Whaley House Museum

I love love love the Whale House. I’ve been coming here for as long as I can remember and even more so when I moved to San Diego seven years ago. This last time we had Steve, it was a rainy night, and only one other couple were with us, which set an intimate mood. Steve was very knowledgeable about the history of the house, its family, and its ghosts. Even though I can recite the history myself, he made it very enjoyable. I think the day tours are a little less at ~$ 6 last time I checked, and the night tours are ~$ 13. I recommend the Whaley House to tourists and residents alike. Definitely check it out!

When I come to Old Town in San Diego, I have to make a stop at the Whaley House. Though I’ve never spotted a specter myself, I love that fact that tons of people come and go in hopes of spotting a ghost on their own.
Admission is $ 8 and you buy a ticket next door in their gift shop. The store carries a variety of souvenirs including some replicas of the old creepy dolls that are found on some of the beds. Not gonna lie, but I’d totally buy one to keep in the guest room, I think they’re kinda cool.
The museum itself doesn’t take long to see, but each person gets a sheet to do their own self-​guided tours. It gives you a little bit of dark history of the people that used to live (or still remain) in the house as well as most popular sightings that guests have experienced. Make sure to check out the binder in the relics room to see some of the ghosts that have been spotted. They update it regularly, which is great.
The docents that work there are great. Feel free to ask as many morbid questions as you like. It’s hard not to spot them as they’re dressed in old timey clothes and will probably approach you regularly to see if you have any questions.
I’d recommend for a short visit the next time you’re in the Old Town area!

I had the best experience here all around! The staff was very nice and accommodating, as I was just doing a self-​guided tour they were happy to talk. They practically had to kick me out so they could start their guided tour. One hour was not enough for the really interested on a self-​guided, I definitely needed about 2 hours. I had to zip through the last dining room. Talking to others was also setting me back-​but I met a great family in the process!
The activity I was getting was phenomenal! I’m an orb skeptic, but these orbs are not what you’d expect. I would say these are as genuine as an orb gets! I had them in almost every room that was allowed access. A double Orb was mind blowing!
The house was clean and staff observant.
I run a ghost tour/​paranormal investigations in Hollywood and was told by guests I need to come here, so I was super excited when we came to San Diego for New Year. I do need to come back and spend more time on my own though or bring a group for a full day! Having a skeptic drag along makes it uneventful and short-​lived.
If anyone comes up to Hollywood, please visit my outdoor walking tour-​City of Dark Angels
and mention promo code «WHALEY101» for $ 7 off your ticket!

Being from San Diego, I’ve been to The Whaley House many times, but I had never been on a night tour. On 11/​21, a friend and I went on The Ghost and Gravestones tour, then the last tour of the evening at The Whaley House. Our docent, Robin, gave us a lot of information about the house as well as tips for taking pictures (the best being take 3 pictures of the same thing/​area for comparison). Throughout the tour, I took many pictures (mainly in the courtroom and the front rooms). At the conclusion of the tour, I was looking at my pictures when Robin pointed out an orb in a photo and recommended that I look through all of my pictures later. She said sometimes you don’t see things right away. Boy, was she right! I captured a bunch of orbs as well as a figure sitting in a chair in the jury box, and the one that excited me the most is what appears to be the image of a woman in a black dress sitting at the organ. Best tour ever, and so excited to have captured images! I can’t wait to go back!

After learning that the Whaley house was thee most haunted house in America, I had to check it out while I was visiting SD. The tickets were very affordable at $ 8 a pop and the ladies that worked there were so friendly, one of them was a bit creepy and kept watching over us but indeed friendly and informative. The house is pretty creepy and very interesting. I didn’t see anything out of the norm, but I did feel like someone kept touching my back! Will definitely be coming back again for the night tours!!!

We were pretty skeptical about this place before going, the locals pretty much called it a tourist trap — but I’m glad that we didn’t listen the all of that because the house was freakin’ awesome!
We were very impressed at the knowledge and history given by the tour guide sand even caught a few things on camera. Yes, cameras and flash photography is allowed and encouraged!
A must see in San Diego.

Wow! This was my first time being in a haunted house and it was amazing! I love all things scary so this was perfect. I felt like I stepped back in time here. While there, I didn’t feel any kind of presence but I did start to feel sick all of a sudden downstairs in the room just before the court room. Had a headache and felt nauseous suddenly. I had to leave shortly after. Even so, I can’t wait to go back!

