love a mystery, and I know you do, too! Let’s see what kind of clues we can find to this supernatural mystery. Contact me at lawlerdad@yahoo.com, and I will pass on to Scott what you find.