Haunted Hotels in California
Haunted Places to Stay in California
California’s 41 haunted hotels represent the nation’s largest collection of diverse supernatural experiences, spanning Gold Rush mining tragedies to Hollywood celebrity deaths. When you search for haunted hotels online or on Google Maps, you’ll find over 33,000 matching results, but we’ve meticulously reviewed every single one to create the most realistic, historically accurate collection of truly haunted hotels you can actually visit and stay in.
These accommodations house spirits of forty-niners who died seeking fortune, Spanish missionaries, earthquake victims, and entertainment industry figures whose fame transcends death. From San Francisco’s Victorian mansions to Los Angeles’ Golden Age hotels, experience hauntings shaped by dreams, disasters, and the relentless pursuit of the California Dream.
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Haunted Hotels in Amboy, CA
Roy's Motel & Cafe
Address: 87520 National Trails Hwy, Amboy, CA 92304
Phenomenons reported: Ghost town, feelings of paranormal activity, phantom sounds, supernatural vortex
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1938 by Roy Crowl along historic Route 66 in the Mojave Desert, Roy’s Motel & Cafe became a vital oasis for desperate travelers crossing the deadly desert where countless souls perished from heat exhaustion, vehicle breakdowns, and violent encounters with bandits who preyed upon stranded motorists in the isolated wasteland.
The motel absorbed decades of human suffering when California opened I-40 in 1973, bypassing Amboy and transforming it into a ghost town where abandoned dreams and broken lives lingered in the desert heat, creating a supernatural vortex where the spirits of those who died seeking California’s promise continue to manifest. The motel witnessed numerous tragedies including travelers who succumbed to heat stroke in broken-down vehicles, families murdered by desert predators, and desperate individuals who took their own lives rather than face the crushing despair of Route 66’s decline.
Staff whisper of ghostly figures appearing at the iconic Googie-style gas pumps, phantom vehicles that materialize on the abandoned highway before vanishing into the shimmering heat mirages, and the spirits of travelers forever trapped between destinations they’ll never reach. The desert winds carry the phantom sounds of 1950s automobiles, crying children who died of dehydration, and the desperate pleas of motorists whose breakdowns became death sentences in the merciless Mojave. The motel’s mystical desert energy creates synchronicities and supernatural encounters for modern visitors, while the ghosts of Route 66’s golden era continue their eternal journey through a landscape that claimed so many lives, making Roy’s a haunted monument to the deadly romance of America’s Mother Road.”Route 66 Desert Death Victims; Stranded Traveler Spirits; Heat Exhaustion Ghosts; Highway Bandits Victims; Abandoned Dreams Phantoms
Haunted Hotels in Arcata, CA
Hotel Arcata
Address: 708 9th St, Arcata, CA 95521
Phenomenons reported: Native American Spirits; Logging Victim Ghosts; Environmental Destruction Trauma; Victorian Era Lumber Baron Guilt; Sacred Land Desecration
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1915 by San Francisco architect W.H. Weeks and originally called “Sportsman’s Headquarters,” Hotel Arcata was designed to accommodate the influx of travelers, adventurers, and businessmen arriving by Northwestern Pacific Railroad to exploit the vast redwood forests surrounding Humboldt Bay during California’s most devastating period of industrial logging.
The hotel served as headquarters for timber barons, railroad executives, and lumber company officials who orchestrated the systematic destruction of ancient redwood groves, caring nothing for the Native American tribes whose sacred lands were being clearcut or the loggers who died horrific deaths in the massive tree-felling operations. The Victorian elegance of the hotel’s high ceilings and claw-foot tubs was paid for with blood money from an industry that killed hundreds of workers in falling-tree accidents, equipment failures, and the brutal working conditions of early 20th-century logging camps where men were treated as disposable as the ancient forests they destroyed.
During the hotel’s early decades, it witnessed countless tragediesâloggers who died from infected wounds because medical care was nonexistent in remote camps, Native American families who were murdered for trying to protect their ancestral redwood groves, and railroad workers who were crushed beneath massive log-laden trains that derailed on poorly constructed mountain tracks. The hotel absorbed the spiritual trauma of displaced Yurok, Hoopa, and Wiyot peoples whose sacred ceremonial sites were bulldozed to make way for lumber operations, their ancestors’ burial grounds desecrated and their connection to the redwood forests severed forever. Today, Hotel Arcata is haunted by the restless spirits of those who died for the timber industry’s profitsâguests report encounters with ghostly loggers still wearing their work clothes, phantom Native American figures who appear in rooms where their sacred objects were once displayed as “curiosities,” and the sound of massive trees crashing in empty hallways where the echoes of environmental destruction still reverberate.
Visitors describe an overwhelming presence of sadness and loss that permeates the building, as if the hotel itself grieves for the ancient forests and indigenous communities that were sacrificed on the altar of industrial progress. The hotel’s current ownership by the Big Lagoon Rancheria represents a powerful spiritual reclamation, but the supernatural activity continues as the ghosts of logging victims, murdered Native Americans, and destroyed ecosystems refuse to let the true cost of redwood logging be forgotten, making Hotel Arcata a haunted monument to one of California’s most tragic periods of environmental and cultural genocide.
Haunted Hotels in Bakersfield, CA
The Padre Hotel
Address: 1702 18th St, Bakersfield, CA 93301
Phenomenons reported: Oil Industry Disaster Victims; Building Fire Family Ghosts; Earthquake Child Victims; Hotel Owner Spirit; Seventh Floor Hauntings
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1928 during California’s oil boom when petroleum wealth transformed Bakersfield into a booming industrial city, The Padre Hotel stands as a haunted monument to the countless oil workers who died in refinery explosions, drilling accidents, and toxic exposure incidents that were covered up by powerful petroleum corporations prioritizing profit over human safety.
The hotel survived the Great Depression thanks to oil money flowing through Bakersfield, but absorbed decades of tragedy including a devastating 1950s fire that killed an entire family on the seventh floor, children and adults who died in the basement during the 1952 earthquake, and numerous suicides from desperate individuals who jumped from the roof as the hotel fell into decay.
The building is haunted by the cranky spirit of Milton ‘Spartacus’ Miller, who owned the hotel for 45 years until his death in 1999 and mounted a fake missile on the roof directed at City Hall during his battles with city officials. Miller’s ghost disrupts renovation work by moving tools and equipment, expressing his displeasure with changes to his beloved hotel. The seventh floor remains the most paranormally active area, where housekeeping staff feel constantly watched and glimpse a tall man in a long coat who vanishes when approached, possibly the father who died trying to save his family from the flames. The lobby is haunted by the spirit of a little girl who tugs on shirts and aprons, leaving a persistent handprint on a column in the Farmacy CafĂ© that reappears no matter how many times staff clean it. Guests report hearing spectral children giggling on the upper floors, while the hotel’s connection to Bakersfield’s toxic oil industry has created a supernatural concentration where the souls of environmental disaster victims and industrial accident fatalities continue to manifest among the luxury accommodations.
Haunted Hotels in Berkeley, CA
Claremont Resort & Club
Address: 41 Tunnel Rd, Berkeley, CA 94705
Phenomenons reported: Victorian Fire Victim Ghosts; Disabled Children Asylum Spirits; Broken Heart Ghost; Child Bed Visitor Spirit; Fourth Floor Phenomena
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1915 on the site where a castle-like Victorian home burned to the ground in 1901, the Claremont Resort sits atop land scarred by multiple tragic fires including the 1875 blaze that destroyed the California Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylum, killing handicapped children who were trapped in the Victorian Gothic building and unable to escape the flames that consumed their dormitories and classrooms.
The resort is haunted by Mrs. Thornburg, who lived in the English-style castle that occupied the site until the 1901 fire and mysteriously died of a broken heart after her daughter eloped to Europe, her spirit wandering the verandas and gardens in Victorian attire, eternally searching for the child who abandoned her. The fourth floor has become notorious as the most paranormally active area, where flickering lights and televisions that turn on by themselves terrorize guests, while Room 422 serves as the epicenter of supernatural phenomena that has been documented by paranormal investigators and frightened countless visitors. The resort’s most tragic ghost is a six-year-old girl who either died in the original 1901 fire or perished within the hotel during its operation, her spirit now sitting on the edge of guests’ beds and gently touching them as they sleep, while her phantom laughter echoes through corridors in the middle of the night.
Guests consistently report mysterious smoke smells in smoke-free rooms, a supernatural reminder of the devastating fires that claimed so many lives on this cursed ground, including the disabled children who burned alive in the nearby asylum. NBA players Tim Duncan and Jeff Ayres experienced the child ghost firsthand, hearing crying from an empty room that made national news when reported by the Los Angeles Times and featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live, cementing the Claremont’s reputation as one of California’s most actively haunted luxury destinations.
Haunted Hotels in Bridgeport, CA
Bridgeport Inn
Address: 205 Main St, Bridgeport, CA 93517
Phenomenons reported: Gold Rush Era Victim Ghost; White Lady Apparition; Mining Transport Tragedy; Room 16 Phenomena; Bodie Connection Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1877 by Sam Hopkins as the Leavitt House, the Bridgeport Inn served as a crucial stage and buggy stop for travelers journeying to and from the notorious Bodie gold mining town, where violent claim disputes and mining accidents claimed countless lives during the Eastern Sierra’s deadliest gold rush period.
The inn is haunted by the “White Lady,” a ghostly woman in white who appears silently in Room 16 before vanishing, believed to be Sarah, the young fiancĂ©e of Mac McGillivray who stayed at the inn in 1887 while he transported gold ingots from Bodie to Carson City with armed guards. Sarah’s story ended tragically when she either died waiting for Mac’s return or was murdered for information about the gold shipment, her spirit forever trapped in the room where she spent her final nights praying for her beloved’s safe return from the dangerous journey through bandit-infested mountain passes.
