17 Most Haunted Places in the Bay Area to Visit in 2026

The San Francisco Bay Area, known for its fog-shrouded hills, iconic bridges, and vibrant culture, harbors a darker side beneath its picturesque facade.

As twilight descends and shadows lengthen, whispers of the past come alive in its historic buildings, abandoned tunnels, and windswept shores.

From Victorian mansions with secrets etched into their very walls to decommissioned military installations where echoes of bygone eras linger, the Bay Area is a treasure trove of paranormal activity.

Whether you’re a hardened skeptic armed with scientific explanations or a true believer attuned to the whispers of the otherworldly, these haunted locations offer a captivating glimpse into a mysterious side of the Bay Area that few dare to explore.

Each site serves as a portal to the past, challenging our perceptions and igniting our imagination.

Let’s uncover the top 13 haunted places in the Bay Area, where history and mystery intertwine to create an atmosphere thick with intrigue and the unexplained.

Ready for a scare? Discover the 13 most haunted places in the #BayArea, where history and mystery collide. From eerie mansions to haunted ships, these ghost stories will chill you to the bone! #California #Halloween Share on X

1. Winchester Mystery House, San Jose

• Address: 525 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose, CA 95128
• Can you go inside? Yes
• Tours: Guided mansion tours daily. Festival Fright Nights runs select nights, 18 September to 1 November 2026
• Plan your visit: winchestermysteryhouse.com

Background: Built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the firearm magnate William Winchester, this sprawling mansion is famous for its bizarre architecture.

Staircases lead to nowhere, doors open into walls, and hidden passages twist throughout the house.

Haunted History: Sarah Winchester reportedly built the house to ward off the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles.

Visitors and staff often report ghostly sightings, sudden cold drafts, and the sound of footsteps echoing in empty corridors.

READ MORE: The Ultimate Guide to San Jose’s Most Spectacular Halloween Displays

2. Alcatraz Island, San Francisco

• Address: Ferries leave from Pier 33, Alcatraz Landing, The Embarcadero at Bay St, San Francisco
• Can you go inside? Yes, including the cellhouse
• Tours: Day and night ferry tours with an audio guide. Book well ahead — they sell out a month out in peak season
• Plan your visit: the National Park Service

Background: Once home to some of America’s most notorious criminals, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary is now a popular tourist attraction with a dark history.

Its isolated location and history of failed escape attempts add to its chilling aura.

Haunted History: Visitors and former guards have reported hearing clanging sounds, phantom footsteps, and disembodied voices.

Cell blocks D and C are particularly active, with spectral inmates and strange sensations being commonly reported.

READ MORE: Best Ghost Tours in San Francisco

3. USS Hornet Museum, Alameda

• Address: 707 W Hornet Ave, Pier 3, Alameda, CA 94501
• Can you go inside? Yes
• Tours: Docent tours daily. After-hours ghost tours run in October, ages 13 and over
• Plan your visit: uss-hornet.org
• October ghost tours: hauntedhornet.com

Background: This decommissioned aircraft carrier saw action in the Second World War and Vietnam, and then did something no other ship has done: it recovered the crews of both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 in 1969.

The ship is now a museum with a storied and tragic past.

Haunted History: Carriers are dangerous places to work, and the Hornet had its share of accidents over decades of service. You will see much bigger numbers quoted online — hundreds of deaths, Navy records for suicides — but those figures do not appear in any Navy or museum source, so I am not going to repeat them here.

What is true is that the ship has been investigated on Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures and My Ghost Story, and that crew and visitors keep reporting the same things: apparitions of sailors, voices in empty corridors, and the figure of a man in the engine room.

Fun fact: The Hornet is the only ship to have brought home the first two crews ever to walk on the Moon. Its Apollo exhibit is the largest on the West Coast, and includes the Mobile Quarantine Facility the astronauts were sealed into on deck.

