California does have its share of ghosts, perhaps because of its turbulent, sometimes violent, gold rush era. All of the ghosts listed here, at one time or another, have been witnessed by multiple independent parties; so, if you care to commune with the spirits this Halloween season, here’s where you might find some.
Grass Valley. First founded in 1852 as the Golden Gate Saloon, a popular watering hole whose owners added a hotel in back the following year, the inn became the Holbrook Hotel in 1879. The Holbrooke, which once hosted Mark Twain and other famous names, has experienced some unusual occurrences, especially in room 15. At the Iron Door, the hotel’s cellar bar— reputed to have once housed a brothel—modern patrons have reported seeing and hearing a female spirit in the women’s restroom. In the Golden Gate Saloon itself, smoke-filled clouds have been seen clustered around the ceiling, while wine glasses start to shake on their own.
Nevada City. The National Exchange Hotel had been open for decades when a group of businessmen intent on founding a utilities company met there in 1898, in room 314 . . . businessmen who perhaps left their spirits behind. One evening, a woman staying in room 314 awoke to find cigar smoking men in her room, attired in late 19th century clothing, consulting maps. Elizabeth, another Victorian-era guest, who supposedly died of mumps in room 411, has been seen roaming the halls. Also, the “White Lady,” an apparition wearing a long white Victorian dress, has been observed floating down hallways and inside guest rooms.
Amador City. Now the Mine House Bed & Breakfast, this brick building, completed in 1868, was constructed to house the offices of the Keystone Mine, one of the highest gold-yielding businesses in Amador County. In 1993, when new owners purchased the old building and renovated it, it wasn’t long before they noticed something strange going on in the bedrooms: the sound of footsteps when there was no one there, water that turned on in bathroom sinks after guests checked out; and a young female spirit, sometimes seen standing on the balcony, who likes to mess up the beds.
Coronado. The Hotel del Coronado, completed in 1888, is the haunt of Kate Morgan, who checked into the hotel days before her suicide there in 1892. Identified by a San Diego historian as the hotel’s ghostly Victorian Lady in Black, the details of Morgan’s death is the subject of ghostlore that continues to this day. Still, perhaps Kate Morgan isn’t the only ghost to haunt the del Coronado: more than 30 documented deaths have occurred in its various rooms between 1890 and 1980.
San Diego. The Whaley House was built by the Thomas Whaley family in 1857. An early commercial hub before “New Town” was developed, Whaley House once contained the town’s courthouse, other commercial enterprises, and the morgue. Its many ghosts are said to be the several members of the Whaley family who, over the decades, died tragically, signaling their continuing presence with reported paranormal activity. Yet … shortly after the family moved in, they said they heard heavy footsteps in the house, which they believed to be the ghost of James "Yankee Jim" Robinson, a horse thief from northern California who had been hanged on the Whaley’s as yet undeveloped land, for stealing a boat. Today, though Whaley House is a designated National Landmark and museum, it is touted by some as the most haunted house in America.
Murphys. In the early 1860s Murphy’s Historic Hotel was known as the Sperry and Perry House, where a young woman named Eleanor took a job as a chambermaid. She and a gold miner fell in love. He went off to find the fortune that would support them in style—but never came back. Resolutely awaiting his return, Eleanor lived out her life at the hotel, a stalwart employee eventually promoted to other hotel work, and died there some 30 years later. That’s when staff and guests begin to notice strange things: small items flying through the air in the kitchen or wait station with no one around; closed doors that open by themselves during staff meetings; footfalls in empty rooms and hallways.
Diamond Springs. The Diamond Springs Hotel has many ghosts, most thought to be from before the hotel was built in 1916 near the site of an old Miwok burial ground. Seventy years earlier, when Diamond Springs was called Crystal Springs, it was a campground for miners and travelers. Groans, bangs and clashes are often heard in the hotel’s upstairs rooms; and guests in its restaurant have reported seeing a filmy figure of a man sitting in a back booth.
Jamestown. The National Hotel has a resident ghost named Flo, a friendly apparition who enjoys creating harmless, mischievous tomfoolery. Flo prefers to stay upstairs in the rooms at the front of the building, though she has also been seen downstairs, floating through the dining room and right through the walls. No one knows who she was or why her spirit lingers here, but there are accounts of doors slamming, lights going on and off, and clothing dumped from suitcases onto the floor.
Garden Valley. Most drivers cruising through the Gold County from Coloma to Garden Valley take Marshall Road, the main route, but there’s an alternate, albeit treacherous, alternative: a smaller artery called Prospectors Road, a twisty, windy route haunted by a fearsome ghost. Several gold discoveries occurred in the hills that Prospector’s Road runs through, and the story is that a miner who was murdered after drunkenly bragging about his claim in a local saloon now haunts the roadway. Described as a big man, tall and bearded, usually semi-transparent, he sometimes hovers above the ground, and has been heard to issue threats to stay away from his claim. Worse, he is judged to be responsible for multiple accidents on Prospectors Road, and slipping into area homes to terrify people and pets.
Black Star Canyon. Allegedly the most haunted place in California, this canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains above Irvine was the site of an Indian massacre in 1831, a murder in 1899, and a fatal road accident in the 1970s. Frequented by ghost hunters, Black Star Canyon is reputedly the site of various cult activities, paranormal events, and sightings of cryptids: those scary creatures of folklore that some have claimed to have seen, but have never been proven to exist.
Comments