San Francisco is reportedly one of the most haunted places in the country. From Alcatraz to the 1906 earthquake, who needs American Horror Story when you have creepy San Francisco history. Here are 5 spooky SF ghost stories to get you in the Halloween spirit!
The Curran Theatre Ghost
The Curran Theatre was opened on Geary Street in 1922. Eleven years after its opening, the treasurer of the theatre was murdered during an attempted robbery. He was shot and fell down the stairs into the box office where he was pronounced dead. People claim they can have seen his spirit in the mirror hanging in the lobby.
Chambers Mansion
Chambers Mansion was originally built in 1887 by Richard Chambers, a silver mine tycoon. When he died in 1901, the large Pacific Heights home was inherited by his two nieces who hated each other. Later, one of the nieces, Claudia Chambers, mysteriously died in the house by a “farm implementation accident.” It’s rumored that she was found nearly cut in half with multiple stab wounds, and in some accounts, decapitated.
When the mansion was turned into a hotel in the 1970s, guest reported having their sheets pulled off them in the night, hearing eerie noises, and other supernatural occurrences. Some even swear to have seen the ghost of Claudia still wandering the halls of the mansion.
The Lady of Stowe Lake
The legend of the Lady of Stowe Lake dates all the way back to an SF Chronicle article published on January 6, 1908.
She is said to be the mother who took her children to the park. Growing tired, she took a seat on a bench. She was joined by another woman and the two fell into deep conversation not noticing her stroller rolling off into the lake where her baby drowned. When she finished talking, the woman noticed her baby was missing. Frantically she searched the area for her baby asking passersby, “Have you seen my baby?” Devastated, the woman walked into the lake never to be seen again.
The Lady is said to wander around Stow Lake, dressed in a muddy white dress looking for her baby. Even the nearby statue of the “Pioneer Woman and Her Children” is said to move and change through her ghost.
Cameron House
Donaldina Cameron set up a safe house on Sacramento Street in Chinatown where she was able to help Chinese girls who were illegally smuggled into the country saving them from being sold into prostitution. The house was filled with secret doorways and sealed passages to hide the girls from police raids. When the 1906 earthquake hit the city, Cameron House caught fire in the aftermath of the quake. An unknown number of Chinese women died in the fire.
The building is still standing today and there are gold and red charms hung inside to ward off evil spirits, but many say the ghosts of those women still haunt Cameron House to this day.
Queen Anne Hotel
The Queen Anne Hotel opened in 1890, but before it was a hotel, the Victorian building was an etiquette school called Miss Mary Lake’s School for Girls. In 1896, the school was shut down due to financial difficulties, which broke Miss Mary Lake’s heart. Later the building was sold and became an exclusive gentleman’s club. From then on the building was sold several times until the 1980s when it was restored back into a hotel.
Miss Mary Lake is said to haunt the building as she wasn’t ready for someone to purchase the building from her. She has been said to specifically haunt Room 410, which was her old office. Many guests of the hotel have reported to see Miss Mary Lake wandering around causing mischief or just taking a casual stroll through the building.