Haunted Places in San Diego: Ghost Tours and Haunted Spots

The most famous haunted places in San Diego are the Whaley House in Old Town, the Hotel del Coronado (home of the Kate Morgan legend) and the Star of India tall ship on the Embarcadero, with Villa Montezuma in Sherman Heights and a supposedly haunted Wells Fargo tower downtown close behind. Year-round ghost tours cover Old Town and the Gaslamp Quarter. The big seasonal haunts, like the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park, run from late September to Halloween, so for 2026 they are finished and will be back next fall.

The Whaley House, Old Town

If you only visit one haunted spot, make it this one. The Whaley House at 2476 San Diego Ave sits at the edge of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, and its reputation is national: the San Diego Tourism Authority listing notes that the Travel Channel’s America’s Most Haunted ranked it the most haunted house in the United States. The house has been a home, a courtroom, a theater and a general store, which explains why ghost stories here come in so many varieties.

According to the Whaley House’s official site, it is open daily from 10am to 4:30pm (closing at 3pm on Thanksgiving Day 2026 and closed Christmas Day). Ticket options as of November 2026:

Experience	Price from	What it is
Daytime self-guided tour	$15	Walk-in, first come, first served; short intro every 15 minutes
Behind-the-Scenes Experience	$24	45-minute small group into restricted areas, including a paranormal investigation room
Evening guided tour	$20	30 to 40 minutes, reservations required, not recommended under 13
After-hours paranormal investigation	$109	About two hours in a small group; check in at the Derby-Pendleton House, 4015 Harney St
Day & Evening package	$36	One daytime plus one evening ticket, usable on different days

Parking in the state park lots is free. Evening tours ban recording and every tour bans live streaming, so leave the phone in your pocket after dark. Pair the visit with the rest of the neighborhood using our Old Town guide.

Hotel del Coronado and Kate Morgan

The Del’s ghost story is the best known in Southern California. In November 1892 a young woman checked in alone under an assumed name, kept asking at the front desk about someone who never arrived, and died at the hotel five days later. Newspapers called her the “Beautiful Stranger” until she was identified weeks later as Kate Morgan. Guests and staff have reported strange happenings ever since. Read the full story in our Kate Morgan guide.

The hotel’s own ghost story page lists a Haunted Happenings Tour nightly at 7pm. It does not list a price, so check with the hotel when you book. You do not need to be an overnight guest to wander the lobby and grounds.

Villa Montezuma, Sherman Heights

This ornate Queen Anne mansion at 1925 K Street was built in 1887 for Jesse Shepard, a musician and spiritualist who lived there only about a year. Its stained glass, dark wood and odd history put it on nearly every local list of spooky houses. The City of San Diego owns it, and after years of limited access it reopened for regular paid tours in October 2021. Tour days are limited and change, so see our Villa Montezuma guide and confirm before you go.

The Star of India and the Maritime Museum

The Star of India, launched in 1863 as the Euterpe on the Isle of Man, is what the Maritime Museum of San Diego calls the world’s oldest active sailing ship. Its long life at sea comes with stories of lost crew members and unexplained sightings below deck. Each October the museum runs Haunted Star Tales, which tells those stories on the ship’s decks and galleries and is included with general admission. Outside October you can still board the ship on a regular museum visit at 1492 N Harbor Dr.

The “Haunted Wells Fargo Bank” Downtown

Many people searching for Wells Fargo in San Diego land on a ghost story, and here is the background. The haunted building is Wells Fargo Plaza, a 23-story tower in the downtown Core district completed in 1984 and formerly the First Interstate Bank building. A 2001 American Banker report gathered its legends:

• A former First Interstate banker who appears and vanishes, including during one security guard’s night shift.
• A night-time photo on the 12th floor of a transparent man walking a hallway, which author Gail White’s book Haunted San Diego called one of the best apparition photos ever taken.
• Two electricians who died during construction in 1983 and are said to linger in the parking garage.
• Hundreds of yellow Post-it notes found arranged on a 16th-floor copy-room ceiling in 1988, minutes after a guard had checked the room.

It is a working office tower with no public tours, so this one is a look-from-the-sidewalk stop on a downtown walk.

Two practical notes. First, the Wells Fargo History Museum that used to sit in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is gone: Wells Fargo announced in 2020 that it would close all its history museums except San Francisco’s. Second, if you are actually looking for a bank branch or ATM (downtown 92101, Ocean Beach 92107 or Mission Valley 92108), use the Wells Fargo locator for current addresses and hours.

Ghost Tours in San Diego

Tours are the easiest way to cover several haunted spots in one evening.

Ghosts & Gravestones (Old Town Trolley Tours). The best-known “frightseeing” tour rides through Old Town, with a walk through El Campo Santo cemetery, a stop at Pioneer Park beside Grant School (a former cemetery), and a look at the outside of the Whaley House. It does not go inside the house. The tourism authority listing shows it running daily, from $49. The Whaley House also sells a “San Diego Day & Night” trolley package with a 90-minute night tour.

Gaslamp Quarter ghost walks. The Gaslamp Museum at the Davis-Horton House (410 Island Ave) is listed as running a Gaslamp Ghost Walking Tour led by historian Sandee Wilhoit, visiting old hotels, saloons and a former funeral parlor, at $25 with discounts for seniors, military and students. Murder n Mayhem runs a separate one-hour Gaslamp ghost tour from 618 Fifth Ave, listed at $15, where you can try an EMF meter. Schedules for both change, so confirm when you book. Our Gaslamp Quarter guide covers the rest of the neighborhood.

Seasonal Haunted Attractions (Late September to Halloween)

Halloween 2026 has passed, so everything in this section is closed until next fall. Here is what a typical season looks like, based on the San Diego Tourism Authority’s 2026 Halloween guide:

• Haunted Trail of Balboa Park. San Diego’s biggest scare attraction: a mile-long outdoor trail through the pines and oaks near Marston Point, entered after the indoor eXperiment Maze, plus a Dark Carnival scare zone. The 2026 season ran September 25 to November 1. In 2025 it opened nightly from 7pm, with timed general admission from $34.99. It is not recommended for children under 10.
• SeaWorld Howl-O-Scream. Night-time haunts and scare zones inside SeaWorld San Diego, which ran September 11 to November 1 in 2026.
• The Haunted Amusement Park. An East County scare trail on the old Marshal Scotty’s Playland grounds, among leftover 1960s carnival rides.
• Fort Cross Haunted Harvest, Julian. A gentler hayride, dark woods walk and “haunted hoedown” on select October Saturdays. Easy to combine with a day in Julian.
• Whaley House in October. The house adds extended hours for the season.

Del Mar haunted trails: the Del Mar Fairgrounds once hosted a long-running Halloween attraction called the Scream Zone, but it is not in the 2026 tourism listings, and recent dates for it could not be found. If you want a scare trail in the county, plan on Balboa Park.

Tips for a Haunted San Diego Trip

• Group by area. Old Town (Whaley House, El Campo Santo, Pioneer Park nearby) is one evening. The Gaslamp, the downtown Wells Fargo tower and the Star of India fit into a second. Coronado needs its own night.
• Book evening slots early in October. Whaley House evening tours and investigations need reservations, and October weekends fill first.
• Check age guidance. The Whaley House evening tour isn’t recommended for under-13s, and the Haunted Trail isn’t recommended for under-10s. Daytime Whaley House visits and Haunted Star Tales are the family-friendly choices.
• Be respectful at cemeteries. El Campo Santo and Pioneer Park are historic burial grounds in residential neighborhoods. Stay on paths and keep noise down at night.