4. Moss Beach Distillery, Moss Beach

• Address: 140 Beach Way, Moss Beach, CA 94038
• Can you go inside? Yes — it is a working restaurant, so you go in to eat or drink
• Tours: No tours. Phone ahead for a table
• Plan your visit: mossbeachdistillery.com

Background: Frank Torres built this place in 1927 as a speakeasy called Frank’s Place, perched above a cove where rum-runners rowed Canadian whiskey ashore in the fog. It was never raided once in thirteen years of Prohibition. Torres knew the right people. Dashiell Hammett drank here and put it into his fiction.

Haunted History: The Blue Lady is the ghost everyone comes for — a woman said to have died near the cliffs in the 1920s, caught up in an affair with a piano player. She has been on television, and she is the reason this restaurant appears on every haunted list in California.

Here is the part those lists leave out. When a television crew investigated in 2008 they found the haunting had been helped along — a face built into a bathroom mirror, a speaker rigged to play laughter as you walked past, chandeliers set up to sway. They declined to go any further. Nobody appears to have reported a ghost here before 1981, which is roughly when the restaurant needed a reason for people to make the drive.

I would still go, though. Not for her — for a window seat when the fog rolls in over the cove, and for the fact that you are drinking somewhere that got away with it for thirteen years straight.

Fun fact: Prohibition ran thirteen years, and Frank’s Place was never raided once. Almost every other speakeasy on this stretch of coast was.

5. Haskell House, Fort Mason, San Francisco

• Address: Quarters 3, Franklin Street, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA 94123
• Can you go inside? No — it is a private residence and park staff live there
• Tours: No interior tours. The free self-guided Fort Mason History Walk passes the house, and you can see it from the street
• Plan your visit: the National Park Service

Background: Built in the 1850s, Haskell House sits in the historic Fort Mason area. It was the site of a fatal duel in 1859 involving Senator David Broderick, which has left its mark on the property.

Haunted History: The spirit of Senator Broderick is said to haunt the house, with reports of sudden temperature drops and eerie sounds.

Visitors have reported seeing apparitions and experiencing ghostly noises, particularly in the room where Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Haskell died.

6. Sutro Baths Ruins, San Francisco

• Address: Lands End, near 680 Point Lobos Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
• Can you go inside? Yes — the ruins are open-air and free to walk through
• Tours: No official ghost tour. San Francisco City Guides runs a free Lands End walk
• Plan your visit: the National Park Service

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Background: Once a grand indoor swimming complex, the Sutro Baths lie in eerie ruins beside the Pacific Ocean. Originally opened in 1896, the site fell into disrepair after a fire in 1966.

Haunted History: The Sutro Baths are the subject of many ghost stories, with visitors claiming to hear splashing sounds and voices when no one is around.

There are also tales of a “ghost tunnel” where people are said to disappear, adding to the mysterious atmosphere.

7. Rengstorff House, Mountain View

• Address: 3070 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043
• Can you go inside? Yes, but only during tour hours
• Tours: Free docent-led tours, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1 to 4pm and Saturdays 9am to noon
• Plan your visit: the City of Mountain View

Background: This Victorian Italianate mansion, built in the 1860s by Henry Rengstorff, is one of the oldest structures in Mountain View and has been restored to showcase its historical charm.

Haunted History: The Rengstorff family is said to still haunt the halls, with sightings of a woman in period dress. Phantom footsteps and unexplained movements of objects are common occurrences, with the attic considered especially active.

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8. Black Diamond Mines, Antioch

• Address: 5175 Somersville Road, Antioch, CA 94509
• Can you go inside? Yes — underground, but only on a guided tour
• Tours: The Coal Mine Experience, $3 per person, weekends, ages 7 and over. Book ahead
• Plan your visit: East Bay Regional Park District

Background: The Black Diamond Mines area was a bustling coal mining district in the 19th century. The area also suffered from a smallpox epidemic that devastated the local community.

Haunted History: The “White Witch,” believed to be Sarah Norton, a midwife accused of witchcraft, is said to haunt the site. Visitors have reported seeing apparitions in the mine’s tunnels and hearing strange, unexplainable noises echoing through the darkness.