The White Lady is described as a benevolent presence who simply stands in the room without speaking or moving objects, her melancholy appearance suggesting eternal vigil for someone who will never return. Guests consistently report sensing her energy in Room 16, and the phenomenon has persisted long enough that a historical marker erected in 1994 officially acknowledges her presence. The inn’s connection to Bodie’s violent gold mining historyâwhere shootouts, claim-jumping murders, and mining disasters were daily occurrencesâhas created a supernatural gateway where the spirits of the Eastern Sierra’s gold rush victims continue to manifest, making the Bridgeport Inn a haunted monument to the human cost of California’s most dangerous mining boom.
Haunted Hotels in Columbia, CA
Fallon Hotel
Address: 11175 Washington St, Columbia, CA 95310
Phenomenons reported: Child Spirit Activity; Apparitions; Phantom Aromas; Shadow Figures; Poltergeist Activity
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1859 by Irish stone cutter Owen Fallon during the height of the California Gold Rush, the Fallon Hotel served the rough-and-tumble miners flooding into Columbia in search of fortune. Expanded in 1863 with the addition of an adjoining building and saloon, the hotel witnessed the full spectrum of Gold Rush lifeâdesperate prospectors, saloon brawls, gambling debts, and the tragic deaths that inevitably followed such lawless times.
The hotel’s most prominent ghost is a young boy known as “Timmy,” whose spirit has become tragically intertwined with the building’s history. Legend tells that Timmy fell from the window of Room 6, plummeting to his death on the wooden sidewalks below during the tumultuous Gold Rush era. His playful spirit now inhabits Room 15, the former nursery, where guests regularly report the sound of children playing and running by the door. Timmy appears to particularly enjoy interacting with living children, and visitors often leave toys in the parlor, which mysteriously move on their own as the ghostly child continues his eternal play.
The mischievous boy is also known for turning faucets on and off, randomly flushing toilets, and engaging in harmless pranks that guests describe as endearing rather than frightening. Room 9 harbors a different presenceâa female apparition who appears to guests, possibly a saloon girl or miner’s wife who met an untimely end during Columbia’s wild frontier period. Her voice can be heard chattering in the distance, as if still gossiping about the scandals and tragedies that once filled this Gold Rush town.
Throughout the hotel, visitors report the phantom aroma of whiskey and tobacco smoke despite strict no-smoking policies, residual scents from the rowdy saloon days when violence and excess were commonplace. In the theater, lights turn on and off by themselves, and shadow figures are frequently spotted moving through the performance space. The combination of violent deaths, desperate dreams, and broken fortunes has created a supernatural repository where the restless spirits of California’s Gold Rush era continue to play out their eternal dramas, with friendly ghosts who seem to welcome visitors into their historic home.
Haunted Hotels in Coronado, CA
Hotel del Coronado
Address: 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA 92118
Phenomenons reported: Victorian woman apparition, temperature drops, gardenia scents, electronic malfunctions
Why it's Haunted
Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, California stands as one of America’s most famous haunted hotels, where the tragic spirit of Kate Morgan continues her eternal vigil in Room 3327 after her mysterious death on November 29, 1892, when she was found on the hotel’s beach with a gunshot wound following five days of waiting for a lover who never arrived. Kate checked into the historic 1888 establishment under the false name “Lottie A. Bernard,” a 24-year-old woman abandoned by her traveling companion at the Los Angeles train station, creating the foundation for one of the most documented and emotionally compelling hotel hauntings in American paranormal history.
Room 3327, originally numbered 302 where Kate stayed, has become the most requested accommodation at the hotel due to intense supernatural activity including sudden temperature drops, lights flickering independently, objects moving without cause, and the distinctive scent of gardeniasâKate’s favorite flowerâthat permeates the space when her spirit manifests.
Kate’s ghostly presence extends throughout the property, with her Victorian-dressed apparition roaming hallways and the beach where she died, while elevators operate autonomously, mysterious phone calls originate from empty rooms, and electronic devices malfunction in her presence, creating encounters so intense that guests frequently check out early. The hotel’s official ruling of suicide remains disputed, with many believing Kate was murdered, adding layers of unresolved trauma that fuel her persistent haunting of the beachfront resort where she spent her final desperate days. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and embracing its supernatural reputation through official ghost tours, Hotel Del Coronado represents the perfect convergence of Victorian elegance and tragic romance, where Kate Morgan’s story of abandonment and mysterious death created one of California’s most enduring and well-documented paranormal destinations along the Pacific coastline.
Haunted Hotels in Death Valley, CA
Amargosa Opera House
Address: 608 CA-127, DEATH VALLEY, CA 92328
Phenomenons reported: Death by heat exhaustion, Mining accidents; Ghosts children
Why it's Haunted
Built on sacred Cahuilla Native American land where the indigenous peoples lived for over a thousand years, the Miracle Springs Resort sits atop thermal springs they called ‘Sec-he’ (boiling water) that were integral to their creation myths and spiritual connection to nukatemâsacred spirit creatures who dwelled within the healing waters before being driven away by European colonization and the systematic murder of Native Americans. The resort’s name comes from pioneer Cabot Yerxa’s 1914 ‘rediscovery’ of what he called ‘Miracle Hill,’ ignorantly claiming springs that had been sacred healing sites for Cahuilla families who were massacred, displaced, or died from diseases introduced by white settlers who stole their ancestral homeland to build luxury spas for wealthy tourists.
The thermal waters are haunted by the spirits of countless Cahuilla people who died defending their sacred springs during the violent period of California’s Native American genocide, when entire villages were wiped out by military forces and vigilante groups who viewed indigenous peoples as obstacles to desert development. Guests report encounters with Native American apparitions who appear near the mineral pools, their traditional clothing shimmering in the desert heat as they perform ancient healing rituals that predate European colonization by centuries.
The phantom sound of Cahuilla singing and ceremonial drumming echoes across the desert at dawn and dusk, while the sacred hot springs themselves seem to pulse with spiritual energy from the tortured souls of indigenous families who were murdered so that their healing waters could be commodified for profit, making Miracle Springs a haunted testament to the ongoing desecration of Native American sacred sites throughout California’s blood-soaked colonial history.
Haunted Hotels in Desert Hot Springs, CA
Miracle Springs Resort & Spa
Address: 10625 Palm Dr, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
Phenomenons reported: Native American Sacred Site Spirits; Cahuilla Genocide Victims; Indigenous Healing Water Guardians; Colonization Trauma Ghosts; Displaced Tribal Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Built on sacred Cahuilla Native American land where the indigenous peoples lived for over a thousand years, the Miracle Springs Resort sits atop thermal springs they called ‘Sec-he’ (boiling water) that were integral to their creation myths and spiritual connection to nukatemâsacred spirit creatures who dwelled within the healing waters before being driven away by European colonization and the systematic murder of Native Americans. The resort’s name comes from pioneer Cabot Yerxa’s 1914 ‘rediscovery’ of what he called ‘Miracle Hill,’ ignorantly claiming springs that had been sacred healing sites for Cahuilla families who were massacred, displaced, or died from diseases introduced by white settlers who stole their ancestral homeland to build luxury spas for wealthy tourists.
The thermal waters are haunted by the spirits of countless Cahuilla people who died defending their sacred springs during the violent period of California’s Native American genocide, when entire villages were wiped out by military forces and vigilante groups who viewed indigenous peoples as obstacles to desert development. Guests report encounters with Native American apparitions who appear near the mineral pools, their traditional clothing shimmering in the desert heat as they perform ancient healing rituals that predate European colonization by centuries.
The phantom sound of Cahuilla singing and ceremonial drumming echoes across the desert at dawn and dusk, while the sacred hot springs themselves seem to pulse with spiritual energy from the tortured souls of indigenous families who were murdered so that their healing waters could be commodified for profit, making Miracle Springs a haunted testament to the ongoing desecration of Native American sacred sites throughout California’s blood-soaked colonial history.
Haunted Hotels in Ferndale, CA
Gingerbread Mansion Inn
Address: 400 Berding St, Ferndale, CA 95536
Phenomenons reported: Child Spirits; Victorian Era Ghosts; Medical Trauma Victims; Lumberjack Family Spirits; Phantom Children’s Voices
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1895 by Dr. Hogan J. Ring as an elaborate Queen Anne Victorian mansion, the Gingerbread Mansion Inn stands as a testament to the blood money earned from California’s devastating redwood logging industry that destroyed over two million acres of ancient forest and claimed countless lumberjack lives in the pursuit of timber wealth. Dr. Ring’s fortune came from treating the horrific injuries suffered by loggers working in the most dangerous profession in Americaâmen who died from falling giant redwoods, crushed by massive logs, or succumbed to infected wounds in primitive logging camps where medical care was minimal and death was commonplace. In 1910, Ring converted his mansion into Ferndale’s first hospital, where the screams of injured and dying lumberjacks echoed through the ornate rooms as he performed amputations without proper anesthesia and watched men die from gangrene and blood poisoning. The mansion absorbed decades of agony, terror, and desperate final breaths as it served as both a medical facility and morgue for the victims of industrial logging accidents.
The inn is haunted by two child spirits who died during the mansion’s hospital eraâpossibly the children of lumberjacks who perished from diseases that spread rapidly through the overcrowded, unsanitary logging camps, or victims of medical procedures performed by Dr. Ring when his skills failed them in their most vulnerable moments. These ghostly children roam the mansion’s elaborate Victorian rooms, their laughter echoing through halls where their small bodies once lay on makeshift gurneys, waiting for a doctor who could not save them from the tuberculosis, dysentery, and typhoid fever that ravaged logging families living in squalid conditions. Guests report toys moving on their own, the patter of small feet running through corridors, and children’s voices singing Victorian lullabies in empty rooms.
The mansion’s ornate “gingerbread” trim and beautiful facade mask the dark reality that this Victorian splendor was built on an industry that sacrificed human lives for profit, creating a supernatural repository where the innocent victims of California’s timber boom continue to play in rooms stained with the suffering of those who died to make the mansion’s original owner wealthy.
