Reportedly haunted locations in the San Francisco Bay Area

There are many reportedly haunted locations in San Francisco, California. According to ghost hunters, over 100 sites in the San Francisco Bay Area are reported to be haunted.^[1]

San Francisco

Russian Hill

Manrow’s House, was built in 1851 by J.P. Marrow, a successful civil engineer and also a judge advocate of a vigilance committee with high reputation in the city. He reported paranormal activities at his house in the form of “visitations, table tapping, rapping and so forth”. These accounts were published in newspapers of San Francisco.^[2]

The Richmond

Neptune Society Columbarium

The Neptune Society Columbarium, at One Loraine Court, was originally part of the Odd Fellows Cemetery.

Room 410 at the Queen Anne Hotel is said to be haunted by the namesake of the Miss Mary Lake's School for Girls.^[3]

San Francisco Bay

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary

Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Island and Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary are rumored to be haunted. The Huffington Post included it in a Halloween article list of "spooky places".^[4]

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Over 1000 people have committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, resulting in claims of it being haunted.^[5]

Napa County

According to ghost hunters, Greenwood Mansion, between Napa and American Canyon, is reputedly haunted by its former owner John Greenwood and his wife who were murdered there in 1891.^[6]

Solano County

The ground of an old village where the Spanish forces had killed many Patwin is part of Rockville Hills Regional Park. Local people reported seeing a “partial apparition of Chief Solano”^[7]

In fiction

Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce set ghost stories in San Francisco in the 19th century. The ghost incidents narrated are of the 1850s to 1950s set here are in the genre of stories, journalistic articles or based on investigations into the incidents. Some of the references have been sourced to books in the San Francisco Public Library, books such as “Haunted Houses of California” and the story of San Francisco Art Institute by Antoinette May, the "Vanishing Hitchhiker" by Rose Robinson, and “Foot Steps in the Fog : Alfred Hitchcocks San Francisco” authored by Jeff Craft and Aaron Leventhol.^[8]

References

^ Dwyer 2005, pp. Back cover.
^ Richards 2004, pp. 4–17.
^ Goupil & Krist 2005, p. 36.
^ "America's Most Haunted Places". Huffington Post. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
^ Hauck, Dennis William (1 September 2002). Haunted Places: The National Directory : Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, Ufo Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations. Penguin. pp. 145–. ISBN 978-0-14-200234-6. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
^ Dwyer 2005, pp. 51–3.
^ Richards 2004, pp. 142–143.
^ Richards 2004, pp. ix–xii.

Bibliography

Albright, Jim (2008). Last Guard Out: A Riveting Account By the Last Guard to Leave Alcatraz. Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-4343-5077-0.
Champion, Jr., Jerry Lewis (2011). Fading Voices of Alcatraz. Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-4567-1487-1.
Dunbar, Richard (1999). Alcatraz. Casa Editrice Bonechi. p. 36. ISBN 978-88-8029-940-0.
Dwyer, Jeff (2005). Ghost Hunter's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. Pelican Publishing. ISBN 9781589802896. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
Goupil, Helene; Krist, Josh (2005). San Francisco: The Unknown City. Arsenal. ISBN 9781551521886.
Gregory, George H. (28 April 2008). Alcatraz Screw: My Years as a Guard in America's Most Notorious Prison. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1396-9.
MacDonald, Donald; Nadel, Ira Bruce (2012). Alcatraz: History and Design of an Icon. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6337-7.
Rejali, Darius (2009). Torture and Democracy. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-14333-0.
Richards, Rand (2004). Haunted San Francisco: Ghost Stories from the City's Past. Heritage House Publishers. pp. ix–xii, 2–17. ISBN 978-1-879367-04-3. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
Wetzel, Charles (7 October 2008). Mysteries Unwrapped: Haunted U.S.A. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4027-3735-0. Retrieved 4 September 2012.