AFFLUENCE AND AFFLICTION
From resounding hills to the glistening Pacific, San Francisco is one of the most desirable places to experience. However, the greed and prosperity that helped found a plethora of tech companies from Apple, Pixar, and Uber to Twitter and AirBnB came with a horrible price. The city that created the first Chinatown birthed some of the most terrifying hauntings and ghosts in the Western Hemisphere.
Devilish disasters and heartbreaking misfortunes mark every point of its tragic timeline. The frontier founders that once shaped history in these iconic buildings forever dwell and haunt visitors to this day.
It’s not uncommon to book a room at one of San Francisco’s infamous hotels, like the Fairmont, and then feel the intense desire to check out much sooner than anticipated. Perhaps being one of the sole survivors of the 1909 earthquake made it an attractive new haunt for ghosts from other destroyed properties. While some of these ghosts mean no harm, others appear a bit more maleficent. While it may seem that some of these ghosts mean no harm, others appear far more maleficent and promise a night of torture and torment.
Don’t miss this crippling experience on a San Francisco ghost tour that will send shockwaves of terror down your spine.
WHAT WILL I SEE?
Hotel and Hollywood Horrors, Secrets and Spirits in the Shadows
Venture into the calamitous streets of the city and hear the less-than-glamorous stories of the ghostly Nob Hill district and Union Square. From prestigious haunted hotels and clubs to eerie historic parks to scandalous Hollywood secrets, an abundance of unexplained events echoes the tragedies of the city’s perilous past. Iconic spots like the famous Fairmont Hotel continue to house horrors few dare to whisper of.
Hear the shocking details behind the true story of a murdered street-walker that has a habit of leaving bathtubs overflowing with an unknown substance, and even more terrifying– lipstick stains on unexpecting sleeper’s cheeks. Hear and perhaps even witness the bizarre apparition known as the Wandering Bride. The ghastly being that slips in from the cold, a flowing old tattered 19th-century wedding dress marking her passage.
Uncover the brave story of Dennis T. Sullivan, and how the man was cooked, with severe third-degree burns, his face melted, and his ribs crushed, continuing to perform with his Company and save others during the 1906 earthquake. Visit his memorial as we recount stories from all over the city of his ghost and how it has become a guardian angel of the needy.
These are just some of the many specters that hide in the shadows of the streets you will dare to investigate.
Mayan Curses and the Blacklist of Death
Ol’ Frisco was a beacon of hope that drew in crowds from all around the country and even the world. People looked to the United States as a bright shining light to which they could travel, and possibly strike it rich, and The Golden City was the brightest on the Pacific coast. Like moths, millions came chasing fortune and glittery gold… and many ventured too close to the flame and went up in smoke. Others were sucked into the darkness of despair, crime, and violence, leaving evidence of unbelievable rituals and symbols followed by hauntings and horror.
Discover the secrets of ancient Mayans that are carved into the interior of the Sutter building, their darkest deeds made the city a magnet for things from beyond better left undistributed. Rumors, strange affiliations, and prejudices plagued individuals and, boiling in their souls’ embers of bigotry, xenophobia, and wrapped views on others. It was a fight between “Them” and “Us”. Dozens were lost in this struggle, including celebrities like Roscoe Fatty Arbucle, who was blacklisted by the film industry.
See where it all unfolded, hear the sordid details of one of the most tragic nights in the history of San Francisco, and walk amongst the haunted buildings that still reverberate with the dark energy from that night. Be careful exactly where you tread, though…Their spirits demand justice and demand to be heard. Adventures with San Francisco Ghosts and give them the attention they deserve and call for.
What makes San Francisco so haunted?
Shortly after the US conquered and settled in San Francisco, this incredibly historic city boomed with an influx of travelers and immigrants in search of gold and wealth, starting with the Gold Rush of 1849. Each brought with them a little bit of the madness inherent to their childhood homes. And the first thing they related, on ships crashing into the port, on bars down by the wharf, on lonely nights out in the hills, or on fishing vessels stuck in the fog circling the island of immortals were the ghost stories and otherworldly creatures they brought with them.
Those tales and an influx of people who saw that the easiest path forward to notoriety and fortune was on the backs of their neighbors, and by taking what their fellow citizens had worked to earn. This negative spirit and energy of theft, greed, and misfortune continued to infect San Francisco, and each neighborhood had its own patron boogeyman. For years, those invading outsiders claimed the souls of the city’s citizens who became victims. Some even coerced or convinced them to join the darkness and commit the vilest deeds themselves.
The Calamity that Created the Ghosts of San Francisco
Then, among the turmoil, the social upheaval, and the class warfare, Mother Nature intervened. At the start of the 20th century, San Francisco suffered one of the biggest natural calamities in US history. A massive earthquake shook and even swallowed whole parts of the city.
Neighborhoods collapse into tunnels, some preserved underneath the city as if in amber to this day. Fire ran like quicksilver across the streets. Floods swallowed whole sections into the bay. And, after the finger of God had taken its toll, over 3,000 people, and rats descended on the city — bringing with them plague, pestilence, and famine.
After all that heartache, San Francisco persevered, but the pain and tragedy was etched into the soul of the city and the spirits of those who were lost would forever haunt it. The city was built back up, brick by brick, but the aftermath of this disaster still plays out in Huntington Park where numerous hauntings have been reported, as well as sights indicating a former battleground.
Fog City is so haunted because we brought terrors from other lands to it, and when God decided to wipe them off the face of the map, we were too stubborn to allow it.
* This is a walking tour and we do not enter privately-owned buildings or private property *