I love anything to do with haunted places. I have taken ghost tours all over the country: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and New York just to name a few. And I am always interested in visiting places that have been known to be haunted. Now, that does not mean I believe in ghosts. I am not one of those people that has been abducted by some white light in the middle of a corn field at midnight and had prongs stuffed up my butt by little green men (Why is it always men? What about little green chicks? That may make it a little more tolerable). But I like ghost stories. It makes learning about history far more interesting.

The Whaley House in San Diego (Old Town, to be exact) is an example of history meeting the paranormal.

History

Thomas Whaley built the Whaley House in 1857. Thomas was married to Anna Whaley and they had six children. The house was used as a store as well as a residence. With the death of one of their sons and a fire at their store, the Whaley family decided to move to San Francisco in 1858. The house was turned over to Frank Ames, a Wells Fargo agent.

In 1868, Thomas Whaley, with money he made through stocks, moved back to San Diego and repaired the Whaley House. When he had finished, Anna and the rest of the family moved back (I feel that way about San Francisco too).

As the years passed, the house emptied. The children were married and left. In 1890, Thomas Whaley died. Anna Whaley died in 1905. The empty house fell into disrepair. Frank Whaley restored the house and used it as a tourist attraction, referring to its history and playing the guitar to entertain the patrons. Several of the Whaley family members lived in the house until Corinne Whaley died in 1853. The house was transformed into a museum in 1960 and in now run by the Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO).

The house has a notable history because it used to be a general store, a granary, a commercial theater and was the second county courthouse.

Rumors of Haunting

This is where the fun stuff comes out. The house was built on a property that was formerly a cemetery (that is never good). Violet Whaley, married to a con man who left her after receiving his dowry, committed suicide by shooting herself in the chest. Thomas Whaley Jr. died of scarlet fever. James “Yankee Jim”  Whaley was hung on the property (with a name like “Yankee Jim” he probably deserved it). The house had its fair share of tragedy. People reported hearing footsteps when the house was empty and seeing figures and apparitions. There were also reports that men were actually attacked by being pushed down the stairs or scratched (Violet Whaley?). Take a look at the video below for some of the weird things seen.

I thought I might get lucky and get pushed down those stairs or bit or whatever. I hoped for some sort of story to tell my grand kids.

The Tour

Like I said in my last post, my girlfriend had no interest in in seeing this place. The thought that there might be ghosts freaked her out. Luckily, a good meal and a glass of wine loosened her up and she came in with me. We started by walking into the granary that was later converted into a courtroom. I have to be honest with you, it was beautiful. It hardly looked like a room in a house. The granary was built with bricks to keep out the mice. It did not work (if you are ever in Old Town, you will see mice everywhere). It was converted into a courtroom because the county needed one in the area.

There were tables with two books. One book had the history of the house. But it was the other book that held Josie’s attention. It was a book of photographic “evidence” of ghosts. It was interesting to look at but, I have to be honest with you, it did not look like much to me.

Next, we walked across the hall and we looked at a family room. One thing that amazed me about this house was how beautifully furnished and decorated it was. And how small it was. I couldn’t believe the Whaleys actually got five people to live in this place.

Next. time to look in the kitchen. Now, there have never been ghosts seen in the kitchen. This is not a surprise. This kitchen sucks. It is plain, small and has very limited counter space. I can’t imagine cooking much in this place. And forget about Josie ever cooking again.

Time to go upstairs. Now, these stairs have been an adventure for some visitors. Especially men. Men have been touched, scratched and even pushed down the stairs by a vengeful female spirit (or those men tripped but that doesn’t make such a great story). I walked up the stairs…slowly. Nothing. I was hoping to get pushed. It would have been alright. I would have landed on Josie. Trust me, that would have been a soft (and warm) landing. But nothing.

I tried to record the upstairs (especially while walking up the stairs) but there were too many museum cops. I took about four seconds of video and stopped. I decided to just take pictures of the bedrooms. Again, they were beautifully decorated but very small.

It really was a very nice place. It amazed me how so many people lived in such a small place. I was also amazed by how many transformations this place went through over the last 150 years. But I was disappointed. No ghosts or vengeful violence. But you can’t win all the time.

But I did get some hope. If I can’t get any ghost-love during the day, maybe I’ll get it at night. Time for a ghost tour.

Stand by. I think (for $40) things could get real.

Thank to:
Wikipedia.com (Whaley House history)
Terry M. West (YouTube video)