This faux castle in Napa is only about a decade old, but the materials used to build it are much older and may have come with some hitchiking ghosts.

That’s what the guides on the Castello’s seasonal ghost tour say anyway, confessing to creepy experiences after hours at the winery--or maybe ghost stories are just good for scaring up some extra Halloween season business?

Chief Solano, namesake of Solano County (although his actual name was Sem-Yeto), appears beneath the buckeye tree marking his grave in Rockville Park to warn the careless away from trampling the graves of those massacred by the Spanish. That's the story, anyway.

Is the Napa Airport haunted? No. But their nearby administrative offices could be; this was once the home of sea captain John Greenwood, and it's here that burglars murdered his wife in 1896.

The crime resulted in California's last public hanging, and the old sea captain spent the rest of his life in mourning. Legend has it that he mourns here to this very day.

Brentwood’s resident spook is a considerate one: Ever since this bar’s original owner was murdered in a poker game over the sum of 11 cents, subsequent owners and employees claim to have seen him lurking around after hours, and sometimes leaving 11 cents on the bar after closing. At least he’s a ghost who remembers to tip.

Hundreds of towns have a variation of this Brentwood legend: The ghosts of kids killed in a bus accident in the '50s will push stalled cars out of danger at one particular intersection.

It's true that cars will behave strangely at spots like this and seem to roll uphill, but this is a natural phenomena known as a gravity hill, rather than the work of ghostly schoolchildren. Or so we’re told.

Maybe every Victorian house of sufficient age in the Bay Area needs its own ghost story. This historic landmark circa 1876 bears the name of army doctor Benjamin Lyford, but the supposed ghost in residence, Rosie Verrall, was, confusingly, the mistress of Lyford’s father-in-law John Reed.

However she came to be part of the house, overnight guests over the years sometimes attested to suddenly waking in the night to find her still there.

The original building on this site burned down in 1901 and the Claremont Hotel went up over a decade later.

There’s nothing strange about that—except maybe for the mysterious smell of smoke that some guests report in the middle of the night. The ghost of a little girl supposedly haunts the fourth floor too, particularly room 422. 

There are more stories about ghosts, unexplained apparitions, and frightening experiences from visitors to Alcatraz than there ever were prisoners at the infamous island lock up. Tourists reported rattling chains, cold chills, and phantom gunshots over the decades. 

Naturally the Golden Gate Bridge has ghost stories, but probably not in the way you think. The most famous of all the span’s specters is the SS Tennessee, a steamer ship that sank in the strait in 1853.

A long-retold urban myth holds that in 1942 the USS Kennison’s crew saw the ghost ship sail past them in the night while making way through the very same waters. Of course, since the supposed ghost is older than the bridge, this is more of a bay haunting than a bridge one.

The supposed ghost of the historic Haskell House—a man in a top hat seen pacing the rooms from time to time—may be Major Leonidas Haskell himself, or it may be Senator David Brock, who died here after being fatally shot in a duel by former California Supreme Court Justice David Terry near Lake Merced in 1859.

Or it could be nothing at all.

Even high society has its unexpected specters. When social columnist Pat Montandon held a zodiac themed party at her house in the 1960s, the tarot card reader she hired got angry and cursed the house with freezing spells, bloodstains on the ceilings, and disembodied scream—or that was the gossip at least.

Although it seems like the Golden Gate Bridge would be the natural spook spot, apparently the grim grinning ghosts prefer a neighboring span.

Nighttime commuters have sometimes reported a phantom Highway Patrol officer during late crossings, who vanishes after pulling cars over. Please do note that this is not an excuse to decline to pull over on Halloween night.

Perhaps no neighborhood in San Francisco is more rife with ghost stories than Chinatown. Cynthia Yee, founder of Chinatown Ghost Tours, relates the tale of how her grandfather spotted a spectral cow wandering up Grant one day in 1905, and then saw it again one year later—on the day of the 1906 earthquake.

The historic Whittier Mansion was built in 1896 by William Franklin Whittier, head of what now is PG&E. His heirs sold the property in 1938 to the Deutsche Reich, and it became the German Consulate. Now a private residence, the bulk of unexplained activity happens in the basement and wine cellar, with shadowy figures and hot and cold running chills.

