All historic sites

West — Historic site filings

Historic sites in California

49 California dossiers sit on ground the record itself recognizes — registered, marked or preserved sites carrying a second file under the plaque. The history is the strong suit here: what the marker says, what the sources confirm and what the legend added afterward. Claims are reported, not endorsed.

49 dossiers3 counties covered84% open to visitorsRMS Queen Mary — deepest file

Also filed historic site:New York36 Pennsylvania34 Florida29 Alaska25 Michigan18 Texas18 Arizona18 U.S. Virgin Islands15

Other California shelves:standing files33 natural sites5

High confidence

RMS Queen Mary

Long Beach, California

Site documented in a Ghost Research Society investigation report.

5 claims · 3 legends→

Detention Center

Angel Island Immigration Station

Tiburon, California

The "Ellis Island of the West"—where Chinese immigrants were detained under exclusion.

3 claims · 3 legends→

Cerro Gordo

Keeler, California

1865 silver camp on a 8,500-ft Inyo ridge—now a private ghost town with overnight stays.

3 claims · 2 legends→

Sutro Baths ruins

San Francisco, California

1896 glass-topped saltwater baths—burned 1966, ruins on the cliff.

3 claims · 2 legends→

High confidence

Whaley House

San Diego, California

Site documented in a Ghost Research Society investigation report.

3 claims · 1 legend→

High confidence

Winchester Mystery House

San Jose, California

Unusual mansion with an extensive modern ghost tradition.

3 claims · 1 legend→

Star of India

San Diego, California

1863 windjammer with a sailor’s ghost in the rigging.

3 claims · 1 legend→

Former Hospital

Camarillo State Hospital site

Camarillo, California

1936 psychiatric hospital—its bell tower became a CSU campus landmark.

3 claims · 1 legend→

Former Shipyard

Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Vallejo, California

The Navy’s first Pacific shipyard—145 years of warship construction.

2 claims · 2 legends→

High confidence

Bodie

Bodie, California

Historic settlement and ghost-town heritage.

2 claims · 1 legend→

High confidence

Alcatraz Island

San Francisco, California

The Rock—federal penitentiary 1934–63, island prison since the 1850s.

2 claims · 1 legend→

Proctor Valley Road

Chula Vista, California

The San Diego County road with the Proctor Valley Monster and the vanishing girl.

2 claims · 2 legends→

Mission San Juan Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano, California

The "Jewel of the Missions"—and the swallows that made it famous.

2 claims · 2 legends→

La Purísima Mission

Lompoc, California

The most fully restored California mission—and the most haunted.

2 claims · 2 legends→

Preston Castle

Ione, California

Reform-school "castle" where wards and a staff member died violently.

2 claims · 1 legend→

DeWitt State Hospital

Auburn, California

The WWII-era hospital where hundreds of patients were sterilized—and where the truth was hidden.

St. Francis Dam Disaster Site

Santa Clarita, California

Dam-collapse landscape in San Francisquito Canyon.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Former Military Base

Benicia Arsenal

Benicia, California

1851 Army arsenal with a camel-barn ghost and unexplained arsenal lights.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Battery Point Lighthouse

Crescent City, California

1856 tidal-island lighthouse—keeper lore and phantom footsteps.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Point Sur Lighthouse

Big Sur, California

1889 light on a volcanic rock—keeper-isolation lore and the USS Macon wreck.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Stockton State Hospital

Stockton, California

California’s first state hospital—1853, demolished after the mental-health era ended.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Patton State Hospital

Highland, California

The 1893 San Bernardino asylum—still the largest forensic hospital in the state.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Metropolitan State Hospital

Norwalk, California

The 1915 Norwalk asylum—famous for its "psychic" escape lore and film shoots.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Folsom State Prison

Represa, California

Johnny Cash’s 1968 concert prison—still active, still grim.

1 claim · 1 legend→

San Quentin State Prison

San Quentin, California

California’s oldest prison—the gas chamber, the condemned row and the ghosts.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Niles Canyon Road

Fremont, California

The canyon road where the "Niles ghost girl" is said to hitchhike.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

Junípero Serra’s headquarters—and his burial place.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Mission Dolores

San Francisco, California

The 1776 mission that survived when the city around it burned.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Mission Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

The "Queen of the Missions"—and its cemetery and catacombs.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Mission San Diego de Alcalá

San Diego, California

California’s first mission—1769, and the site of the first Christian burial.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel

San Gabriel, California

The 1771 mission with the oldest working California vineyard.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Mission San Miguel Arcángel

San Miguel, California

The 1797 mission with the best-preserved original frescoes.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Hearst Castle

San Simeon, California

William Randolph Hearst’s hilltop "Enchanted Hill"—127 acres of opulence.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Filoli

Woodside, California

The 1917 Woodside estate—the Dynasty house.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Empire Mine

Grass Valley, California

California’s richest gold mine—106 years of hard rock.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Coloma / Sutter’s Mill

Coloma, California

Where Marshall found the flake that started the Gold Rush—January 24, 1848.

1 claim · 1 legend→

Alabama Hills

Lone Pine, California

The rounded-rock landscape where hundreds of Westerns filmed.

1 claim · 1 legend→

USS Hornet

Alameda, California

Apollo 11 recovery carrier and WWII veteran with a deep ghost file.

Historic Settlement

Benton Hot Springs

Benton, California

Living former mining town with attributed unusual experiences.

Historic District

Old Sacramento & the Underground

Sacramento, California

Gold Rush district raised one story in the 1860s—its hollowed-out first floors remain below.

Spahn Ranch site

Chatsworth, California

The movie ranch where the Manson Family lived.

Los Feliz murder house

Los Angeles, California

The 1959 mansion where Dr. Perelson killed his wife and himself—left untouched for decades.

Old Town of Shasta

Shasta, California

Gold Rush town ruins and restored historic courthouse.

Camp Tulelake

Tulelake, California

Former CCC camp later used for wartime detention.

Incarceration Site

Manzanar National Historic Site

Independence, California

Preserved Japanese American incarceration landscape in Owens Valley.

Dog Town

Bridgeport, California

Ruins of an early eastern Sierra mining camp.

Malakoff Diggins–North Bloomfield Historic District

North Bloomfield, California

Historic hydraulic mine and preserved mining town.

Incarceration Site

Tule Lake Segregation Center

Newell, California

Preserved portions of the largest WRA incarceration camp.

Full California record → state index· Every historic site filing → status shelf

Record last amended October 2, 2026 · shelves recounted with the archive