Explore by state
State: California
Historical haunted places
Historic place
San Francisco, CA
Alcatraz served as a military site, military prison, federal penitentiary, site of Indigenous occupation, and national park destination.
Legend
Historic place
Brookdale, CA
Brookdale Lodge developed as a Santa Cruz Mountains resort known for its creek-side dining room and successive eras of hospitality.
Legend
Historic place
Sacramento, CA
Christened in 1927 with its sister ship Delta Queen, the sternwheeler carried overnight passengers between Sacramento and San Francisco before wartime service, abandonment, restoration, and permanent mooring as a hotel and entertainment venue.
Venue marketing
Historic place
Sacramento, CA
Built in 1877 and purchased by California in 1903, the Victorian mansion housed thirteen governors and their families until 1967. Furnishings and rooms preserve layers of executive, household, and social history.
Legend
Historic place
Los Angeles, CA
Opened in 1927, the Hollywood Roosevelt is linked to early film culture, the first Academy Awards ceremony, architecture, and changing Hollywood tourism.
Legend
Historic place
Sacramento, CA
Built in the 1850s and enlarged by Leland and Jane Stanford, the mansion served political and family functions before becoming a home for children and later a restored state historic park and official reception center.
Legend
Historic place
Ione, CA
The Romanesque building opened as the Preston School of Industry, part of California’s juvenile reform system, and later became a preservation project.
Legend
Historic place
Long Beach, CA
Moored beside the Long Beach waterfront, the Queen Mary is both a landmark of twentieth-century engineering and one of California's most persistent settings for maritime ghost stories. The ship is impressive before any legend enters the picture. Its dark hull, three red funnels, Art Deco interiors, and long decks belong to an era when an ocean crossing was a public event. Today, visitors come for that history, for the preserved rooms, and for the reports that certain parts of the ship still feel occupied after the crowds have passed.
Venue marketing
Historic place
Sacramento, CA
Established in 1849, the cemetery preserves burial sites, monuments, gardens, and community histories connected to early statehood, epidemics, immigration, politics, and the uneven ways Sacramento has commemorated its dead.
Legend
Haunted towns and cities
Haunted town
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco is a living San Francisco Bay Area community whose documented history and preservation landscape explain why ghost traditions developed around selected streets, buildings, and burial grounds.
No paranormal claim