This beautifully preserved Victorian home turned museum might have preserved more than it intended, as manager (and longtime resident) Heather Kraft tells Curbed SF that the house has longtime been the site of stories about restless spirits.

Kraft says she’s never seen a ghost herself, but sometimes odd noises or strange things do happen around the home, and ghost hunters have reported some weird electrical phenomena in certain rooms.

This grand Victorian in Pacific Heights was built in 1887 by silver tycoon Richard Craig Chambers, who later left it to his two nieces.

Claudia Chambers mysteriously died in the house because of an alleged farm implement accident (she was found cut in half!), and psychics have since claimed Claudia's ghost roams around the place, while pedestrians report strange flashing lights from an upstairs window.  

The historic Atherton Mansion is irregularly haunted by three aggressive lady ghosts. There's also a male ghost who's believed to be George Atherton, who died halfway through a voyage to Chile and was shipped back home in a barrel of rum, to the surprise of the servant who opened the unmarked barrel upon arrival.

Until this year, the Hotel Emblem was known as the Hotel Rex; the current owners changed the name after a renovation, but you can’t be rid of history that easily.

The blog Haunted Rooms relates stories about guests spotting a ghost described as “a Chinese man” wandering the upper floor halls--with a meat cleaver in hand, alarmingly enough.

The Palace Hotel has by far the city's most prestigious ghost, haunted by no less than a former President of the United States.

Granted, President Warren Harding, who died an oddball death here in 1923, is usually reckoned one of our all-time worst presidents, but hey. Now and then, guests still report running into Harding in the halls.

Not every San Francisco hotel claims to be haunted, but it does seem to be a hotelier’s trademark.

At the Westin St. Francis, famed jazz vocalist Al Jolson (star of the 1927 movie The Jazz Singer, the world's first talkie) died in the middle of a poker game in 1950, declaring with his dying breath, "Boys, I'm going."

Jolson supposedly haunts suite 1219, along with fellow film star Fatty Arbuckle, whose career was ruined by a scandal in the same room.

The Queen Anne Hotel opened in 1890 as Miss Mary Lake's School for Girls. Rumor has it that Miss Mary Lake haunts the hotel, roaming the halls and in particular her old office, the Mary Lake Suite, room 410, where she sometimes even tucks guests in at night.

Before the Flood Building (not to be confused with the Flood Mansion) existed, a hotel stood on this same spot, destroyed in a fire in 1898.

The longtime head of security told the San Francisco Chronicle years ago that at night the screams of the panicked fire victims can still be heard. Which poses the question of why he's kept working there so long?

Mills has more ghosts than humanities majors, and we'd be here all day enumerating its many learned specters. Our favorite is the phantom carriage supposedly sighted on the hill between the Mary Morse and Ethel Moore residence halls.

Once a historic movie palace, Market Street Cinema eventually became a gentleman's club of particularly ill repute. Supposedly the ghost of a dead janitor haunts the lower levels, and dancers reported seeing a mysterious woman backstage, often retreating through the curtain ahead of them.

There was even a horror movie shot here: The G-String Horror. Classy. The club closed a few years ago and has since been demolished for housing

No one died in the fire that destroyed the Sutro Baths, but the area is so remote, atmospheric, and potentially hazardous that it can't help but attract urban myths.

Rumor holds that if you're brave enough to leave a lit candle at the end of the nearby natural tunnel at night, it will disappear by the time you’ve gotten back to the entrance. We can confirm this doesn't work, but that's never stopped the story from spreading.

Most people would say nothing haunts Fox Plaza except poor design, but SF Weekly reported a strange urban myth that Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey (real name: Howard Levey) cursed the place in retaliation for this demolition of the onetime Fox Theater on this spot.

This sounds even more specious than most of the rest of LaVey’s alleged biography, but that doesn’t stop people from worrying.

Many sailors died aboard the now decommissioned aircraft carrier, which in fact holds a record for onboard suicides.

Supposedly, some are still toiling away in the long, dark corridors below deck, and employees of the haunted house attraction stationed there a few years ago told stories of extra—ahem—cast members hanging around.

