Haunted Sacramento

Ghost / Ghosts and How to Find Them by 2 Sacramento Authors

2010-08-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

CA Society for Paranormal Research (Casper)

2009-09-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

California Society for Paranormal Research is based in California's Central Valley. They have access to some of California's most historic haunted locations and private residences that experience paranormal phenomena. Click to go to their website

Three more local Paranormal Groups in Sacramento

2009-09-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

three more Paranormal Investigation teams in the Sacramento Region...
Click here to read the full article

Take A Video Tour of Preston Castle, But Look Out For Ghosts!

2009-08-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

An Eerie Tale About A Former Downtown Sacramento Victorian

2009-08-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

Titled "The Landlady's Tale," this story retraces chilling events that happened to a Sacramento family, nearly ninety years go, and shortly after they moved into a Victorian home just seven blocks form the Capitol. You can read the story in its entirety here.

According to its author, the historical events surrounding this story have been verified as true. Read for yourself and let me know if you have any idea where this location might actually be downtown.

Here is a picture, I'm guessing, of the location as it looked back in the 30s. And below it is the caption that the author placed underneath.

"Found in the Sacramento Archives photo collections. Obsessive research led me to a women who lived here right around the time that this was taken (I'm not making this up, folks - she's 93 years old now). She and her son provided some interesting stories about the women who was the owner of the building back then, such as this ghost story. It's kinda creepy."

Lantern Tours at the "Old City Cemetery" Sacramento, CA

2009-08-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

Once again, Sacramento's Old City Cemetery is gearing up for it annual Halloween Lantern Tours.

The cemetery offers many tours, but none are as sought after as the "Lantern Tour". It will be held this year on Friday, October 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24th, 2009. The tickets cost $25.00 a piece and there are three different tour times available, which are 6:30, 8:00 and 9:30 all in the evening hours.

If you're interested in attending, these tours fill up pretty fast, so you'd better get your reservations in as soon as possible. Call the cemetery Archives today.

Nightwatchers - Northern California Chapter

2009-08-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

It seems there is a new opportunity for those who wish to do a little ghost hunting of their own, here in Northern California (and Sacramento?). After several years of supporting Nightwatchers and their events, American Paranormal Investigations (API) is now representing Nightwatchers - Northern California, an organization whch encourages nayone interested to participate in paranormal investigations. As with all of their events, no profit is made; any event is provided at cost. This will allow anybody to investigate (minors may participate with signed consent from a parent or guardian). For further information, check their MySpace page.

"Children and Psychic Phenomena"Saturday, September 19, 2009Sacramento, CA

2009-08-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Please join American Paranormal Investigations for an afternoon with Loyd Auerbach at the Delta King in Old Sacramento for an afternoon seminar discussing issues regarding children and unexplained paranormal phenomena.

Research has shown that children are generally more psychic than adults. The abilities tend to diminish as they grow up, mainly because of a lack of support for the abilities and the educational system often making claims of psychic abilities inappropriate or weird.

Psychic abilities range from telepathy (mind to mind communication) to forms of clairvoyance and remote viewing to psychokinesis (also known as "PK" and "mind over matter"). This seminar will look at the ways children experience and display psychic abilities, and how parents can recognize and cope with these abilities in their kids.

Prof. Auerbach will give parents and children in attendance a background in what parapsychologists have learned about psychic abilities in children, and will conduct some exercises for all ages to support and encourage these abilities. Most importantly, you will learn how to find the specific psychic talents your children might have, how they might change as the children grow up, and tools to encourage the talents and deal with their spontaneous nature. We will be playing a game of telepathy and learning a method to do PK.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Mark Twain Room at the Delta King (Old Sacramento, CA)
Cost: $36.00 for children 8-12 years and $53.00 for adults
Lunch is included in the ticket price.
(No children under the age of 8 years please contact API should special arrangement be required. Special needs are evaluated on a case by case basis.) All pre-sales are final.

