San Francisco's Spectral Spring: Haunted Mansions & Ghostly Tales

Goodness gracious do we love us some haunted history! Something about the cities fog, the ocean backdrop, the sound of the seagulls, it lends its self to ghost stories. It’s organically eerie. And let’s talk about San Francisco Victorians, the esthetic of a good Victorian mansion and a tale of ghostly hauntings go together like peas and carrots.

Let’s delve into the titillating, spine tingling tales of some of the cities most famous haunted mansions, let’s talk ghosts in the springtime.

Ya'll know the it by name, the place is so legendary it’s nearly impossible to live to adulthood in Northern California with out hearing stories of the queen Ann Hotel, at 1590 Sutter st. In the 1800s the place was a high-end girl boarding school. The most famous ghost up in the spot, is rumored to be Miss Mary Lake, the former head mistress. It is said that what used to be her office, is now hotel room 410. Guests who stay in this room say doors and windows open and close on their own. Things go bump in the night, it is to say the least, wickedly creepy. If that sounds like your kind of adventure, you know which number to book if you want to see it for yourself.

Driving by the shoreline, have you ever seen the Sutro Bath ruins? In1896 Adolph Sutro built a luxurious public swimming complex.  where today the graffiti covers the ruins, this used to be a fancy spot. This is not a Victorian mansion; all that’s left is cement foundation. The baths were huge at the time of their conception, the space was meant to hold 10, 000 swimmers at one time. It just didn’t go well from the start. Early in the planning stages, an inexplicable fire broke out. Accidents happened non stop during construction, and patrons that came to visit once, never came again. They had built slides, and even a high dive. Things should have gone swimmingly, but something there felt off. It was speculated that the acres, the very ground they built on, could have been cursed. Certainly, at night, but even under misty cloud cover during daylight hours, the vibe is undeniably haunted. One legend is the ghosts of Sutro ruins are people who drowned there. The undercurrent is very strong there, and impossible to detect if you don’t know what to look out for. The tide can be dangerous, there are often surfers around because the waves are wild. Standing on the cement, tiptoeing over exposed metal and boulders from the past, if could be the crashing waves, it could be the wind, but you might swear you could have heard a noise. All the history shrouds the area in a sense of lingering past.

Over in the Richmond district, at 1 Loraine court, is the Neptune Society Columbarium. It is ornate, and cathedral like, it’s a vision to behold. People go to see the architecture, and leave having felt an uncomfortable chilling cold. An otherworldly icy ness that permeates the bones. The columbarium houses the ashes of thousands of SanFrancisco residents. As a result, spirits seem to be trapped with in the walls. The urns, are beautiful and intricately decorated. The walls and windows have a feeling about them, that when you’re inside, you’re not alone, only the other occupants can’t get out.

Have you all ever been to the Curran Theater? It’s at 445 Geary st. It was built in 1922, and has hosted countless amounts of performances. But it has a dark past that lurks in the undercurrent, an unsettling result of bad things that happened there. In the 1930s, a young woman was tragically murdered during one of the shows. Currently, actors regularly report seeing and hearing her. Stage lights fall, things move on their own, aren’t where they were left. People in the audience hear a woman’s voice whispering close to their ear. That’s likely not the kind of performance came for, what a creepy unwanted bonus.

In 1887 a silver tycoon named Richard Craig Chambers built a stately mansion called the Chambers mansion. He had made his money in Utah before moving to San Francisco. After he passed away, the mansion was passed down to his nieces. His nieces, sisters with a turbulent relationship, were rumored to harbor a deep hatred for one another. Terribly, one sister was found murdered in a brutal fashion. The Chambers family maintained her death was a result of farming equipment gone haywire, but that was a thin-skinned tale, easy to see through. It was said by the community at the time the sisters had practiced the dark arts, and the things that happened have stained the house to its core. It’s a beautiful Victorian with gothic and Tuscan detailing, located at 2220 Sacramento St, and is featured on the cities most prominent ghost tours.

There are so many more mansions in the city with deep dark pasts that linger. There are full lists online if you want to haunted house tours the city.

San Francisco has been ravaged by fire, rocked by one earthquake after another and even survived a plague of rats. The violence of disaster, sickness, and death, leaves a ghostly mark on a city. Like all old places, the things that transpired hundreds of years ago are over, but they’re never totally gone. They replay in some dimension that isn’t really here, but remains tangible. People either feel it or they don’t, they make a choice to believe or lock those thoughts away as unacceptable options. Spend time in one of the aforementioned haunted houses, and have the battle of the rational mind vs the hairs raised on your neck and arms. Tell yourself you heard nothing, it’s just the rain outside, and after all, old houses always make weird noises.