Looking for some real San Jose haunts this spooky season? The Haunted San Jose page hosted by that city’s visitor’s bureau provides a list of locally believed to be haunted places around the city. Check out Haunted San Jose on that site!
Their list naturally includes the Winchester Mystery House (I got some crazy photos there many years ago), Grandview Restaurant (on the way to Mt Hamilton in the eastern foothills – amazing views), Quimby Road (in the Evergreen foothills, where a jogger is sometimes seen), and several other areas.
In nearby Saratoga, the restaurant, Bella Saratoga, is also saddled with the haunted reputation.
If San Francisco’s not too far, there are actual ghost tours that you can enjoy. They often include the lovely Queen Anne Hotel, which isn’t just occupied by an unseen spirit, it’s a helpful one!
There are many more places in the South Bay and beyond which are said to have spooky inhabitants. One of the most notorious was the Toys R Us in Sunnyvale. That chain closed down, and that location is now an REI store. I’d love to hear if there are any happenings there now.
Ever wonder the best approach on how to ask if a place is haunted? Today I’ll share a few tips on what has worked for me.
Needless to say, this isn’t a conversation for every business or home that someone visits. But if something comes up on your radar, maybe it’s worth a gentle inquiry.
How to ask if a place is haunted: ease into it
About half of the population doesn’t believe in ghosts, and some of them may get upset if someone even broaches the subject. As much as possible, it’s best to easy into the question and not blurt out (as I did more than once) the question when a place seemed like there were spirits lingering.
If the home or business is older or historic, and it feels like there could be a presence, a warm compliment and gentle inquiry may work if you’re asking someone open to it and if that person knows much. For best results, I strongly advise doing this in person and not over the phone, in an email, etc.
Example: “This is a gorgeous old building / home / library / church! Do you know if there are any interesting stories?”
Depending on your audience, you may get a quirky history story that’s fun to hear, or you may get more. I’ve had both happen. Open ended questions are usually best.
If you love haunted real estate, then touring the gorgeous and spooky Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco should be on your bucket list. I was there with my extended family as part of a ghost walk in SF some years ago, and found it to be one of the most interesting places in The City.
Miss Mary Lake’s Bedroom
I’m intuitive and have sometimes had experiences that you might call paranormal, though nothing huge – and I’ve never “seen” a ghost. At the Queen Anne Hotel, though, I did feel a large cold spot – and I wasn’t the only relative to do so in that spacious Victorian.
Like any good tourist, I snapped some digital photos (and like any decent ghost hunter, I hoped there would be something of interest on the images later). One photograph that I took of the staircase had a least 3 orbs that I can make out. I know, they could be dust…. Here’s the original photo, and after that the same one but zoomed in, with increased brightness, and the 3 orbs circled in green.
And next, zoomed in, lightened, with the round white blobs circled.
This hotel has been written about numerous times, both because of its charming ghost hostess and because of its history and lovely accommodations.
The tour we took, years ago, was via the San Francisco Ghost Hunt Walking Tour, and this lovely inn was only one of a few fascinating stops along the way that we were introduced to by Jim Fassbinder, the owner of the company (there’s a different person giving the tours now, but Jim apparently continues to be the proprietor). I recall that seeing the inside of the hotel was not guaranteed then – and the site listed for the tour does not mention it at all, only that there’s an unnamed indoor location that might be a part of the tour. I’m hoping that if you do the tour, it will work out that you can see the inside of the hotel as part of it, but of course the tour is a lot of fun even without it.
Recently a family member spotted an article of interest in House Beautiful to the readers of this blog: Dream Job Alert: Live in a Haunted Ghost Town — for Free! (Talk about having interesting neighbors.)
Here’s a snippet – click on the link below to see the entire article.
It may not be tops on your bucket list, but admit it: The idea of staying, even just for a night, in a ghost town sounds intriguing. Well, now you can — and all for free. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is looking for volunteers to help manage Garnet Ghost Town, a Montana mining town more that’s more than 100 years old, and has been mostly abandoned for nearly that long.
As part of the deal, residents will assist the full-time professional staff in guiding tours, maintaining the historic structures, and brushing and cutting trails. Fans of modern amenities, beware: The town has no electricity, running water, or wi-fi. But housing is free, and the Bureau will even provide a small stipend to volunteers.
Is your idea of a great vacation one in which you stay in a haunted hotel room? It’s not mine – I don’t actually want to sleep with ghosts – but apparently many of my readers love the idea! So today’s your lucky day, if that’s your goal. There’s a wonderful resource for finding haunted hotel rooms: http://www.hauntedrooms.com.
A quick look at the site reveals an intuitive layout (would you expect less for something related to the paranormal?). The visitor can use a quick search tool by city or state, or instead navigate a map to located the ideal haunt.
Additionally, if you are the proprietor of a spooky site, you may also add your abode to the directory.
Right now there are over 100 hotels listed, with more coming online all the time.
Finally, this site is an expansion of another one in Great Britain, so for those of you who really want to go the extra mile, have a look at this website too: www.hauntedrooms.co.uk .
