If you’re planning a trip to California and enjoy what lurks between the dark and the light, then wander no farther. Be it creepy, shadowed figures watching you from the cliffs or a floating ghost ship hotel, there is much to see (or run from!) in the “Golden State.” Here are 20 of the creepiest places in California!

20 Of The Creepiest Places In California

1.  The Dark Watchers, Big Sur

The Santa Maria Times reported that strange stories about the “mysterious figures” keeping watch on the allegedly inaccessible bluffs and peaks of the Santa Lucia Mountains harken back hundreds of years.

They were first officially documented by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo back in 1542 when he was sailing past the range. The Spanish settlers there called them “Los Vigilantes Oscuros”. Writer John Steinback claimed to have seen them and even referenced them in a short story titled “Flight”. These shadowy figures are generally seen at sundown, watching and waiting, and are almost 10 feet tall.

The 230-acre, self-sufficient property Preston Castle was intended to be an alternative to a juvenile detention center. Offenders would be sent here to learn a trade instead of being imprisoned. It opened its gates in June of 1894.  

It soon gained a reputation as a place where both the staff and residents committed violent acts. No less than 16 young men died here. As a result of a brutal attack, housekeeper Anna Corbin also died here. In 1960 it was closed. Veteran visitors have reported hearing disembodied voices, doors slamming, and even “ghostly assaults.”

After the body of missing student, Elisa Lam was found in a closed water tank on the Cecil Hotel’s roof, the place became notorious. The mystery in which her death is enshrouded was made infamous when security footage of the co-ed behaving oddly in the hotel elevators went viral. Prior to this though, the Cecil had already garnered a bad reputation. Since its opening in 1942, several violent deaths have occurred there and two serial killers have been documented in the hotel logs. It’s reportedly one of the city’s most haunted hotels.

Built in 1890, The Brookdale Lodge has had numerous celebrity guests, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and President Hoover. A destructive fire and the death of a guest led to its closure in 2011. Prior to its six-year abandonment, several guests and employees claimed to have seen a little girl in a dated white dress running around here. She’s believed to be Sarah Logan, a girl who drowned in the creek there in 1892. Frequent sightings led to the designation of a specific area where people left books and toys that were often later discovered to have been moved.

Cerro Gordo is a former mining town located in the Inyo Mountains. Founded in 1867, it once included brothels, hotels, and saloons. In the late 1870s, however, the price of silver dropped and it was abandoned. No less than 30 men died in the Cerro Gordo mines. Currently, the resident owner, Brent Underwood, has reported such unsettling events as books falling from shelves by themselves and lights coming on in abandoned buildings. Visitors to the town’s American Hotel reported spectral energies and strange sightings until it mysteriously burned down in June of 2020.

One of the state’s most isolated and oldest lighthouses. It was erected in 1889. Regardless of its bright beacon, the coast surrounding the Point Sur lighthouse claimed multiple lives between multiple shipwrecks and the infamous 1935 crash of the USS Macon.  

Locals say it is now haunted by those who tragically died. Numerous people have reported seeing the specters of past lighthouse keepers too, including a tall male dressed in blue, walking the property. Paranormal investigators recorded a strange voice whispering: “Now she wants you to go home.”

This luxury hotel, which opened in 1928, has a history of multiple tragedies. A fire caused several deaths in the 1950s. Next, there was an earthquake that killed children.  

Other people, tangled in torrid love triangles, committed suicide here by jumping off the roof. During renovations in 2010, both guests and staff noted a child’s handprint that couldn’t be cleaned or painted over. There were reported instances of poltergeist activity, and the appearance of ghostly apparitions as well.

Founded in 1787, this Franciscan Mission was originally part of an early colonization movement that endangered the local Chumash Indians. The Spanish missionaries inadvertently introduced more than one deadly disease to the area that impacted on the Chumash people because they had no immunity. Thousands died in a relatively short time. La Purisima was abandoned sometime in the 1840s, but visitors still report having heard eerie whispers and shapes on the property of the present-day museum.

This is one of the county’s oldest protestant cemeteries and one of the most active. Established in 1858, a diverse group of individuals rests here: artists, Chinese immigrants, gold prospectors, and travelers. Encounters with a number of different spirits have been documented as early as 1902. Whether it be an old lady tending to her vanishing cabin or distinctly disembodied childish laughter, this area is seemingly haunted.

Heiress Sarah Winchester lost her husband, her mother, and her father-in-law to tuberculosis within a single year. After their passing, she bought and started to renovate a little two-story house in San Jose that would go on to become the famous Winchester Mystery House. She spent 38 years adding strange architectural elements, resulting in a huge mansion that includes 47 stairways, 47 stairways, 161 rooms, and 10,000 windows.  

