Haunted Sonora- Gunn House Hotel by Zina Abbott

 

One thing I have discovered as I have researched the California Sierra Nevada Mountains and the adjoining foothills is that there are records of a number of haunted buildings and “spots,” especially dating back to the gold rush era, but including later decades in the 1800s. California was a rough place to live—and, sometimes, a rough place to die.

Some previous posts of haunted buildings I have published are The White Lady of the Bridgeport Inn, please CLICK HERE, Haunted City Hotel in Columbia, California, please CLICK HERE, and Columbia, California’s Haunted Fallon House & Theater, please CLICK HERE.

Sonora, California is the county seat of Tuolumne County and is about four miles south of Columbia. Today’s post will share a few details about one of the alleged haunted places in Sonora—the Gunn House.

Background History on the Gunn House:

The Gunn House, the oldest building still in existence in Sonora, dates back to 1850.

 

Gunn House - November 1850

The first two-story adobe structure in town, it was built by Lewis Gunn. Mr. Gunn originally came to the Sonora area to mine for gold. After months of fruitless attempts, which he described as just “digging holes,” he decided instead to draw upon his limited medical knowledge and some apothecary information he had to serve the medical needs of the community. Since there were no trained medical doctors in Sonora at the time, he filled a need by helping cure cases of scurvy caused by not eating enough vitamin C in the form of leafy greens or other fresh foods, dysentery from drinking bad water, and helping with stiff backs and arthritic legs that resulted from miners spending so much time stooped or bent over in or next to streams and patches of dirt while searching for gold. It is estimated he saved many lives and benefited many in the area.

After Mr. Gunn built his house, he became Tuolumne County Recorder and used his building to store county records. He saved a generous amount from his portion of the fees paid to file land and mining claims to the point in November of 1850, he bought an interest in the Sonora Herald, the local newspaper, which ceased publication in about 1854.

 In 1850, Lewis Gunn’s wife, Elizabeth, and their four children left their home in Pennsylvania and traveled to California on a ship by way of Cape Horn. They arrived in August of 1851, where the appreciative citizens of Sonora who had benefited from Mr. Gunn’s medical assistance warmly welcomed them. The family lived on the second floor, and the newspaper and county recorder’s records were housed on the ground floor.

The Gunn family stayed in the home for about ten years before moving to San Francisco. The house was sold and used as a hospital until about 1899 or early 1900.

Italia Hotel - 1934

After that, it was sold to the Bisordi family. The building was remodeled into a hotel and boardinghouse. At first called the Rosa Italia Hotel, the name was later shortened to Italia. The business was overseen by the family matriarch, Josephine. She handled the cooking, which became quite well-known locally. Her husband, Anacleto, focused on running the saloon and gaming parlor in the former Room #3.

In 1962, the hotel was purchased by Margaret Dienelt. She renamed it the Gunn House Hotel and added a landscaped garden, patio, and swimming pool. In 2002, Mike and Shirley Sarno bought the building and did considerable restoration work. You may see the building as it appears today, the Gunn House Motor Hotel, by CLICKING HERE.

In spite of all the changes to this oldest building dating back to 1850, the original adobe structure remains intact and forms the core of all the additions and renovations.

The Ghosts of Gunn House:

There are a slew of ghosts that have been seen, experienced, and reported by guests and staff over the years.

In Room #10, a man was reportedly hurled out of bed by a violent entity, which had no intention of letting him stay the night.

In Room #11, overnight guests have been awakened to find an unseen entity rearranging the furniture in the room. An oft-reported experience has been for guests to wake in the morning to find all thirteen of the pictures hanging skewed, even though nothing occurred during the night that might have dislodged them from their positions. Some guests have reported hearing a sound similar to the rattling of coins.

The most haunted is Room #12. Guests have opened their door to a terrifying apparition. Others have reported seeing a man in an old-fashioned suit standing at the end of their four poster bed.

In other rooms, a ghost has been known to hop into bed with couples, while others have reportedly felt the sensation of being watched.

Hauntings are not confined to guest suites. On several occasions, the apparition of a matronly lady has appeared in the parlor room fireplace. Others have seen a shadowy apparition appear on the stairs.