9. Brookdale Lodge, Santa Cruz Mountains

• Address: 11570 Highway 9, Brookdale, CA 95007
• Can you go inside? Yes — it is a working hotel. Note the historic Brookroom, the dining hall with the creek running through it, is closed for restoration
• Tours: No tours
• Plan your visit: brookdalelodge.com

Background: Known for its unique feature of an indoor creek running through the dining room, Brookdale Lodge has a history of entertaining guests since the 1800s, with many stories of tragic deaths over the years.

Haunted History: The ghost of a young girl who allegedly drowned in the creek is often seen around the lodge. Guests report hearing her laughter, as well as witnessing other strange occurrences throughout the property.

10. Dunsmuir Hellman Historic Estate, Oakland

• Address: 2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, CA 94605
• Can you go inside? The grounds yes, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm. The mansion only on a scheduled tour
• Tours: Docent and self-guided mansion tours, March to September. $10 adults, $8 seniors, $6 children
• Plan your visit: the estate website

Background: This magnificent 37-room Neoclassical mansion was built in 1899 by Alexander Dunsmuir as a wedding gift to his bride, though he tragically died on his honeymoon.

Haunted History: Staff and visitors have reported sightings of Dunsmuir himself, as well as other spirits believed to be former servants.

The sounds of children playing have also been heard in the gardens, despite no children being present.

11. Atherton Mansion, San Francisco

• Address: 1990 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
• Can you go inside? No — it was carved into private apartments a century ago
• Tours: No tours of the house. Some San Francisco ghost walks stop outside on the pavement

Background: Built in the late 1800s by Dominga de Goñi Atherton, widow of Faxon Atherton, this Victorian mansion has a history filled with mystery and tragedy.

The home was originally designed to showcase opulence and grandeur, but it soon became notorious for its unsettling atmosphere and a series of untimely deaths linked to the Atherton family.

Haunted History: The mansion’s haunted reputation is said to stem from its tumultuous past, including the deaths of several family members and occupants.

Numerous reports include ghostly apparitions seen in the windows, strange noises echoing through the halls, and an eerie feeling that seems to permeate the house.

Visitors have claimed to hear footsteps on the stairs when no one is there and experienced sudden chills in certain rooms, leaving many convinced that the mansion is still home to its original residents.

12. Presidio Officers’ Club, San Francisco

• Address: 50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94129
• Can you go inside? Yes — the Heritage Gallery is open Friday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm, free
• Tours: No regular guided tours. The exhibitions are self-guided, with staff on hand
• Plan your visit: presidio.gov

Background: Originally constructed in the 1770s, the Presidio Officers’ Club is one of San Francisco’s oldest buildings, serving as part of the historic military fort.

Over the centuries, it has functioned as a social club, a mess hall, and even a place of command, making it a cornerstone of the Presidio’s long and storied history.

Haunted History: The Presidio Officers’ Club is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of soldiers and families who once lived there.

Strange noises, phantom footsteps, and apparitions dressed in old military uniforms have been reported.

Some visitors have claimed to feel an inexplicable chill in certain rooms, while others report seeing fleeting shadows that seem to vanish upon closer inspection, making the Officers’ Club a site of lingering intrigue and mystery.

13. Curran Theatre, San Francisco

• Address: 445 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
• Can you go inside? Only with a ticket to a performance
• Tours: No public or backstage tours
• Plan your visit: the box office

Background: Opened in 1922, the Curran Theatre has been a significant cultural landmark in San Francisco, hosting a wide range of Broadway productions, concerts, and events.

The historic building has maintained its grandeur over the years, becoming an iconic destination for theatergoers.

Haunted History: The Curran Theatre is said to be haunted by the ghost of a stagehand who tragically fell to his death many years ago.

Theater staff and visitors have reported seeing a shadowy figure lurking behind the curtains, as well as experiencing mysterious cold drafts and hearing unexplainable noises.

The eerie sightings often occur late at night, with some performers even claiming to have felt an unseen presence during their shows.

Despite its glamorous history, the theater’s haunted tales have added an air of mystery that attracts both theater lovers and ghost hunters alike.

