Spook Hunters

The Spook Hunters were a European American racist youth gang of South Gate, California, active from the 1940s to the 1950s. The gang was founded by European-American youths as a reaction to the growing black population in the neighboring city of Los Angeles. The black population had soared from 44,000 in 1940 to 145,000 by 1950. As a result, violence increased dramatically. Though only 4% of L.A.'s population in 1940, they were 21% of homicide victims, and in all but one of the cases, the perpetrator was black. In 1952, the murder rate in the Newton district of South Central soared to 80 per 100,000, 15 times the national average. By 1956, they were 11% of the population but accounted for nearly half of all arrested for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Many whites were victims of robbery, burglary, and random assaults. The white population of South L.A. began to decline, from 320,000 in 1950 to 40,000 by 1970. Some groups fought back. After a black on white brawl at Jefferson high school in 1946, some white youths formed the "Spookhunters", a group of 20-25 people. The group's goal centered on work against integration and for racial segregation in communities. To reach these goals White youths started fights with and intimidated black youths. They were brief and disappeared by the 1950s. Black youths had already formed their own gangs to protect themselves and their neighborhoods: The Slausons, the Businessmen, and the Gladiators were all formed before White gangs like the Spook Hunters.