The Whaley House is also believed by some to be a haunted house. A number of supernatural events have been reported by staff, guests and various others passing the house. It is recognized as one of 30 haunted houses in the country by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The House
The Whaley House is located in Old Town San Diego, California. The historic house opened as a museum on May 25th 1960. Now, the Whaley house is one of southern California’s most popular tourist attraction.
The two-story Greek Revival house was designed by Thomas Whaley himself and built in 1857. The cost of the house was $10,000. It was made from bricks from Whaley’s own brickyard on Conde Street. The house was the first of its kind in San Diego. Whaley boasted, "My new house, when completed, will be the handsomest, most comfortable and convenient place in town or within 150 miles of here." Thomas Whaley's new house was known as the finest in Southern California. The house was furnished with mahogany and rosewood furniture, Brussels carpets, damask drapes and was contemplated as a mansion for its time and place. The residence became the gathering place for San Diego.
Besides being the Whaley family home, it was also San Diego’s first commercial theater, the county courthouse, and a General Store. In 1868, The theater was located in a bedroom up stairs. It had a small stage and small benches allowing the capacity of the room to be 150. The operator of the theatre, Tanner Troupe, died within 17 days of the opening of the theatre. The Whaley house also served as the county courthouse in 1869. For 65 dollars a month, the county of San Diego leased the courtroom and three of the upstairs bed rooms. Another part of the Whaley house history was the Whaley & Crosthwaite General Store which was a wholesale and retail store.
Ghostly Legends
According to the Travel Channel’s America’s Most Haunted, out of all the haunted houses in the United States, the Whaley House is the number one most haunted. The Whaley house was haunted even before the house was built and the family moved in.
The first ghost to be reported was the ghost of James “Yankee Jim” Robinson who was hanged in 1852. He was hanged on the property that was used as a gallows before Thomas Whaley purchased the property and built the house.
According to the San Diego Union, after the Whaley family moved in, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps moving around the house and concluded that these footsteps were made by “Yankee Jim”. Years later, many visitors to the house said that they saw the ghost of Thomas Whaley. A former keeper of the house mentioned that a little girl waved to a man who was standing in the parlor, but others did not see the man; he added “But often children’s sensitivity is greater than an adult’s.” Moreover, four family members of the Whaleys died in the house including Anna Whaley. The ghost of Anna Whaley has been seen by visitors in the garden or in the rooms located downstairs.
Furthermore, some visitors claimed that they have seen an apparition of a woman in the courtroom, but the description of her did not fit any of the Whaley’s. In the 1960s, psychic Sybil Leek felt a presence of a girl. She was described as the great grand-daughter of Thomas Whaley, Marion Reynolds, who ingested ant poison. She is known to grabbing people’s arms. Not only is Whaley House a home for the family even after they had died, it is also a home for their dog. A spirit of a dog was captured; it is said that the dog was a spotted fox terrier; the apparition of the dog was caught running into the dining room in the house. The Whaley family used to own a terrier named Dolly Varden when they were still alive. The dog died of natural causes and is said to lick the bare legs of women and is mostly seen by children.
Ghost Hunting
Once every month The Whaley House Museum holds ghost hunting tours late at night with the help of The San Diego Ghost Hunters (SDGH), an intimate team of paranormal investigators specializing in assisting historical landmark owners in discovering or confirming paranormal activity. The tour is limited to 20 guests who are allowed to bring cameras (still and video) and audio recorders.
During the tour, guests are educated on the history behind the legendary spirits that haunt the house as well as instructed on how to operate paranormal investigation tools with techniques on how to hunt these spirits. The tools used by most paranormal investigators consist of camcorders and still cameras, audio recorders, Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Detectors, Thermometers (Digital or Infrared), a thermal imaging camera, and other various odds and ends that assist the investigators in their search. Most tools like these can be seen used by The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or T.A.P.S., on the popular Sci-fi series Ghost Hunters. The tools help the investigators find hard proof evidence of a haunting.
The camcorders and still cameras are most common; they are used to record any activity that might occur. Audio recorders are used to capture E.V.P. or Electronic Voice Phenomenon which are disembodied voices that can’t be heard by the naked ear during the time the recording took place. EMF detectors are used to record electromagnetic energy. It is said that a spirit needs energy to manifest itself and when an EMF detector is being used, it will record the energy spike. Thermometers have the more obvious use. The theory is that when a spirit is manifesting, it can leave a cold spot; these are random points in a room where the temperature drops at an alarming rate. The thermal imaging camera is used to detect heat; the theory is that a spirit can also create heat. Some paranormal investigators include psychics.
Psychics are used for the more obvious reason; they communicate with a spirit or sense a spirits presence. Psychics also use one specific tool that is similar to the use of an EMF detector. This tool is called divining rods which are ‘L” shaped iron rods that record the energy of a ghost by crossing of their own will.