Old Town San Diego Historic District · Gaslamp Quarter Historic District
Ghost City Tours operates ghost walking tours in dozens of U.S. cities, with San Diego among its programs advertised as running since 2012. In San Diego the company runs three separately ticketed products: the family-friendly Ghosts of San Diego Tour, open to all ages; the 16-and-up Specters and Sinners Ghost Tour; and the 21-and-up Ghost City Haunted Pub Crawl.
The company's own site frames San Diego's history around two historic quarters: Old Town, where the operator points to the hangings and epidemics of the 19th century, and the Gaslamp Quarter, where the operator points to the vice and violence of the neighborhood's former red-light district. As with the operator's other cities, guides narrate from public sidewalks and exteriors rather than accessing private interiors.
Meeting points differ by tour: the Ghosts of San Diego Tour starts at the corner of Juan and Harney Streets in Old Town, in front of the Heritage Park sign; the Specters and Sinners Ghost Tour starts at 505 Sixth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter, across the street from Tivoli Bar and Grill; and the Ghost City Haunted Pub Crawl starts in the Gaslamp Quarter, with the exact meeting location sent in the confirmation email after booking.
Sources
- https://ghostcitytours.com/san-diego/
- https://ghostcitytours.com/san-diego/ghosts-san-diego-tour/
- https://ghostcitytours.com/san-diego/haunted-pub-crawl/
- https://ghostcitytours.com/san-diego/specters-sinners-ghost-tour/
ApparitionsUnexplained SoundsFeelings of Being Watched
The Ghosts of San Diego Tour opens at the Whaley House, which the operator describes as officially declared haunted by the US Department of Commerce and built on the site of San Diego's former gallows, and continues to Casa de Aguirre, Immaculate Conception Church, and El Campo Santo Cemetery — a cemetery the operator states was disturbed when a streetcar line was built directly through its graves.
The Specters and Sinners Ghost Tour opens at the Horton Grand Hotel, which the operator ties to a horse named Sunshine reportedly still roaming its halls and a former employee, Roger Whitaker, said to continue his shift, and continues to the Davis-Horton House, the Montijo Building — which the operator ties to a former coffin and embalming business and the suicide of Edward Tebbutt — and the Grand Pacific Hotel, which the operator connects to serial killers Samuel Little, Jon David Guerrero, and the Golden State Killer.
The Ghost City Haunted Pub Crawl is built around four unnamed historic bars in the Gaslamp Quarter that the operator markets as haunted, tied to the neighborhood's Prohibition-era speakeasies and former red-light district; the operator's page does not name the specific stops.
All of this is the tour operator's own marketing and narrative material, not documented history verified independently for this listing; it is included here as a description of what the tours cover, not as an endorsement of any specific claim.
