HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1844 Monterey adobe, the state's first paid theatre, said to be haunted by builder Jack Swan
Pacific St and Scott St, Monterey, CA 93940
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing is free as part of Monterey State Historic Park; interior access depends on the park's posted schedule
Access
Limited Access
Historic adobe with uneven floors and steps
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1844 · California's First Paid Theatre · 1844 Monterey Adobe · California Historical Landmark (1934) · Monterey State Historic Park · Early American-Era Monterey
The adobe at the corner of Pacific and Scott Streets in Monterey was built around 1844 by Jack Swan, an English sailor who put it up as a boarding house and saloon for fellow seamen. Within a few years it took on the role that gives it its name. In 1847 and 1848, soldiers from Colonel Stevenson's New York regiment, then garrisoned in Monterey, used the building to stage plays and comedies and charged admission, making it the site of the first paid theatrical performances in California.
The building's later uses tracked the working life of the port. For a time it served in connection with whaling, and a lookout station was added on its roof. It was registered as a California Historical Landmark on January 31, 1934, and is preserved today as part of Monterey State Historic Park, administered by California State Parks.
Jack Swan remained connected to the building and to Monterey for decades. He died in 1896. The adobe survives as one of the oldest theatre sites in the American West and a documented piece of early California's transition from a Mexican port town to an American garrison.
Sources
The ghost story attached to California's First Theatre centers on Jack Swan, the sailor who built the adobe in the 1840s. Swan lived a long life tied to the building and to Monterey and died in 1896. In the lore carried by local ghost tours, he never fully left.
Guides and visitors describe objects shifting position in the theatre when no one is near them, and a voice said to call out from the direction of the small stage, sometimes interpreted as Swan giving stage orders or cues to performers who are not there. The adobe's role as a working playhouse in its early years gives the story its shape: the haunting is told as that of a host or stage manager still tending the room.
The theatre is included on Monterey ghost-tour routes, and the Swan legend is among the most repeated in the city's haunted lore. As folklore attached to a documented historic site, it is presented here alongside the building's confirmed history rather than as a verified event.
Notable Entities
A stop at the 1844 adobe at the corner of Pacific and Scott Streets, part of Monterey State Historic Park. The building is a California Historical Landmark and the site of the first paid theatrical performances in the state. Interior access varies with the park's seasonal schedule; check California State Parks before visiting.
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