When it comes to ghosts, California is one of those regions that is rarely first to come to mind, yet the Golden State probably has some of the most active phenomena in the country. The newest book to crop up on this aspect of the most populated state in the union is Ghost Hunter's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. While it is kewl to run across another guide for tips to local haunted sites, it was obviously put together by someone who has little familiarity with either the sites he is writing about or the Bay Area and aspects of this book are inconsistent. The research done is superficial at best.

This 2005 trade paperback comprises six chapters, seven appendixes, an introduction, an index, and several black and white photos. The chapters instruct the reader how to hunt for ghosts and briefly describe the paranormal activity at sites around the Bay Area, including the North Bay, East Bay, South Bay, San Francisco and the Peninsula. It also incorporates regions that are a reasonable driving distance from the Bay Area. The appendixes provide supplemental background information on ghosts, such as a sighting report form, suggested reading, films & videos, special tours & activities, organizations, Internet resources, and historical societies & museums.

In 1831, George Calvert Yount became the first Caucasian man to settle in Napa Valley and be ceded a Spanish land grant in the town named for him, Yountville. Yount survived his only son and daughter-in-law by 13 years. Both died in 1852 while in their midtwenties. Yount spent the rest of his life grieving their loss. After he died in 1865, witnesses have seen the partial image of an old man floating around the old Yount mansion and gravesite.

San Francisco has the specter of a runaway bride. In 1876, Flora Sommerton fled her parents' home in their Pacific Heights neighborhood on the eve of her arranged marriage. Her parents offered a reward for her return, but it would be 50 years before she was discovered in Butte, Montana, when she died. After her burial, her youthful image has been seen running away in her wedding dress on California Street, between Powell and Jones.

The decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Hornet sank over 70 Japanese ships and fell over 1400 enemy aircraft during WWII. This mobile battlefield is now a museum that is docked in the former Alameda Naval Air Station. As it was being restored, workers kept hearing unexplained noises occurring, such as slamming doors and footsteps. One witness even heard the landing of an aircraft on deck.

While the stories Author Jeff Dwyer reports are fascinating, as non-fiction they never refer to any primary resources. Having visited several the places he writes about, I was appalled at how much inaccuracy this book had. Among other things, it categorizes Mission San Jose as being in the South Bay. Mission San Jose is in Fremont, which is part of the East Bay. It states a live creek runs through the lobby of the Brookdale Lodge. This live creek is actually the main feature of Brookdale Lodge's full-scale restaurant, the Brook Room. It refers the winding stretch of Highway 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains as "Blood Alley." Even though this area has been the site of quite a few auto accidents through the decades, when Bay Area residents mention Blood Alley, they are specifically referring to Highway 152, also known as Pacheco Pass. The Mansions Hotel, in San Francisco, went out of business a few years ago, well before this volume was published.

The entry for the Wyndham Hotel, formerly the Le Baron, in San Jose was the most unsettling. Room 538 of this hotel is haunted, but the ghost story bears no resemblance to the details I acquired after personally talking to several members of the staff. The first collection of ghost folklore to report this haunting in book form was The National Directory of Haunted Places, by Dennis William Hauck. From what one of the Wyndham's managers told me, the full extent of Hauck's field research was based on a single phone call. Once the managers there learned I was asking questions, there was no cooperation on their behalf. Someone likely made up a story when Hauck called. To complicate matters further, Dwyer's account has details Hauck never supplied in his brief paragraph. Unfortunately, Dwyer is not the first to make this mistake.

This book also loses track of its purpose. Since it is supposed to be a guide, one would think that it would concentrate on haunted sites that would allow reasonable public access. For instance, the owner of the Mansions Hotel partitioned the property into two units and sold it condo-style. Now that it's private homes, there is no public access. It's also hard to imagine that the staff at Highland General Hospital in Oakland would appreciate groups of ghosthunters walking around the building with tape recorders and infra-red cameras while patients are under care.

Dwyer provides instruction on how to start ghost hunting, but some of his advice is very disturbing. Dwyer states emphatically that ghost hunting is not dangerous. An episode of the Science Fiction Channel's Ghosthunters has an example that proves otherwise. One investigator was carrying a big bag of equipment as he was walking around. That bag suddenly swings up and hit him, knocking him out. This was caught on untampered video by another investigator at the scene. Precautions do need to be taken when pursuing ghosts.

The most valuable aspect of this book is its appendixes, but I have yet to verify any of that information. At least the entries supplied in Ghost Hunter's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area are well-known haunted locations, so locals might appreciate the tips for places to visit. Considering its primary market is in the local interest section of Bay Area bookstores, its coverage of the locale is inexcusable. It makes fun reading, but double check any facts if doing any serious research.


More California ghost folklore:

The Incredible World of Gold Rush Ghosts (The Big Picture), by Nancy Bradley and Robert Reppert

Ghost Stories of California's Gold Rush Country and Yosemite National Park, by Antonio R. Garcez

Ghost Hunting in Mother Lode Country, by Hilber H. Graf
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977542028&nav=MyGather

Haunts of San Jose, by David Lee

San Francisco Ghosts, by Mark Lyon

Haunted Houses of California, by Antoinette May

California Ghost Notes, by Randall Reinstedt

Ghost Notes, by Randall Reinstedt

Ghost Stories of California, by Barbara Smith

Ghosts of San Francisco, by Kathryn Vercillo


Documentary:

Ghosts of California

Recommended: No