6 Most Haunted Locations on the West Coast

With its picturesque beaches and year-round, ideal weather, San Diego is not generally known for the dark and macabre. But the Whaley House, built in 1855 on the site of the infamous hanging of thief Yankee Jim Robinson, has a cursed history.

When Thomas and Anna Whaley moved into the home, they set their sights on starting a family and opening a general store business. It wasn’t long after, however, that a series of horrific events plagued them. From a fire that ravaged the estate to the death of their infant son, a robbery, and even the suicide of one of their adult daughters, the family suffered one tragedy after another. Though they continued to live in the house until their deaths, some say their spirits still remain.

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Whaley House has gone through several restorations, and in that time, workers claim to have heard the cries of a baby, believing it to be the young son who passed away. Others have reported hearing loud footsteps while being alone in the house or seeing the ghost of the Whaley’s daughter, who committed suicide, roaming the second-floor balcony.

The Winchester Mystery House, as its name suggests, is perhaps the most baffling of all the famously haunted houses in California and one of the most haunted locations on the West Coast.

It was built by the heiress to the Winchester rifle estate, Sarah Winchester, who believed she was haunted by the ghosts of those killed by her late husband’s guns. She felt that the only solution to the hauntings was to design a house so confusing and absurd that it would keep the spirits at bay. Staircases and doors that lead to nowhere fill the labyrinthine, 160-room mansion.

While it is now widely known that Sarah Winchester was not only eccentric but also reportedly mentally ill, some feel there is truth to the presence of specters wandering the grounds. Many claim to have felt a chill while touring the estate, and sightings of apparitions are rumored to be in the thousands. 

“The Rock,” as it is commonly known, is one of the most famous prisons in history, with a sordid and notorious reputation. Alcatraz Prison itself lies on the island it is named after, which legend says may have been cursed by the local Native American tribe, who believed it to be inhabited by evil spirits.

There are countless records of the deaths and suicides that happened within the prison’s walls, and with that, the inevitable ghost stories to accompany them. Most notably, Cell 14D housed a prisoner who, late one night, screamed of seeing a creature with glowing eyes attempting to kill him and was found dead the next morning.

Tourists report feeling a presence upon entering the cell or hearing the bloodcurdling scream of its past inhabitants. Cell Block C and the laundry room also have stories of being haunted by a man called “The Butcher,” a hit man for the mafia who a fellow inmate murdered.

Whether there is any truth to the myths surrounding this ill-famous penitentiary, it nonetheless remains a foreboding and creepy tourist attraction. 

Nearly every town has “that road,” with tales of supernatural visitors wandering it at night, and the renowned Highway 101 near Cannon Beach, Oregon, is no different.

Accounts of the “Bandage Man,” a bloodied, gauze-covered spirit seen on the side of the highway after dark, often on foggy nights, are widely known amongst locals. Legend also tells of the Bandage Man appearing in the backseat of driver’s cars, prompting many to avoid the road at night altogether. 

Wolf Creek Inn, Oregon’s oldest operating hotel, is also reputed to be its most haunted. The stately inn was built in the late 1880s and housed many famous people, including President Rutherford B. Hayes, Orson Wells, and Jack London. In fact, London is believed to be one of the most frequent paranormal visitors to the hotel.

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Guests have allegedly seen a piano playing on its own, furniture moving across rooms, and spectral historical figures floating in empty corridors. Those brave enough to explore the grounds to find out for themselves can book a late-night tour with a medium to try to reach out to the resident spirits.

Penned as “America’s Most Haunted Bar,” Kell’s Irish Pub, in the heart of Seattle, has a history right out of a horror movie. Built on the site of the Butterworth Mortuary from the 1900s, the land has seen its fair share of bodies. The mortuary housed the majority of the city’s deceased at a time when the Spanish Flu, Diphtheria, mining accidents, and violent crime ran rampant.

Today, Kell’s is a popular, lively Irish Pub whose history has been covered in many news articles and featured on the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures. Patrons and employees have described seeing mirrors shatter on their own, apparitions dressed in historical clothing, and catching the faint smell of formaldehyde in back rooms.

The hosts of Ghost Adventures tell of snapping a picture of a child sitting on the steps of the bar. Whether there’s any validity in the eerie tales or not, folks can grab a pint and stay for a while to see if there are other spirits besides the liquid kind present during their visit.

We hope you enjoyed taking a tour of these real haunted locations on the West Coast.

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