HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1887 Victorian home of Truckee lumber baron Warren Richardson, where the ghost of Maggie Richardson roams in search of a son lost to the 1918 Spanish flu
10154 High St, Truckee, CA 96161
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Vacation rental of the entire historic property. Contact owners Bob and Jeannine at (530) 386-5551 or [email protected] for rates and availability. 2–3 night minimum stays typical.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story Victorian home with original stairs and period-era layout.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1887 · Warren Richardson — Truckee lumber and mining baron · Victorian residential architecture, Truckee historic district · Truckee Historical Haunted Tour site
Warren Richardson was born in Maine and arrived in the Sierra Nevada timber economy with his brother George, with whom he spent close to 25 years in Truckee's lumber and mining businesses. By the late 1880s Richardson was counted among the wealthiest men in town, a status evident in the Victorian home he commissioned at 10154 High Street in 1887 for his wife Maggie Morrison, originally of Michigan.
The couple raised four sons: Warren Jr., George, Raymond, and Ralph. A decorative red spider-shaped window ornament at the top of the facade is among the architectural details the house has retained through subsequent owners. Warren Richardson died in 1907 and was buried in Colfax, California.
After the family's era, the property passed through various uses. Local accounts describe it as having operated as a boarding house in its later decades — known in that period as 'The Flop House.' Family ownership continued until 1940.
The building has since been extensively restored and is operated as a Victorian vacation rental, available as an entire-property rental sleeping up to 15 guests. The restoration preserved original Victorian detail work while adding modern amenities including a six-person hot tub and updated kitchen. The Truckee Historical Haunted Tour, which has included the Richardson House as a stop in recent years, identifies it as one of old Truckee's most significant historic structures.
Sources
The haunting at the Richardson House centers on Maggie Richardson, the first wife of Warren Richardson, who died unexpectedly in her thirties of an intestinal illness. (A separate thread in the oral tradition — recounted on the Truckee Historical Haunted Tour — connects her grief to a son who may have died in the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, though the relationship between the two accounts is not resolved in the documentary record.)
Guests and tour guides describe Maggie as a restless presence rather than a threatening one — a figure who cannot settle because of unresolved loss. The detail that she 'roams the halls in search of her son' is the version that circulated at the 2017 Historical Haunted Tour, where an actress portraying Maggie emphasized the emotional character of the haunting: 'Sadness saturates the air, a sense of desperate loss.'
The physical phenomena reported by staff and guests are specific enough to be distinctive: a body impression appearing on a freshly made bed in a room associated with Maggie, and a window shade moving without any open window or air current to explain it.
The room in the house associated with Maggie is called 'Christine's Room' in some owner accounts — named, in that version, for Warren's first wife who died of the intestinal illness. The layering of two women named or associated with Richardson onto the same haunting address is a pattern common in oral tradition rather than a documented inconsistency in the historical record.
The Richardson House is consistently identified in local haunted-Truckee sources as one of the most significant historic haunted properties in the old town district.
Notable Entities
Rent the entire 1887 Victorian home of lumber baron Warren Richardson. The house sleeps up to 15 guests across 8 rooms, with 6–7 bathrooms, a six-person hot tub, and Victorian detail work throughout. The property is listed on the Truckee Historical Haunted Tour, and the ghost of Maggie Richardson is the central lore. Direct booking with owners Bob and Jeannine avoids platform fees.
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