Clanging sounds, screams, and crying can be heard in Cell Block B and the basement area near Cell Block A on Alcatraz, the former island prison, in San Francisco Bay. Disturbances in Cell Block C became so frequent that the Park Service called in psychics to figure out what was going on. They traced the activity to the violent spirit of Abie Maldowitz, a mob hit man with the nickname of �Butcher,� who was killed by another inmate in the laundry room. In the shower room, the sounds of mobster Al Capone practicing the banjo can sometimes be heard. Over in Cell Block D, strange voices have emanate from cells 11, 12, and 13, and even in the summer months, cell 14 feels ice cold, and many visitors are overcome by emotion in one corner of the cell. This was the tiny quarters where killer Rufe McCain was kept in solitary confinement for over three years.
If you sleep in a jail cell, sometime during the night, you will hear someone banging on the cell doors when no one is there.

More hauntings are reported in the Russian Hill area of San Francisco than any other section of the city. The old cemetery there, now buried under tons of concrete construction, might be the source of the manifestations. At least a few of those lost souls seem to have found a home in the tower of the San Francisco Art Institute at 800 Chestnut Street. The monastic tower, which is adjacent to the cemetery site, has been considered haunted for fifty years. Bill Morehouse, a former student, was taking a break on the tower's third level when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He watched in disbelief as the door opened and closed, and the invisible footsteps went past him to the observation deck. Other students, a watchman, and a janitor have also encountered apparitions climbing the stairs of the tower. During remodeling of the tower, workers reported an evil presence that caused "breaking sounds", and three near-fatal accidents occurred. A group of psychics attempted to contact the presence during a seance, but they only succeeded in verifying the presence of many "frustrated" spirits.
San Francisco's old Fort Mason is no longer used to house military personnel, and the ghosts there are from the era before the houses were taken over by the government. Something from before the Civil War still resides in the old, two-story, white frame house known as Quarters Three. The quaint house, near the corner of Franklin Street and McDowell Avenue, was where U.S. Senator David Broderick died from a gunshot wound he received in a duel with State Supreme Court Justice David Terry. The year was 1857. Justice Terry, an influential Southerner, wanted California to become a slave state. Senator Broderick was a tireless critic of a state law that declared freed slaves as fugitives, the property of anyone who apprehended them. When the two men faced each other, Broderick's gun went off accidentally as he drew it from his holster. Terry fired anyway, striking the Senator in the chest. Three days later, Broderick died at the home of his close friend, Leonides Haskell. The house was later confiscated by the Union Army and remains military quarters to this day. Many of the officers who lived there have seen the Broderick's ghost pacing back and forth, reliving his anguish the night before the confrontation. Capt. James Lunn's family reported disembodied shadows moving back and forth in the parlor. Colonel Cecil Puckett felt someone following him around the house, even watching him in the shower. Capt. Everett Jones and his family experienced a variety of poltergeist activity - until they stopped joking about the ghost. Capt. James Knight is a witness to the fact that the house is haunted.
One of San Francisco's most haunted residences is Atherton House. The huge house at 1990 California Street became the residence of Dominga, her daughter Gertrude, and son-in-law George. In 1887, in an attempt to get away from his feminine oppressors, George accepted an invitation to visit friends in Chile. As it turned out, George was weaker than even the women suspected. After only a few days at sea, he died of kidney failure. Not knowing what to do with the dead body, the captain of the vessel had George's carcass preserved in a barrel of rum and transferred to another ship back to San Francisco. Unfortunately, the barrel arrived before the letter from the captain explaining what had happened. When barrel was delivered, a surprised butler discovered his master pickled in rum. The ladies became hysterical and it was weeks before they found out how George died. During that time the ladies started feeling that there were more spirits in that barrel than just rum. Eventually convinced of George's lingering presence, they sold the mansion. The house changed hands many times, but in 1923 it became a public boarding house. Today, many tenants live there unaware of the mansion's checkered past. Others have found the place most uninviting. Some former tenants have told of roaming cold spots, disembodied screeching voices, and unexplained knocking at their doors. One boarder moved out after seeing a bevy of apparitions in the tower apartment. A seance conducted by researcher Antoinette May and medium Sylvia Brown revealed four presences. One was the frail spirit of George. The others were the nagging ghosts of Dominga, Gertrude, and the lady who ran the boarding house in the 1920's.
The red sandstone building at 2090 Jackson Street in San Francisco is known as a survivor. Not only did it survive the 1906 earthquake, when other buildings around it crumbled, but some say that the spirit of its original owner survived his own death. William Franklin Whittier's residence was completed in 1896, yet something in the basement of his mansion keeps bringing him back. His ghostly form has been sighted in the musty cellar several times. Whittier was an active member of San Francisco's business community right up until his death in 1917 at the age of 85. His family sold his mansion in 1938 to the Deutsche Reich, and it became the city's German Consulate. Finally, in 1956, the California Historical Society acquired the house for its headquarters. Over the years, several people have encountered a shadowy outline in the basement or felt an ice-cold presence there. Most believe it is Whittier's ghost, but former docent Mary Dierickx says: "My theory is that the ghost is his ne'er-do-well son, Billy. The presence is often felt in the basement near the servant quarters, and Billy lived for wine, women, and song."
The Mansions Hotel The hotel consists of two magnificent mansions connected by a common lobby. The newer mansion is free of ghosts. The older one is haunted. The hotel documents its uncanny history in a display that includes affidavits of witnesses, transcripts of seances, and photographs. For years, guests have complained about strange noises, cold shadows moving about, and even toilet seats flying across the room. Last year, researcher Antoinnette May held a Ouija-board seance in a large third floor suite. Before long, an apparition appeared in front of a half-dozen witnesses. The ghost's photograph is now part of the hotel's haunted gallery. In July 1992, a scientific survey conducted by parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach discovered powerful forces in the old section. "The magnetometer went crazy," said Auerbach, "The whole building is active." The results confirmed the impressions of psychic Sylvia Brown, who has sensed numerous spirits in the hotel, especially on the third floor. "In August 1992," noted one guest, "I decided to spend a night at the hotel while attending a literary party. For the life of me, I felt as if I being plagued by spirits all night. Something kept pulling the blankets up off me, exposing my feet while I slept. Then about four o'clock in the morning, the toilet flushed for no apparent reason. It was not a restful night." Manager Bob Pritikin likes to tell the story about a man and his wife who checked into the same room a few weeks earlier. Ten minutes after checking in, the man returned to the front desk in a state of shock. His face was ashen. His whole body was shaking. Something had frightened him badly, but he refused to talk about it. "That man just didn't know there were ghosts in the hotel," quipped Pritikin. "Not long ago," he continued, "another guy, a famous movie actor, saw several ghosts here. We get all kinds of weird things happening in this place."