Volume 46 - No. 42
October 20, 2016
By Friedrich Gomez
San Diego County has often been referred to as “The Most Haunted Place in America,” and not without reason. Or, at least not without wide-spread allegations. Such a dubious distinction would place San Diego alongside such noteworthy spooky adversaries as Salem, Massachusetts; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston, Texas; and San Francisco, California, to name just a few ghostly contenders to the throne.
The grisly history of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania certainly places it among the Top Ten List. As writer and ghost expert, Angela Nightingale, states: “During the Civil War, thousands of soldiers were wounded or killed on the Gettysburg, Battlefield. There was so much spilled blood that medical personnel created holes in the floors in order to drain it. Several streets and homes near this historic battlefield have reports of ghostly sights from this historic and fatal event.” Yet, in Nightingale’s “10 Most Haunted Cities in America,” she ranks Gettysburg as No. 7 on the Top Ten List. She, frightfully, places San Diego County as a much more haunted city – by far! Unlike Gettysburg and other ghostly areas, San Diego has an unusually high number of so-called haunted places – far more than most other cities, combined! For both ghost hunters and paranormal scientists, San Diego County has long ruled supreme as being the most haunted city in America, or so it has been said. Film crews and researchers from around the globe have found San Diego to be, well, out-of-this-world. An unusually wide spectrum of historical documentaries, science-fiction shows, and even television’s “Paranormal Files” have found the ghostly feedingtrough in San Diego to be unending.
Such ghostly curiosity is nothing new to our city. Far from it. As far back as September of 2005, LIFE magazine sent prize-winning photographer, Kevin Cooley, to capture three stunning photographs of the Whaley House for their October 21 national issue. LIFE magazine referred to San Diego’s Whaley House, in Old Town, as: “The most haunted house in America!” And that assessment was nothing new!
So widespread and powerfully-popular is this haunted San Diego The Paper - 760.747.7119
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dwelling, that the Whaley House was actually mentioned in the 2007 animated movie, “Hellboy: Blood and Iron.” And in 2012, the film studio, Asylum, premiered the movie titled, “The Haunting of Whaley House,” which further entrenched its pervasive status. The Whaley House’s ghostly history, legend, and lore were used as the fundamental story line of the movie!
More recently, in 2014, San Diego’s Whaley House was the top story on the popular television series, “Ghost Adventures,” making the show’s 110th episode among the most popular for television viewers! No small feat when one considers that the Ghost Adventures’ TV crew travel worldwide, visiting the scariest and most haunted places in the world! So, let’s take a closer – and spookier - look at what many investigators call America’s most haunted city -- San Diego! But, this time, let’s take a fresher look at some old familiar places, as well as some undiscovered ones that just might surprise you! THE HOTEL DEL CORONADO.
Certainly, one of San Diego County’s most reputed places of ghosts, poltergeists, and phantoms, is the worldrenowned Hotel Del Coronado. However, the legend and lore of the hotel is so gargantuan on its own merits as to even overshadow any ghostly connections. When the colossal Hotel Del Coronado first opened its doors in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel on planet Earth, Obituaries Memorials Area Services Page 12
and one of the largest wooden structures in the entire United States (it was built without the use of any nails – wooden pegs were used instead). The fame of ‘The Del’ (as she is affectionately known), is so overwhelming that since she made her debut 128 years ago, every U.S. President – except for six – has stayed there! She has been the ultimate mecca for royalty, VIPs, and Hollywood’s greatest movie stars. From Charlie Chaplin to Babe Ruth; Charles Lindbergh to Amelia Earhart; John F. Kennedy to L. Frank Baum (author of the Wizard of Oz books), and from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna and President Barak Obama, the Del’s fame and beauty is said to be without equal. The Del was also the very first hotel in world history to utilize that other-worldly invention, called electrical lighting! To many rural residents of the time, such artificial illumination by electricity was even spookier than, well, spooky spirits! Perhaps this early lighting system would prove fortuitous to better see any ghosts which, supposedly, still haunt this magnificent structure that has been, officially, designated a National Historic Landmark. Speaking of ghosts and things that go bump in the night, one of the more high-profile episodes was said to have occurred in May of 1983, when then Vice-President George H. W. Bush (the elder), paid an official visit to San Diego and decided to bed-down at the historic Hotel Del Coronado. The U. S. Secret Service agents are, traditionally, fearless.
However, perhaps their fearlessness only extends to earthly parameters. While George Bush slept serenely, one of his agents most definitely did not! Unknown to him at the time, the agent was placed in what is now, reputed, to be one of the most haunted rooms at the Hotel Del Coronado. A room that has long been investigated by various television shows and paranormal scientists for its unearthly manifestations. On this particular night, George Bush’s poor Secret Service man had to get out of a warm bed to try to shut the windows of his room when the curtains kept billowing outward, resembling, somewhat, a Victorianstyle dress, all of which was distracting him from sleep. He decided that he had to close the windows to stifle the incoming wind. To his great surprise, the secret agent found his windows were already tightly shut! Things got spookier.
A breeze kept chilling his room and strange guttural sounds began to emerge from nowhere! The final straw came when the Secret Service man, purportedly, became startled when he saw the ceiling of his room suddenly immersed in an eerie glow that slowly spread throughout his room! It was then, as recorded, that the Secret Service agent called the check-in reception desk, complaining of various unexplained events in his room, not the least of which were loud noises in the room above him, during the night. When told there was no other room above him
San Diego . . . Haunted City Continued on Page 2