5/5 NoeHill W. 4 years ago on Google • 280 reviews
The
Atherton
House
was
listed
on
the
National
Register
of
Historic
Places
in
1979
and
is
San
Francisco
Landmark
70.
Students
of
the
occult
tell
us
that
the
Atherton
House
is
from
time
to
time
haunted
by
four
ghosts:
three
agressive
female
spirits
who
in
life
had
been
Dominga
de
Goñi
Atherton,
Gertrude
Atherton,
and
Carrie
Rousseau
and
one
frail
male
spirit
who
had
been
George
Atherton.
The
story
began
in
1834
when
Faxon
D.
Atherton
of
Massachusetts
traveled
to
Valparaiso,
Chile,
to
seek
his
fortune.
He
found
his
fortune,
and
in
1860
he
purchased
six
hundred
acres
of
land
in
San
Mateo
County
to
build
his
estate.
Faxon
married
Dominga
de
Goñi,
member
of
a
prominent
Chileno
family,
and
they
had
seven
children
including
George.
After
her
husband's
death,
Dominga
built
this
house
and
moved
to
San
Francisco
with
her
son
George
and
his
wife
Gertrude
in
tow.
Both
Dominga
and
Gertrude
were
strong
women
who
so
dominated
George
that
in
1887
he
ran
away
from
home
to
seek
his
fortune
in
Chile
as
his
father
had
done.
Poor
George
had
only
sailed
halfway
to
Chile
when
his
kidneys
failed.
The
sailors
put
his
body
into
a
barrel
of
rum
to
preserve
it
and
shipped
the
barrel
to
the
Atherton
Mansion.
George
was
dried
out
and
received
a
proper
Christian
burial,
but
he
was
soon
spending
his
nights
knocking
on
the
bedroom
doors
of
his
mother
and
his
widow.
He
became
so
troublesome
that
Dominga
sold
the
house
and
moved
out.
For
the
next
thirty
years,
owners
came
and
went,
put
off
by
cold
spots
moving
about
the
house,
winds
blowing
through
the
rooms,
voices
in
the
night,
and
knocking
sounds
on
doors
and
in
hallways.
Then,
in
1923,
Carrie
Rousseau
purchased
the
house.
She
lived
in
the
ballroom
with
her
fifty
cats
until
1974
when,
at
the
age
of
93,
she
joined
the
three
Atherton
ghosts.
34 people found this review helpful 👍
