Sacramento's historic Leland Stanford mansion offers special Halloween tours
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento's historic Leland Stanford mansion, one of the city's oldest homes, is opening its doors this month for special Halloween tours.
The 1856 Victorian mansion – once owned by the former California governor and his wife, Jane – is now a state park, and these special public tours offer a different take on the old home's history.
The mansion is filled with ghostly decorations, including some ghoulish guests in the dining room and a tarot card table for summoning spirits.
The tour also has a mourning room, complete with a bell that the undead can ring if they wake up trapped inside a coffin. It's where the term "dead ringer" comes from.
Over the decades, the mansion has also served as an orphanage and a hospital during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
California State Parks won't officially say it's haunted, but some have seen lights flicker and doors mysteriously slamming shut.
"We've definitely heard from staff some experiences that they couldn't easily explain," said John Fraser, the capital district superintendent for California State Parks.
The parks department spent 14 years restoring the structure to become a museum.
"It is one of the more ornate Victorians that are still here in Sacramento," Fraser said.
It's now also used as the protocol site for the governor to welcome visiting dignitaries.
"I think it's critically important," one Sacramento resident said. "It gives Sacramento so much character and it brings the history alive to us. It's what Sacramento is really about."
The special Halloween evening tours continue this Saturday as well as next Friday and Saturday. They are free, but reservations are required.
