How to Explore Haunted Spots in Northern California
The sunny weather, the numerous beaches and the glitter of Hollywood are only a few of the attributes tourists find attractive about the Golden State. But as an avid fan of hauntings might suspect, many supernatural goings-on are reported in the northern region of California alone. From the Gold Rush-related tragedies experienced in the state's capital, Sacramento, to the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, there have been more than enough events that would lead a believer to assume that restless ghosts are still prowling about. As a springboard for your trip, use the tips here for exploring supposedly spirit-laden locations in the area. The farther along you go, the more you will surely discover to add to your itinerary.
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Instructions
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Do your research before you leave home. Purchase an updated map of the region and mark the spots you plan to see. If you will be driving while touring Northern California, consider taking a GPS unit along with you for convenience.
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Check into a hotel or two that have been seasoned by time. The longer a building has been around, the higher the probability that spectral encounters have been linked to it. Brookdale Inn & Spa in the Santa Cruz mountains is an example. Celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Tyrone Power have stayed here, as the former Brookdale Lodge was popular among the rich and prominent in its heyday. Built in the late 1800s, the site experienced a run of tragedies, including a fire and drownings.
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Arrange a visit to historic spots that have built up a reputation over the years for mysterious occurrences. Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco area is one such famous location. With its lengthy history dating even further back than the days in which it housed notorious prisoners like "Scarface" Al Capone and "Birdman of Alcatraz" Robert Stroud, the island has garnered enough fame to make it the subject of several Hollywood films.
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Take a tour through Gold Country and Wine Country. The various characters who have come to Northern California in their quest for riches have left behind an equally colorful past to be discovered today. Many have died without finding any gold, so it is no surprise that stories still circulate about phantoms wandering their former haunts. You can do your ghostly prospecting in the cities off of Highway 49, such as Sutter Creek, Placerville and Auburn. As for Wine Country, you can travel through such counties as Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino and see streets and shops that appear new; what the casual observer does not know is that they have merely been renovated, as they are the same ones that were around when wineries got their start in the mid-19th century.
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Drop by old tourist attractions like the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Sarah Winchester, heiress to the rifle-company fortune, built a home known for its architectural oddities (see Resources), which makes the purported hauntings only a secondary reason for some guests to visit. A few sites frequented by so-called ghosthunters don't even appear on the surface to be anything remotely frightening. Toys R Us in Sunnyvale, for one, has been featured on TV and visited by psychics several times due to paranormal phenomena. In addition to employees' firsthand accounts of pranks pulled when no one was around, books have been said to fall off the racks on their own, and swings have allegedly moved without a visible hand to rock them.
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Resources
- Photo Credit www.legendsofamerica.com, www.winchestermysteryhouse.com