Four more places that feel haunted, even if the record says otherwise

The four that follow are not quite like the thirteen above. Their ghost stories are thin, borrowed, or in one case entirely absent. I have put them in anyway, because atmosphere is its own thing, and because each of these is a genuinely good day out.

I will tell you plainly, in each one, where the legend runs out.

14. Fort Point, San Francisco

• Address: Long Avenue and Marine Drive, San Francisco, CA 94129, directly beneath the Golden Gate Bridge
• Can you go inside? Yes, and it is free. Thursday to Monday, 10am to 5pm. The roof closes at 4:30pm
• Tours: Free ranger talks daily at 11:30am, 1:30pm and 2:30pm. The ranger-led Candlelight Tour runs November to February, ages 12 and over, and tickets go live on Recreation.gov exactly two weeks ahead at 7am
• Plan your visit: the National Park Service

Background: Built between 1853 and 1861 from eight million bricks on granite shipped from China, this is the only fort of its kind on the West Coast. It was armed and garrisoned through the Civil War and never fired a shot in anger.

When Joseph Strauss designed the Golden Gate Bridge he redrew the south anchorage as a steel arch rather than demolish it. The fort sits underneath, in the shadow and the noise of the traffic overhead.

Haunted History: You will find Fort Point on plenty of haunted lists, usually with a woman in white on the stairs. I could not find a single ranger account, archive story or pre-internet source for her. That story appears to belong to the Presidio Officers’ Club a couple of miles away.

The National Park Service does publish a page called Ghosts of the Golden Gate. It is a set of then-and-now historic photographs. I suspect that is where the confusion started.

So why is it here. Because it is the coldest, darkest, dampest building in San Francisco, the spiral granite staircases have no handrails, and the wind comes off the water through the casemates. It is a fort that waited eighty years for an enemy that never came. Eerie is not the same as haunted, and this place is unmistakably eerie.

Tip: The Candlelight Tour is the best after-dark historic experience in the city and almost nobody knows about it. Lanterns provided, ninety minutes, all four levels including the roof, about seventy-six steps. Set an alarm for the release time, because it is small.

Fun fact: Kim Novak jumps into the bay here in Vertigo.

15. Angel Island Immigration Station, Tiburon

• Address: Angel Island, Tiburon, CA 94920. The station is about 1.2 miles on foot from the ferry dock at Ayala Cove
• Can you go inside? Yes. The Detention Barracks Museum opens roughly Wednesday to Friday 11am to 2:30pm and weekends 11am to 4pm, but hours move with the ferry timetable, so ring (415) 435-5537 first
• Tours: Self-guided $5 adult and $3 for ages 5 to 17. Guided $7 and $5. You need a ferry either way, from Tiburon or on Golden Gate Ferry from the San Francisco Ferry Building, and you must buy your return before you board
• Plan your visit: aiisf.org

Background: The station ran from January 1910 to November 1940. Arrivals at Ellis Island were typically processed in two or three hours. Here the purpose was the opposite: to keep people out. Some were held for weeks. Some for two years.

While they waited, detainees carved poems into the soft wood of the barracks walls with the ends of ink brushes. Hundreds of them, in classical Chinese forms, about homesickness and humiliation and the sea.

They were painted over, forgotten, and rediscovered in 1970 by a park ranger named Alexander Weiss, at the point when the state was preparing to demolish the building. They are the reason it still stands.

Haunted History: The story you will read everywhere is of a Chinese bride facing deportation who hanged herself in the women’s washroom. There is no name attached to it, no date, and no record. Historians who have gone looking have not found it.

Neither the park service nor the immigration station foundation makes any paranormal claim at all. A television crew once renamed the island Devil Island and recast what happened here as something demonic, which I think tells you more about television than about the island.

Go for the poems. What happened in that building is heavier than any ghost story anybody has invented for it.

Tip: The ferry is the constraint, not the museum. There is no Monday or Tuesday service in autumn, and from November it drops to weekends only. Check the timetable before anything else.

