Do You Dare Trick-Or-Treat At The Witch's House In Laguna Beach?

LAGUNA BEACH, CA—Do you dare to trick or treat at Laguna Beach's famous "Witch's House?"

Built in the mid-to-late 1920s by Vernon Barker, the so-called Witch's House at 290 Wave Street in North Laguna is a crazy-quilt of scariness. Its steep, swooping gables soar 60 feet into the air and face multiple directions. The irregular shingles and weirdly shaped windows and doors may make you quake with fear.

This every-which-way house is set back from the street, with old growth trees angling in on it as if the branches want to embrace—or strangle—the house's spirit.

There's a rumor going 'round that a cauldron swings in and out of one of its fireplaces. No one is speculating how many humans can be accommodated by the pot.

“[It's] a masterpiece of hand-craftsmanship and imaginative architecture,” Karen Wilson Turnbull told the Los Angeles Times not long after her book, “The Cottages & Castles of Laguna: Historic Architecture 1883-1940," came out in 1987.

The fourth-generation South Laguna resident drew 80 detailed and elegant pen-and-ink drawings, capturing the town's oddest and oldest abodes for the self-published book.

Her rendering of the Witch's House can be seen, uncredited, on Redfin, even though the property hasn't been for sale since 2005. If the drawing isn't Turnbull's, please let Patch know!

The illustrated book proved to be a hit, and she made back her investment lickity split. First editions can be purchased at various e-tailers who offer used books. Orange County Public Library has copies to check out, as well as reserved editions at the Laguna Beach branch. Totally worth checking out Turnbull's artwork.

The view of the back of the house from the alley gets you super close. The mid-century modern house next door just adds to the charm, as does the view of the Pacific Ocean.

The alley view also lets you admire one of the house's most wondrous details: a ghost ship that sails the winds high above the Wave Street house in the form of a one-of-a-kind weathervane.

If you dare to trick-or-treat at the Witch's House,send us your tales of terror or photos—if you make it out alive ...