Click here to register

A Vampirish Goth Night in Sacramento

2009-08-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

From the Sacramento Press: "...Adrina is only 23 years old, but she has witnessed the paranormal. When Adrina lived on 51st Street in Sacramento, she would hear footsteps in the attic, knockings on walls and the front door would open on its own."

"Destination Truth" is finally coming back!

2009-08-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Josh Gates and his team will finally be back on SyFy Channel with a new season of "Destination Truth." Watch for their season premiere: September 9th, 2009. Check out SyFy Channel's "Destination Truth" page here.

22nd & H Street House Not Haunted? You Decide!

2009-08-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

My friend sent this to me. A local news crew met with the current owner of the 22nd & H street house in midtown Sacramento. Beautiful interiors can be seen in this video, though all of this does very little to convince me that this should close the book on this particular house and its history.

Ghostly White Rabbit - Pocket/Greenhaven Area of Sacramento

2009-08-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

A House on Parkshore Circle - Greenhaven

The people that lived in this house had a white rabbit. One day, the occupant of the home tied the white rabbit named Bugs to a long rope, so he could play in the backyard and not escape, since Bugs was the family pet. Bugs got entangled in the bushes by the rope and broke his neck. Passerbys walking in Seymour Park see a white rabbit in the front lawn playing and as they watch, the white rabbit dissipates into thin air.

Does anyone know anything more about this "ghostly white rabbit" that hangs out in the Pocket/Greenhaven area? Have you seen it? Please share your stories!

Ghost Hunters: Back For Season 5 in 2009

2009-08-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

There will be 25 episodes of the paranormal plumbers, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, busting ghosts by debunking what’s real and what’s just dust on the camera. According to the network, this season has been the best one yet, and has been bringing in the female viewership in record numbers, by the way.

Maybe it’s because they’ve given terms such as “shadow people”, or “EVP” household popularity, and helped bring other knowledge of the supernatural to the mainstream.

What is it about these two guys, their team, and this show that makes them so popular? I’m betting it’s the fact that each week, they introduce us to a new alleged supernatural setting, and take on the truth in an honest, and interesting way. Both Jason, Grant and the team do the job they set out to do, while at the same time, are not afraid to be themselves, and have a bit of fun.

Ghost Hunters airs on Wednesdays at 9:00 PM ET on Sci-Fi.

So, let me ask you. Why do you think Ghost Hunters is so popular that it’s getting a new fifth season, and what do you find to be compelling about the series?

Ghost Hunters International: hmmm...

2009-07-16T11:19:00.001-07:00

Another episode of GHI has come and gone. I'm just not that sure about this incarnation of the Ghost Hunters franchise. It just doesn't have the zing that Ghost Hunters has. Having said that, one of the more irritating things about both of these shows is that they constantly run around saying, "did you hear that?" yet the producers of the show keep that irritating music/sound effects bed running underneath everything, so nobody in the audience can hear anything... That's one really nice thing about the show Ghost Adventures; they don't muddy up their episodes with too much background music and sound effects crap. Message to GH and GHI: turn the background music and sound effects off!!!

A Visit to Haunted Preston Castle in Ione, CA

2009-07-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

The picture, just above, shows a taped "X," placed by the Ghost Adventures team when they visited Preston Castle for their season premiere in July, 2009. This "X" was placed in the kitchen area. You can see some of the episode, as well as this X in the video below:

In 1890, the California State Legislature purchased 230 acres from the Ione Coal & Iron Company for construction of the Preston School of Industry, a place where troubled boys could learn a trade instead of being incarcerated in juvenile prisons.

The complex was highly self-sufficient; the large acreage of the purchase allowed the boys to grow their own food, raise livestock and learn farming trades. Additionally, there was a print shop, bakery and cobbler shop where the young delinquents and otherwise homeless boys could learn skills for self-preservation in the real world.

The school officially opened on June 13, 1894, and the first wards moved in only two weeks later. The superintendent controlled life inside the Preston School of Industry, where discipline was extreme. Loss of privileges seemed minor in comparison to starvation, isolation, and public paddling and lashings, severe strategies that were common at Preston.

