Antoinette May - Haunted Houses of California: A Ghostly Guide to Haunted Houses and Wandering Spirits

by Antoinette May

WIDE WORLD PUBLISHING/TETRA

To the late Nick Nocerino
and ghost chasers everywhere.

Front cover illustration: Winchester Mystery House.

Courtesy of Winchester Mystery House
525 South Winchester Boulevard
San Jose, California.

Back cover photographs: The Queen Mary, the Flood Building, Nick Nocerino and Antoinette May, Ahwahnee, Hotel del Coronado, Winchester Mystery House, the Grande Colonial in 1928.

Portions of this book originally appeared in somewhat different form in Haunted Houses and Wandering Ghosts. San Francisco Examiner Division of the Hearst Corporation. Special Projects.

Copyright 1990, 1993 by Antoinette May. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, or transmitted or translated without written permission from Wide World Publishing. Without limiting the rights under the copyrights reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without written permission from Wide World Publishing.

From Third Revised trade paperback Edition. Updated & Expanded.

1st e-book format edition 2012 ISBN: 978-1-884550-68-3

Published by:
WIDE WORLD PUBLISHING/TETRA
P.O. Box 476
San Carlos, CA 94070
http://www.wideworldpublishing.com

Library of Congress Cataloging -in-Publication Data

May, Antoinette.

Haunted houses of California : a ghostly guide / by Antoinette May.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-933174-91-8 : $10.95

1. Haunted houses--California. 2. Ghosts--California. 3. California--Description and travel--Guide-books. I. Title.

BF1472.U6M39 1993

133. 1'09794--dc20

90-12758

CIP

Although the publishers have made every effort to ensure the information was correct at the time of going to press, the publishers do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or injury caused by information contained in this book. Further, the publishers disclaim any liability resulting from use of this book.

True love is like ghosts,
which everybody talks about
and few have seen.

Franois Duc de la Rochefoucauld

Its not just what we inherit from our
mothers and fathers that haunts us.
Its all kinds of old defunct
theoriesbeliefs. Ive only to pick up a
newspaper and I seem to see ghosts gliding
between the lines.

Henrik Ibsen

How much does a man
live, after all?
Does he live a thousand
days, or one only?
For a week or for several
centuries?
How long does a man
spend dieing?

Pablo Neruda

I do not feel myself
authorized to reject all ghost
stories; for however
improbable one taken alone
might appear, the mass of
them taken together
command credence.

Immanuel Kant

That affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him
with intelligence.

William Shakespeare

All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within
a dream.

Edgar Allen Poe

While yet a boy I sought for ghosts,
with fearful steps pursuing
Hopes of high talk with the departed dead.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I long to talk with some
old lovers ghost,
Who died before the god
of love was born.

John Donne

The ghosts of defunct
bodies fly.

Samuel Butler

THAT SAN FRANCISCOS RIOTOUS HISTORY AND UNRESOLVED conflicts would inspire restless spirits isnt surprising. Who knows how many specters haunt the historic Hotel Union Square? Concierge Tom Steele says guests like the hotels accommodations so much that some never check out.

Hotel Union Square

In 2003 a young Scot traveling with his grandmother complained to Steele that a woman ghost appeared to him in Room 207. Shes friendlytoo friendly. I was up most of the night closing the bathroom doorthen re-closing it. She wanted to come out and wake up my grandmother.

Hotelier Yvonne Lembi-Detert avoids 207. I turn my back and things appear out of nowhere, she says. Nothing scarythe last object was a Kleenexbut it still spooked me.