Ghosts of Hendy Iron Works

Around 9:35 p.m., on Wednesday, 27 August 2008, Security Guards Scott Calais and Rudy Madris were watching the monitors at the CCTV control center in the Sunnyvale facility of Northrop Grumman when they saw a bicyclist approach the California gate. The plant spreads out over 72 acres, so there is nothing unusual in seeing employees use bicycles and golf carts to quickly travel the lengthy distances between buildings. What was unusual—aside from it being a less populated shift—was seeing the bicyclist head toward the back gate. Thinking an employee might be passing something to an outsider, the guards stopped to watch what the figure would do.

Instead of stopping, the rider rode straight through the closed gate, up several yards north on Roosevelt Avenue, turn into a ball of light, and then in jerking motion flew to the right before it disappeared.

“It was weird,” said Calais. By the time he thought to keep the recording of the bicycle incident, the tape had already been recycled. He went on to say that the area of the plant where he feels the biggest heebie-jeebies is around the big vending machine bay in building 41.

Most researchers believe that paranormal activity and ghosts are the outcome of trauma or strong emotions that keep the spirit energy of those who died in the physical world. During the more than 100 years Northrop Grumman’s Sunnyvale plant has been in operation, thousands of employees invested a good part of their lives to the companies that did business there.

The facility originally opened in 1907 as Joshua Hendy Iron Works, the leading manufacturer of mining equipment during the Gold Rush. By that time Joshua Hendy had been dead for 16 years and his business was being managed by his nephew, John. The company had previously produced its goods in San Francisco, but that plant was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake. When the Hendys were forced to rebuild, Joshua’s nephews and heirs, Samuel (who would die before the new plant opened) and John, considered their options. At the turn of the 20^th century, Sunnyvale’s economy relied on its agriculture and little else. Local officials wanted the city to have year-round employment and offered Hendy Iron Works a good deal on land. Although the Hendys had other options, they chose Sunnyvale because John’s wife wanted to live closer to her mother in San Jose.

After the death of John in 1920, commerce at Hendy Iron Works declined. During the Depression, business was so slow it had to sell fruit from the orchards still on its property just to pay its taxes.

In 1940, six companies, including McDonald & Kahn, Utah Construction Company, Morrison & Knudson, W. A. Bechtel, Henry Kaiser, and J. F. Shea Company, formed a partnership to buy Hendy Iron Works with Charles Moore as its president and Felix Kahn as treasurer. Six Companies initial interest in amalgamating was to work on Boulder Dam, but they anticipated the U.S. would enter World War II. If that never happened, they had planned to liquidate the business. Instead of efficiently dissolving business, Moore won a contract to build Liberty Ship engines within a few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He ramped up production to the highest capacity the plant has ever seen. Its workforce grew from a meager 75 to nearly 11,000 during the war. Several more buildings had to be erected not just within the facility to accommodate production, but also in the city of Sunnyvale. Many of the homes and retail shops surrounding the facility were built to accommodate the daily needs of Hendy employees.

During the war years, production at Hendy Iron Works operated 24/7 and the company produced over 500 engines for Liberty Ships. At one point, in those days before California’s labor laws became more stringent, employees worked 188 hours straight to complete an order for Tiny Tim rocket launchers. Not one left the plant until the job was done. Their families passed them food through the fence. Thinking ahead for post-war work, Moore talked about building supplies to fulfill the needs of city infrastructures, such as piping, but when shop workers began grumbling about strikes, he retired. Harry Gunetti became the new plant manager, but Six Companies soon sold the plant to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1947.

While George Westinghouse Jr. had died over 30 years before, his corporation carried on for several more decades. It wanted to broaden its distribution base on the West Coast, but considering his first major commercial coup was designing an efficient air brake system for trains, similar ingenuity could be put toward defense. Its newly acquired Sunnyvale plant continued its defense work. The heyday of Westinghouse would eventually end as well. While what remains of it is under the leadership of CBS, its defense divisions were sold to Northrop Grumman in 1996. Northrop Grumman now has custody of the old Joshua Hendy Iron Works.

Life and a culture did thrive across the campus since its building in 1906: some good, some bad. With a rising workforce, a cafeteria was opened for its employees in 1942. A barber shop was located at the end of one of its office buildings, near the guards’ “shack.” In the 40s, shop workers were aroused to anger when it was suggested they take the day after Thanksgiving off (probably without pay). During the 70s, one female employee gave birth in one of its office buildings. (At the time, WEC had a policy where it forced its pregnant employees to quit. This practice ended when the corporation lost a class-action lawsuit for discrimination in 1981.)

Although any health and safety records kept during the first few decades of operation have long been lost, there was some risky work being done. Workers poured molten metal and trains drove through tracks in the plant to ease the loading of heavy, newly-manufactured equipment. Westinghouse took safety precautions very seriously; however, careless employees would take chances. In one case, a huge crane, which was used to lift huge equipment and built onto the high ceiling of the factory, was required for a job. According to Archivist Eric Thomas, a contract worker fell from an overhead crane in building 61 around 1990. One swing shift technician claims the workers hear noises and he has felt like he was being watched as he worked when no one else was around.

Natural causes could play a part as well. Another operator died from a heart attack while inside the cab of a mobile crane. Later, one shop worker swore he heard odd noises coming from the work station of his deceased colleague, but others claim he was the victim of practical jokes.

A few years ago, Jim Gillette, a former security guard, happened to be doing his rounds with a colleague, Nancy Hazelton, when they went to check on a door that was supposed to be locked in the second story of building 33. Both of them saw the doorknob turn on its own while the door shook in the otherwise unoccupied building.

Unusual activity occurs during the day shift as well. A retired senior cost/schedule analyst said when she worked in building 33, she and her co-workers could smell beans cooking from time to time. That area acted as the cafeteria for Westinghouse from late 40s until 1958.

Building 51 has raised questions as well. Freddie Herring, a retired janitor, claims to have heard voices in conversation there while he was alone working. Joanne Rainville, another janitor, said she was mopping the floor one night when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around thinking it was Herring, but no one was there.

Rainville’s experience has not been limited to building 51. One night while working in the offices of the second story of building 21, she heard someone tapping away on a keyboard as she was dumping garbage. She walked into the cubicle where a hard-working employee should have been, but no one was there.

Whether or not these folks really witnessed phenomena is up to the individual. Where there’s history, there are ghosts, and Northrop Grumman’s Sunnyvale facility certainly has a rich heritage.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers declared Joshua Hendy Iron Works a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1978. In 1988, the Sunnyvale Heritage Preservation Commission named it a Heritage Landmark. The public is invited to visit the Iron Man Museum located at Northrop Grumman Marine Systems in Sunnyvale, California, but must make an appointment first. Contact Eric Thomas, NGMS Archivist, at (408) 735-2306 or (build the e-mail address) eric dot thomas at ngc dot com to make arrangements. Proof of U.S. citizenship is required to enter the facility.