Haunted Hotels in Garberville, CA
Benbow Historic Inn
Address: 445 Lake Benbow Dr, Garberville, CA 95542
Phenomenons reported: Logging Industry Victim Spirits; Third Floor West Wing Activity; Woman in White Apparition; Timber Baron Ghosts; Native American Displacement Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1926 by the nine Benbow family siblings in the heart of Southern Humboldt County’s redwood forest, the Benbow Historic Inn stands as a haunted monument to California’s devastating logging industry that clearcut ancient redwood groves and claimed countless lumberjack lives in the dangerous tree-felling operations that transformed the majestic forests into timber profits for wealthy families like the Benbows. The four-story inn welcomed Hollywood legends like Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy while serving as headquarters for logging barons who orchestrated the systematic destruction of 2,000-year-old redwoods, creating a supernatural concentration where the spirits of murdered Native Americans and dead loggers began manifesting among the luxury accommodations.
The third floor’s west wing has become notorious for paranormal activity where guests encounter the apparition of a woman in white period dress, possibly the wife of a logging foreman who died in a tree-falling accident, and a young girl who may have perished from diseases that spread through overcrowded logging camps. Supernatural phenomena include doors and windows swinging open by themselves, sherry decanter tops flying across rooms, motion sensors detecting movement in empty hallways, and the phantom smells of smoke and perfume from long-dead loggers and their families.
The ghost of a man in a suit with a bowler hat appears throughout the inn, likely a timber company executive who died during the industry’s most violent period, while staff report feeling door knobs turn from the other side when no one is there, making the Benbow Historic Inn a luxurious but haunted reminder of the human and environmental cost of redwood logging.
Haunted Hotels in Grass Valley, CA
Holbrooke Hotel
Address: 212 W Main St, Grass Valley, CA 95945
Phenomenons reported: Gold Rush Era Murder Victims; Suicide Gambler Ghost; Lola Montez Connected Spirits; Mining Accident Victims; Morgue Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1862 as the Exchange Hotel during the height of the California Gold Rush, the Holbrooke Hotel stands as the oldest continuously operating hotel in the Mother Lode, incorporating the Golden Gate Saloon that has served miners, gamblers, and desperados since 1852 in a building constructed with blood money from gold extraction that destroyed Native American lands and claimed countless prospector lives. Named for Ellen and Daniel Holbrooke who purchased the hotel in 1879, the establishment became a magnet for the era’s most notorious figuresâmurderous gamblers, corrupt politicians, and desperate fortune-seekers who settled their disputes with bullets and left their victims bleeding on the hotel’s wooden floors.
The hotel’s most famous ghostly resident is connected to Lola Montez, the legendary adventuress known as “La Lola” or the “Spider Woman,” whose scandalous tarantula dance performances lifted her skirts to shocking levels as she pretended to swat spiders crawling up her legs, entertaining gold-crazed audiences who often turned violent when alcohol and gambling debts ignited murderous rages.
The hotel is haunted by a bedraggled woman with an eerie smile and a slashed neck who sits eternally at the Lola Montez bar, possibly the spirit of a prostitute who was murdered by a client during the lawless Gold Rush era, or a gambler’s wife who took her own life after losing everything to the mines’ false promises. The Golden Gate Saloon is plagued by supernatural activityâwine glasses shake violently on their own, smoke-like clouds cluster around the ceiling, and the spirits of 19th-century miners appear in period clothing, smoking phantom cigars while studying maps that once led them to their deaths in mine cave-ins and claim-jumping murders. The hotel’s Iron Door cellar bar, which served as the town’s morgue during winter months when the ground was too frozen to bury the dead, is haunted by a female spirit in the women’s bathroomâpossibly one of the countless women who died from disease, violence, or suicide during Grass Valley’s brutal mining boom. Guests report the sounds of ghostly children jumping on mattress springs, the apparition of a cowboy ghost who appears only from the waist up (suggesting he died in a mining accident that crushed his lower body), and a Victorian-dressed maid who walks the halls tending to visitors who can never check out. One of the hotel’s most tragic spirits is a suicide gambler who slit his own throat after losing everything in a poker game, his death letter preserved at the local library as testament to the psychological devastation that Gold Rush gambling addiction inflicted on desperate men who chose death over destitution.
The combination of murder, suicide, mining accidents, and the systematic exploitation of both Native Americans and immigrant laborers has created a supernatural concentration where the tortured souls of California’s most violent and destructive era continue to haunt the rooms and saloons where their dreams died along with their bodies, making the Holbrooke Hotel a living museum of Gold Rush horror where the past refuses to remain buried.
Haunted Hotels in Groveland, CA
Groveland Hotel
Address: Hotel, 18767 Main St, Groveland, CA 95321
Phenomenons reported: Gold Rush Era Miner Ghost; Room 15 Phenomena; Phantom Hygiene Obsessions; Mining Accident Victims; Unrequited Love Spirit
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1849 at the peak of the California Gold Rush, the Groveland Hotel stands as Northern California’s oldest continuously operating hotel, having housed thousands of desperate miners and their families during the chaotic quest for gold that transformed the Sierra Nevada foothills into a landscape of broken dreams and violent death. Located next to the Iron Door SaloonâCalifornia’s oldest operating barâthe hotel witnessed the full brutality of Gold Rush life, from claim-jumping murders to mining accidents that crushed men beneath tons of rock and earth in the pursuit of elusive fortune.
The hotel’s most famous permanent resident is Lyle, a quiet and obsessive miner who arrived in Groveland after searching for gold in Spring Gulch, where countless prospectors died in cave-ins, explosions, and violent disputes over mining claims. Lyle lived at the hotel for decades, developing peculiar habits that revealed the psychological toll of frontier lifeâhe slept with a box of dynamite under his bed as protection against claim jumpers and thieves, and maintained an almost pathological need for cleanliness in the filthy mining town.
When Lyle died peacefully in 1927, he was discovered in his room with the dynamite still beneath his bed, having spent his final years as a recluse haunted by the violence and failure that defined his mining career. Lyle’s spirit has never left Room 15, where he continues his earthly obsessions in deathâguests report faucets turning on and off as the phantom miner maintains his hygiene routines, cosmetics and personal items being moved to the sink because Lyle disapproves of mess, and doors opening and closing as he patrols his eternal territory. The tall, slender ghost with a beard occasionally appears to visitors late at night, his hollow eyes reflecting the desperation of a man who spent his life chasing gold that never came, trapped forever in the room where his dreams died. Lyle’s restless spirit sometimes disappears to visit Charlotte DeFerrari at the Charlotte Hotel across the street, where his former girlfriend operated her own establishmentâtheir tragic love story playing out in the afterlife as Lyle continues to court a woman he could never fully have in life due to his obsession with gold mining.Â
Haunted Hotels in Hanford, CA
The Irwin Street Inn
Address: 522 N Irwin St, Hanford, CA 93230
Phenomenons reported: Victorian Era Spirits; Fire Victims; Apparitions; Poltergeist Activity; Overwhelming Dread
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1886, the property’s tragic history began when it operated as a party house that was destroyed by fire during Hanford’s early days, claiming lives in the flames that swept through the building. Rebuilt on the same foundation where people died, the Victorian structure absorbed the trauma of its fiery past, and the spirits of those who perished in the blaze never truly left.
The inn is haunted by at least three primary entities, with the most prominent being a Victorian-era woman dressed in period clothing who has been photographed from across the street, standing in the windows watching passersby with melancholy eyes. This spectral lady appears to be forever waiting for someone who will never return, possibly a victim of the original fire or a resident who died of illness during the building’s early years as a boarding house. Room 206 has become notorious among paranormal investigators for its intense activity, with guests reporting an overwhelming sense of dread and the urgent feeling that they need to “get out” immediately upon entering.
Throughout the building, witnesses report moving bedsheets, windows that slam shut on their own, and antique lamps that turn on and off without explanation, as if the Victorian spirits are trying to recreate the domestic life they once knew. The dining room and second floor are particularly active, with apparitions materializing during meal service and walking the hallways where they once lived. The property is also connected to a broader paranormal phenomenon in Hanfordâthe spirit of a nude little girl who appears throughout the town, possibly a child victim of the fire or disease who continues to search for her family. The combination of violent death by fire, decades of transient residents, and the concentrated grief of families separated by tragedy has created a supernatural haven where Victorian-era spirits continue their eternal routines in the shadow of the majestic 100-year-old Camphor tree that has witnessed over a century of both joy and sorrow.
Haunted Hotels in Holtville, CA
The Imperial Palms Hotel & Resort
Address: 2050 Country Club Dr, Holtville, CA 92250
Phenomenons reported: Residual Hauntings; Phantom Sounds; Overwhelming Sadness; Spiritual Presences
Why it's Haunted
Located in the heart of California’s Imperial Valley, The Imperial Palms Hotel & Resort stands on land that witnessed over a century of agricultural triumph and human tragedy. Built in 1926 and named after Harold Bell Wright’s bestselling novel “The Winning of Barbara Worth,” which chronicled the valley’s reclamation and the formation of the Salton Sea, the resort sits atop soil that absorbed the blood, sweat, and tears of countless forgotten laborers who died in the desert’s unforgiving heat.
The Imperial Valley’s history is written in the graves of migrant workers who perished from heat exhaustion, industrial accidents, and the brutal conditions of early agricultural development documented by photographer Dorothea Lange in 1935 and 1937. The 1937 freeze that destroyed crops left thousands of desperate workers stranded without employment, living in refugee camps near Holtville in conditions Lange described as “beyond belief.” The 1928 strike by Mexican farm workers seeking higher wages was met with violence and segregation that often proved fatal. The formalized apartheid of early 20th-century Imperial Valley created a system where Mexican families, despite being essential to the valley’s economy, were marginalized and expendable.
The spirits of these forgotten soulsâcampo workers who collapsed in the fields, families separated by borders and death, and laborers who met violent ends far from homeâare believed to linger in the valley’s oppressive heat. Guests report feeling an overwhelming sadness in certain areas of the resort, particularly during the scorching summer months when temperatures mirror the conditions that claimed so many lives.
The phantom sounds of Spanish prayers, children crying for missing parents, and the distant hum of farm equipment operated by long-dead hands create an atmosphere of perpetual mourning in this desert oasis built upon generations of human suffering. The hotel’s Barbara Worth Golf Course, dating to 1926, is said to be visited by the spirits of workers who once labored on the very land where guests now play, their restless souls forever tied to the earth they helped cultivate with their lives.