A convicted burglar, Samuel Goins, arrived at Preston School in July 1918. Within his first year, Samuel attempted to escape Preston three times. On April 19, 1919, during his third attempt, a Preston guard named John Kelly shot Samuel in the back; at 20 years old, he died two months shy of his release date. Samuel is buried in the Preston cemetery, along with 16 other young men who died within the school walls -- most from diseases like Yellow Fever and Tuberculosis.

The murder of Samuel Goins was not the only fatal act of violence that occurred at the school. In 1950, Preston’s head housekeeper, Anna Corbin, was beaten to death in the school’s basement. A flimsy case was formed against Eugene Monroe, one of the few black children at the school. Tried twice, the jury was hung each time; Anna Corbin’s killer was never found.

KFBK Reported on H Street House over 25 years ago!

2006-07-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

Listen for yourself. This is from a segment that aired on KFBK over 25 years ago. Even then, the house on 22nd and H Streets gave local residents a chill. This is a 3.5 meg MP3 file.

Old Sacramento

2006-07-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Frightening occurances have been reported in the maze of tunnels that run underneath sections of Sacramento. The tunnels date from the period of 1864-1877, when buildings and streets were raised an entire story to protect them from flooding. Between the retaining walls, an underground maze of tunnels resulted, enclosed from above by wooden sidewalks. It is known that owners of nine of the restored buildings got together and hired a professional parapsychologist to free them of one troublesome spirit. (The underground area is bounded by H and L Streets, and Front and 12th Streets near the Sacramento River. The most haunted section is between Front Street and 8th Street. The former level of the city is discernible at several "sunken" restaurants and plazas in Old Town.)

Governor's Mansion

2006-07-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Investigators run into all kinds of odd complications and weird setbacks when trying to report on the goings-on in the former Governor's Mansion. Television and radio reporters, psychics, authors, and paranormal investigators all tell stories of odd equipment failures, confused schedules, purloined notes, garbled or erased tapes, and other obstacles to telling the story of this house. Nonetheless, the ghosts here still walk about and icy cold spots remain at places in the house where people died. Ronald Reagan Jr. was witness to one such ghost while home one day by himself. Shortly thereafter, the Reagans relocated to another home in the Fabulous 40s.

Former Sacramento Anchorman

2006-07-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

The former home of KXTV news anchor Alan Frio was haunted by a ghost that appeared like clockwork every Saturday night at 2:00 AM. The transparent image of a blue man would appear in the bedroom and knock things off the nightstand or turn on the radio. The apparition once appeared in the middle of the afternoon and awoke Frio from a nap. The former owner experienced the same kind of paranormal activity, as did two more families after the Frios moved out in 1984. (The house is in Carmichael. The house was listed as one of California's most haunted houses in a 1981 issue of Sunset magazine.)

Famous Sacramento Ghosts

2006-07-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sacramento has its share of famous ghosts. The image of Governor Leland Stanford's dead son appeared to him in the mansion on the corner of 8th and M Streets and told him to build an educational institution: Stanford University.

The old Perrault house on 14th Avenue became notorious in the late 1950s for its widely-witnessed instances of light bulbs bursting in their socket, objects hanging in midair, and fires starting in the furniture.

In 1973, the Martinez home in East Sacramento gained national attention for its whole family of apparitions.

Other legendary spooks from River City include the phantom of a man in his twenties sighted on the beach at the American River Sailor's Bar (beneath the Sunrise Boulevard bridge) and the ghost of an old gold miner, who emerges from the weeds along Prospector Road in the foothills.

Pocket-Greenhaven Ghosts

2006-07-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Another haunted hotspot is the area south of Pocket Road and Greenhaven Drive. Some homes there were constructed on top of an old Portuguese cemetery, while others border an earthen levy that was built over Indian burial grounds.

Japanese Internment Camp Ghosts Still Appear in Citrus Heights

2006-07-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

Current hotspots include the Citrus Heights' neighborhood near Antelope and Roseville Roads, site of a temporary Japanese internment camp. Forlorn Asian ghosts have appeared in the bedrooms, living rooms, garages, and front yards of homes in the area.

A Sac State Ghost?

