Placerville Ghost Hunt

Placerville, CA
El Dorado County

Placerville, CA -originally known as Hangtown (founded in 1840)

Many of the historical landmarks and building still are standing today. Most are no longer the business’ they used to once be, but all have quite the story to still be told. Of the original buildings still standing today include: The old hangman’s tree cafe, the chamber of commerce, old antique stores (originally theaters) A book store, soda shop, and the Cary House Hotel.

While all have “ghostly” encounters seen by almost all the locals, none quite have the story to tell like the Cary House Hotel. The Cary House Hotel was featured on various paranormal and ghost documentaries. The Hotel was established in 1857. The Lobby is made of beautiful wood and glass cases with artifacts from over 100 years ago.

When we arrived at the CH (cary house) hotel, we were greeted by the eccentric hotel clerk. There was no mention at all of the “ghost stories” until we personally asked her. We weren’t expecting much after telling her that we were interested- but to our surprise, she offered to give us a personal guided tour! (Hotel and staff DO NOT publicize paranormal activity openly)

Our adventure started in the lobby were she explained the stories and history of what happened. There was a hotel clerk named Stan- who is apparently the Ghost that remains there today. We were told he was stabbed to death and killed on the stairs by an vengeful husband, and has never left since. He died in the lobby on the staircase. Below you will see the picture of the “orbs” we caught on film. The picture was taken while standing at the foot of the stairs.

The room with the most activity is said to be Room number 212. Upon Entering the room automatically you will find something odd. The room floor unlike any other in the entire building is at a slight slope/angle. Apparently there was a family who stayed in this room, and eventually the husband died from Influenza. After the death of the man, the family couldn’t afford to leave, and stayed until the wife’s parents could send money. ( In the photograph of the room to the left of the bed you will see a small orb near the lamp. On the opposite side above the lamp you will notice something we cannot explain..)

Among the lobby and room 212, the elevator has quite some history as well. It is the second elevator ever built west of the Mississippi. The elevator has been restored so it can still be operated today. People have claimed to have seen the elevator operate on its own. Making trips up and down each floor, without reason.

The Cary House hotel is the second most haunted hotel in all of California, and should defiantly be toured by all! We plan to further our investigation at the CH hotel sometime in the future!

While many other locations in “Old Hangtown” have their stories - the one location in which we found the most activity other than the CH hotel was the Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber of Commerce once a theater, is open to the public, during normal
business hours. We let ourselves into the main foyer to find flyer’s and video screens of local business, again we did not expect to get the type of information and coverage we’d receive. The woman working that afternoon was excited to find more “ghost hunters” interested in the history of the building. The Chamber of Commerce has welcomed many psychics, ghost hunters, and mediums over time. There is said to be activity in most of the rooms.

Our tour began in the downstairs administration office. The woman who gave us our tour had a personal encounter in the smaller office to the right of the front desk. We followed her into this location, however we where unable to document any activity in this area. The tour continued up the stairs to attic. Once the balcony of the old theater now used for storage, has had many events and activity. Again we were unable to document any activity in this location. Connecting the first floor to the second is the mezzanine. It is here that a bearded man wearing a top hat has been seen from the window. They say he resembles descriptions of the towns official hangman seen in old pictures taken nearly 150 years ago when the town was know as Hangtown. Most of the hangings took place on the property where the Chamber of Commerce Building is now located.

We continued upstairs, to what now is a conference room. Here is where we finally documented activity. The woman explained to us that many of the visitors looking for “ghosts” had seen, felt, or recorded EMF (electric magnetic field) changes or photographed orbs above the fireplace. In our photo you will see the orb that we had photographed.

Our trip to Placerville once more confirmed our belief that something does exist. We would recommend the above two location for touring.