Realtor.com ran a consumer survey Oct 1 – Oct 3 2012 regarding home buyers and their interest in purchasing haunted real estate. Surprisingly, 29% would buy a home with a reputation of being haunted – but only if they got a substantial discount in the price, 20% or more off from an otherwise normal house. For a small minority, the property would be worth more if haunted (just 2%).
Of the approximately 1900 people polled, 35% said that they would not consider purchasing a home which was said to be haunted, 32% said they would consider it and 33% said they might. In the U.S. today, about half of all Americans believe in ghosts – an interesting point to factor in. It is not surprising that people who do not believe in spooky spirits would be willing to live in a house or condo with a haunted reputation; what is more surprising is that a third or so of those who do believe are willing (or interested) in living in a haunted habitat, and that any of them would pay more for it!
A lovely old Victorian house in the historic Almond Grove District of Los Gatos at 230 Tait Avenue is said to be haunted, according to its owner. The area is filled with homes which are more than 100 years old and I’ve often wondered how many of them are haunted. At Halloween most of them look exceedingly spooky!
This house is in the middle of a zoning and use controversy in Los Gatos. The town does not permit Bed & Breakfasts (I think that’s a shame – it’s really almost ideal for that use) or short term rentals, but this house was being advertised as such for at least a couple of years – I noticed because links to one of my blog posts on my Live in Los Gatos blog was getting cited.
The website for the Los Gatos rental includes a page about the haunting which states that the
friendly Ghost has been heard many times by Lynley and her children and seen only once, by someone else, since Lynley bought the home in 2003
If you have any additional information on it, please share here!
A house of horrors is the real lead character in the new FX suspense drama “American Horror Story,” which, in early episodes, finds its owners trying to illegally unload their haunted house without disclosing its dark, dark past. (Reprint this story for free with limited copyright restrictions.)
Good luck with that.
“American Horror Story” revolves around the Harmons, a family of three who moved from Boston to Los Angeles in order to reconcile a dark past and end up with a home that has some baggage of its own.
There’s unfaithful Ben Harmon, a shrink; Vivien Harmon, Ben’s pregnant wife and their teens-will-be-teens, pot-smoking daughter Violet Harmon. They are joined by Constance, the Harmon’s gun-wielding, spooky neighbor; Tate Langdon, one of Ben’s patients; Larry Harvey, who doesn’t seem bothered by the spooks; the Harmon’s housekeeper, both in her past sultry mode and in her present guise as a real come-on bitch. (more…)
How can you find out who lived – or died – on the property before you owned it or lived in it? It helps to know a friendly real estate agent or title company employee if you want to get the distant past history of your haunted land.
A title company can run a title search and get what is called the “chain of title” for you. That will tell you much more than a property profile or the county records, which often go back only about 10 years. A chain of title can go way, way back – as far as Mexican or Spanish land grants in our area.
Sometimes the chain of title will also include death certificates, so you’ll know if anyone died on the land or in the house. But don’t expect this to be absolutely perfect – no guarantees here!
The title records won’t include everyone who lived at the property address, only those who were on title, so at best it can give you a particular window. But with the owners’ names you may be able to expand your research and learn more about what took place there in days gone by. Google and other search engines can be a huge help, but so can archives from the paper (San Jose Mercury News and others). Don’t forget to just ask the neighbors – you’d be surprises at how much they might know!
I received the email, below, and have permission to share it here (edited slightly for brevity and clarity). I suggested that she talk to the neighbors as they often have input. Got any ideas for her? Please leave a comment!
My name is Susie and I am writing to ask about an experience we had at a rental property (in Indiana).
We have three daughters and out youngest was 13 yrs when we moved into a two story rental home. Her room was a large room over the garage with steps down into it. During our time there the room was always cold (even in the summer). Ali (my daughter) had trouble sleeping and I would go lay in bed with her and I would become uncomfortable in the room and somewhat anxious and inevitably take her to my room.
Ali finally talked to me after we had been there two or three years that there were two children – a girl in a blue smock dress and a boy in older style clothes) that were in her room. She described them as angry at times and they would pick on her. Ali would sleep walk (hasn’t since we moved out). She said they pushed her down in the bed-she said she knew they were mad at her because, she had been gone two days. They would get mad at her when she got migraines (they thought she was ignoring them). The radio would turn on in her bathroom when she showered. One day Ali was very upset about something and went into her room and a music box in the window that needed wound up turned on, on its own, and they whispered “it’s okay”.
As we got closer to moving I would verbally tell them to leave her alone and Ali told me they didn’t like me. After we moved out – they literally broke things – it was winter and the land lord blamed us for leaving the house a mess….It was spotless when we left. I saw pictures of what the landlord claims we did. The toilet in Ali’s bathroom had black water in it that had frozen and cracked the bowl. The oven had been turned on by the landlord to warm the house and all the grease on the exterior turned black. There was a huge water stain on the wood floor that could not be removed. We ended up owing $2000.00 to the landlord for repairs of things we did not do.
I did leave a necklace of Ali’s behind hoping they would not follow her. So far so good. It has been over two years. I wondered how to find out about the land the house is on but I don’t know where to start.
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