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www. hauntedamericatours.com presents

TOP TEN

MOST HAUNTED HOUSES

TOP TEN HAUNTED HOUSES

IN THE HAUNTED UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The United State's Top Ten Most Haunted Houses...  Lalaurie Most haunted House in New Orleans. Still haunted after all the many years or so they say?  Often called The Most Haunted House in America. These historic and haunted house destinations are just the thing if you've been looking for a relaxing getaway that's just a bit off the beaten path. After all, how many places have you visited where the ghosts have names?

"All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses." ...Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The United States of America is a country often associated with all kinds of scary ghosts and reported real haunted houses and haunted mansions, and Plantations.

Quite often a few have made the claim of beingscariest haunted and of course "The Most Haunted House In America". And there's quite a bit of anecdotal real haunted history evidence to support those most famous haunted House ghost filled claims.

Much of all haunted house lore is often vague, and riddled with urban legends and embellishments. Records exist always of terrible events occurring, but over the decades and even centuries, details are forgotten...new generations are born... and much is lost to time. And so to often the truth is never quite told.

So please read a collection of facts, urban Legends and haunted real ghost filled tales that hauntedamericatours.com has compiled from you, as our devoted Readers selection of the" Top Ten Most Haunted Houses 2007 In The United States Of America".

1. The Myrtles Plantation

THE MYRTLES

 

Saint Francisville is located in West Feliciana Parish Louisiana. A small town on the Mississippi River. Once the Capital of the Republic of West Florida, it is here that John James Audubon (Birds of America Collection) created over 80 of his beautiful watercolors. There are seven Magnificent Plantation homes opened for public tours. And The Myrtyles Plantation is the one you would not want to miss. And with all the recent investigations by TAPS is now fast becoming the most famous ghost filled haunted house in America.

 

MYRTLES PLANTATION

Exploring the myrtles you will see grand fine antiques and architectural treasures of the old South and you personally might discover why The Myrtles has been called "America's Most Haunted Homes".

 

"The actual haunting hour at the Myrtles Plantation is said to be at three AM.
At that exact hour each dark night, Chloe's restless ghost roams the great dark haunted plantation,
The Myrtles isn't an ordinary plantation. It's supposed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. "
"Whiskey Dave" Bradford--former leader of the whiskey rebellion-- built the great haunted house on a Tunica Indian burial ground in 1794. He was actually the very first to see a ghost at the Myrtles Plantation, a naked Indian girl wandering lost on the grounds is what he is said to have observed. But Many of the locals state it is Bradford's' many ghostly children and grandchildren that haunt the Myrtles today. WHISKEY DAVE BRADFORD

Sara Matilda, Bradford's' daughter, married Judge Woodruff. Woodruff was said to have kept a slave mistress named Chloe or so the haunted tale goes....

When Woodruff grew tired of Chloe, and she was afraid she would be sent to the fields she is said to have started eavesdropping on him to learn of her future fate.

When Woodruff caught her, he cut off her left ear and sent her to work in the kitchen. From then on, Chloe wore a green turban to hide her disfigurement. She devised a plan to regain the affection of him and the family. She boiled poisonous oleander leaves and baked them into a cake.

Chloe believed the children would become ill and need her to nurse them back to health. But she used too much. Sara Matilda and two of the children died that night from the poison.

When the other slaves heard about Chloe's actions, they hung her from a tree. They then weighted her body with stones and threw her into the Mississippi river.

Chloe still wanders the house and grounds of the Myrtles Plantation. She sometimes shows up in photos. The Woodruff children are also heard playing and laughing on the veranda on rainy nights.

The Chloe story is the most popular haunting tale at the Myrtles, but many more people met their untimely demise on the premises and can be seen and heard wandering.

A Civil War soldier died on the floor near the front door from battle wounds. He was an avid cigar smoker who stayed at the house before his death. The smell of cigars sometimes fills his room. ( And smoking isn't allowed at the Myrtles...)

William Winter was said to have died on the 17th step of the staircase after a mysterious man shot him through the study window in 1871.

The steps heard on the stairs in the middle of the night are attributed to him. Those who count claim the footsteps stop at the seventeenth step.

Another young girl died of yellow fever in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Her parents called on a voodoo priestess to help her, after all traditional medicines had failed. When the little girl died, the parents hung the priestess from the chandelier.

In 1927, the caretaker was murdered during a robbery attempt. The owners claim that he can sometimes be seen at the plantation gates telling people to leave.

