HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1862 Gold Rush hotel where owners blamed five fires on its resident ghosts
18723 Main St, Jamestown, CA 95327
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages in dining area; 21+ in bar
Cost
$$
Bistro and full-bar pricing; entrees roughly $15-35
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved Main Street frontage in the historic district
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1862 · Gold Rush-Era Hotel · Gateway to the Mother Lode · Continuously Operating Since 1862 · E Clampus Vitus Historical Marker · Tuolumne County Heritage
John Pereira came to California from Portugal during the Gold Rush and established The Willow in Jamestown in 1862. The Sierra foothills town was then known as the Gateway to the Mother Lode, and the hotel grew into one of the leading lodging houses in Tuolumne County. Over its first decades the building also held the area's first telegraph office, medical offices, and a stage stop, and it served as a fixture for travelers passing through the gold camps.
The property's later reputation is documented by a historical marker erected at the corner of Main and Willow Streets in 2000 by the Matuca Chapter of E Clampus Vitus. The marker and local history records note guests including President McKinley, Bat Masterson, and Mrs. Robert E. Lee. A gold-mine shaft is said to run beneath the building, a holdover from the town's mining era.
The Willow's modern notoriety came from fire. Local accounts and a 1985 United Press International wire story record that the 19th-century building was struck by five fires over roughly a decade, including a blaze that nearly destroyed it in 1975. The structure was rebuilt each time, and the original redwood bar survived. The building reopened as the Willow Steakhouse and Saloon and continues to operate today as a family-owned bistro and full bar.
Sources
The Willow earned its national reputation in the mid-1980s, when its owners blamed a string of fires on the building's ghosts rather than on faulty wiring or arson. A 1985 United Press International story reported that the 123-year-old hotel had been struck by five fires over roughly a decade, the most recent destroying an 80-year-old annex, and that owners had called in parapsychologists to address what they described as arson-minded spirits.
The investigator quoted in the wire story, Frank Nocerino, said he believed the building held nine or more ghosts and that his team had cleared three of them. Among the suspects he named was a bald-headed spirit he tied to a mid-1850s collapse of the gold-mine shaft that runs beneath the building. The account was picked up nationally and has kept the Willow on California haunted-restaurant lists for decades.
The building does not heavily market itself as a paranormal attraction. The stories travel through the historical marker outside, regional ghost-lore write-ups, and patrons who ask the bartender about the fires. The original redwood bar, which survived the blazes, remains the centerpiece of the room where the legend is usually told.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A meal in the 1862 hotel and saloon at the corner of Main and Willow Streets, in continuous operation since the Gold Rush. The original redwood bar survived the building's fires and is still in use. Staff will sometimes recount the ghost lore that made the building a fixture of California haunted-history roundups.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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