Built 1882–1884 and never sold, this three-story Oakland Victorian has housed six generations of two families — and hosts public Paranormal Nights where investigators have documented EVPs and shadow figures.
1440 29th Ave, Oakland, CA 94601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Paranormal Nights are ticketed events; pricing and availability on website. Historic house tours also offered at varying admission rates.
Access
Limited Access
Three-story Victorian with stairs; no elevator. Street-level access to first floor only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1882 · National Register of Historic Places · Uninterrupted Family Occupancy 140+ Years · Intact Stick-Style Victorian Interior · Oakland Social History
Alfred A. Cohen commissioned the three-story stick-style Victorian at 1440 29th Avenue in 1882. Cohen was a prominent Oakland attorney who had served as counsel to the Central Pacific Railroad; the house reflected his professional standing. It was completed in 1884 and became the family's primary residence.
The house's unusual history is its unbroken chain of occupancy. Unlike most Victorian-era homes of comparable age, 1440 29th Avenue was never sold to an outside buyer, subdivided into apartments, or demolished and rebuilt. The property passed through the Cohen and Bray families across generations, with births and deaths occurring in the house itself. Six generations of the two founding families have been connected to the address.
This continuity — rare for a 140-year-old house in an urban neighborhood — has preserved the interior in unusual detail. Period furnishings, family correspondence, and architectural features from the original construction remain in place. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognizing both its architectural and social-history significance.
The current stewards of the property opened it to public programming in recent years, offering both historical tours and paranormal investigation nights. The haunted events grew from the house's documented reputation in the local paranormal research community rather than from commercial promotion — several independent investigation teams had visited before the formal Paranormal Nights program was established.
Sources
The Cohen Bray House has been visited by paranormal investigators for at least two decades, and the accounts from different teams show enough internal consistency to be worth noting. The staircase between the first and second floors appears most frequently in reports — shadow figures seen from both above and below, footsteps on treads where no one is standing, and a cold column of air that multiple investigators have measured and described independently.
The upstairs rooms generate the tugged-clothing accounts: multiple visitors on separate occasions have reported feeling fabric pulled at the sleeve or shoulder, turning to find no one nearby. One investigator documented the sensation mid-session while another team member was across the room; the account is recorded in SF Ghosts' documentation of the house.
EVP recordings from formal sessions include an audio capture that investigators interpret as a woman's voice saying a name. The identity is contested — the house's long family history provides many candidates — and the recording quality is not conclusive.
The house's willingness to host investigations distinguishes it from venues that merely tolerate paranormal interest. The Cohen Bray House actively programs Paranormal Nights as part of its public mission, which has allowed more rigorous documentation than is typical for a private historic home.
Guided tours of the stick-style Victorian built between 1882 and 1884 for the Cohen family. The house has remained in family hands for over 140 years and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Period furnishings, family artifacts, and original architectural details are intact throughout the three stories.
The Cohen Bray House hosts evening paranormal investigation events open to the public. Participants use the space under guided conditions; previous events have documented EVP recordings, reported shadow figures on the staircase, and accounts of tugged clothing in the upstairs rooms. The house actively hosts and participates in these investigations as part of its public programming.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Charles City, VA
Benjamin Harrison IV built the current mansion at Berkeley Plantation in 1726, making it the oldest three-story brick structure in Virginia. The plantation became the birthplace of President William Henry Harrison in 1773 and the ancestral seat of a family that produced a signer of the Declaration of Independence and two U.S. Presidents. During the Civil War, General McClellan used the mansion as his headquarters and the cellar held Confederate prisoners.
San Jose, CA
Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, widow of William Wirt Winchester of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, purchased an unfinished farmhouse in San Jose in 1886 and oversaw 36 years of continuous expansion until her death in 1922. The 160-room mansion opened to the public in 1923 and has operated as a tour attraction ever since. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is California Historical Landmark No. 868.
Macon, GA
Built between 1855 and 1859 for businessman William Butler Johnston at a cost of approximately $100,000, the Italian Renaissance Revival mansion at 934 Georgia Avenue has been called the 'Palace of the South' and is a National Historic Landmark. The Felton family held it through the Civil War period; Confederate general Henry Gray Felton occupied it during the war. The Hay family acquired the house in 1926 and donated it to The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation in 1977.