This Mission music hall was once a mortuary, and a few years ago employees became firmly convinced it was haunted by a little girl. This is another local ghost caught on camera, and you can even see the security recording on YouTube.

Unlike most so-called ghost footage, this one isn’t just a shadow or something blurry at the edge of the frame; no doubt about it, that does indeed look exactly like a little girl running around the place. It seems more likely this is a prank than a haunting—but we’d be lying if we said this clip didn’t creep us right out.

These days this classic 19th century Victorian is all apartments, but once upon a time it was the Clarke Mansion, named for one Alfred E. Clarke, who complained of poltergeist activity there.

When intrepid ghost hunters spend the night in the house in 1874, the Daily Alta Californian featured the following account:

“Your reporter has received the following statement from two of these gentlemen: While standing on the sidewalk a loud crash inside the house startled them. The door soon after opened and they were invited in to see the cause. A heavy marble-top bureau at the top of the stairs had fallen forward, and deeply indented the balusters, without showing a scratch on itself, and without breaking the mirrors.

“Ten minutes later a heavy chair came whizzing down stairs, breaking a leg in the fall. Half an hour later a light paper box whirled down. At midnight they saw a heavy trunk fall with a startling crash, rebounding from the wall to the baluster, deeply indenting both, and striking the floor with such force as to break its iron straps and wrench its top from the hinges. [...] One of the gentlemen closes his statement as follows: ‘What I have seen and heard to-night is the work either of devilish spirits, or of equally devilish man.’”

Some kids never want to leave the playground, but what if you were stuck playing forever?

Urban legend says the ghosts of murdered children in Castro Valley frequent the swings at the local preschool, which often appear to swing back and forth of their own accord. 

You can't call a place Lone Tree Cemetery without attracting a few ghost stories. The fact that there are several more trees these days notwithstanding.

The cemetery's founding legend holds that once upon a time, an eloping couple's furious parents killed them on the spot where the graveyard now stands. Are they the source of the strange lights and sounds reported after hours? Probably not, but you still won't catch us there after dark. 

The Secret Sidewalk in Niles Canyon (now no more, sadly) was actually the exposed top of a long disused aqueduct. This is also where the Bay Area's version of the classic Woman in White ghost story manifests in the form of a woman supposedly killed in a carriage accident almost 100 years ago. 

According to legend, a well-to-do married woman fell in love with the piano player at the distillery restaurant in the '40s. But in the midst of their affair she died under mysterious circumstances, and supposedly the Blue Lady (our anonymous woman always wore blue dresses to her secret rendezvous) haunts the hotel today, searching for her lost lover. 

Amusement parks are another perennial magnet for ghost stories. Employees have circulated rumors of a ghostly boy wandering Great America after dark for years—and in fact four boys ages four to 13 have indeed died in the park since its 1976 opening, the most recent in 2007.

Originally known as the State Hospital for the Chronic Insane, Agnews served a variety of psychiatric roles since 1888 but still carries some of the stigma of the tortuous therapy methods—including whipping and supposedly medicinal bloodletting—inflicted on patients here in the 19th century.

Naturally former employees circulate stories of unseen visitors in remote areas of the building; how could they not?

Even retail chain stores can attract ghosts apparently, this one a popular preoccupation with local ghost hunters attracted by employee's stories of a harmless but unsettling poltergeist who starts trouble after closing.

Snopes says teenagers sometimes sneak in to set up shop with an Ouija Board (which the store presumably has in stock). Now that Toys R Us is itself a ghost, will the hauntings continue?

Now this one is just plain weird. Locals claim that this rural road near San Jose is haunted not by ghosts but by the menacing figures of hostile "albinos” who may accost incautious travelers.

This one is even harder to take seriously than usual, but it gets bonus points for being one of the few Bay Area ghost stories to inspire a feature film, 2009's Hicks Road.

Highways have their ghost stories too. People who stop along CA-152 at night report the sounds of horses and carriage wheels rolling along.

Actual horses are presumably a more plausible explanation than ghosts, but it’s probably easier to say that when you’re not hearing the sound for yourself.