San Francisco Ghosts

1. Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, CA

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At just over 1,000 acres, Golden Gate Park welcomes millions of visitors each year. Bike trails, lakes, fishing areas, a Japanese Tea Garden, museums, giant Oak trees and many other natural attractions, the park is one of San Francisco's most prized areas. Started in the late nineteenth century, and based on the idea of New York's Central Park, a natural area in a large growing city, Golden Gate Park is twenty percent larger than Central Park. The park has a vast history, spanning over one hundred years. However, there are several parts of its history that seem to visit the present time, late at night, to unsuspecting visitors. The two ghosts we'll talk about in Golden Gate Park are wanderers throughout the park. They move about the park and are not seen only in one specific location. Nevertheless, they do keep to the limits of the park. The most recent ghost is said to be of a man who died not later than 2001, however it's the manner in which he presents his form and the history of his person that makes it nearly impossible for those who encounter him to shrug it off as tired eyes or a hoax. The officer ghost in Golden Gate Park roams the roads of the park at night, looking for speeders, those without a headlight, or people who decide to park in an area where parking is not permitted. The appearance of the officer ghost began to be known when unsuspecting visitors to the park were pulled over and issued a ticket for speeding. When the drivers went to pay for the ticket they were unable to pay because there was no record of a ticket being issued. Hoax was the first thought that came to peoples' minds; however, the name of the officer who issued the ticket was familiar to some of the people who had been on the force for a very long time. One source says the officer who issues the tickets died while in the line of duty. He was in the park and was killed instantly by a driver who did not have their headlights on. The ghost officer is usually triggered when people speed or drive without lights on while going through the park at night. Many locals know about the ghost officer, and know not to pull over in the park at night, but to wait until driving out of the park to pull over. If the driver continues out of the park limits, the ghost officer will no longer pursue the driver and the ghost officer disappears into the darkness. Another ghost that roams Golden Gate Park is said to make her appearance only once a year, and is tied to a tragedy from the very early days of the park's history. One night, very late, near midnight, in the 1870s a young woman, no older than twenty or twenty-one made her way into the park. She wore a straw hat and she was said to have had a few drinks earlier and may not have been in the best state of mind. A young officer, on duty at the entrance of the park, was making his rounds on the horse and saw the young woman. The young woman teased the officer, she was flirtatious, and she convinced him into allowing her to ride his horse. He, being very young himself, obliged the young woman and helped her onto the horse. The woman had not situated herself completely onto the horse's back, when the horse spooked and galloped westward, deep into the park. The young officer could not find her, and others were called to help find the young woman and the horse, but it was not until the next morning when the young woman and the horse were found, both in the water, drowned and no longer alive. There are many accounts of this ghost, including one from George Haviland Barron, the former curator of the de Young Museum, located in the park, in the early 1900s. It is said the ghost of the young woman and the horse appear once a year and are seen rushing westward through the park, perhaps stopping to look into the present time at someone. These two ghosts of Golden Gate Park are stuck, unable to leave the park but made to wander the spaces where the last moments of life were made.