On a brisk October night my daughter Amanda and I set out to brave the paranormal in San Francisco with ghost mogul Jim Fassbinder on the San Francisco Ghost Hunt. We began our adventure at the historic Queen Anne Hotel with an introduction from our host. The Queen Anne Hotel was originally created as a school for girls at a time when female education was not readily available. Fassbinder explained that although she died elsewhere, headmistress Mary Lake remains in this place of happy emotions.

Mary Lake haunts Room 410, which was her old office. Called the loving ghost, she often tucks people in at night. Her presence is especially strong when children are around. A pocket of cold air will alert visitors that Mary is near.

We traipsed around the Queen Anne, hunting for light spots in our camera viewfinders and seeking out cold air pockets. If you look at this picture, you can see several light spots, which could be visiting spirits. As we walked the halls, many light spots appeared and many oohs and ahs poured forth when we stepped into cold areas (although as one astute tour goer pointed out, the front door was open.) Still, who knows?

From the Queen Anne Hotel, we crossed over to California Street to hear about Flora Sommerton, a true runaway bride who was being forced into an arranged marriage. Dressed in her wedding gown, Flora fled from her house (pictured here) on the day of her nuptials. Nowadays, people riding cable cars down California Street can sometimes spot Flora. You can tell it’s her by her vintage lace-edged gown. (Plus, another clue–you can see through her.)

We continued our journey to the Chambers house. Claudia Chambers resided at 2220 Sacramento Street, and her estranged sister bought the house next door. If you were estranged from your sibling, don’t you think you might move a little farther away? Just a thought. At any rate, on one horrific day Claudia was reported nearly cut in half from a farming implement. Yet some believe another family member murdered her as a way to make peace between the feuding sisters. Interesting way to make peace, especially since Claudia doesn’t seem to be at peace. A later tenant of the Chambers mansion decorated with pig wallpaper and added porcine figurines to please Claudia as she had been attached to her pet pig.

We continued walking to the Atherton house at the corner of California and Octavia, which is reputed to be haunted by multiple generations of owners. George Atherton proposed to his bride Gertude five times before she accepted. One day Gertrude found George’s body pickled in a barrel of rum. George was something of a ne’er do well, so some people feel Gertrude haunts the mansion because George cannot do a passable job of it by himself.

For our finale, we visited the haunts of Mary Ellen Pleasant. Mary Ellen Pleasant became a wealthy African American woman though she was born a slave and had a voodoo priestess for a mother. When Mary Ellen’s slave owner died, she became an indentured servant, and later, that employer died. In later life, Mary Ellen’s accountant/business partner “fell” and Mary Ellen was observed standing over the body. Are we sensing a pattern here?

Though her life was dogged by scandal, Mary Ellen was instrumental in desegregating SF public transportation one hundred years before anyone heard of Rosa Parks, and she was an active participant in and supporter of the Underground Railroad. As a ghost, she has some angry tendencies. Hint: you may want to make sure you have no slaveowner ancestors and/or avoid standing beneath the eucalyptus trees on her corner. Her ghost is so feared that the building erected after her mansion burned does not touch the location of her former foundation.

So, three hours later, feet more tired than when we began, brains filled with stories to warm us throughout the year, Manda and I ventured home. Did we see any ghosts? Probably not. But the SF Ghost Hunt with Jim Fassbinder was a delight that we recommend to anyone interested in Victorian architecture and the kind of historical lore you will not find in textbooks.