Hello May!

Happy May everyone! I’m happy to finally release the first edition of The Vintage Victorian! This monthly newsletter is a look into everything related to San Diego history and old houses.

I’m going to keep it light and fun this week, but in the future the plan is to feature more in depth articles about San Diego history that we cover each edition. This past month was nothing short of fascinating when it came to old houses in San Diego.

The Murray Apartments and the Daggett Family Residence were moved from their previous downtown location on 14th and G St to Barrio Logan to make way for more development and a new city park. The link to the full article from NBC San Diego is linked below.

I also dive into a fun, and potentially spooky topic when it comes to old houses...are they haunted? The best way I can answer this was through San Diego’s most recognizable “haunted house”, The Whaley House in Old Town. The answer is more interesting, and historic, than you may realize!

And finally, I will feature some of my favorite old house listings in San Diego.

Enjoy!

Andy

Historic Homes in the News

If it seems like you've read more than a few news stories lately about fresh parks coming to San Diego, you wouldn't be mistaken....

Courtesy of NBC San Diego

Did you know?

One thing I get a kick out of when I tour old houses with people is when they ask if the house is “haunted”.

Whether you believe or not, it can be amusing to at least play along with the thought. And one of San Diego’s most amusing “haunted” attractions is The Whaley House in Old Town San Diego. But is the house actually haunted?

Originally built in 1857, The Whaley House gained massive notoriety on June 25, 1965 when famous ghost hunter Hans Holzer, a self proclaimed witch named Sybil Leek and Regis Philbin (yes, that Regis) spent the night there.

According to them, they experienced many things such as an executed man, Thomas and Anna Whaley and the ghost of a little girl. Ghosts of the Golden West, the 1968 book written by Holzer about the events that night, put The Whaley House on the map as San Diego’s premier haunted house, even certified by the US Government as “America’s Most Haunted House” (pictured above). At least that’s what we’ve been lead to believe...

I was always curious what that meant until I read the book Pierce the Veil by Charles Spratley. He writes that in the 1970's an attempt was made to boost tourism in the US. The United States Travel Service (USTS), a subdivision of the US Department of Commerce (now defunct), used brochures to market different destinations for people and one of them featured a list of “haunted houses” throughout America, and it was wildly popular.

This along with other popular ghost movies such as The Amityville Horror and The Exorcist had the 1970s hooked on the haunted. As the interest intensified, USTS reached out to historic home museums across the US to see if they believed their home to be haunted, or maybe if they didn’t believe their house was haunted, would they reconsider? The increased interest, and ticket sales, the historic house museums experienced as a result of all this was undeniable. As a result, many museums dug up old stories or played up their spooky history to play into it. The Whaley House is no different.

USTS operated until 1996 and made many attempts to boost US tourism, always falling back on the haunted attractions that gave them the best results. Among many of their attempts, designating The Whaley House “America’s Most Haunted House” was one of them.

Since then, thousands of people are drawn to the house each year to hear the tales of the Whaley’s and their troubled past....Haunted or not, the stories are fascinating and I look forward to covering them in the future. What’s your favorite?

Featured Historic Listings

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