The Myrtles is now a bed and breakfast, so guests can stay in these rooms and see if the ghosts come out and play. The proprietors, John and Teeta Moss, claim that the Best Western loves the Myrtles, because so many guests get spooked in the middle of the night and run to the other hotel.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it's fun to be scared. This house has a creepy vibe. Bursts of cold air come from nowhere. Former owners have had church stained glass installed in the front doors to keep out the evil spirits. Also, the keyholes of every door have a small cover over them. In the nineteenth century, people thought ghosts came into a house through its keyholes, and these covers were designed to keep them out.

People also believed that the ghosts would hide in the corners until nighttime, when they would come out to pester the living. The Myrtles contains custom plaster work nun and cherub charms specially designed to keep the spirits away from the corners. Every resident has painstakingly tried to protect himself from wandering spirits.

THE MYRTLES

Ghosts or not, everyone who has owned the property has either seen ghosts, has turned into a ghost, or tried to keep the ghosts away. Mysterious figures and spheres often show up in ghost photos.

The Myrtles has been featured in New York Times, Forbes, Gourmet, Veranda, Travel and Leisure, Country Inns, Colonial Homes, Delta SKY, and on the Oprah Show, A & E, The History Channel, The Travel Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic Explorer, and GOOD MORNING AMERICA. It was also featured in The Hauntings of Louisiana.

Historical tours are conducted daily from 9am - 5pm.
Mystery tours are conducted on Friday and Saturday evenings.
All bed and breakfast reservations include a complimentary tour of this National Historic Register home filled with hand painted stained glass, open pierced plaster frieze work, Aubusson tapestries, Baccarat crystal chandeliers, Carrera marble mantles and gold leafed French furnishings. Guided tours include the history, the architectural significance, and the enchanting stories of mystery and intrigue.

Relax in the giant rockers on the 120-foot verandah or stroll through the lush ten acres filled with majestic live oaks. The 5000 square foot old brick courtyard is the perfect place to unwind before enjoying a delicious candlelight dinner at our Carriage House Restaurant.

THE MYRTLES HAUNTED MIRROR

Located in the Legendary Plantation Country on U.S. Highway 61, 30 miles North of Baton Rouge between New Orleans, Louisiana and Natchez, Mississippi.

More Info and links on the Myrtles Haunted Plantation
2. LaLaurie House

THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF NEW LEANS THE LALAURIE MANSION

 

The following is excerpted in its entirety from Old New Orleans: Walking Tours of the French Quarter, by Stanley Clisby Arthur, © 1990 by Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, Louisiana, @ pages 96-99:

 

LALAURIE HOUSE
" 'THE HAUNTED HOUSE’ 1140 Royal Street

The three-story building at the southeast corner of Royal and Governor Nichols street, to some the most famous private residence in old New Orleans, gained its eerie title, ‘The Haunted House,’ from an oft-repeated tale in which spirits of tortured slaves clank their chains during the midnight hours in remembrance of awful punishment meted out to them by their mistress – a high-bred lady of old New Orleans who had been charged with finding an uncanny delight in dealing inhumanly with her slaves.

Like all such tales, the story has grown in ferocity through its countless retellings and the probabilities are that even the original story of over a century ago was a gross exaggeration. It now appears that the mistress of this home was the first victim of yellow journalism in this country and that she was far from being the ‘fiend’ tradition has labeled, or should we say, libeled her. The facts of this ‘strange true story’ are as follows:


The traditional tales of the Vieux Carre have it that this house was built in 1780 by two brothers, Jean and Henri de Remarie, and that such guests as Marshal Michel Ney, Napoleon’s famous commander; the duc d’Orleans, later, Louis Philippe, king of France; and the Marquis de Lafayette have slept in this mansion. But we are compelled to make the pertinent observations that Marshal Ney never came to Louisiana, that Louis Philippe was here in 1798, and that Lafayette visited New Orleans in 1825 – yet the ‘Haunted House’ was not built until 1832!

 

LALAURIE HOUSE KNOEN AS THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS

There are those who denounce historical accuracy when it destroys fallacious tradition … those who claim that a good story must never be sacrificed and crucified on the cross of truth. Much as one admires the colorful tradition of old New Orleans, our mission is to give a factual history of the landmarks of the Vieux Carre. So, to stick to fact, we must point out that the lots upon which the ‘Haunted House’ stands were purchased by Mme Louis Lalaurie, September 12, 1831, from Edmond Soniat du Fossat, and the house then built was not ready for occupancy until the spring of 1832. As it was part of the tract given the Ursuline nuns, this was the first, and only, house built on this particular site.

