HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Nightly walking tour of Monterey's old sardine waterfront, from Doc Ricketts to the canneries' dead
688 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93940
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Roughly $7 per person; confirm current pricing at booking
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved waterfront sidewalks along Cannery Row
Equipment
Photos OK
Sardine-Canning Industry District · Setting of Steinbeck's Cannery Row (1945) · Ed 'Doc' Ricketts and Pacific Biological Laboratories · Monterey Waterfront Redevelopment
Cannery Row is the stretch of Monterey waterfront that took its identity from the sardine-canning industry that boomed there in the first half of the 20th century. At its peak the row was lined with canneries and reduction plants employing thousands of workers, and it became a literary landmark through John Steinbeck's 1945 novel of the same name, set among the area's workers and characters. The sardine fishery collapsed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and the canneries closed.
The district was later redeveloped into a tourism and dining destination, with several original cannery buildings preserved or repurposed. Among the most-remembered figures of the old row is Ed 'Doc' Ricketts, the marine biologist who ran the Pacific Biological Laboratories on Cannery Row and was the model for the character Doc in Steinbeck's fiction; Ricketts was killed in 1948 when a train struck his car near the row.
The Cannery Row Ghost Tour, operated by local performer Will Roberts, runs evening walking tours that weave the documented history of the canneries and their workers together with the area's ghost lore. The tour, priced around seven dollars and lasting about an hour, draws on the deaths and hardships of the cannery era for its stories.
Sources
The Cannery Row Ghost Tour builds its stops around the area's documented history and the deaths that came with a dangerous waterfront industry. The lore centers on cannery workers and fishermen who died on the job or in the hard conditions of the canning years, and on Ed 'Doc' Ricketts, the marine biologist whose laboratory stood on the row and who was killed in a 1948 grade-crossing collision; guides describe his presence as one of the figures said to wander the foggy alleys.
The walking tour, which hands each guest an EMF reader, treats the row's fog and its layered industrial history as the setting for its hauntings. Stops tied to Ricketts' lab and the historic cannery buildings anchor the route, and the narration moves between verifiable local history and the ghost stories that have grown around it.
Reporting in Monterey County Now notes the popularity of the city's ghost tours as a draw for visitors and locals, even among those who do not expect to encounter anything. The Cannery Row tour is presented as entertainment grounded in real waterfront history rather than as a record of confirmed paranormal events.
Notable Entities
A roughly one-hour evening walking tour along Cannery Row, retelling the deaths and lore of the sardine canneries, fishermen, and figures such as marine biologist Ed 'Doc' Ricketts. Guests are given an EMF reader. Stops include sites tied to Ricketts and the historic cannery buildings. Book ahead through the operator's site.
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