Museum of Ventura County This 1908 photograph shows one of two trolleys dumped into the Pacific Ocean as part of a prank.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff Tresa Wilkinson looks at pieces of frames from old farm trucks near the Ventura Promenade on Wednesday. The parts were initially thought to be those of a trolley lost in 1908 Halloween prank.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff Railroad historian David Wilkinson identified five automotive frames on the beach near the Ventura Promenade on Wednesday.

Glenda J. Jackson A street car is seen in Ventura in 1908.

Tony Murphy, a Camarillo middle school teacher and professional tiki carver, frequently combs the beach south of the Ventura River mouth for driftwood, finding scores of "wooden treasures" to ply with his rotary tool.

But his jaw dropped when he recently stumbled upon a decades-old wood-spoke wheel and metal frame protruding from the sand and cobble — the possible remains of one of Ventura's great mysteries.

Rusted and half-buried was what appeared to be the mangled undercarriage of a horse-drawn trolley dumped into the Pacific Ocean during a Halloween prank in 1908.

News of the find quickly spread — before it was determined to be only an old piece of farm equipment.

"It's so exciting," local historian Glenda J. Jackson said when told of the partially unearthed remains. "Makes me want to rush down there and jump into the surf."

A collector and local lecturer who wrote the 2006 retrospective book "Ventura," Jackson researched dozens of rare and historic images from private and museum collections for her book.

Among them was a monochrome photograph from the early 20th century of a trolley. It's half-submerged and tilted to one side, with two men standing atop the roof and the Ventura Pier in the background.

The trolley was one of two snatched by a band of "mischievous youth" and dumped into the sea on Halloween night "in keeping with the devilment" of the evening, according to a Nov. 6, 1908, front-page newspaper story in the Ventura Free Press.

The dubious act was later deemed "The Great Halloween Prank."

One of the trolleys was recovered and put back in service a week later, the newspaper reported. But the final resting place of the other was not recorded, fueling speculation that it was fated to an unceremonious death at sea.

David Wilkinson, owner of the Fillmore & Western Railway, agreed to take a look at the Ventura beach remains.

"I can positively, and unequivocally, tell you that is not a trolley," pronounced Wilkinson, a train historian and automotive buff. "I'm sorry. Your trolley may very well be down here someplace, but this is not it."

The gear box was the first giveaway, he said. The wood-spoke wheels were another sign. A turn-of-the-century trolley would have had heavier flanged wheels that fit into grooved tracks along the road.

"I think this is the remains of an old farm truck," he said, adding it likely had been there since the late 1930s or '40s.

In fact, he counted the remains of five separate automotive frames laid end to end and spaced somewhat evenly apart on the beach.

So how does a group of trucks end up at ocean's edge?

Wilkinson figured they were buried there to prevent beach erosion.

That's possible, but it's also possible the motor vehicles were simply dumped, said Paul Jenkin, an ocean engineer and campaign coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation Ventura Chapter.

Jenkin has spotted the vehicles before and said the remnants pop up occasionally over the years when beach conditions are right.

Heavy, western, winter swells gobble up tons of cobble and sand, pulling it offshore. Softer southern swells in summer return tons of the offshore material back to the beach.

Jenkins said he has counted as many as six frames — a hazard for surfers when the tide is up.

Charles Johnson, head librarian at the Museum of Ventura County, agreed the river mouth was a common dumping ground at the turn of the century, when the area largely was undeveloped and environmental concerns were not at the forefront. Automobile parts, construction debris, industrial trash, even carcasses from area slaughterhouses often would be discarded in the river, documents show.

In addition to various metal parts, large concrete pieces containing rebar occasionally surface and become a hazard, Ventura Parks Manager Mike Montoya said. City crews remove as much of the rebar as possible at low tide, focusing on the most dangerous pieces.

According to old articles, the two horse-drawn trolley cars arrived in town under the name of the "Ventura and Ojai Valley Railway Co." in October 1892 and began service on June 21, 1893. They were only to be used temporarily until overhead lines were installed for electric trolleys. This never happened, and the horse-drawn trolleys remained in use until their fateful demise.

Stealing a truck or trolley and dumping it in the ocean today likely would result in charges of grand theft.

"But it was a different time then," Jackson said. The horse-drawn trolleys had fallen out of favor with the townsfolk, many of whom wanted their pocked roads paved and saw the trolleys as an impediment.

"Most of the residents were actually happy to see them go," she said. "They were seen as being too old-fashioned."

Within two months of the prank, the remaining trolley was shut down and the roads were resurfaced. The horse barn was torn down in 1909.

Even if the beach remains were the trolley, they wouldn't be worth saving, she said, "but it resurfaces a piece of Ventura's fun past."

Murphy, a teacher at Las Colinas Middle School, was disappointed to learn it was not the trolley. He had read about the infamous Halloween prank in Jackson's book.

Still, the 28-year-old plans to keep his eyes peeled. "It could still be out there," he said. "The mystery of the trolley is still alive."