I have heard stories about the hauntings surrounding the Whaley Hosue and the nearby grounds… yep you had better believe it.
I had visiting the Whaley House with a haunted tour group. Prior to that my group and me ate at Fred’s Mexican Cantina… yeah do not go there. Anywho, there are many stories surrounding the history of the house and the experiences people had while visiting. It was interesting that the house includes a courtroom and a small stage for plays/​performances. Makes sense why there would be so much residual energy… on top of the dark history surrounding the Whaley house.
While inside the house I did experience a paranormal event. Upstairs in the small theater area/​room while I was taking pictures a whiye orb appered at the bootom of my phone while I was taking pictures. Within a split second this orb appeared and bolted to the mid-​right side of the screen then went off screen. Way too fast to get a picture of it. If I was recording I would have had it. It was not dust, it wad not a bug. It was round, had a small aurora, and moved fast. When I went downstairs, I could see numerous dust flurries/​particles that have a very common behavior. The dust particles went from right to left and were not illuminated or had auroras.
Fortunately I did have a second experience. Not in the house but at the graveyard. While listening to my tour guide conclude the haunted tour, the Nikon camera inside my camera bag moved twice…3 to 4 seconds later my camera moved again. Picture a salt shaker being tipped on a table top for an immediate moment and then it falls back upright/​standing up. Now the set of pulses felt like someone was poking at the lens tube which had tilted the entire camera inside the case, then they immediately let go so the camera fell back upright, hitting the bottom of my camera case. My camera case has a hard plastic bottom, so any movement that comes in contact with the bottom will send vibrations through the plastic. So while listening to my tour guide finish his last story, the camera in my bag moved twice. Similar to a «tap, tap». I kept my attention on my tour guide knowing what I had just felt, and a couple seconds later I felt the camera move again «tap, tap». I had looked over my left shoulder to see if anyone was close enough to mess wth me… nope. All that was behind me was a couple feet of dirt and the graveyard wall.
I am not going to lie. Those two experiences sent a chill down my spine, but were followed by an extreme sense of excitement. Oh I will be visiting the Whaley house and the graveyard once more… after hours of course. And most likely catch a bite before hand… but not at Fred’s Mexican Cantina

As one of the first brick mansions in the area, the house stands out amongst the plainer abodes surrounding it in Old Town. The brochure claims it to be one of America’s most haunted buildings. Haunted I guess from the perspective of having seen a lot of life. But who’s to say what happens when we pass on, maybe the residents decided that they would rather stay instead.
The thing that always strikes me about visiting old places are the sizes of everything. Are we really that much taller than our forefathers and mothers? We must be, the beds are hardly long enough to accommodate my twelve year old let alone a grown person.
There is magic though to the place. An energy that I can’t quite place. The tour price was a bit high — $ 15.00 each, but it goes to the museum to help maintain the place so I guess that isn’t so bad. I would have liked to see a ghost though. Maybe that’s why I seek out old places. I’m looking for answers to what comes next.

1 star for our tour guide Dave. We didn’t enjoy the tour at all, our tour guide was rushing, uneasy, not happy to be there and not funny. Our tour only lasted 25 mins (normally 40 – 45 mins) we did not experience any paranormal activity during our visit.
I really like the tour with Robyn, the lady tour guide with a daughter named Britney. Her tour would’ve been 5 stars. If you want to enjoy the Whaley House tour make sure she is the tour guide, she is funny, enthusiastic and very knowledgeable.
They don’t give a free admission or at least a military discount (with a valid ID of course) to our uniformed service men and women.

I was watching Ghost Adventures and found out about this place. So, while I was in SD I had to stop by.
I didn’t see anything paranormal, which was a little disappointing, however the tour was so much fun. Our tour guide/​docent was incredibly nice and was very knowledgeable about the Whaley family. (She was even in a full Victorian outfit) I learned so much about SD history and got to take tons of photos. There is also a small cemetery near by which I also visited. You definitely feel the history and spookiness of this town, which I love!

I feel like this should be a 2 star but the amount of I smoked pot before doing this tour so it was amazing 5 star reviews just makes me go lower.
Its a house.
An old house.
In a tourist trap street.
Its 6 dollars.
Imagine a old house filled with things your old white racist Grandmother would hoard. You got it in your head? Good
I just saved you 6 dollar and 15 minutes.