Haunted Hotels in Ione, CA
Ione Hotel
Address: 25 W Main St, Ione, CA 95640
Phenomenons reported: Gold Rush Era Spirits; Suicidal Prostitute; Drowning Victim; Gunslinger Ghost; Mysterious Stains
Why it's Haunted
Built in the early 1850s to serve Gold Rush miners and operate as a stagecoach depot along the Sacramento route that carried over $270 million in gold bullion, the Ione Hotel stands as a haunted monument to California’s most violent and desperate era.
The hotel’s tragic history began during the lawless Gold Rush days when desperate men killed for gold, women died in poverty, and children perished from disease and accidents in the rough mining camps surrounding Ione.
After a devastating 1910 fire destroyed much of the original structure, the hotel was rebuilt as the Golden Star of Ione, only to suffer another catastrophic fire in 1988 that claimed more lives and left additional spirits trapped within its walls. The hotel’s most infamous ghost is the “Black Rose,” a prostitute from the 1800s who committed suicide in Room 13 after enduring the brutal treatment that defined the lives of women in Gold Rush mining towns. Her spirit manifests as a black rose image that appears on the room’s wallâno matter how many times staff scrub it away, the rose always returns, weeping tears of blood that stain the wallpaper.
Guests report encounters with a woman in a black nightgown with raven hair who glides through the hallway and passes through the door of Room 13, forever seeking peace that eludes her tortured soul. “Gregarious George” haunts the upper floors, the spirit of a miner who died of loneliness and drink, still seeking the companionship he never found in life. The “Cigar Chomping Cowboy” appears at the top of the stairs and on the balcony, possibly a gunslinger who met his end in one of the countless shootouts that plagued the hotel during its violent heyday. Perhaps most tragic is the spirit of a young boy who fell into the hotel’s well and drowned in the 1800sâhis ghostly voice can still be heard crying “help, help” from the depths where his body was never recovered. The combination of violent deaths, desperate poverty, suicide, and accidental drownings has created a supernatural concentration where the tortured souls of California’s Gold Rush era continue to relive their final moments, making the Ione Hotel one of the Mother Lode’s most actively haunted locations where the past refuses to stay buried.
Haunted Hotels in Jamestown, CA
Jamestown Hotel Restaurant
Address: 18153 Main St, Jamestown, CA 95327
Phenomenons reported: Gold Rush Era Mining Victims; Hospital Morgue Spirits; Mercury Poisoning Ghosts; Mining Accident Fatalities; Basement Morgue Activity
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1919 in Jamestown, the oldest town in Tuolumne County founded during the 1848 Gold Rush, the Jamestown Hotel witnessed decades of mining-related violence, disease, and death that transformed the building into a supernatural repository of California’s most tragic frontier era.
In the 1930s, Dr. Donald Farrell converted the hotel into the Motherlode Hospital, installing a morgue in the basement where countless miners, prospectors, and their families were stored after dying from cave-ins, mercury poisoning, shootouts, and the brutal diseases that ravaged Gold Rush communitiesâtyphoid, dysentery, and tuberculosis that spread rapidly through overcrowded mining camps where sanitation was nonexistent and medical care was primitive.
The hospital basement became a charnel house where the bodies of suicide victims, murder cases, and mining accident fatalities were stacked like cordwood during particularly deadly periods when violence and industrial accidents claimed multiple lives per day in Tuolumne County’s treacherous goldfields.
The hotel-turned-hospital absorbed decades of human agony as Dr. Farrell performed emergency surgeries on miners crushed by rockfalls, amputated limbs mangled by hydraulic mining equipment, and watched patients die from mercury poisoning that caused their teeth to fall out, their hair to disappear, and their nervous systems to collapse from the toxic chemicals used to extract gold from ore. The morgue’s proximity to the hotel’s guest rooms created a supernatural conduit where the spirits of the dead began manifesting among the living, their restless souls unable to find peace after dying far from home in pursuit of golden dreams that brought only suffering and death.
Guests report encounters with ghostly miners still wearing their work clothes and bearing the wounds that killed themâphantom figures with caved-in skulls from rockfalls, spectral prospectors missing limbs from dynamite accidents, and the apparitions of women and children who died from diseases while their husbands and fathers worked in dangerous mines that prioritized profit over human life. The basement morgue area remains the most paranormally active location, where visitors hear the phantom sounds of bodies being moved, the scraping of coffins across wooden floors, and the desperate moans of souls who died in agony far from their families in the Eastern states.Â
Haunted Hotels in Joshua Tree, CA
Joshua Tree Inn
Address: 61259 29 Palms Hwy, Joshua Tree, CA 92252
Phenomenons reported: Musician’s Ghost; Room 8 Phenomena; Drug Overdose Victim; Desert Spirit Activity; Cosmic American Music Hauntings
Why it's Haunted
Built in the early 1950s as a simple desert motel along Highway 62, the Joshua Tree Inn became forever linked to tragedy and the supernatural on September 19, 1973, when country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons died of a morphine overdose in Room 8 at the age of 27, joining the infamous “27 Club” of musicians who died young.
Parsons, the founder of cosmic American music and former member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, had come to the desert seeking spiritual renewal but instead found only death in the desolate landscape he loved. His girlfriend Gretchen and road manager Phil Kaufman discovered his body after a night of heavy drug use, and what followed became one of rock and roll’s most bizarre and tragic episodesâKaufman stole Parsons’ corpse from Los Angeles International Airport and drove it back to Joshua Tree National Monument, where he attempted to cremate the body at Cap Rock in a drunken tribute to his friend’s wishes.
The botched cremation left Parsons’ remains partially burned and scattered across the desert, his spirit forever tied to both the inn where he died and the stark Mojave landscape where his body was destroyed. Room 8 has become a pilgrimage site for musicians and fans, but guests report disturbing paranormal activity that suggests Parsons’ tortured soul has never found peace. Visitors experience doors that lock and unlock on their own, bathroom mirrors that rattle violently in the middle of the night, and the overwhelming presence of a restless spirit consumed by addiction and unfulfilled musical dreams.
Musicians staying in the room report their instruments being mysteriously tuned or moved, and some claim to hear the ghostly sound of Parsons’ voice singing melancholy country songs in the pre-dawn hours when the desert wind howls through the motel’s weathered walls. The inn sits in one of America’s most spiritually powerful locations, surrounded by the ancient Joshua trees and mystical desert landscape that Parsons believed held transformative power, but his premature death and the gruesome disposal of his remains created a supernatural disturbance that continues to haunt both the room where he died and the desert where his ashes were scattered, making the Joshua Tree Inn a tragic monument to the self-destructive genius of American music.
Haunted Hotels in Keeler, CA
Cerro Gordo Ghost Town
Address: Cerro Gordo Rd, Keeler, CA 93530
Phenomenons reported: Mining Accident Victims; Child Suffocation Ghosts; Racist Murder Victims; Gambling Violence Spirits; Brothel Owner Apparition
Why it's Haunted
Perched at 8,500 feet above sea level in California’s Inyo Mountains near Death Valley, Cerro Gordo (“Fat Hill”) was founded in 1865 as a silver and lead mining town that became one of the most violent and deadly settlements in the American West, averaging one murder per week during its blood-soaked heyday when desperate miners killed each other over claims, gambling debts, and racial hatred in the lawless high-altitude wilderness.
The town’s most tragic haunting originates from the Belshaw House, where two young children playing hide-and-seek in the 1870s climbed into a large steamer trunk that locked shut, trapping them inside where they suffocated to deathâtheir ghostly laughter, giggling, and running footsteps can still be heard throughout the house, interrupted by phantom screams and desperate banging as their spirits continue to relive their final moments of terror and desperation.
The China Stope mine tunnel is haunted by approximately 30 Chinese miners who died in a catastrophic cave-in during the early 1870s when they were ordered to dig without proper reinforcement, their bodies still buried beneath tons of rock where they were abandoned by racist mine owners who refused to pay for their recovery.
The American Hotel’s poker room remains stained with the blood of a gambler who was shot dead during a card game gone wrong, the bullet hole still visible in the wall where he took his final breath while clutching a winning hand he would never cash in, his spirit continuing to play phantom poker games with invisible opponents in the blood-splattered saloon riddled with bullet holes from countless shootouts.
Underground tunnels were built throughout Cerro Gordo to allow miners and residents to escape during frequent labor disputes and racial violence, but these passages became death traps where many were hunted down and murdered, their screams echoing through the mountain as they were shot, stabbed, or beaten to death in the darkness by claim jumpers and vigilante mobs. The town’s former brothel owner and numerous murder victims roam the abandoned buildings, their restless spirits trapped in a place where human life was worthless and death came swiftly to anyone who crossed the wrong person or simply had the misfortune of being in Cerro Gordo when violence erupted.
Visitors report encounters with ghostly miners still working their claims, phantom children playing in empty houses, and the overwhelming presence of souls who died far from home in pursuit of silver that brought them only suffering and death, making Cerro Gordo Ghost Town one of California’s most actively haunted locations where the brutality of 19th-century mining life continues to play out in supernatural horror.
Haunted Hotels in Lake Arrowhead, CA
Bracken Fern Manor
Address: 815 Arrowhead Villa Rd, Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352
Phenomenons reported: Apparitions; Shadow Figures; Disembodied Voices; Physical Manifestations; Phantom Aromas
Why it's Haunted
Originally built as “The Crib” on July 4, 1926, Bracken Fern Manor served as the infamous brothel component of notorious mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s exclusive Lake Arrowhead empire alongside the neighboring Tudor House (then “Club Arrowhead of the Pines”).
This 10-room estate with its library, patios, and sauna was designed as a luxurious haven where Hollywood’s elite and mob associates could indulge in illegal activities during Prohibition, employing wannabe starlets to “entertain” wealthy guests seeking privacy in the San Bernardino Mountains. The manor’s dark history is forever stained by the tragic death of Violet, a working girl who fell deeply in love with one of her regular customers during the 1930s. When her affections went unrequited and her dreams of escaping the brothel life were shattered, Violet took her own life by hanging herself, though some suggest she was murdered by the mob for knowing too much.