Mme Lalaurie was one of five children born to Louis Barthelemy Chevalier de Macarty and Marie Jeanne Lovable, two who stood high in the social life of old New Orleans. One of their daughters was christened Marie Delphine Macarty. She first married, on June 11, 1800, Don Ramon de Lopez y Angula, the ceremony being performed at the St. Louis Cathedral by Luis de Penalvery Cardenas, the first bishop of the diocese of Louisiana, and the marriage certificate was signed by the celebrated Fray Antonio de Sedella. The husband was described in this document as Caballero de la Royal de Carlos, Intendent of the Provinces, a native of the community of Regno,Galicia, Spain, and the legitimate son of his Lordship Don Jose Antonio de Lopez y Angula and Dona Ana Fernande de Angule, daughter of Dona Francisca Borja Endecis.

Shortly after the Louisiana Purchase, on March 26, 1804, Delphine Macarty’s husband was recalled to the court of Spain, the letter carrying this royal command stating that the young Spanish officer was ‘to take his place at court as befitting his new position.’ At this time Don Ramon was consul general for Spain in this new American territory. While in Havana, en route to Madrid, Don Ramon suddenly died and a few days later his daughter was born in the Cuban city. This infant was baptized Marie Delphine Borja Lopez y Angula de Candelaria, but she became best known in later years as ‘Borquita,’ meaning ‘little Borja,’ from the fact that she was named after her father’s grandmother.

Left a widow, Delphine Macarty and her baby daughter returned to New Orleans. Four years later, in 1808, she again married, choosing for her husband a prominent banker, merchant, lawyer, and legislator named Jean Blanque, a native of Bearn who had come to Louisiana with Prefect Laussat in 1803. At the time of his marriage, June 16, 1808, Blanque purchased the residence at 409 Royal Street and in this home Delphine became the mother of four other children: Marie Louise Pauline, Louise Marie Laure, Marie Louise Jeanne, and Jean Pierre Paulin Blanque. In that stylish Royal Street home or in the ‘Villa Blanque,’ a charming country place fronting the Mississippi River just below the city limits, Delphine Macarty Blanque divided her time, both places frequented by the socially elect.

Jean Blanque died in 1816, and Delphine Macarty remained a widow until June 12, 1825, when she again married. Her third husband was Dr. Leonard Louis Nicolas Lalaurie, a native of Villeneuse-sur-Lot, France, who came to New Orleans to establish a practice. Borquita, the daughter by her mother’s first marriage, became the wife of Placide Forstall, member of a distinguished Louisiana family, and Jeanne Blanque married Charles Auguste de Lassus, only child of Don Carle de Lassus, former governor of Upper Louisiana, and later governor of the Baton Rouge post of West Florida when they were under Spanish rule.

The Lalaurie mansion was erected in 1832 and for the next two years was the scene of many fashionable affairs, for the Lalauries entertained on an elaborate plan. On the afternoon of April 10, 1834, an aged cook set fire to the house during the absence of her mistress. When neighbors rushed into the mansion to fight the fire and try to save the furniture and other valuables, slaves were found chained in their quarters. Although the fire was extinguished, the indignation of those who found the helpless slaves blazed high and a newspaper editor, Jerome Bayon of the Bee, published a heated account of the happening and quoted those who had investigated the Lalaurie slave quarters. This newspaper account roused public indignation to such a pitch that on April 15 a mob, led by irresponsibles, charged the house and began to wreck it. The rowdies were finally dispersed by a company of United States regulars who had been called out by a helpless sheriff.


During the excitement Madame Lalaurie and her husband took to their carriage and, with their faithful Creole black coachman Bastien on the box, swept through the howling, cursing rabble and, with the horses lashed to a the full gallop, made her way out of the city. It is supposed the carriage reached Bayou St. John where a lake craft was secured, for on April 21, 1834, the Lalauries were in Mandeville, across Lake Pontchartrain, at the home of Louis Coquillon. There Madame Lalaurie signed a power-of-attorney placing her son-in-law Placide Forstall in charge of her affairs, while her husband signed a similar document in favor of his wife’s other son-in-law, Auguste de Lassus. From Mandeville the Lalauries made their way to Mobile, where a ship took them to France.