16. Colma

• Address: Colma sits just south of San Francisco. Start at Cypress Lawn, 1370 El Camino Real, or the Colma Historical Museum at 1500 Hillside Blvd
• Can you go inside? Yes, and it is free. Cypress Lawn opens its gates 8am until dusk. The Historical Museum opens Saturdays only, noon to 3pm
• Tours: Cypress Lawn runs free docent trolley tours on request through its Heritage Foundation, which is the best thing in town and worth emailing ahead for. Paid specialty walking tours sell out months in advance
• Plan your visit: Cypress Lawn

Background: Around fifteen hundred people live in Colma. Roughly one and a half million are buried there, across seventeen cemeteries covering about seventy-three per cent of the town.

It exists because San Francisco evicted its dead. The city banned new burials, then ordered the existing graves removed, and the cemetery operators bought land down the peninsula and moved everybody south.

In 1924 those same operators incorporated the place as a town, largely so San Francisco could never come for the land again. The town motto, and I promise I am not making this up, is It’s Great to Be Alive in Colma.

Haunted History: There isn’t one. Not a single ghost story. Even the haunted-places directories list nothing here, which given what they will list is remarkable.

Go anyway. Wyatt Earp is here. So are Levi Strauss, Joe DiMaggio, William Randolph Hearst and Emperor Norton, within a couple of square miles of each other, among some of the finest Victorian funerary architecture in California.

Tip: These are working cemeteries with funerals most days. Under-sixteens need an adult with them, pets are not allowed, and commercial photography is prohibited. Go quietly.

17. Queen Anne Hotel, San Francisco

• Address: 1590 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
• Can you go inside? The lobby and the parlour, yes. Upstairs only if you are staying. Rooms start around $185, more over Halloween
• Tours: None at the hotel. San Francisco ghost walks operate in the neighbourhood but no longer include it
• Plan your visit: queenanne.com

Background: Built in 1890 for Senator James Fair, a Comstock Lode silver king known as Slippery Jim, and opened not as a hotel but as a school for girls. It came through 1906 because the Van Ness firebreak held just to the east of it.

Haunted History: Miss Mary Lake ran that school from 1890 to 1896. She was a real person, on the record, in this building. Guests on the fourth floor, and room 410 in particular, report blankets tucked in around them, clothes folded, suitcases quietly unpacked. She is said to be a tidier rather than a frightener.

Of everything on this list, this is the ghost story with the firmest footing: a named woman, documented, in the actual room. But I could not find it in print anywhere before about 2000, sources cannot agree on whether 410 was her office or her bedroom, and she is buried three thousand miles away in New Jersey.

The hotel itself has quietly stopped mentioning her altogether.

Fun fact: You cannot request room 410 online. The booking system sells by room type, not number, so if you want that one you have to telephone and ask.

READ MORE: 21 Best Ghost Towns in California

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Travel Realizations

As I reflect on these ten haunted locations, I’m reminded that the Bay Area is more than just its stunning landscapes and bustling cities.

These stories of tragedy, resilience, and mystery remind me that places are more than the sum of their bricks and mortar—they hold memories, emotions, and perhaps even spirits.

In each whispering corridor and abandoned ruin, I encounter not just ghostly tales but reflections of humanity’s ongoing dance with the unknown.

Embracing the mysteries that surround me can be a powerful reminder that life, with all its light and darkness, is both fleeting and profoundly interconnected.

So, take a moment to let curiosity be your guide. You dare to explore, stay curious, and let these stories guide you beyond the veil of the everyday—into a world where history, mystery, and the human spirit intertwine.

Ghostly whispers, eerie ruins, and mysterious sightings—explore the haunted side of the #BayArea . Here are 13 places where spirits still linger. Dare to visit? #SanFrancisco #California #Halloween Share on X

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What are your favorite Halloween activities? Leave a comment below if you have any questions, or DM me on Instagram @travelrealizations. ​Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to the Top 13 Haunted Places in the Bay Area. You may also enjoy these Bay Area and California travel guides.

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• Best Ghost Tours in San Francisco
• 20 Best Pumpkin Patches In The San Francisco Bay Area
• 20 Best Things to Do for Halloween in the San Francisco Bay Area 
• A Spooky Halloween Adventure in Gilroy Gardens
• 21 Best Ghost Towns in California

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