2006-07-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Many people say Shasta Hall is haunted. Students have talked for years about a ghost in the building’s theatre who disrupts play openings. Some think it is a state building inspector who fell to his death in the building before it was completed.

Sacramento Theatre Company at 1419 H Street

2006-07-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Dennis William Hauck's investigation of the Sacramento Theatre Company at 1419 H Street has come away with visual as well as audio evidence of paranormal activity.

According to Hauck's web site: "Several anomalous light patterns were recorded on infrared film at the same time two psychics were holding a meditative séance to conjure up spirits. At 3:00 AM in a secure section of the auditorium, disembodied footsteps were recorded on audio tape. The 50-year-old vaudeville stage is home to a ghost that employees have named Pinky — because of the pinkish aura it manifests. The apparition has been seen on numerous occasions and is even credited with warning electricians of the impending collapse of an overhead lightbar. Several people could have been seriously injured had they not evacuated the area because of Pinky's ghost. In the recent years, psychics have detected the presence of five other spirits in the building."

Crocker Art Museum Ghosts

2006-07-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

Dennis William Hauck's investigation of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento yielded significant evidence of a haunting. Read the full investigative report with photos here.

"Brown" House - Corner of 19th & F Streets

2006-07-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

Can anyone else confirm reports of this house being haunted?

valleyflats writes: "I used to live a couple homes down and my neighbors claimed it was freaky haunted. I asked my landlord (he owns it) about it and he knew nothing of its history. Yet on the day I moved out a guy who owned a building across the street was there and he went pale when I asked him about it possibly being haunted. He said yes ... a couple bludgeonings in the 1980s?"

May H. Woolsey: 1866 - 1879

2006-07-11T13:37:00.001-07:00

May H. Woolsey died of encephalitis. Tour visitors to Sacramento's Old City Cemetery have confirmed that her presence can still be felt, literally by placing ones hand near her grave stone.

"beckyjsacto" added: In the Discovery Museum in Old Sac, there is a display from a home in midtown that was being renovated by new owners in the 1980's. When they removed a panel in some part of the house, they found a chest of items (dolls, photos, clothing, and other personal effects) of a young girl [May Woolsey] who'd lived and died in that same house EXACTLY one hundred years prior. Truly creepy!

22nd & H Street House: It Looks Haunted, But Is It?

2006-07-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

For years, I've heard stories about this house. KFBK, one of Sacramento's news-talk radio stations aired a halloween-themed story about the house on 22nd and H streets over twenty-five years ago. At that time, the owners related stories of hearing strange, unexplainable sounds while they were in the process of renovating the house. Additionally, they told of seeing fleeting, but regular glimpses of what looked like a small boy, (about 9 years old), hiding within a crawl space underneath the stairs on the first floor of the house, as if playing hid-and-go-seek with them. Within the last ten or twelve years, wrought iron gates have been erected around the property, the result of too many curious onlookers no doubt. Yet to this day, no one inhabits this home; it remains empty, sealed off from prying eyes by locked doors, shuttered windows and the generally creepy feeling it gives off.

A nighttime winter visit to the property, a few years ago, left us with digital images of "orbs," several sets of drained camera batteries, and unexplainable sounds of what seemed like an old dial-up telephone that began to ring; it was well after 10:00 p.m., and it seemed odd that someone would place a phone call to a home that nobody had lived in for the last fifteen or twenty years. Moreover, who would keep a phone plugged in within a home that was, for all intents and purposes, empty? Even more strange was that the rings seemed noticeably louder than normal to all of us, as if the phone had been perched atop the sill of an opened window, yet all of the windows were tightly shut and presumably locked. Was it the wind that tricked us into believing that the rings were louder than normal and coming from this house, rather than another nearby house? On the other hand, who would leave their home with it's windows open, in the dead of winter, so that their phone might be heard so loudly?

More time has passed. There are still no new occupants in the home on 22nd & H. To look at the place from the outside, it appears dead, yet it also seems that someone at least is still accepting phone calls there. Could it be the ghost of the little boy I heard about so many years ago on KFBK?