Paranormal experts theorize that the ghostly activity dates back to the thirty or so years that the building was used as a hospital.

Reservations, anyone?

 

I focused on Sonora, California, research while plotting and writing my recent book, A Watchman for Willow, part of the Mail Order Papa series. At the time my story is set in 1886, the Gunn House would have been a hospital. To find the book description and purchase options for this book, please CLICK HERE

 

 

 

My most recent release is my Old Timey Holiday Kitchen series book, VinegarPie by Varinia. To find the book description and purchase options for this book, please CLICK HERE

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Williams, Nancy K., Haunted Hotels of the California Gold Country. Charleston, S.C.: Haunted America, a Division of The History Press. 2014, pages 116-121.

https://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/gunn-house-hotel/

 

Ghosts Still Haunt the Site of the California Gold Rush

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

I've been enjoying all of the ghosts stories posted this past week. We used to live in a community that is known for its gold rush ghosts. In fact, the art gallery I worked in had its own resident ghosts so I am definitely a believer.

The gallery was housed in a renovated building located in Placerville, California. The building dated back to 1851. Originally it was called the 49er Corner Saloon and to this day a creek runs under the building. My first inclination of a live-in ghost was when I heard heavy footsteps overhead. I wouldn't have thought anything of it except all the tenants who worked above the art gallery were away for Christmas holiday. A man's footsteps walked back and forth; doors slammed. I mentioned this occurrence to my boss. She went upstairs and checked the entire floor. She found nobody. The next year around the Christmas holidays it happened again. Then a few months later, we found one of our wastebaskets missing. There were three gray and one pink left together in the middle of the backroom after we'd emptied them. In the morning, the pink wastebasket was missing and was never found. One of my jobs was to print out tags and tape them on the wall next to each painting. One morning I found all of the tags in the middle of the room on the carpeted floor and several paintings hung crooked on the wall. The final blow was when my boss and another clerk were working behind the counter on one side of the gallery. Across the room, a six-foot tall ceramic vase slammed against the wall hard enough to break into several pieces and the mahogany table that was next to the vase had a leg badly scratched. The ghost had turned violent for the first time. My boss called in a ghost expert and she worked her trade well. The ghost never came back after her visit.

Across the street from the art gallery is The Cary House Hotel, built in 1857. I have used this hotel in several of my books in the Paradise Pines Series. The inside has been kept in the same décor as it was when it was built. The hotel boasts of having two ghosts. The former television show that explored haunted places in the U.S. spent twenty minutes exposing Stan. I did encounter Stan when I was going upstairs to gather information for my stories. The owners have added an elevator to the hotel and it is kept inside a closet. We tried to open the door but it was stuck. The manager told me Stan wasn't happy about us intruding so we walked up the stairs. On the way down, there was no problem. The door slid open and we got our ride. It is rumored that Stan loved women and possibly the men as well. To this day he checks each doorknob in the hotel to make sure the guests are safely locked inside. He also rides the elevator up and down most of the night. Stan was the clerk in the lobby for many years. He was a short, stocky man with reddish brown hair, balding on the top and not what most people would consider a 'ladies' man. He did his job politely until alcohol took effect, loved gossip, and checking people out of the hotel. Sometimes he was insulting and sarcastic. He apparently made a pass at a man, the man stabbed him twice in anger, and Stan fell down the stairs to his death.

The hotel has many ghost sightings and it draws people to tempt their fate with the ghosts. Several other buildings in town are haunted. One day while I was taking notes in the Hangman's Bar I saw a tall man with a long black coat and tall black hat walk out of the women's bathroom. He reminded me of what Abraham Lincoln looked like. He just dissolved a few feet in front of me. No, I had not been imbibing.

We have moved from the Placerville area so I no longer watch for ghosts. They give the town a sense of the past and a bit of mystery.

Declan Grainger, the hero in my Night Angel story, was the owner of Chaumers Hotel, which I modeled after The Cary House. Chaumers Hotel took on a life of its own, but as far as I know no ghosts live there...yet.

http://amzn.com/B00909PON0

The Incredible World of Gold Rush Ghosts written by Nancy Bradley and Robert Reppert give a great accounting of all the ghosts living in this area. I recommend it to anyone with a ghostly imagination.