 

DELPHINE LALAURIES GHOST STILL HAUNTS THE OLD NEW ORLEANS HAUNTED MANSION

Neither Delphine nor her husband ever returned to New Orleans. She remained in Paris, living there honored and respected in spite of the lurid tales that lived after her in New Orleans. Following her death on December 7, 1842, her body was secretly returned to New Orleans and buried in St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery.

The Lalaurie mansion was sold to various owners but the tale that it was ‘haunted’ and the midnight rendezvous for ghosts grew in the telling as only such stories can grow. The principal ‘ghost’ is, according to the most frequently quoted tale, that of a little girl slave who, to escape the whip of her mistress, climbed to the roof and jumped to her death into the courtyard below. Another tale, equally untrue, was that the mistress of the mansion buried all her victims in the courtyard well. The general impression that the place was haunted was sufficient to keep superstitious blacks from passing the house after nightfall.

In the days of Reconstruction following the Civil War, the old Lalaurie mansion became the Lower Girls’ School. During the government of the carpetbaggers, whites and blacks were taught in the same rooms until the formation of ‘The White League’ in 1874, when the white element marched on the house and expelled the black pupils. In the 1880’s the mansion became a conservatory of music. No matter who has lived in it since, or the manner of business that was carried on in the ground-floor stores, the name ‘haunted’ has clung to it in spite of the testimony of those inhabiting the place that ghosts have never disturbed their slumbers.

Tradition has it that the handsome entrance door ‘was hammered out of iron by the slaves Madame Lalaurie kept shackled to the anvil.’ This must be taken with several generous pinches of salt, for the doors is not of iron but wood and the decorations on it were not cared but put on by appliqué, a sort of plastic wood applied and formed as a sculptor would lay on modeling clay. These ornamentations show, in the lower oblong panel, Phoebus in his chariot, lashing his griffins. Scattered over the door are urns, flowers, trumpet-blowing angels, a beribboned lyre, an American eagle bearing on its breast the shield of the Union, leaves, scrolls, and whatnots – a marvelous example of some unknown craftsman’s art. To save the door from the knives of souvenir-hunters, one owner painted it a dingy brown-black.
LALAURIE HOUSE HAUNTED ENTRANCE

George W. Cable’s Strange Stories of Louisiana, and Judge Henry C. Castellanos’ New Orleans As It Was, contain full accounts of the Lalaurie episode. My account, differing in many respects from those of these earlier writers, is based on recently found documents, notarial acts, and family documents.”
Delphine LaLaurie and her third husband, Leonard LaLaurie, took up residence in the house at 1140 Royal Street sometime in the 1830's. The pair immediately became the darlings of the gay New Orleans social scene that at the time was experiencing the birth of ragtime, the slave dances and rituals of Congo Square, the reign of the Mighty Marie Laveau, and the advent of the bittersweet Creole Balls. Madame LaLaurie hosted fantastic events in her beautiful home that were talked about months afterward. She was described as sweet and endearing in her ways, and her husband was nothing if not highly respected within the community.

At the same time, it is said, Madame’s friendship with infamous Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, began to grow. Laveau lived not far from LaLaurie’s Royal Street home and the two women became acquainted when Laveau did Madame’s hair occasionally. It is said that under Laveau’s tutelage, Madame LaLaurie began to act upon her latent interest in the occult, learning the secrets of voodoo and witchcraft at the hands of a might mistress of the craft.

There are reported incidents of people seeing, feeling and hearing the ghosts of tormented slaves in the LaLaurie home, and there are even reports of the Madame herself being seen there. The docile house servants who entreated the assistance of outsiders when the house was about to burn to the ground are said to often return to their task - running and slamming doors and shouts are heard repeatedly. Nor are the spirits of the restless dead quiet: the reports of moans and weeping outnumber all others. Furniture moves about by itself, people feel the touch of unseen hands, and there are several who have seen the ghostly faces of the dead peering from the upper windows and the chamber of horrors that became the crucible of their miserable lives.

New Orleans is one of the oldest and most multi-faceted cities in the United States, and there are other tales, similar to those of the LaLaurie home that, sadly, have made their way into our history. But the gruesome horror of this particular event was so ghastly that it stains the city's memory to this very day.

More Info and links on New Orleans Most Haunted House , the Lalaurie House, New Orleans Louisiana "One of the Most Haunted Cities in America" .

