Adventures in the city: October 2006 Archives
Last Sunday, my roommates and I were looking for something to do, and decided to go on the San Francisco Ghost Hunting Tour. It's a tourist thing, but we figured it might be fun to check out.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about "ghosts" or supernatural occurrences, but I definitely went into the experience with an open mind. The key is that it was just to have fun, and I didn't really have any expectations.
Let me start by saying that the greatest part of the whole trip is the tour guide, Jim Fassbinder. He actually has a fanny pack with "GHOST HUNT" spelled out in metal studs. (He uses it to carry his ghost hunting equipment). I've included a picture of his costume, he really is as cool as he looks! He's been on the Travel Chanel shows about haunted places, and is an expert on the Supernatural. Regardless, he's just damn cool.
The evening started in a beautiful historic hotel in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood called the Queen Anne. The tour began with a dimly lit (and very dramatic, I might add) introduction and stories of supernatural experiences others have had on the tour.
Next, we heard the story of Mary Lake, who allegedly haunts room 410 of the Queen Anne hotel. We were invited to walk around and check out the hotel and see if we could detect any "presence" of Mary Lake.
Supposedly, light variations in photos indicate a presence, as do inexplicable cold spots in a room. I took a few photos and definitely had the light variations - but I'm not really sold on the idea that they're ghosts. I also didn't detect any cold spots, so was feeling a little disappointed.
Upon leaving the hotel, we walked around the beautiful Pacific Heights neighborhood. It was the perfect evening for a Ghost Hunt - very foggy, but not too cold. Eerie, if you will.
Jim led the group around to various sites and told the stories of the ghosts that haunted them. He is very animated and a great story teller, so despite not seeing a ghost it was entertaining. But what happened at the mansion haunted by a ghost named Claudia sent it over the top!
As the story goes, Claudia was murdered in her own home, stabbed hundreds of times by a crazy cousin in the attic - or something. I don't really remember. The important part of the story is she was murdered while trying to open the door to her room (which was locked).
Jim took out a skeleton key that he claimed was the actual key from her room. He made a dramatic (and anticlimactic) display of passing it around the crowd asking whether anyone felt anything "special" about the key. The answer was "no" all around. At this point I'm thinking he's going to tell some lame story about how the key is haunted too or something. But no....
Jim invited a few volunteers to hold his hand perfectly still while he rested the key (with the flag side facing toward him) in his palm. He had the ladies hold on very tight and the instructed us all to just wait and watch. As we watched, the key actually turned over in his hand. It was cool, but I figured it was a magic trick of some sort and dismissed it.
However - he wanted to prove it was real, so he asked if someone else wanted to try. Curious, I volunteered. He put the key in my hand and held it still and again, instructed everyone to wait and watch. The key actually started turning! It felt like tiny pulsations of static electricity or something - I don't know. But it turned all the way over in my hand, and I know for SURE I didn't do anything to it at all.
Supposedly, the key is always "trying" to turn, and is more likely to work with a woman since it belonged to a woman. Who knows? I have no idea how it worked, I just know it was really creepy and pretty cool.
If anyone comes to visit me in SF, I will be taking you on the Ghost Tour. And that's final.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about "ghosts" or supernatural occurrences, but I definitely went into the experience with an open mind. The key is that it was just to have fun, and I didn't really have any expectations.
Let me start by saying that the greatest part of the whole trip is the tour guide, Jim Fassbinder. He actually has a fanny pack with "GHOST HUNT" spelled out in metal studs. (He uses it to carry his ghost hunting equipment). I've included a picture of his costume, he really is as cool as he looks! He's been on the Travel Chanel shows about haunted places, and is an expert on the Supernatural. Regardless, he's just damn cool.
The evening started in a beautiful historic hotel in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood called the Queen Anne. The tour began with a dimly lit (and very dramatic, I might add) introduction and stories of supernatural experiences others have had on the tour.
Next, we heard the story of Mary Lake, who allegedly haunts room 410 of the Queen Anne hotel. We were invited to walk around and check out the hotel and see if we could detect any "presence" of Mary Lake.
Supposedly, light variations in photos indicate a presence, as do inexplicable cold spots in a room. I took a few photos and definitely had the light variations - but I'm not really sold on the idea that they're ghosts. I also didn't detect any cold spots, so was feeling a little disappointed.
Upon leaving the hotel, we walked around the beautiful Pacific Heights neighborhood. It was the perfect evening for a Ghost Hunt - very foggy, but not too cold. Eerie, if you will.
Jim led the group around to various sites and told the stories of the ghosts that haunted them. He is very animated and a great story teller, so despite not seeing a ghost it was entertaining. But what happened at the mansion haunted by a ghost named Claudia sent it over the top!
As the story goes, Claudia was murdered in her own home, stabbed hundreds of times by a crazy cousin in the attic - or something. I don't really remember. The important part of the story is she was murdered while trying to open the door to her room (which was locked).
Jim took out a skeleton key that he claimed was the actual key from her room. He made a dramatic (and anticlimactic) display of passing it around the crowd asking whether anyone felt anything "special" about the key. The answer was "no" all around. At this point I'm thinking he's going to tell some lame story about how the key is haunted too or something. But no....
Jim invited a few volunteers to hold his hand perfectly still while he rested the key (with the flag side facing toward him) in his palm. He had the ladies hold on very tight and the instructed us all to just wait and watch. As we watched, the key actually turned over in his hand. It was cool, but I figured it was a magic trick of some sort and dismissed it.
However - he wanted to prove it was real, so he asked if someone else wanted to try. Curious, I volunteered. He put the key in my hand and held it still and again, instructed everyone to wait and watch. The key actually started turning! It felt like tiny pulsations of static electricity or something - I don't know. But it turned all the way over in my hand, and I know for SURE I didn't do anything to it at all.
Supposedly, the key is always "trying" to turn, and is more likely to work with a woman since it belonged to a woman. Who knows? I have no idea how it worked, I just know it was really creepy and pretty cool.
If anyone comes to visit me in SF, I will be taking you on the Ghost Tour. And that's final.
Continue reading The San Francisco Ghost Hunt.
