Where are the most haunted places in Modesto? Explore these 7 spooky landmarks
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Modesto Bee identified seven haunted sites across businesses, parks and landmarks.
- Owners, witnesses and paranormal teams cite photos, video and social media posts.
- Historic sites like McHenry Mansion, McHenry Museum and John Muir school hold legends.
It’s Halloween time in Modesto, and the city is in the full swing of spooky season.
Families are hanging up decorations, taking festive trips to the pumpkin patch and watching scary movies. In just a few days, costumed children will be knocking on doors for tricks or treats.
For some local businesses and landmarks, hauntings are said to happen year-round.
As part of The Modesto Bee’s Bee Curious series, our reporters set out to uncover the most haunted buildings and landmarks in the area.
Here are some of the spookiest sites we found:
Is Modesto costume store haunted?
Daydreams & Nightmares, a costume shop at 1219 Seventh St. in Modesto, sells wigs, makeup, masks and more — but it’s also known for its paranormal activity.
Owner Dana Walters often shares stories on Facebook and Instagram about ghostly encounters in the shop.
Before she purchased the building, it operated as a funeral home and crematorium.
Since Daydreams & Nightmares moved in, unusual incidents — including gusts of wind, shadows and whispers around customers — have become more frequent, Walkers wrote in a Sept. 24 Instagram post.
Her posts, including surveillance footage showing floating orbs and other strange occurrences, have drawn investigations from groups including Calaveras Paranormal, Nor Cal Paranormal, Chill Seekers TV and the Skeleton Crew.
In 2019, former Playboy star Bridget Marquardt, a longtime fan of the supernatural, visited Modesto to tour the shop and join a ghost hunt with the Calaveras Paranormal Investigation Team.
Does Modesto’s Acacia cemetery have ghosts?
Acacia Memorial Park, 801 Scenic Drive in Modesto, is one of the city’s oldest cemeteries — and, according to many, one of its most haunted.
Acacia Memorial Park was established by the Masonic Lodge in 1872 as a Masonic cemetery, according to the city of Modesto website.
Acacia is one of four connected cemeteries known locally as the “Silent City.”
It was the first city cemetery to have a dedicated section for veterans, according to the city website.
“In 1964, the name was changed from Masonic Cemetery to Acacia Memorial Park,” the city said.
Although the site was renamed, its eerie reputation has endured.
Over the years, visitors have shared stories online — on YouTube, Facebook, Reddit and HauntedPlaces.org — describing strange sights, spectral sounds and ghostly encounters within the graveyard.
Mysterious sounds at old Modesto elementary school
The brick building at 800 E. Morris Ave. in Modesto once echoed with the sounds of children’s laughter.
Built in 1923, the structure served as John Muir Elementary School until the early 1950s, when it was deemed seismically unsafe.
The city bought the old elementary school in 1953 and transformed it into a community center.
Even after students were long gone, the building’s halls weren’t always quiet.
City workers reported hearing mysterious sounds — or “the voices and thundering feet of children being let out of school between 2:30 and 3 p.m. daily,” The Bee previously reported.
That haunting sounds ended abruptly on Oct. 14, 2007, when a fire damaged the historic site.
That’s not all that was destroyed in the blaze. About half the city’s historical artifacts dating back to the 1800s were stored on site at the time.
The remains of the building were demolished in 2008. Today, the once-bustling site sits empty beside Thomas B. Scott Park.
McHenry Mansion is known for ghost stories
The McHenry Mansion, 906 15th St. in Modesto, is among the city’s most iconic pieces of Victorian history.
Built in 1883, the grand home has captivated visitors for generations with its beauty and reports of lingering spirits.
According to Atlas Obscura, the McHenry Mansion is a historic site “known for its beauty and grandeur — and the ghosts that are rumored to haunt the expansive property.”
“The mansion has been restored to its original glory after years of neglect and disrepair, but none of the alterations have done much to quell local legends about hauntings and strange occurrences at the site,” Atlas Obscura said.
Guided tours of the mansion are offered from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Admission is free.
Do spirits roam this running trail?
Locals say Dry Creek Running Trail, which stretches from La Loma Bridge to Claus Road, is haunted.
Over the years, visitors have taken to YouTube, Facebook, Reddit and Chill Seekers to share eerie stories of strange sights, mysterious sounds and ghostly encounters on the popular 4.5-mile recreation trail.
Some claim a Native American spirit roams the scenic trail, keeping an eye on joggers. Others tell of a young man, possibly a jilted lover, who jumped from the Claus Bridge.
Modesto’s McHenry Museum once stored a haunted loom
The McHenry Museum, at 1402 I St. in Modesto, is a beloved city landmark. Built in 1912, the building served as the Modesto Library until 1971.
Over time, it’s become a hub for preserving local history.
The building also once stored an allegedly haunted loom, acquired in the 1970s.
In 1994, the late Heidi Warner, longtime curator of the McHenry Museum, told The Bee about a ghostly weaver who mysteriously added inches to a piece of cloth.
Staff embraced the story, displaying the loom with a note that read: “This loom, believed to have been used on a local ranch in the 1800s, was brought to the museum some years ago. When it was set up, about four inches of cloth was woven. Over the years, the length of the cloth has grown. To this day, no one has been seen operating the loom, yet the work apparently continues.”
The loom’s mysterious weaving came to an end in 2007, when the blaze at the old John Muir Elementary School destroyed it along with numerous other artifacts.
The McHenry Museum is open to the public from noon to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday with free admission.
According to the city of Modesto website, the museum can also be rented for private parties and special events.
Ghost stories at McHenry Avenue shopping center
The North Point Landing Shopping Center, 3848 McHenry Ave. in Modesto, has a spooky reputation as a former skate park.
Legend has it that the spirit of a boy who broke his neck and died there still haunts the area.
Former employees of the Blockbuster Video that once operated in the shopping center reported eerie happenings.
“After closing, he will activate battery operated toys that are sold in the store, open and close the locked bathroom door, turn the lights off and on and then off again, and most frightening of all, he speaks to the employees through the store sound system,” Facebook user Alice Ortega-Arnold wrote in a 2014 post.
Another Facebook user, Cindy Byrd, said she was skeptical at first. “I thought they were just kidding around when they asked me to come because it was around Halloween,” Byrd replied. “Although, when I drove past the store one night all the gauges on my dashboard went wild. I said out loud ‘OK, I will go!’”
Ghosts “communicate in odd ways sometimes,” Byrd added.
After Blockbuster closed, Fuddruckers opened in its place in 2007. The restaurant closed in early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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