Her restless spirit now haunts both buildings, with guests reporting apparitions of a melancholy woman in period dress wandering the halls, her sobs echoing through empty rooms as she searches eternally for the love that eluded her in life. The manor is also home to Brian, the spirit of a six-year-old boy who was killed by a car in front of the inn decades ago. His childish laughter and footsteps running through the wine cellar create an eerie juxtaposition against Violet’s sorrowful presence. The Honeymoon Suite has become the epicenter of violent paranormal activityâmysterious hammer throws, ankle-grabbing entities, and loud crashes that terrify both staff and guests.
A secret underground tunnel once connected the manor to the Tudor House, allowing Siegel’s criminal enterprises to operate undetected, and investigators believe this passageway may have become a supernatural highway for malevolent spirits. Ghost Adventures documented intense demonic activity here, capturing evidence of shadow figures, disembodied voices, doors slamming, lights turning on and off, and the phantom aroma of strong perfume, making this former den of vice one of California’s most actively haunted locations.
Haunted Hotels in Long Beach, CA
The Queen Mary
Address: 1126 Queens Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90802
Phenomenons reported: Maritime deaths, wartime tragedy, mechanical accidents, phantom splashing
Why it's Haunted
The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California serves as America’s most haunted floating hotel, where decades of oceanic tragedy and wartime service created a supernatural concentration of spirits that makes this 1936 retired ocean liner one of the nation’s most paranormally active accommodations. Built for luxury Atlantic crossings before serving as a WWII troop transport carrying over 765,000 military personnel, the ship accumulated over 50 documented deaths during its 31-year sailing career, creating ideal conditions for the extensive supernatural activity that earned it recognition as one of the world’s most haunted vessels.
Room B340, the ship’s most notorious haunted stateroom, generates such intense paranormal encounters that it was removed from general booking for years, with guests reporting invisible hands awakening them, bed covers pulled off by unseen forces, faucets activating independently, and unexplained knocking that forced the room’s conversion into a specialized haunted experience accommodation.
The first-class swimming pool area hosts the spirits of women in vintage bathing suits who create wet footprints around the empty, drained pool while phantom splashing sounds echo through the space, believed to be the ghosts of two women who reportedly drowned during the ship’s sailing years. Engine Room 13 houses the tragic spirit of 18-year-old John Pedder, who was crushed by a watertight door during the ship’s 1966 construction, his coverall-clad apparition continuing his mechanical duties while unexplained banging and equipment sounds emanate from the area where he died.
Additional supernatural residents include the Lady in White who dances eternally in the Queen’s Salon ballroom, military personnel from WWII service throughout the ship’s corridors, and children’s spirits in the former nursery area, while multiple ghost tours and paranormal investigations document the extensive supernatural ecosystem that makes the Queen Mary a floating monument to maritime tragedy and wartime sacrifice.
Haunted Hotels in Los Alamos, CA
1880 Union Hotel
Address: 362 Bell St, Los Alamos, CA 93440
Phenomenons reported: Old West Spirits; Cowboy Ghosts; Stagecoach Era Victims; Tavern Hauntings; Phantom Horses
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1880 by Wells Fargo agent J.D. Snyder as a stagecoach stop and telegraph office on the dangerous Santa Barbara County frontier, the 1880 Union Hotel witnessed the full spectrum of Old West violenceâshootouts between cowboys and bandits, stagecoach robberies, and the deaths of desperate men who came to Los Alamos seeking fortune or fleeing justice.
The hotel served as the last stop for many travelers who would never complete their journeys, falling victim to the lawless gangs that terrorized the stagecoach routes through the remote California hills. After the original building burned to the ground in a suspicious fire on February 16, 1893âpossibly set by outlaws seeking to destroy evidence of their crimesâthe hotel was rebuilt in 1915 by J.P. Loustalot, but the spirits of those who died violently in the original structure had already claimed the land as their eternal territory.
The hotel’s infamous tavern has become the epicenter of supernatural activity, haunted by the ghosts of cowboys, outlaws, and innocent passengers who met their end during Los Alamos’ wild frontier days. Guests report encounters with spectral figures dressed in 1880s period clothing who appear at the bar drinking phantom whiskey, their hollow eyes reflecting the desperation of men who died far from home with their boots on.
The sound of spurs jangling across wooden floors echoes through empty hallways, accompanied by the phantom creaking of leather saddles and the distant clip-clop of ghost horses that once carried stagecoaches filled with terrified passengers. In the dining room where Johnny Cash once performed, visitors hear the ethereal strumming of guitars played by long-dead musicians who entertained the rough crowds before meeting violent ends in saloon brawls or gunfights. The hotel’s 14 guest rooms each hold the residual energy of travelers who spent their final night alive within these walls, their restless spirits trapped by the sudden, violent nature of their deaths.
Even celebrities like Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, who filmed here in 1983, reported an unsettling presence that made the Old West atmosphere feel unnaturally authentic, as if the ghosts of actual cowboys were watching their every move from the shadows of this haunted frontier landmark.
Haunted Hotels in Los Angeles, CA
The Biltmore Los Angeles
Address: 506 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Phenomenons reported: Black Dahlia Ghost; Elizabeth Short Spirit; Murder Victim Apparitions; Suicide Jumper Phantoms; Prohibition Era Mob Victims
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1923 as the largest hotel west of Chicago, the Millennium Biltmore became forever linked to Hollywood’s darkest murder mystery when Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, was last seen alive in its lobby on January 9, 1947, before her mutilated body was discovered in a vacant lot, bisected at the waist with surgical precision in one of America’s most gruesome unsolved murders.
The hotel absorbed the psychic trauma of Short’s final hours as she waited in the lobby, possibly meeting her killer, her spirit now manifesting throughout the building where she spent her last moments before enduring torture and death that shocked even hardened LAPD detectives.
Guests report encounters with a beautiful dark-haired woman in 1940s attire who appears in mirrors before vanishing, believed to be Elizabeth Short still searching for justice, her ghostly presence strongest in the lobby where she was last seen alive by multiple witnesses who couldn’t save her from her horrific fate. The Biltmore is haunted on every floor by victims of suicides, murders, and tragic accidents that occurred during its century of operation, including desperate individuals who jumped from upper floors during the Great Depression and mob victims who were executed in rooms during Los Angeles’ violent Prohibition era. The hotel’s paranormal activity inspired Disney’s Tower of Terror attraction, while ghost hunters document cold spots, phantom footsteps, and the overwhelming sense of dread that permeates areas where violence occurred.
Elizabeth Short’s presence remains the most powerful, her spirit eternally reliving those final hours before she became the Black Dahlia, forever seeking answers to her brutal murder in the hotel that serves as a haunted monument to Hollywood’s most infamous unsolved crime.
Cecil hotel
Address: 640 Main St Apt 302, Los Angeles, CA 90014
Phenomenons reported: Serial Killer Victim Spirits; Murder Scene Hauntings; Suicide Ghosts; Skid Row Tragedy Victims; Hotel Room Crime Phantoms
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1924 by William Banks Hanner as a luxury Beaux Arts hotel for wealthy businessmen, the Cecil Hotel became a nightmare repository of murder and despair when the Great Depression transformed downtown Los Angeles into Skid Row, attracting serial killers, desperate suicides, and the city’s most vulnerable victims who died in agony within its bloodstained walls.
The hotel’s proximity to LA’s homeless encampments created a supernatural vortex where over 16 documented murders and suicides occurred, including the victims of Richard Ramirez (the Night Stalker) who discarded his blood-spattered clothing in hotel trash bins after killing 13 people, and Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger who strangled three sex workers during his 1991 stay.
The building absorbed decades of violence, overdoses, and mysterious deaths including Canadian student Elisa Lam, whose naked body was discovered in the rooftop water tank in 2013 after elevator surveillance captured her final terrifying moments speaking to invisible entities. The hotel is haunted by countless murder victims, suicide cases, and overdose fatalities whose spirits manifest throughout the 700 rooms where poverty, mental illness, and violence converged in America’s most dangerous urban environment.
Guests report encounters with shadowy figures of serial killer victims, the phantom screams of those who jumped from windows, and the overwhelming presence of souls who died alone and forgotten in rooms that became crime scenes, making the Cecil Hotel America’s most haunted monument to urban decay and human suffering.
The Mayfair Hotel Los Angeles
Address: 1256 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phenomenons reported: Prohibition Era Gang Violence Ghosts; 1920s Criminal Victim Spirits; Police Shootout Phantoms; Economic Desperation Suicides; Organized Crime Hauntings
Why it's Haunted
Built in the 1920s during Los Angeles’ explosive growth and Prohibition era, The Mayfair Hotel stands as a haunted monument to the violence, corruption, and desperation that defined downtown LA when organized crime, bootlegging, and police brutality transformed the city into one of America’s most dangerous urban environments.
Located in the Westlake district near MacArthur Park, the hotel witnessed the bloody gang wars between Jewish, Italian, and Mexican criminal organizations who fought for control of illegal liquor distribution, leaving countless bodies in the streets and hotel rooms of downtown LA during the lawless Prohibition years. The hotel absorbed decades of violence from mob hits, police shootouts, and the suicides of desperate individuals who lost everything to gambling debts, addiction, and the economic devastation that followed the 1929 stock market crash.
Guests report encounters with ghostly figures in 1920s period clothing, possibly the spirits of gangsters who were executed in hotel rooms, corrupt cops who died in shootouts, or innocent victims caught in the crossfire of LA’s criminal underworld. The phantom sounds of gunshots echo through hallways where real bullets once flew, while the apparitions of well-dressed men and women appear in the lobby before vanishing, their souls forever trapped in the hotel where they met violent ends during LA’s most corrupt and murderous decade.
Cold spots, electrical disturbances, and unexplained footsteps manifest throughout the building as the restless spirits of Prohibition-era victims continue to haunt rooms where organized crime, police corruption, and urban decay converged in a supernatural vortex of unresolved trauma and violent death.
