California's Most Haunted: Some Of The Spookiest Places In The State

CALIFORNIA — California is known for its beautiful beaches, picturesque mountain ranges and nearly perfect year-round weather, but the Golden State is also home to historical haunts and spine-chilling tales of spectral sightings.

From the ghostly sightings at Hotel del Coronado to the architectural madness of the Winchester Mystery House, there are a number of spooky places across the state. With Halloween around the corner, we're taking a closer look at some of the most haunted destinations in California.

Arroyo del Valle Sanitarium

Haunted houses and paranormal spaces abound in the Tri-Valley cities of Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton, according to local lore and history. Many residents claim old buildings and streets hum with paranormal activity, either captured on camera or witnessed on ghost tours.

One of the area's spooky places is the Arroyo del Valle Sanitarium, which has served as a haunt in Livermore for decades. The foundations of the buildings of a one-time tuberculosis sanitarium, now leveled, remain under the current Camp Arroyo, a children's youth camp. Some say ghosts of patients still roam the ruins, according to reports from WeirdCalifornia.

There's an urban legend about a former groundskeeper who killed all the patients in the children's ward before taking his own life. The sounds of the children's screams can still be heard at night, according to the campfire ghost story for the visitors to Camp Arroyo.

Read more: Livermore's Haunted, Paranormal History Par For The Course For Locals

Black Star Canyon

Located deep in the heart of the Santa Ana Mountains, Black Star Canyon has been called one of the strangest paranormal locations in Orange County, with some hikers certain they are being watched.

After nightfall, there have been many deadly crashes on the roadways, as well as cases of missing hikers located at the witching hour. Most residents who are familiar with Black Star Canyon call it "the darkest place" in the OC.

Nighttime hikers have heard eerie real-time sounds of music. Conversation in the bushes, screams and howls, and tribal drums have also been heard in the area.

According to record, Black Star Canyon was where a group of trappers searching for their stolen horses fought a band of Tongva natives in a massacre in 1831.

Hikers may come across an old, abandoned bus and unexplained outbuildings, find homeless people, and run into cult activity.

Read more: Haunted Black Star Canyon Still A Mystery In Orange County

Griffith Park

Griffith Park has been the stomping grounds of killers and the final resting place of victims, but some say the municipal park is haunted or perhaps just cursed.

The supposed curse stems back to 1863, when Dona Petronilla, the teenage niece of wealthy land baron Don Antonio Feliz, found herself cut out of his will. She famously cursed the land, vowing it would never be profitable and that its owners would meet untimely or violent ends. The spooky thing about her curse is that it quickly came true.

According to creepyla.com, the man who negotiated the ranch's water rights was killed in a saloon, and the land's new owner was murdered by banditos in Mexico. Then along came Colonel Griffith J. Griffith. The wealthy industrialist bought 4,000 acres of the land known as Rancho Los Feliz in the 1880s but was plagued by natural disasters and misfortune. Some said it was the curse of Dona Petronilla. Ultimately, he gifted the land to the city of Los Angeles but couldn't quite escape the curse. He shot his wife during a drunken rampage at a hotel in Santa Monica. She survived, but he was sent to San Quentin to serve two years thanks to an "alcoholic insanity" defense. He was released from prison and died from liver disease.

Petronilla's vengeful ghost is said to haunt the land, a lady in a white dress appearing to hikers and visitors over the years. But according to folklore, she is not alone in haunting the hills. Actress Peg Entwistle, who infamously leapt to her death from the 'H' in the Hollywood sign in 1932, is said to startle hikers, appearing in all her 1930s Hollywood garb.

Read more: Griffith Park — The Haunted And Cursed — Heart Of Los Angeles

Hotel del Coronado

Having opened in 1888, Hotel del Coronado has a long and rich history. The beachfront resort has welcomed presidents, celebrities, royals and beachgoers for more than 135 years. The resort also has its own resident ghost.

As the story goes, Kate Morgan checked into Hotel del Coronado in 1892 but never checked out.
According to the hotel's book, "Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado," the young woman was married but estranged from her husband. It is believed that she arrived at the hotel hoping to rendezvous with a lover.

A man never arrived. After five lonely days, the 24-year-old took her own life.

Guests and employees have reported ghostly going-ons — or creepy coincidences — since her death, including seeing a woman in a black dress in hotel hallways and along the beach.

Read more: The Resident Ghost At Hotel Del Coronado

Horton Grand Hotel

Located in the heart of downtown San Diego, the Horton Grand Hotel is one of the most charming urban boutique hotels in the city — and some say one of the most haunted.

The hotel is a reconstruction of two separate historic hotels: the Grand Horton Hotel and the Brooklyn-Kahle Saddlery Hotel. Both hotels were built in the mid-1880s and were originally located where the former Horton Plaza mall was later constructed.

Room 309 has long been a "hotbed of paranormal activity," with stories of inexplicable events such as the bed shaking and lights flickering, according to Historic Tours of America and the Ghosts & Gravestone Tour.

Some believe the ghost of Roger Whitaker haunts the room. Whitaker was a gambler who was reportedly shot to death in the room at the original Grand Horton, according to Historic Tours of America.

Whaley House

Located in San Diego's Old Town neighborhood, the Whaley House has twice been called the "most haunted house in America," once by Time Magazine and also by the Travel Channel's "America's Most Haunted."

The house was dedicated as a historic museum in 1960 and has been open to the public ever since. More than 100,000 people visit the museum every year, according to the County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Whaley House was the home of early settler Thomas Whaley and his family. The home once housed a granary, a county courthouse, the city's first commercial theater and various businesses including Whaley's own general store.

Visitors have reported encountering a variety of spirits, including Whaley himself, according to the museum's site. The earliest documented ghost at the Whaley House was "Yankee Jim," who in 1852 was hanged on a gallows off the back of a wagon on the site where the museum now stands.

Queen Mary

Locals have long claimed that ghostly guests still reside aboard the Queen Mary, a retired British ocean liner that sailed its maiden voyage in 1936 from Southampton, England to New York.

Although the ship retired from the sea as an active liner in 1967, the Queen Mary has become an iconic Southern California attraction, hotel and venue for special events. It's also been voted one of the Top 10 Most Haunted Places in America by Time magazine.

The ghosts reportedly still haunting the ship include an engineer who died in the ship's engine room, a "lady in white," and various children located throughout the ship including the 1st Class Pool.

Winchester Mystery House

Since its 1923 opening, the Winchester Mystery House has drawn more than 12 million visitors. The house has become an international tourist destination as well as the basis of the 2018 supernatural horror film "Winchester."

As the story goes, Sarah Winchester inherited a massive fortune after her husband, firearms magnate William Wirt Winchester's death in 1881.

According to folklore, she was motivated to build the 160-room mansion after a psychic medium told her she would spend the rest of her life haunted by the ghosts of those killed by the Winchester rifle unless she went out west to build a house with room for all of them. She bought a Santa Clara farmhouse that she converted into a never-ending 38-year construction project to help keep the spirits chasing her at bay.

The legacy of her investment lives to this day as the labyrinth of architectural madness that is the Winchester Mystery House.

Read more: Winchester Mystery House Spooky But History Behind It Is Suspect

Patch editors Paige Austin and Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.