Published by Haunted America
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.com
Copyright 2021 by Brian Clune
All rights reserved
Unless otherwise noted, all images are courtesy of the authors collection.
First published 2021
E-Book edition 2021
ISBN 978.1.43967.363.8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021941112
Print Edition ISBN 978.1.46714.989.1
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
San Diego is known for its beach culture, sunny atmosphere and perfect weather.
Having to complete this book during the time of COVID-19, we would be remiss by not dedicating this book first and foremost to the men and women first responders and those in the medical field, who selflessly go to work every day with the purpose of saving lives. Along with all of the other essential workers and those civil servants who usually go unnoticed in being out there in the pandemic to keep our streets in repair, our trash picked up and our water, electricity and gas flowing, we thank you all.
This book is also dedicated to the Blue Orb of the USS Midway.
There are some human beings who are dimly aware of their own deaths, yet have chosen to stay on in what used to be their homes, to be close to their surroundings that they once held dear.
Hans Holtzer
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
St. Augustine, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, are a few of the cities one might think of as potentially being the most haunted in America. Fortunes might be lost betting that San Diego, California, appears on any national top 10 most haunted list. At first glance, there is no possible way that the self-proclaimed Americas Finest City could compete with such historical, paranormal lorerich locations. With Haunted Heart of San Diego, authors Brian Clune and Bob Davis go a long way to remedying this misperception.
As a San Diego County resident since I was a small child, my paranormal interests were nourished on the citys locations that gift us with high strangeness. Intense interest as a young adult in what might exist within possible realms beyond the mortal evolved years later into a technical manager position for a local high-profile paranormal investigation team.
In early 2012, after founding ParaXplorer Project, a paranormal exploration quorum, and joining Long Beach, Californias Queen Mary historical ship as its resident paranormal investigator shortly thereafter, I became colleagues with Brian and Bob. The two are long-established legacy paranormal investigators of the legendary grand ship. They use their research skills in this book to open the doors of not just famous San Diego landmarks, but also less known yet just as fascinating locations. Here they share detailed histories, long-standing paranormal claims and firsthand experiences.
Among many offerings are the USS Midway Museum, a historic naval aircraft carrier with possible spirit crew members fulfilling daily duties within its curiously active sick bay; the mysterious suicide of Kate Morgan, a young 1892 Hotel Del Coronado guest who may still claim current room 3327 as her own; the citys Maritime Museum, featuring the iron-hulled sailing ship Star of India, where shocking heel-to-toe phantom footsteps and anomalous vocalizations are heard; and a birthplace of Southern California commerce, Old Town San Diego, where a stunning number of business establishments report regular, unexplainable activity, often attributed to residents of times past. My team has had the privilege of exploring all of these sites.
No document of San Diego high strangeness would be complete if it ghosted what some consider the most haunted house in the world, Old Town San Diegos Whaley House Museum. The houses reputation for possessing resident spirits, starting soon after construction was completed in 1857, and to this day, draws guests from around the world. They make special treks to venture here when visiting Southern California.
The museum holds a special grip on locals, too. As children, my sister and I would lock eyes on that house on the corner each time our parents drove by. Our hypnotic gaze would not rest until the house was completely out of view. Little did I know that life would later come full circle when my investigation team members and I co-created and then co-hosted for several years the first Whaley House Museum Paranormal Investigation Tours. Reading the authors account of the house immediately transported me to a time as a boy in the back seat of our familys 1975 Ford Granada, peeking out the back window. Old Town San Diego and the Whaley familys impact on San Diegos paranormal profile and reputation cannot be underestimated and is well represented in this book.
Be prepared to have Brian and Bob transport you from San Diegos year-round beauty of blue skies and the comfort of perpetual seventy-four-degree weather into the dark, chill-inducing, mysterious haunted depths of what many in the paranormal field would argue is one of Americas most haunted cities.
Matthew Schulz
ParaXplorer Project founder and Queen Mary historic ship resident paranormal investigator
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, we would like to thank our families for allowing us to be away from home while researching and snapping photos for the book. Again, we need to thank our acquisitions editor, Laurie Krill, for her patience, professionalism and, most of all, friendship. We still have no idea how she puts up with us. Then there are those whose help was invaluable in being able to bring you the most accurate history and haunts of San Diegopeople like Eric Minella, the historian of the Cosmopolitan Hotel; Sal Caruso, owner of the Old Town Saloon; David Hanson, the curator of the USS Midway, not only for his professionalism but also for his editing skills and forthcoming attitude. Thank you, David. We also need to thank John Walsh and Al Sorkin of the San Diego Maritime Museum for reading through our tales of the Star of India and the steamship Berkeley and making sure we had our history correct and giving us great insight into the haunts of those ships. Last, and certainly not least, we have to thank Gina Petrone, historian of the Hotel Del Coronado. Her willingness to give us the true story of Kate Morgan and her restless spirit, along with the other tales of ghostly goings-on at the hotel, were invaluable. Thank you to everyone who took the time to help us and to so feely offer us their knowledge so that our readers could get the truth. We/ I, Brian also need to thank my wife, Terri, for being our initial editor, and from what I hear, those thanks also come from the staff at The History Press.
