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Mission Inn Hotel & Spa

1/4/2024

@geohaunts
Not staying overnight at this hotel!
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Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is a historic boarding house located in Riverside, CA. Opened in 1876, the site quickly became known as a “property with a high mortality rate” due to a series of mysterious visitor deaths at the turn of the 19th century.

On July 19, 1908, customer Charlotte Foster complained that “she had seen ghosts in her room”. The Riverside Daily Press and Riverside Enterprise newspapers both dismissed Foster’s claims, but the “Mission Inn’s ghost stories persisted” nevertheless.

By the 1950s, the hotel’s “haunted reputation was fairly well established”. Guests report observing the spirit of hotel architect Frank Miller in room 413 where he died in 1935, as well as faces peering out of closets.

Frequently ranked among the most haunted historic hotels in the United States, the grounds of the Mission Inn are open to members of the public in search of the supernatural.

Address: 3649 Mission Inn Avenue. Riverside, CA.
Source: Haunted by History, Owens, (2017).

Point Pinos Lighthouse

11/16/2023

Point Pinos Lighthouse was first lit on February 1, 1855 and is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in California. The spirit of Emily Fish, who lived onsite from 1893 to 1914, is believed to still maintain the building and is "one of the lighthouse's best-known keepers".

Address: 80 Asilomar Avenue. Pacific Grove, CA.
Source: Haunted Places in Monterey County, Monterey County Visitors Bureau, (2023).

Colton Hall

11/8/2023

Colton Hall Museum & Jail

Colton Hall is the first government building of California. Built in the 1840s, the site hosted a Constitutional Convention and also served as a jailhouse from 1851 to 1939.

Museum staff report "so many strange experiences that there is no other reasonable explanation than to accept that ghosts are all over the place". Intense cold spots and disembodied footsteps are frequently observed on the balcony where the gallows once stood.

Address: 570 Pacific Street. Monterey, CA.
Source: Ghost Hunter's Guide to Monterey, Dwyer, (2010).

Henry Levy House

10/30/2023

@geohaunts
Is the Henry Levy House one of California’s most haunted residences?
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The Henry Levy House is a 1914 Craftsman-style home located in the Oxnard Historic District. The dwelling is "known for eerie occurrences" and "rumors of ghostly phenomena".

In a 2022 episode of Ghost Adventures, homeowners Eric Andrist and Jeff Rizzo shared security camera footage of locked doors mysteriously flying open and audio capturing a creepy voice as host Zak Bagans was filming on the second floor.

The site is a Ventura County Historic Landmark and popular attraction for Halloween trick-or-treating.

Address: 155 South G Street. Oxnard, CA.
Source: Henry Levy Home Embraces Haunted History for Halloween, Ventura County Star, (2022).

Hollywood Walk of Fame

10/24/2023

Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark with over 2,700 star-shaped sidewalk inscriptions celebrating prominent actors and entertainers. The 1.3 mile site includes monuments to horror film icons such as Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, and Boris Karloff, as well as haunted locations like the Pantages Theater and Roosevelt Hotel.

Address: Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. Hollywood, CA.
Source: Hollywood Haunted, Jacobson, (1999).

Howe-Waffle House

10/18/2023

Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum is an 1889 residence in the Downtown Santa Ana Historic District. The home was inhabited by Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle, one of California's first female physicians, until her death in 1924.

The site is regularly featured on local haunted tours and was subject of a 2013 episode of Ghost Adventures. Patrons have noted "feeling as though someone were right there wanting to communicate" and have observed orbs of light traveling across dark rooms.

Address: 20 West Civic Center Drive. Santa Ana, CA.
Source: Professor's Guide to Haunted Southern California, Gardner, (2020).

Entity House

9/29/2023

Entity House

The Entity House inspired the book and film The Entity. In 1974, resident Doris Bither claimed three spirits sexually assaulted her including "Mr. Whose-It," a 6-foot-tall poltergeist, and two other entities with "oriental faces".

Parapsychologists Kerry Gaynor and Barry Taff investigated the home and encountered a spectral light show with an "expanding, contracting appearance" along with the "overpowering smell of decomposing flesh". The property now serves as a private family residence.

Address: 11547 Braddock Drive. Culver City, CA.
Source: Haunted Houses of California, May, (2018).

The Georgian

9/19/2023

The Georgian opened in 1933 and has hosted a variety of famous guests including Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, and Al Capone. Staff at the hotel allege many "spirits still linger" and report receiving phantom phone calls from unoccupied guest rooms.

Ghosts certainly have not scared away business as the Santa Monica landmark attracts up to 40,000 guests annually.

Address: 1415 Ocean Avenue. Santa Monica, CA.
Source: Stories of Santa Monica’s Haunted Past, Santa Monica Travel & Tourism, (2017).

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

9/4/2023

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel opened on May 15, 1927 and is the oldest hotel in Los Angeles. Known for hosting numerous Hollywood stars, "it's no surprise that the hotel has been home of innumerable ghostly sightings".

Marilyn Monroe was a regular guest and her "reflection is seen in a full-length mirror" in Room 1200. Montgomery Clift haunts the 9th Floor where "people hear Clift pacing up and down the hallway rehearsing his lines".

The site is designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

Address: 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood, CA.
Source: Professors Guide to Haunted S. California, Gardner, (2020).

Virginia City

8/8/2023

Virginia City is a former mining boomtown located in western Nevada. The town developed in 1859 after discovery of the Comstock Lode, a major deposit of silver and precious metals.

Consistently ranked among the United States' most haunted places, Virginia City "has ghosts and stories and tales of those who lived long ago" in every building. The Old Washoe Club served as an overflow morgue while the Silver Queen Hotel keeps a book for guests to document paranormal experiences. Meanwhile, the Silver Terrace Cemetery features a glowing headstone and "ghostly girl who rises from her grave on certain nights".

Virginia City is designated a National Historic Landmark and consists of over 400 contributing properties. The town attracts two million visitors annually "in hopes of having a ghostly encounter".

Address: Virginia City, NV.
Source: Haunted Virginia City, Oberding, (2015).