Mike Conley's Tales of the Weird: A visit to 'nation's most haunted house'

SAN DIEGO – The tour guide asked me to stand in a certain spot in the upstairs hallway, close my eyes and wait for the paranormal energy to take over.
I sincerely followed her suggestion since it had happened to her so many times before in that same spot. I have always approached such things with an open mind whenever visiting a place that is considered haunted. And the place where I was visiting on Saturday, Sept. 26 is one of the most famous haunted houses in the world.
Located in San Diego's historic Old Town, the Whaley House is one of the city's and southern California's most important historical landmarks. Built in the late 1850s, the brick structure was for many years the home for the Thomas Whaley family. During its long history, it also housed a granary, the county courthouse, San Diego's first commercial theater, Thomas Whaley's general store, a ballroom, a school and a polling place. It is central to the history of beautiful San Diego, just as the Carson House is central to the history of McDowell County.
But this Victorian era house has acquired a reputation that is unlike few others in the nation. The Travel Channel declared the Whaley House to be the "No. 1 most haunted house in the United States" and it has been featured on The History Channel. The alleged hauntings in the house have been featured in numerous other television documentaries, books and magazine articles since it first opened as a museum in 1960. Famous psychics and paranormal investigators have checked out the site hoping to contact its restless spirits. When I was a boy, I first heard about the place through reading the 1970s book "Haunted Houses." Since then, I have always been intrigued by this place and its sinister reputation.
Some would say that the Whaley House was destined to be haunted. That is because the house was built on the site where criminals in San Diego were hanged for their crimes.
The first documented ghost at the Whaley House, and the best known today, is that of "Yankee Jim" Robinson. In 1852, Robinson was convicted of attempted grand larceny in San Diego and hanged on a gallows off the back of a wagon where the house now stands. The local newspaper reported he "swung back and forth like a pendulum until he strangled to death." Thomas Whaley was among those who witnessed the execution and he knew all too well the place's grisly past. But it didn't stop him from buying the land a few years later so he could build his house there.
But not long after the family moved into their new home, heavy footsteps were heard moving around the house. Thomas Whaley described them as sounding as though they were made by the boots of a large man. He came to the conclusion that the ghost of Yankee Jim haunted his new house.
In 1885, the family would be faced with tragedy. That year, Violet, the daughter of Thomas and Anna Whaley, married a man named George T. Bertolacci. However, their marriage soon ended in divorce, which was scandalous at the time. After the divorce, Violet never recovered from the humiliation and suffered from severe depression. She committed suicide by shooting herself in the heart using her father's gun on Aug. 19, 1885. After this tragedy, her father built a single-story frame home for his family at 933 State St. in downtown San Diego and moved out of the sad and tragic house which today bears his name.
To this day, some say the sad spirit of Violet Whaley still walks through the house in Old Town.
For a time, one section of the house was the courthouse for San Diego County, Calif. and that room has been restored to look as it did when court was held there. My tour guide Pat, who also has psychic abilities, told me that one day she walked past the courtroom section and saw a chandelier in there swinging back and forth. This was no gentle swaying caused by the wind. She said it was swinging broadly like someone or something was pushing it.
One visitor described seeing a ghostly woman in that courtroom that does not match any descriptions of the Whaley women. Many visitors to the house have reported encountering Thomas Whaley himself while the ghost of his wife Anna has also been seen. In 1964, her floating spirit allegedly appeared to TV personality Regis Philbin, according to the Whaley House's Web site.
Philbin is quoted on the Web site as saying "You know a lot of people pooh-pooh it because they can't see it. But there was something going on in that house."
Another presence reported by visitors and tour guides alike is that of a young girl, who is usually found in the dining room. Psychic Sybil Leek supposedly encountered this ghost during a visit in the 1960s.
Not all the ghosts in the Whaley House are those of humans. Some folks believe the spirit of a little dog haunts the place. My tour guide Pat told me and other people that one day she encountered a little white dog that appeared to her out of nowhere and instantly vanished before her eyes.
That same guide also invited me to experience the psychic energy pervading this historic structure that has seen so much sadness and tragedy. I followed her lead and stood in one corner of the upstairs hallway that she indicated. I have been to so many old houses, historic churches, battlefields and other places usually considered to be haunted and have yet to experience anything remotely paranormal.
I stood there with eyes closed but did not feel anything different. My guide said some people are more sensitive to it than others and perhaps I was trying too hard.
Although I didn't feel, hear or see anything paranormal at the Whaley House, I was by no means disappointed in my tour. This house holds so much history, both normal and paranormal. As Regis said, there is definitely something going on there.

Contact Mike Conley at 652-3313, ext. 3422 or e-mail nconley@mcdowellnews.com.