Unsolved cases

The Spirit of the Whaley House

The Whaley house is in San Diego, California and is ranked by travels America's most haunted as the most haunted house in America number one.

Thomas Whaley was born in New York City on October 5th, 1823. In September 1855, Thomas bought land in Old Town San Diego, California. In 1857, Thomas constructed a two story brick home for him and his wife, Anna, using bricks from his personal Brickyard and the result was the infamous Whaley house.

Since being built, the Whaley house has been used as many things including a courtroom in San Diego's first commercial theaters, both of which still remain in the house today. But it's most famous use was as the home of Thomas and Anna Whaley and their children, who moved in and out of the house throughout the late  1800's in early to mid 1900's.

Thomas and Hannah Whaley had three children within the first few years of living at the Whaley House. Francis Hinton, Thomas Jr and Anna Amelia. Thomas Jr tragically died at 18 months of scarlet fever in the house. In the same year, Thomas Sr nearby general store burned down in a case of arson.

Devastated, the family moved to San Francisco, where they had three more kids. George Hays Ringgold, Violet Eloise and Corinne Lillian. However, an earthquake in 1868 and forced the family to return to live in the Whaley house in San Diego.
Unfortunately, tragedy would continue to fall on the family over the years as Violet Whaley would kill herself in 1885, she shot herself in the heart in the backyard out rose due to grief over her failed marriage. Thomas Whaley found her dying and brought her inside the house into the back of the parlor where she passed away 15 minutes later. Over the next 68 years, three members of the Whaley Family would die inside the house. Anna Whaley in 1913, Francis Whaley in 1914, and then Lilian Whaley in 1953.

Now that the history has been established, Here are the ghostly inhabitants that are believe to haunt the walls.

Shane: do you think because you believe in all this stuff that you have a higher chance of being a ghost?

Ryan: oh, yeah i would think so. I'd be a pleasant ghost, i'd like our people tea and stuff like that

Shane: what?

Ryan: or i'd do chores around the house. They'd be like " Whoa, all my laundry's folded. How about that? Thanks, Ryan" and i'd tip my cap and i'd tap dance out of the room

Shane: you sound fun

Ryan: yeah, right? doesn't that sound great? Wouldn't you like to be haunted by me?

First ghosts we'll discuss will be Thomas jr and Violet Whaley. Infant cries are often heard in the house, an experienced likely attributed to the fact that Thomas Jr died from scarlet fever inside the house at the age of 18 months. On the second floor of house, in the back room, people have seen a young woman and report feeling a profound sorrow in the area. This young woman is believed to be Violet Whaley.

There are other spiritually active areas of the house with unidentified sightings  of apparitions. In the early 1900's, the house was rented out to various tenants by Lillian. So it's possible these unidentified apparitions could be the spirit of former tenants. Some have seen a little girl in the dining room, vaudeville music is sometimes heard in the theatre room.
Physics have visited the house. The courtroom is especially active. A woman is sometimes seen in the courtroom in the back corner of the jury box. Paranormal investigator also claim the back corner is a spiritual vortex.

Outside the house, another police officer also had a paranormal experience more than 30 years ago, there was a 911 call from a concerned citizen reporting a woman crying outside the Whaley House and the officer who responded to that call would witness something that he would only revealed in his confidential retirement letter. Decades later when the officer came onto the property,
" A woman at the back of the house crying"

Mentioned she was in period clothing, the officer asked
" Ma'am, are you alright?"
She turned around and smiled and when the officer shown his flashlight on her, the woman vanished. Bizarrely, the house also sports the rare instance of a ghost dog and a ghost cat, both of which the Whaley's owned at the time.

Two other ghosts that haunt the house are Thomas and Anna Whaley themselves. Many reports seeing Thomas Whaley on the upper landing where one person claimed he wore a frock coat and pantaloons, some have reported that he blows tobacco smoke in visitors faces.
Anna Whaley is typically seen in the garden or in one the downstairs rooms. Anna has also been spotted wearing a green gingham dress, sipping tea in the parlor, a place where Thomas has been seen as well. Interesting, Anna also reportedly had a run-in with a San Diego police. One night, a Whaley house tour guide named Victor Santana was setting the alarm and as he was punching in the code, he heard a woman say:
"Why are you here"
Which spooked him to the point that he ran out the front door without completing the code, setting off the alarm. Shortly after, a San Diego police officer responded to the Whaley house. Santana recollects the officer:
"Claimed there was a woman in a green dress in the parlor"
But by the time backup arrived, the woman in green had disappeared.

Ryan: how do you arrest a ghost? You can't. You handcuff them-

Shane:  i guess you would have to be a ghost cop

Ryan: You know what, i rescind what i said earlier. I won't pour tea and uh, fold clothes, i'll be a ghost cop 

Shane: yeah, that's actually pretty awesome

Ryan: Ryan Bergara:

Shane and Ryan: GHOST COP

Ryan: doesn't that sound nice?

Shane: that's awesome

Ryan: i like that

Shane: yeah

However, the final and perhaps most feared ghost of all is the ghost of Yankee Jim.

Shane: hahahahaha

Ryan: hehehe

Shane: you better watch out or Yankee Jim will give you some taffy. Some folks say they hear him playing a jolly little kazoo tune in the middle of the night

Ryan: hahahaha

Shane: he's not- that's not a ghost- that's not a spooky name

Another part of the reason the house is haunted is due to what occurred on the land before the house was constructed. In 1852, James Yankee Jim Robinson was sentenced to hang to his death for attempting to steal a boat. He was hanged on the gallows off  the back of a wagon on the land where the Whaley house is today.
Interestingly enough, Thomas Whaley was reportedly in attendance of that hanging, it still purchased the land a few year later a decision that would literally haunt him for decades to come. Thomas and his family would reportedly hear heavy footsteps in the house, an occurrence that Thomas himself would attribute to the ghost of Yankee Jim. Anna Whaley also believed the house was haunted and furthermore believed the property itself was cursed and perhaps accounted for the tragedy that continually befell the family.

The parlor is believed to be one of the most active areas in the house.

After being dedicated as historic house on May 25th, 1960. The Whaley house has received over 100,000 visitors per year and a countless number of those people report paranormal experiences for there to be so many instances of paranormal activity in the house. Whether or not, the house is definitively haunted will remain

Unsolved