The Hollywood Roosevelt
Address: 7000 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Phenomenons reported: Celebrity spirits, mirror apparitions, trumpet music, child’s laughter
Why it's Haunted
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California stands as the epicenter of celebrity ghost encounters, where the spirits of Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift lead a supernatural cast of Golden Age Hollywood stars who refuse to leave the 1927 establishment that hosted the first Academy Awards ceremony.
Marilyn Monroe’s spirit maintains her eternal residence in Room 1200, her favorite suite, where guests encounter sudden temperature drops, mirrors fogging without explanation, her reflection appearing in bathroom glass, and the distinctive scent of Chanel No. 5 perfume, while her blonde apparition in white dress also manifests at the poolside Tropicana Bar where she once sunbathed. Montgomery Clift’s ghost inhabits Room 928, where he lived for months while filming “From Here to Eternity” in 1953, his restless spirit continuing to pace the room while phantom trumpet musicâreflecting his musical hobbyâechoes through the space, and guests receive mysterious phone calls from the unoccupied suite.
The Blossom Ballroom hosts the playful spirit of Caroline, a 10-year-old girl in a blue dress who engages guests and staff in eternal games of hide and seek, her laughter resonating through the grand ballroom where she’s believed to be the daughter of a guest who died in the hotel decades ago. Additional celebrity spirits include Errol Flynn, who continues his earthly revelries at the hotel bar, while various unnamed Golden Age stars roam the corridors alongside the mysterious “Man in Black,” an unidentified formal-dressed apparition who appears throughout the property.
The hotel’s supernatural phenomena include elevators operating without passengers, room service calls originating from empty rooms, cold spots throughout the building, electronic equipment malfunctioning in spiritual presence, and phantom piano music in the ballroom, making the Hollywood Roosevelt a premier destination where visitors can encounter the immortal spirits of cinema’s most legendary performers in the heart of Tinseltown.
Haunted Hotels in Mendocino, CA
Mendocino Hotel and Garden Suites
Address: 45080 Main St, Mendocino, CA 95460
Phenomenons reported: Victorian Era Prostitute Ghost; Logging Industry Victim Spirits; Cliff-Edge Suicide Apparitions; Mirror Manifestations; Lumberjack Family Ghosts
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1878 as the Temperance House in the coastal logging town of Mendocino, the hotel stands as a haunted monument to California’s devastating timber industry.
The hotel’s most prominent ghost is a Victorian woman who haunts restaurant tables 6 and 8, manifesting in antique mirrors where guests see her sorrowful face staring back at them before vanishingâpossibly the spirit of a prostitute who died during the hotel’s brothel era, or the wife of a lumberjack who perished in a logging accident, forever trapped in the establishment where she waited for news that would never come. This spectral Victorian lady delights in supernatural mischief, moving objects in guest rooms, turning lights on and off (particularly when visitors are alone in bathrooms), and appearing in mirrors throughout the hotel with the melancholy expression of someone whose life was cut short by the violence and tragedy that defined Mendocino’s early days.
The hotel’s clifftop location adds a sinister dimension to its hauntingsâguests report seeing a figure in a dress standing at the edge of the Mendocino Bluffs at night, waving enticingly to lure innocent visitors toward the rocky precipice where countless sailors, loggers, and desperate residents have plunged to their deaths in the crashing Pacific waves below. The apparition vanishes into rock crevices after briefly appearing, suggesting the spirit of someone who either jumped or was pushed from the cliffs during Mendocino’s violent frontier period when murder was commonplace and bodies could easily disappear into the ocean.Â
The combination of brothel deaths, industrial fatalities, maritime disasters, and cliff-edge suicides has created a supernatural concentration where the tortured souls of Victorian-era California continue to manifest in mirrors, manipulate physical objects, and attempt to lure the living toward the same tragic fate that befell so many residents of this remote coastal community built on the bones of ancient forests and the blood of forgotten workers, making the Mendocino Hotel a haunted testament to the human cost of America’s westward expansion and environmental destruction.
Haunted Hotels in Monrovia, CA
Aztec Hotel
Address: 301 W Foothill Blvd, Monrovia, CA 91016
Phenomenons reported: Apparitions; Cold Spots; Unexplained Sounds; Mechanical Failures; Residual Hauntings
Why it's Haunted
Built along legendary Route 66 in 1925-26 and designed by architect Robert Stacy-Judd, the Aztec Hotel opened with distinctive Mayan Revival architecture featuring sculpted concrete details and murals that drew from Mayan, Toltec, and Inca cultures.
Despite its glamorous debut, the hotel quickly became a haven for illegal activities during Prohibition, operating as a suspected speakeasy, gambling den, and brothel that attracted both Hollywood celebrities and criminal elements.
The hotel’s most infamous ghost is “Razzle Dazzle,” a woman whose tragic death in Room 120 has become the stuff of legend. According to hotel lore, Razzle Dazzle was either a prostitute murdered by a client during a dispute over money, or a newlywed who was fatally shoved by her husband on their wedding night, striking her head on the room’s radiator. Her violent death sent shockwaves through the buildingâthe radiators in neighboring rooms 118, 116, and 114 mysteriously stopped working after the incident and have never functioned since, despite being checked and found in working order.
Room 120 remains the epicenter of paranormal activity, with guests reporting unexplained sounds, temperature drops, and the overwhelming presence of a restless female spirit. The hotel is also haunted by other entities, including strange noises and banging coming from Room 129, and multiple other spirits believed to be remnants from the building’s brothel days. Psychics have documented intense paranormal activity throughout the building, and the hotel’s official historian Craig Owens conducts “haunted by history” tours for visitors seeking to commune with the Aztec’s supernatural residents.
The combination of violent deaths, illicit activities, and decades of human suffering has created what investigators consider one of the San Gabriel Valley’s most actively haunted locations, its Mayan-inspired walls containing the restless souls of those who met their end within its shadowy corridors.
Haunted Hotels in Newport Beach, CA
Doryman's Oceanfront Inn
Address: 2102 W Oceanfront, Newport Beach, CA 92663
Phenomenons reported: Maritime Spirits; Drowning Victims; Phantom Ocean Sounds; Ghostly Fishermen; Salt Spray Phenomena
Why it's Haunted
Originally built in the early 1900s as a fisherman’s bunkhouse for Newport Beach’s historic Dory Fleet, Doryman’s Oceanfront Inn stands on land soaked with over a century of maritime tragedy and the restless souls of those who never returned from the sea.
Since 1891, the Dory Fleet has launched from this very beach, with generations of fishermen rowing and later motoring 3-5 miles into dangerous Pacific waters where two fleet members have been lost at sea, their bodies never recovered from the depths.
The inn absorbed decades of grief from fishermen’s families who waited on this shore for boats that would never return, watching the horizon for husbands, fathers, and brothers who had vanished beneath the waves during sudden storms or equipment failures.
The building witnessed countless near-drowning incidents, including the 1940s rescue of elderly fisherman T.L. Skillton who fell from the damaged Newport Pier and was pulled from the pilings by fellow fishermen, his lungs filled with saltwater and his spirit forever changed by his brush with death. During World War II, when Army orders shut down the fleet operations and fishing families faced economic devastation, several desperate fishermen took their own lives rather than watch their ancestral livelihood destroyed by government bureaucracy.
Guests report the phantom smell of salt spray and rotting kelp even when windows are closed, the sound of oars creaking against wooden oarlocks echoing from empty rooms, and the distant cries of drowning men carried on offshore winds during calm weather.
The most disturbing encounters occur in rooms facing the ocean, where visitors see the ghostly silhouettes of fishermen in rain slickers standing at windows, forever watching for the return of their lost companions.Â
Haunted Hotels in Oakhurst, CA
Sierra Sky Ranch, a boutique hotel
Address: 50552 Rd 632, Oakhurst, CA 93644
Phenomenons reported: Tuberculosis Victim Spirits; Suicide Ranch Hand Ghost; Military Trauma Ghosts; Phantom Children; Nursing Staff Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Founded in the 1870s as California’s largest cattle ranch in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite, Sierra Sky Ranch underwent a series of tragic transformations that left the 150-year-old property steeped in death, suffering, and supernatural horror that continues to haunt its converted ranch house buildings.
In the early 1900s, the ranch was converted into a tuberculosis sanitarium where countless terminally ill patients came to die in the mountain air, their lungs destroyed by the industrial pollution of California’s cities, spending their final days coughing up blood and gasping for breath in the isolation of the Sierra wilderness far from their families.
After World War II, the ranch served as a rehabilitation center for wounded soldiers returning from the Pacific Theater, men whose bodies and minds were shattered by combat trauma, many of whom took their own lives rather than face the psychological demons that followed them home from the battlefield.
The ranch’s most prominent ghost is Elmer, the original ranch hand whose decades of isolation and alcoholism drove him to madnessâsome say he hanged himself from a tree on the property in despair, while others claim his ax slipped while chopping wood, severing an artery and leaving him to bleed to death alone in the wilderness, calling for help that never came.
Sarah, a compassionate nurse from the tuberculosis era, remains trapped in the ranch where she watched hundreds of patients die slow, agonizing deaths from lung disease, her spirit continuing to tend to suffering souls who can no longer be saved.
The ranch is haunted by phantom childrenâpossibly the offspring of TB patients who died alongside their parents, or the spirits of soldiers’ children who perished from diseases while their fathers were away at warâtheir ghostly giggles and whispers echo through hallways where they continue to play eternal games of hide-and-seek.
Guests report the phantom aroma of perfume from long-dead patients and nurses, a piano that plays melancholy funeral songs by itself, and mysterious cloud-like apparitions that drift through rooms carrying the residual energy of souls who died in pain and isolation.