3. The Whaley House
WHALEY HOUSE

Located in San Diego, California, the Whaley House has earned the title of "the most haunted house in the U.S. Built in 1857 by Thomas Whaley on land that was partially once a cemetery, the house has since been the locus of dozens of ghost sightings.

Author deTraci Regula relates her experiences with the house: "Over the years, while dining across the street at the Old Town Mexican Cafe, I became accustomed to noticing that the shutters of the second-story windows [of the Whaley House] would sometimes open while we ate dinner, long after the house was closed for the day.

On a recent visit, I could feel the energy in several spots in the house, particularly in the courtroom, where I also smelled the faint scent of a cigar, supposedly Whaley's calling-card. In the hallway, I smelled perfume, initially attributing that to the young woman acting as docent, but some later surreptitious sniffing in her direction as I talked to her about the house revealed her to be scent-free."

A WHALEY HOUSE GHOST?

The Whaley House is a two-story Greek Revival style brick residence in San Diego's Old Town, was designed by Thomas Whaley and completed in 1857. The home, acclaimed as the "finest new brick block in Southern California" by the San Diego Herald, contained mahogany and rosewood furniture, damask drapes, and Brussels carpets. Whaley established his general store in this residence, and solicited cash customers only. The Whaleys moved to San Francisco but returned to San Diego in 1868. Whaley family members would live in the house for nearly a century.

From October 1868 to January 1869, the Tanner Troupe Theatre operated out of the front upstairs bedroom. The San Diego County Courthouse utilized the former granary in August 1869 and rented three upstairs rooms for records storage. After the establishment of New Town San Diego by Alonzo Horton in 1868, the town focus changed to present day downtown San Diego. During a March 1871 raid, courthouse documents were removed from the Whaley House and taken to Horton’s Hall on 6th and F in San Diego. After the County’s exit, Whaley connected the former granary and courtroom to the residence, changed windows and doors, and altered the front portico.

On October 31, 1956, the County of San Diego purchased the historic Whaley House, and undertook a major renovation of the property, which is still evident today. In September of 2000 Save Our Heritage Organization assumed the stewardship of the property for the County of San Diego and is in the progress of restoring the house to its original appearance.

THE VERY HAUNTED WHALEY HOUSE

Some of the other ghostly encounters include: the spirit of a young girl who was accidentally hanged on the property; the ghost of Yankee Jim Robinson, a thief who was clubbed to death and who can be heard on the house's stairway where he died, and has sometimes been seen during tours of the old house; the red-haired daughter of the Whaley's sometimes appears in such a realistic form, she is sometimes mistaken for a live child. Famed psychic Sybil Leek claimed to have sensed several spirits there, and renowned ghost hunter Hanz Holzer considered the Whaley to be one of the most reliably haunted structures in the United States.

Group Tour Fee Schedule & Procedures

Daytime Groups:
Includes School Groups, Senior Groups, Prearranged Groups of Children, Disadvantaged or Disabled Groups.
Minimum 15 people: $2.50 per person. Call (619) 297-9327 for reservations.

Nighttime 1-Hour Private Tour with Ghost Tour Docent
$75 per person, minimum 2 people, maximum 15 people
Larger groups must submit proposal via email to group@whaleyhouse.org
After 1 hour: $100/hour per couple. Call (619) 297-9327 for reservations
More info on the haunted Whaley House and links

 

4. The Winchester House

WINCHESTER HOUSE

There have been a number of strange events reported at the totally unique Winchester House for many years and they still continue to be reported today. This Haunting makes the top ten in the USA , Number 4 Haunted House in America.

In 1884, a wealthy widow named Sarah L. Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death thirty-eight years later. The Victorian mansion, designed and built by the Winchester Rifle heiress, is filled with so many unexplained oddities, that it has come to be known as the Winchester Mystery House.

Sarah Winchester built a home that is an architectural marvel. Unlike most homes of its era, this 160-room Victorian mansion had modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. From rambling roofs and exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to the gold and silver chandeliers and Tiffany art glass windows, you will be impressed by the staggering amount of creativity, energy, and expense poured into each and every detail.

 

Many many psychics have visited the Haunted house, most have come away actually convinced, that Sarah Winchester and many other tormented spirits still wander the Great maze of rooms.

In the years that the house has been open to the public, employees and visitors alike have had one to many unusual encounters with ghost. There have been the sounds of haunted footsteps; etheral music and many a banging doors; too often one hears mysterious echoing ghostly voices; several unexplainable cold spots; strange moving lights and orbs in ghost photos; witnesses have seen doorknobs that turn by themselves... and don’t forget the scores of people who have their own claims of phenomena to report but just are to afraid to do it.

