Whaley House - A Real Haunted House

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Have you ever seen the movie called The Haunting of Whaley House?  Its one of my favorite scary movies, but its actually based off of a true story! The real Whaley House is in San Diego, California and like in the movie it is currently a museum that offers tours.  It was built in 1857 by Thomas Whaley who came to California during the gold rush and is apparently extremely haunted. To being with, people continually report smelling cigar smoke despite no smoking being permitting in the building.  Thomas Whaley was known to smoke cigars and it is thought this is his way of letting everyone know he is still around and watching over his house.  There are also reports of the ghosts of two young girls haunting the house, one appearing so real that she is mistaken for a real child at times. There is a much more sinister ghost in the house and his name is Yankee Jim.  He was known to be a very tall man and he was hanged on the property before the house was built.  The gallows he was hanged from though weren't built for someone of his height and instead of having his neck broken, the way people were meant to die when being hanged, his feet touched the ground and he slowly strangled to death.  When the Whaley house was built, one of Thomas' daughters often reported hearing footsteps in the house at night and believed it to be Yankee Jim. Today, people say they hear him laughing throughout the house and occasionally see a ghost with unruly blonde hair, which he was reported to have. The Whaley house is both a California and San Diego historical landmark and open all year for tours, except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.  Tickets are $10 and under for general tours and they even offer some late evening tours to increase the chances of seeing one of the house's ghostly inhabitants.  If you're going to be in the area and want to check out their official website you can go here to learn more.