San Francisco Ghost Hunt Walking Tour

We are not inclined towards ghost tours. Being a history buff, I get a little salty when tour guides start playing fast and loose with well documented points of local history to fix someone’s odd experience into the larger tapestry of local events. Yet, when we saw that a magician and mentalist whose work we have followed would be in town doing a ghost tour, we decided to give it a go.

To begin, let me say, Christian Cagigal is a fantastic showman. He weaves stories with a balanced hand of history and the dramatic. We were already quite familiar with much of the history that Christian invokes. For those unfamiliar with local figures such as Mary Ellen Pleasant, the tour is not only entertaining but educational. Learn about the scandalous lives of two heiresses who still may not be ready to leave their mansion, a certain husband who found himself in quite an unconventional pickle, and one of San Francisco’s most accomplished entrepreneurs of whom I bet you have never heard. Where he deviates into urban legends and speculation is telegraphed. And every bit comes with a fine dash of wit.

The tour itself varies between 90 minutes to two hours. Attendees will be mostly standing, with occasional walking totaling a mile with a moderate hill. If you have any inclination to attend, let me urge you past the point of indecision into action.