Hello again R. L. Stein Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your ghostly host, and devoted keeper of those strange yarns and spooky tales from the hidden vault of R.L. Stein.

Today is another chilling tale.

This ghostly account story club members might have you wanting to play outside.

It's one I call the Whaley House.

Recently, I was visiting Sunny San Diego and toured the famous Whaley House, which pops up all

the time in books and websites as one of the most famous haunted houses.

Here's a little history. In 1857, businessman Thomas Whaley built the two-story mansion for his

family. Because the house was such an important fixture in its day, it was also used as a

courthouse and official meeting place. Two presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Harrison,

stayed with the Whalies when they visited the city.

For almost 100 years, several generations of Whalies lived in the home.

The oldest brick structure in Southern California, the Whaley House, is now a museum. But the Whaley residence has a

spookier history. The ghosts most often encountered in the house are those of Thomas and Anna Waley,

Annabelle Washburn, a friend of the Whaley children who died after a tragic accident in the

Waley's backyard, and Yankee Jim, a drifter who died and was buried on the property before the home was built.

June Reading, the director of the Whaley House Museum since the 1960s, saw the ghosts firsthand.

She claimed that she once saw Thomas Whaley standing on the stair landing on a Sunday afternoon.

He wore a black frock coat and a pair of pantaloons

with a broad brim black felt hat. Reading knew it was Whaley because she had read documents that

described him wearing similar clothing. Many other museum employees have also reported a man in a

black frock coat staring at them while they worked.

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