Visitors experience gentle brushes on the back of their necks from ghostly hands seeking human comfort, spectral couples dancing in the lobby before vanishing into thin air, and the terrifying sight of faces peering through dining room windows that are seven feet off the groundâimpossible unless the observer is floating in mid-air.Â
Haunted Hotels in Richmond, CA
The Hotel Mac & Suites
Address: 10 Cottage Ave, Richmond, CA 94801
Phenomenons reported: Industrial Accident Victims; Phantom Chemical Odors; Respiratory Distress; Environmental Justice Spirits; Explosive Sounds
Why it's Haunted
Richmond’s toxic legacy began with World War II shipbuilding when workers died in construction accidents, but escalated dramatically with the establishment of the Chevron refinery complex that has poisoned the community for over 100 years.
The July 26, 1993 General Chemical rail tanker explosion that contaminated 17 miles with deadly oleum gas and sent 25,000 people to hospitals created a toxic cloud that settled over the area where the hotel now stands.
The March 25, 1999 Chevron explosion released sulfuric gases that hospitalized hundreds, while the August 6, 2012 refinery fire affected 15,000 residents and sickened 600 people with metallic tastes and burning throatsâsymptoms of chemical poisoning that would prove fatal for many who couldn’t afford proper medical treatment.
The spirits of workers who died in refinery accidents, shipyard explosions, and chemical exposure haunt this industrial wasteland, their lives cut short by corporate negligence and environmental racism that deliberately placed the most dangerous facilities in communities of color.
Guests at The Hotel Mac report unexplained respiratory distress that mirrors the symptoms of chemical exposure, phantom smells of sulfur and burning metal even when air quality monitors read normal, and the overwhelming sensation of being watched by angry spirits who died gasping for clean air.Â
Late at night, guests hear the distant sound of explosions and emergency sirensâauditory hauntings from decades of industrial disasters that transformed this Bay Area community into one of California’s most toxic and spiritually contaminated locations.
Haunted Hotels in Riverside, CA
Mission Inn Hotel & Spa
Address: 3649 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501
Phenomenons reported: Miller Family Ghosts; Blue Light Phenomena; Staircase Pushing Spirit; Catacomb Tunnel Spirits; Phantom Singing
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1902 by Christopher Columbus Miller and transformed by his son Frank Augustus Miller into a sprawling Mission Revival masterpiece, the Mission Inn absorbed decades of tragedy and death that began when Frank’s obsession with expansion drove him to financial ruin during the Great Depression, forcing him to witness his life’s work slip away before his death in 1935.
Frank Miller’s spirit haunts the northeast corner of the fourth floor where guests and staff report an unsettling feeling of being watched, inexplicable footsteps pacing empty hallways, whispers in the dead of night, and the phantom scent of cigar smoke from the visionary who refuses to abandon his beloved hotel even in death. His sister Alice Miller’s ghost inhabits her namesake room on the fourth floor, where her beautiful singing emanates from empty spaces, accompanied by mysterious blue lights the size of bowling balls floating through Room 215, believed to be spiritual manifestations of the Miller siblings who owned the hotel for decades.
The Bridal Honeymoon Suite terrorizes guests with violent phantom hands that push people down the spiral staircaseâin 1993, a newlywed couple fled at midnight after being forcefully shoved on the stairwell by an invisible presence that wanted them gone. The underground catacombs and Prohibition-era smuggling tunnels beneath the inn harbor the spirits of bootleggers, monks, and murder victims whose ghostly footsteps, disembodied voices, and shadow figures continue to haunt the network of passages where illegal alcohol and dead bodies were once hidden from authorities.
Throughout the hotel, cell phones mysteriously fail, equipment malfunctions plague investigators, and guests report being touched, pushed, and whispered to by the numerous spirits trapped within this architectural labyrinth where the Miller family’s ghosts continue to manage their eternal hotel alongside the tortured souls of those who died within its walls.
Haunted Hotels in San Francisco, CA
The Hotel Majestic
Address: 1500 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Phenomenons reported: 1906 Earthquake Survivor Ghost; Victorian Era Daughter Spirit; Room 407 Phenomena; Pacific Heights Tragedy; Earthquake Refugee Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1902 on the Pacific Heights estate of California State Legislature member Milton Schmidt, The Hotel Majestic stands as San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating hotel and a supernatural survivor of the devastating 1906 earthquake that killed over 3,000 people and destroyed 28,000 buildings, with fires stopping just two blocks away from the hotel while the rest of the city burned in apocalyptic flames.
The hotel’s most prominent ghost is Lisa, Milton Schmidt’s daughter who refused to leave Room 407 when her father sold the building in 1904, her spirit becoming trapped in the establishment where she spent her final years defiantly resisting change and clinging to memories of her privileged Victorian childhood before the earthquake forever altered San Francisco’s social landscape. Lisa’s restless spirit haunts the fourth floor with playful but persistent supernatural activityâbathtubs with clawed brass feet mysteriously fill with water, faucets turn on in the middle of the night, and guests report feeling phantom hands pushing them backwards when entering rooms adjacent to her former quarters.
The hotel absorbed the psychic trauma of earthquake survivors who sheltered there during the city’s reconstruction, when thousands of refugees crowded into any building still standing while bodies were still being pulled from rubble and mass graves were being dug in Golden Gate Park. Guests experience additional paranormal phenomena throughout the building including misty figures in the dining room, televisions turning on and off by themselves, windows opening without human intervention, and the sound of phantom footsteps and clanging keys echoing through hallways where Lisa continues her eternal residency.
Fairmont San Francisco
Address: 950 Mason St, San Francisco, CA 94108
Phenomenons reported: 1906 Earthquake Victim Spirits; Suicide Lover Ghost Claudia; Room-Specific Hauntings; Fire Death Phantoms; Secret Passageway Spirits
Why it's Haunted
Originally scheduled to open on April 18, 1906, the Fairmont San Francisco’s grand debut was destroyed when the devastating 7.9 earthquake struck at 5:12 AM, followed by fires that gutted the building’s lavish interiors and killed over 3,000 people throughout the city, their tortured souls forever embedded in the hotel’s rebuilt walls.
Reconstructed by architect Julia Morgan and reopened exactly one year after the earthquake, the hotel absorbed the spiritual trauma of countless earthquake victims who sought shelter in its damaged structure before succumbing to injuries, smoke inhalation, and the crushing despair of losing everything to California’s deadliest natural disaster. Room 1227 is haunted by Claudia, a young woman who died in the 1940s after a love affair went tragically wrong, falling to her death from a window in what some believe was murder disguised as suicide, her heartbroken spirit now manifesting as cold spots, flickering lights, and the ghostly figure of a beautiful woman in period dress who appears to guests seeking her own lost love.
Room 224 terrorizes visitors with self-activating lights, objects that move without human touch, and disembodied whispers from spirits trapped between worlds, possibly earthquake victims who died in the original structure or subsequent guests who met violent ends. The Penthouse Suite, with its secret passageway allegedly used by JFK, harbors the spiritual energy of political intrigue and clandestine affairs that ended in death, while throughout the hotel’s corridors, the ghosts of earthquake victims, suicide cases, and murder victims create one of San Francisco’s most actively haunted locations where the past refuses to remain buried beneath the luxury facade.
Haunted Hotels in Santa Maria, CA
Santa Maria Inn
Address: 801 S Broadway, Santa Maria, CA 93454
Phenomenons reported: Celebrity Death Spirits; Oil Industry Victim Ghosts; Drug Overdose Phantoms; Murdered Sea Captain; Poltergeist Activity
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1917 by Frank J. McCoy along El Camino Real during California’s early oil boom, the Santa Maria Inn became a luxurious stopping point for petroleum executives, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy travelers who often met violent ends in the dangerous Central Coast region plagued by oil field accidents, gang violence, and mysterious disappearances.
The inn welcomed stars like Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, and young Marilyn Monroe, but also absorbed the trauma of countless oil industry disasters and the tragic deaths of workers who died in drilling accidents, toxic gas exposure, and refinery explosions throughout the Santa Maria Valley’s petroleum fields.
Room 221 is haunted by the ghost of Rudolph Valentino, who died at age 31 and continues to knock on doors and appear sprawled across the bed where he once slept, his restless spirit unable to accept his premature death from complications following surgery. Room 210 harbors the murdered sea captain, a maritime ghost who was killed in the early days of the hotel’s operation, possibly during a business dispute or robbery gone wrong, his spirit trapped in the room where he drew his final breath.
The most tragic presence is ‘Peppy,’ a young woman who was a cocaine addict and frequent guest who died from an overdose while awaiting transportation to Hearst Castle, her upbeat personality in life contrasting with the melancholy that now permeates her spiritual manifestations. Throughout the inn, guests experience poltergeist activity including doors slamming shut, ghostly hands touching visitors, clocks spinning wildly, oven doors opening and closing violently, and a phantom piano that plays melancholy tunes in empty rooms. The hotel’s gardens, cellar, and Olde English Tap Room have all been verified by paranormal investigators as hotbeds of supernatural activity, making the Santa Maria Inn a haunted repository where the glamorous façade of California’s oil boom era conceals the violent deaths and tragic accidents that claimed so many lives.
Haunted Hotels in Santa Paula, CA
Glen Tavern Inn
Address: 134 N Mill St, Santa Paula, CA 93060
Phenomenons reported: Oil Industry Victim Spirits; Prohibition Era Murder Victims; Beheaded Prostitute Ghost; Gambling Cowboy Apparition; Room-Specific Hauntings
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1911 and funded by wealthy townsmen who each invested $1,000 in its construction, the three-story inn quickly became headquarters for Union Oil Company operations and witnessed the environmental destruction and worker exploitation that defined early 20th-century oil extraction, where countless laborers died in refinery explosions, toxic gas exposure, and drilling accidents that were covered up by powerful corporate interests.
During Prohibition, the hotel’s third floor was converted into a lawless speakeasy, gambling parlor, and brothel that attracted the most violent criminals in Californiaâoil workers flush with cash, corrupt railroad officials, and desperate gamblers who settled disputes with bullets rather than words.
The inn’s most infamous ghost is Calvin, a cowboy gambler who was shot in the head after being caught cheating at cards during a high-stakes poker game on the third floor, his blood permanently staining the floorboards where he died clutching his cards. Calvin’s tall, thin apparition wearing a white shirt, with long hair and a goatee, continues to walk through walls and appear in photographs, forever trapped in the scene of his violent deathâparanormal investigators even discovered his western-style hat with two bullet holes and bloodstains hidden behind a wall during renovations.