Tour through 110 of the 160 rooms and look for the bizarre phenomena that gave the mansion its name; a window built into the floor, staircases leading to nowhere, a chimney that rises four floors, doors that open onto blank walls, and upside down posts! No one has been able to explain the mysteries that exist within the Winchester Mansion, or why Sarah Winchester kept the carpenters' hammers pounding 24 hours a day for 38 years. It is believed that after the untimely deaths of her baby daughter and husband, son of the Winchester Rifle manufacturer, Mrs. Winchester was convinced by a medium that continuous building would appease the evil spirits of those killed by the famous "Gun that Won the West" and help her attain eternal life. Certainly her $20,000,000 inheritance was sufficient to support her obsession until her death at 82!

The Behind-the-Scenes Tour is a guided tour which takes guests into areas which had been unexplored for over 75 years. On tour you will learn how Mrs. Winchester's 160-acre estate functioned. You will go into the stables, dehydrator, Plumber's workshop, the unfinished Ballroom, and one of the basements.

WINCHESTER STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN?

 

You will also learn about Victorian architecture as your guide points out the many features used in the building of the Winchester mansion. Safety hats will be worn on the tour. The Behind-the-Scenes Tour is limited to those 10 and older. Sorry, due to safety concerns, children 9 and under and babies are not permitted.

The Winchester Firearms Museum

The "Gun that Won the West" is the main attraction in the Firearms Museum, one of the largest Winchester Rifle collections on the West Coast. See the collection of guns that preceded the famous Winchester Rifle, including B. Tyler Henry's 1860 repeating rifle that Oliver Winchester adapted and improved upon to produce his first repeating rifle, the Winchester Model 1866. Learn about the Model 1873 which came to be called the "Gun that Won the West." See a collection of the Limited Edition Winchester Commemorative Rifles including the Centennial '66, the Theodore Roosevelt, and the renowned John Wayne.

The Winchester Antique Products Museum

This museum contains a rare collection of antique products once manufactured by the Winchester Products Company, a subsidiary of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. In the years following World War I, the parent company launched a Post-war Program, aimed at expanding the manufacture of new products in order to fill the factory space previously used for military production. At one time there were 6,300 individually owned Winchester stores carrying these products, which made it the largest hardware chain store organization in the world! The museum now displays items produced in the 1920's ranging from Winchester cutlery, flashlights, lawn-mowers, boy's wagons, fishing tackle and roller skates, to food choppers, electric irons, and farm and garden tools.

For more information about the Mystery House, see the rather longer review of it in my magazine, Emerald City. There is also a review of Tim Powers's excellent book, Earthquake Weather, which uses the Mystery House and various other spooky Bay Area buildings for settings.

More info and links on the Winchester Mystery House
525 South Winchester Boulevard
San Jose, California

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/hauntedhouses/winchesterhouse/

http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

 

 

5.The Stranahan House

STRANAHAN HOUSE

The Stranahan House, Built in 1906, for Pioneer Floridian Frank Stranahan, This is one of Haunted Fort Lauderdale's most haunted houses. Built in 1906, for Pioneer Floridian Frank Stranahan. Experts have analyzed the unexplained events at the Stranahan House and have determined they are "Unexplainable"!

Stranahan House, located in downtown Fort Lauderdale on the New River, has been the site most closely associated with both the founding of the City and its economic and social development. Frank Stranahan originally selected the site because it was where he operated his barge ferry across the river as part of the new road from Lantana to what is now North Miami. Today, Stranahan House is the eastern anchor of River Walk, a linear waterfront park connecting Fort Lauderdale's historic district with the soon to be created cultural district anchored by the Performing Arts Center and the Museum of Discovery and Science.

FRANK STRANAHAN

The Haunted Stranahan House has served as a trading post, post office, bank and town hall. Restored to its 1913, it's a "must see" in Haunted South Florida.

Frank Stranahan was born in Vienna, Ohio August 21, 1864. In 1890, he relocated to South Florida for health reasons, settling first in Melbourne. Moving again in 1893, Stranahan relocated to Fort Lauderdale to assume management of the overland mail route from Lantana to Coconut Grove.

Stranahan established the first post office in Fort Lauderdale, and the location also became a popular trading post and ferry service.