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Abandoned Places in California

Former buildings and sites with abandoned histories and reported paranormal stories; check access before visiting.

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Editorial basis: cards use each listing's short description and are ordered by haunting level, then views. Approved community reports are counted separately.

Abandoned Places

Alcatraz Island

San Francisco, CA

The island federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay — closed in 1963, now one of the most visited historic sites in the American West.

0 approved community reports

No approved photo available

Editorial rating (not community score) High

Abandoned Places

Preston Castle

Ione, CA

An 1894 Romanesque reform school where a cook was murdered in 1950 — a case that was never solved and an apparition that reportedly remained.

0 approved community reports

No approved photo available

Editorial rating (not community score) High

Abandoned Places

Lincoln Heights Jail is a hulking former city jail beside the Los Angeles River, operating from 1931 to 1965 and infamous for the 'Bloody Christmas' beatings of 1951. Long used as a film location, the closed building has a hard reputation for reported voices, slamming doors and shadow figures.

0 approved community reports

No approved photo available

Editorial rating (not community score) Moderate

Abandoned Places

Black Diamond Mines and Rose Hill Cemetery

Antioch, CA

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve keeps California's coal-era ghost towns — Nortonville, Somersville and their neighbours above Antioch — and hilltop Rose Hill Cemetery, whose Welsh mining families' graves anchor the East Bay's most famous haunting: the 'White Witch' legend of midwife Sarah Norton, told here with respect and care.

0 approved community reports

No approved photo available

Editorial rating (not community score) Moderate

Abandoned Places

Bagdad-Chase Mine

Ludlow, CA

The Bagdad-Chase Mine drove California's richest gold-copper workings of its day into the Mojave hills south of Ludlow — company town, railroad and all, now scattered ruins in vast silence. Desert telling keeps lamps and engine sounds on the dead grade.

0 approved community reports

No approved photo available

Editorial rating (not community score) Moderate

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About abandoned places in California

California's abandoned places are compiled from local history, published folklore and visitor reports. Many are open to the public, and several offer tours or overnight stays.

Stories are recorded as accounts rather than established fact. Browse by city above, or open the full map to explore everything near you.