San Francisco Ghosts

2. Stow Lake

San Francisco, CA

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Deeper into the park, Stow Lake is the place of a tragedy involving a young mother and her child. There are many versions of the story; however unexplained happenings have occurred near Stow Lake, involving a desperate woman, looking for her child, for nearly one hundred years. Late at night many people have witnessed a woman with long hair, often wearing a dirty white dress, soaking wet. Sometimes the woman is seen to be hovering over the lake or walking the shoreline, desperately searching for something. She has also been seen on Strawberry Hill on the island in the lake that overlooks the water. It is also said that she comes up to people and asks them if they have seen her child. One story involves the mother resting by the lake with her child in a stroller, and taking time to talk to another lady. As the day wore on and she ended her conversation with the friend, the mother realized the stroller and the child were missing. She wandered around the park lake for hours, asking if anybody had seen her baby, but the baby never appeared. Another story involves the mother of three children who went for a boat ride in the lake one day. The youngest child accidentally fell into the water and was not able to swim. Fearing for the child's life, the mother jumped in after him but could not keep her head above the water either. Both the mother and her child drowned. Both of these stories originate in the late 1800s, and the earliest record of the ghost is in the early 1900s. However, another story of a ghost near Stow Lake tells the story of a young, fearful woman who became pregnant and wanted to hide the pregnancy from her family. In the time period between the first and second World Wars, the young woman did not want her pregnancy to be known by her family. She was not married and cultural norms at the time forced her to think of doing tragic things. She went to the lake at night and disposed of the child, and after that she killed herself, drowning herself in the lake. Another curious happening near the lake involves the statue, Pioneer Women and Children, which honors the women and children who came to San Francisco when it was still a pioneer town. Sometimes when the female apparitions are seen, it is said the statue changes position or loses its arms. The statue has also said to come to life when people stand near it at night. Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park is a peaceful place during the day, with people walking the shore or boating; however, at night ghosts or apparitions may come to the unsuspecting.