Room 307 is haunted by Rose, a prostitute who was brutally beheaded by a sadistic client during the hotel’s brothel era, her decapitated spirit continuing to service ghostly customers in the room where she met her gruesome end, guests reporting the phantom sounds of violent struggles and Rose’s terrified screams echoing through the night. Room 308 serves as Calvin’s primary haunt, where visitors experience card games being played by invisible hands, the phantom smell of gunpowder and tobacco, and the cowboy’s restless spirit reliving his final poker hand before his execution-style murder.
The hotel’s proximity to Union Oil’s toxic operations and the Santa Paula railroad yard has created a supernatural concentration where the souls of industrial accident victims, murdered prostitutes, and executed gamblers converge in rooms built on the blood money of California’s most environmentally destructive and socially corrupt industries, making Glen Tavern Inn a haunted monument to the human cost of America’s early petroleum empire.
Haunted Hotels in Santa Rosa, CA
Hotel La Rose
Address: 308 Wilson St, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Phenomenons reported: Murdered Family Ghosts; Child Victim Spirit; Elevator Haunting; Room 42 Phenomena; Earthquake Disaster Victims
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1907 by Italian stonemasons after the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed its predecessor, Hotel La Rose stands as a haunted monument to one of California’s most tragic natural disasters, where countless families died in collapsed buildings and the subsequent fires that consumed entire neighborhoods.
The hotel’s most prominent ghost is Daniel, a young boy who was brutally murdered along with his family in Room 42, possibly during a home invasion or domestic violence incident that left their blood staining the thick stone walls built to withstand earthquakes but not human evil. Daniel’s restless spirit eternally rides the hotel’s elevator up and down throughout the night, searching desperately for his parents who were also killed in the massacre, his phantom voice calling out for family members who can never answer his cries.
Room 42 on the third floor remains the epicenter of supernatural activity, where guests report hearing children’s laughter at 2 AM followed by a man’s stern voice demanding silence, possibly Daniel’s father attempting to protect his son even in death. The hotel is also haunted by a lady in a nightgown who drifts through closed doors, and other ghostly children seeking their murdered parents, creating a supernatural concentration where the spirits of families destroyed by violence continue their eternal search for reunion.
Staff members acknowledge the hauntings and offer paranormal packages, while guests consistently report prank calls from phantom children, squeaking chairs, and rattling security chains as the hotel’s traumatized spirits attempt to communicate with the living.
Haunted Hotels in Seal Beach, CA
Ayres Hotel Seal Beach - Cypress
Address: 12850 Seal Beach Blvd, Seal Beach, CA 90740
Phenomenons reported: Native American Burial Ground Spirits; Displaced Indigenous Souls; Military Base Trauma; Phantom Footsteps; Weapons Station Phantoms
Why it's Haunted
Built in 2001 adjacent to the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, the hotel’s proximity to the weapons stationâreportedly built atop ancient Native American cemeteriesâhas created a supernatural vortex where the disturbed spirits of indigenous families manifest throughout the property, their restless souls seeking acknowledgment for the desecration of their ancestral homeland.
Guests report encounters with Native American apparitions who appear in traditional dress, phantom footsteps that follow visitors through hallways, and the eerie sensation of being watched by invisible presences that represent generations of murdered indigenous people whose bones were bulldozed to make way for military facilities and suburban development. The hotel absorbs residual energy from the nearby weapons station where security guards report shadowy figures, whispers in languages predating European colonization, and lights that turn on and off by themselves as displaced spirits attempt to reclaim their stolen territory.
The phantom aroma of sage smoke drifts through rooms even when no ceremonies are being conducted, while guests experience unexplained knocking sounds and the overwhelming sadness that permeates land soaked with the blood of California’s first peoples. Nature spirits and animal guides also manifest on the property, representing the ecological destruction that accompanied the military’s toxic contamination of wetlands that once teemed with wildlife before becoming a repository for weapons that would be used to kill more indigenous peoples worldwide.
Haunted Hotels in Sonora, CA
Gunn House Hotel
Address: 286 S Washington St, Sonora, CA 95370
Phenomenons reported: Gold Rush Era Medical Victims; Room-Specific Hauntings; Violent Phantom Activity; Mining Accident Ghosts; Phantom Coin Rattling
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1850 by physician Lewis Gunn as the first two-story adobe structure in Sonora, the Gunn House Hotel stands as the oldest building still in existence in this Mother Lode mining town, having served as both a medical facility and boarding house during the deadliest period of the California Gold Rush.
Dr. Gunn treated hundreds of desperate miners suffering from scurvy, dysentery, and crippling injuries sustained while searching for gold in dangerous conditions.
For thirty years, the adobe walls absorbed the screams of dying miners, the grief of families who traveled thousands of miles only to lose loved ones to mining accidents, and the despair of Dr. Gunn himself as he struggled to save lives with limited medical knowledge. The building’s tragic history includes countless patients who died from mining-related injuriesâmen crushed by cave-ins, poisoned by mercury used in gold extraction, or killed in claim-jumping disputes who were brought to Dr. Gunn’s makeshift hospital as their final stop before death.
Room 10 has become notorious for its violent paranormal activity, where a malevolent entity physically hurled a guest from his bed, possibly the spirit of a miner who died in agony and refuses to let anyone rest peacefully in the space where he met his end.
Room 11 is haunted by the phantom sound of rattling coins and mysterious furniture rearrangement, suggesting the presence of a miner’s ghost who continues to count his gold and organize his possessions in death as he did obsessively in life.
Room 12, the most haunted accommodation, is terrorized by the apparition of a man in an old-fashioned suit who appears at the foot of four-poster bedsâlikely Dr. Gunn himself or one of his patients, forever trapped in the room where so much suffering occurred during the hotel’s medical era. A matronly lady materializes in the parlor fireplace, possibly a nurse or Dr. Gunn’s wife who witnessed endless tragedy, while shadow figures on the stairs represent the countless souls who climbed to the second floor seeking medical help but instead found only death.
Guests report the sensation of ghostly miners climbing into bed with them, desperate spirits seeking the human warmth and companionship they were denied in the harsh, lonely world of Gold Rush California.
The Sonora Inn
Address: 160 S Washington St, Sonora, CA 95370
Phenomenons reported: Mining Industry Child Victims; Mercury Poisoning Ghosts; Gold Rush Orphan Spirits; Toxic Exposure Victims; Phantom Ball Playing
Why it's Haunted
Built in 1896 in the heart of California’s Mother Lode during the final gasps of the Gold Rush era, The Sonora Inn stands in the Sierra foothills between Tuttletown and Soulsbyville as a haunted repository of the mining boom’s darkest tragedies, where the spirits of children and desperate families who died from disease, accidents, and violence continue to manifest in rooms that once sheltered the era’s most vulnerable victims.
Located in Sonora, the “Queen City of the Southern Mines,” the hotel witnessed the tail end of gold mining operations when hydraulic mining was destroying entire mountainsides and mercury poisoning was killing both miners and their families, including countless children who died from lead contamination in drinking water and exposure to toxic mining chemicals that turned their hair white and rotted their teeth before claiming their lives.
The inn’s most prominent ghost is a young girl who eternally bounces a ball throughout the building’s three floors, her playful spirit trapped in the hotel where she likely died from one of the mining-related diseases that claimed so many children in Sonora’s final mining yearsâpossibly typhoid fever, mercury poisoning, or tuberculosis that spread rapidly through overcrowded mining families living in squalid conditions while their fathers worked increasingly dangerous claims.
The phantom child’s bouncing ball echoes through hallways where real children once played while their parents desperately searched for gold that had already been extracted by earlier prospectors, leaving behind only contaminated soil and polluted water that slowly killed the families who arrived too late to strike it rich. The hotel’s haunted elevator moves between floors on its own, operated by invisible hands that may belong to children who died in mining accidents or adults who perished in the hotel during Sonora’s decline when the town became a refuge for broken dreamers, failed prospectors, and families who had lost everything to the false promises of California gold.
Guests experience supernatural activity throughout the buildingâbathroom doors opening by themselves, towels disappearing and reappearing, bouncing orbs moving down hallways, and an overwhelming sense of nausea and anxiety when ascending to the second floor where the psychic residue of death and despair is most concentrated.Â
Haunted Hotels in Ventura, CA
Clocktower Inn Ventura
Address: 181 E Santa Clara St, Ventura, CA 93001
Phenomenons reported: Firefighter Victim Spirits; Oil Industry Disaster Ghosts; Clock Tower Phantom; Emergency Response Hauntings; Petroleum Fire Victims
Why it's Haunted
Built in the 1940s as a California-Spanish style firehouse during Ventura’s oil boom, the Clocktower Inn stands as a haunted monument to the firefighters who died battling oil well explosions, refinery fires, and industrial accidents that plagued California’s petroleum industry when safety regulations were nonexistent and workers were treated as expendable.
The building’s distinctive clock tower, originally designed to dry fire hoses, became a beacon of tragedy during the oil boom years when desperate calls for help arrived too late to save workers trapped in burning derricks, hydrogen sulfide gas leaks, and equipment explosions that killed dozens of oil field laborers throughout Ventura County.
The inn is haunted by the spirits of firefighters who died from smoke inhalation, burns, and toxic gas exposure while attempting to rescue oil workers from blazing wells and collapsed rigs, their phantom alarm bells still ringing through the converted lobby where they once suited up for calls they wouldn’t survive. Guests report the persistent smell of smoke and petroleum even when no fires are burning, the sound of heavy boots running through hallways where firefighters once rushed to respond to disasters, and the phantom voices of dispatchers calling out addresses of oil field emergencies that claimed both rescuers and victims.
The ghost of a fire captain appears in the tower, eternally watching for signs of danger in an industry that prioritized profit over human life, making the Clocktower Inn a supernatural memorial to first responders who died trying to save others from California’s deadly oil extraction operations.
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