I just went to the museum on Sunday, my boyfriend had wanted to go since he moved here. We did the self guided tour it was 6 dollars each and were probably in and out in 10 minutes. We both left feeling like it wasn’t worth it, maybe going during the week it would not of been so crowded. It was a very short tour with very little to look at. I didn’t like that almost all the rooms were closed off by glass it lost the effect of it being haunted house it felt more like a museum then anything. The tour guides were there to answer any questions which was nice and they were able to explain the history because it was unclear to as why it was haunted. I would of maybe been a completely different experience if we did the night guided tour. I can report from my visit No Ghost sightings.

James made this tour extremely entertaining. I will definitely come back during Halloween tours.
Tour was about one hour
Each ticket was 10.00
Pretty good price I had a lot of fun.

Just as a precursor — I *did* feel a cold spot in the court room where I was sitting and my friend did too. She at one point turned to me, had her eyes wide open and smiled this goofy smile. No air conditioning in there, kids. Anyway, that’s the only positive thing I can really say, other than the fact I respect them for preserving history.
They advertise on the site that tours go for about 35 minutes, but be warned — if you get one particular guide (I believe Betsy spoke of her in an earlier review), she is very long winded and goes off on tangents. She was a little funny, granted, and she obviously cares about history, but how much detail is TOO much?
It took us 47 minutes to see the court room, main hallway, kitchen and upstairs theater. It was the end of the night and my friend & I both needed to catch trains, so we didn’t even get to see the rest of the house! I’m disappointed, to say the least. I’ll come back during the Halloween season when I’m sure they wanna rush people out of there.

The tour group was super packed and it sucked because the house is not that big and other visitors forget they’re not the only one that was the take pictures and see the different rooms.
The tour guide spoke like a valley girl and was smacking her gum the whole time. It took away from the experience and even said «I don’t really believe in this stuff but one time…» and goes off on an experience.
Ghosts may or may not be real but the whole point of a ghost tour is to have fun and get a little scared. They were dressed in the garb but that’s as much in to character as the tour guides were. The man outside with the top hat was totally cool. Very Sleepy hollow. The rest? Meh… Disappointing…

Who doesn’t love a little–
History!!! Hands raising up!!! Me me me!
But now add the ghostly bonus!
Came here today to investigate and learn about the Whaley house which is always in the top of worlds most haunted.
Great and informative and the docents couldn’t be more helpful. Just wished that they had a guided walking tour so I wouldn’t feel like I was bugging with all of our questions.
first off you have to go next door to the shop to purchase tickets: $ 6 adults and kids $ 4.
Then walk back to enter the main house.
From there you are on your own to take as many pictures as you please. it was fun to walk through with my ten year old
And point out that there wasn’t really a bathroom in the house hence the bowls in the rooms. Hahaha!
Good luck and hope you all catch something in your cameras!

My family and I had our tour on 4÷11÷15 at 8:00pm. Excellent tour and tour guide.
Best advice would be is go at night. I have captured a actual face of a baby.

This was just as the rating says… A-​OK. It was perfectly nice, but nothing really to write home about. Our best experience to be honest was talking with the lovely woman in the gift shop where you bought the tickets to go into the Whaley House. She was so sincere and engaging, telling us her personal stories of the place – we were so enthralled and were eager to buy our tickets to go.
Once we entered we were greeted by a very nice woman who shared with us her recommendations about what to see first and explore. That was nice. But as we went upstairs and saw everything, there was plexiglass on every room, so you really couldn’t get into the rooms to explore… just sit at the outside and gaze in. It was just really an OK experience. It wasn’t negative, but nothing really to write home about either.

This is my favorite place to visit and investigate for haunted tours and paranormal investigations. Each time I visit, I hear a new story from each tour guide. They all have different details and things they find important in the history of the house, and of course they also have their own personal ghost stories to share which I love. Every tour guide I’ve ever had is so very friendly and knowledgeable about the history of the place too!
The museum also has different tours for different holidays and all kinds of special events so there is always something new and awesome to look forward to.
I love this place and I always capture amazing photos with ghosts and other paranormal anomalies that I can’t explain. I visit this place at least once a year and I have to say this is definitely one of the most haunted places I have visited in California! I love it here.

Angeblich DAS most haunted house in den USA.
Der Eintritt war recht teuer; dann konnte man nur unten in den großen Gerichtssaal (?) reingehen und oben konnte man zwar in 2 – 3 Räume reingucken (Plexiglas), aber da konnte man dann auch nicht sonderlich viel sehen (spiegelte sehr).
Man konnte oben in einen weiteren Raum reingehen, wo man einen Film (?) sich angucken konnte.
Zwar ein nettes Haus, aber für den Preis kann man auch lieber die Ghost Tour in Old Town o.ä. machen.