This was all done, allegedly, to confuse the ghosts of all those killed with Winchester rifles. Since her passing in 1922, many visitors have told of a plethora of paranormal encounters in the house, from feeling icy chills to the odd appearance of an unknown groundskeeper. Several paranormal experts have toured the property.

Built during the 1930s, this famous luxury liner has a long and troubled past. The RMS Queen Mary once hosted the likes of such famous passengers as Clark Gable and Winston Winston Churchill. With the arrival of World War II, the vessel was rechristened the “Grey Ghost” and quickly converted to a mode of military transport.

While active, 49 deaths occurred aboard her. Today this retired ocean liner is a unique hotel. Both guests and staff have told tales of seeing spectral former passengers wandering the corridors, disembodied sounds, significant changes in temperature, and even “the echoing cries” of several small children.

This is a well-known 8.4-mile loop haunted hiking trail that leads past a trio of beautiful waterfalls and a peaceful lake. Ah, but placid Lake is perhaps deceptive. Ahwahneechee legend has it that a young boy once drowned in this very lake.

Veteran visitors report hearing the spirit of the boy calling for help. Best stay away though, local folklore also notes that anyone who goes into the lake to try to offer aid is also mysteriously drowned in its dark depths.

You will find the enigmatic strange structure known locally as “The Court of Mysteries” at 519 Fair Avenue. The building was built by bricklayer Kenneth Kitchen in the 1930s. Its design was obviously inspired by Hindi temples and includes astrological motifs and arcane patterns.

Kitchen only worked at night in an attempt to maintain secrecy. He added multiple radio towers and even an “anti-submarine device” there, which worked well enough to cause the U.S. Navy to intervene. In 1953, he abandoned the place, with no explanation. To date, neighbors still report seeing apparitions wandering the property.

Regular readers might recognize this “star” of television and film, but the terrifying truth is this hotel, open since 1888, is also home to the city’s most famous ghosts. American Kate Morgan checked in here in 1892, waiting for her husband to join her. She was discovered dead at the foot of an outdoor staircase four days later.

Today guests and work staff come across blinking, flickering lights, unexplainable drops in temperature, oddly behaving televisions, and even phantasmal scents in the third-floor room Morgan once occupied. Paranormal investigators have also noted odd activities in the hotel’s gift shop, where merchandise has been observed throwing itself off the store shelves. Similar strange occurrences have also been reported in Room 3519, where the body of the original owner’s mistress was allegedly found.

Once a military prison, Alcatraz is infamous for its formidable fortress walls and such notorious inmates as “Machine Gun” Kelly and Al Capone. Not one prisoner ever escaped from this miserable maximum-security prison situated on a rugged spur of rock one mile off the San Francisco coast. The prison had a reputation for harsh living conditions and extreme punishments. Rumor has it that the souls of former inmates haunt this famous facility.

People have reported inexplicable noises and voices coming from the utility corridor, and banjo music from the shower room.

Los Coches is a famous former stagecoach stop. It is believed to be a place where the past and the present meet. Numerous visitors claim to have experienced “a time shift” simply standing here. Local rumor has it that the owner of the stop murdered miners who were still there when it closed and threw their bodies down an abandoned mine shaft. Neighbors claim they have seen an anonymous figure dressed in black walking around the place at night.  

Discovered by miners in 1851, this cave is named after the moans that emanate from its entrance when the wind passes through it. This also makes the list of creepiest places because 12,000-year-old bones were more recently uncovered in its shafts. Scientists suggest that the wails from this cavern actually lured almost 100 prehistoric residents to their deaths while attempting to investigate the specific source of the moans.

Bodie is the state’s most well-known ghost town. It began as a mining outpost back in 1859. Regular readers may recall it’s one of the country’s largest unreconstructed ghost towns and includes 200 original structures. Ah, but legend has it that Bodie is also cursed.

Local lore has it that any individual who takes anything from this place will somehow be punished. Indeed, the Bodie State Historic Park Rangers confirm that almost every week they receive letters of apology from tourists who took home souvenirs. The reported misfortunes include a variety of punishments from sudden health issues to mysterious accidents occurring after the unwitting visitor returned home.

Once frequented by President Richard Nixon, this historical restaurant, built-in 1812, has garnered a reputation for not only delicious food but ghostly residents as well. The structure was once the town’s jailhouse and court. It’s now haunted not only by one of its former inmates but also by the ghosts of those who died during the earthquake that devastated the adjoining San Juan Capistrano mission that same year. Various visitors have reported seeing a decapitated friar at the front door, feeling touches from ghostly hands, and feeling as if they were being watched.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is the longest operating hotel in the state. It has hosted many celebs including the actress Marilyn Monroe. Indeed, she lived here for two years while concreting her career. Today she is one of several spirits that haunts the halls of this Hollywood hotel. Guests recall receiving mysterious phone calls, feeling unexplained cold spots, and seeing unusual orbs in their photos.