Spooky Figure May Be The Infamous Ghost Of Pleasanton Hotel

PLEASANTON, CA — An unnamed prostitute murdered at the hands of a jealous customer inside the Pleasanton Hotel in 1870 may have made her most dramatic attempt yet to show that her spirit lingers in the building. The woman, who was believed have been stabbed to death, is said to have met her tragic end in the hallway just to the right of the mirror. Did this eerie photo taken in Pleasanton on the evening of October 21 capture the her image?

The incredible photo was taken by San Leandro resident Bill Pinto during one of the Museum on Main's annual Ghost Walk tours. Those on the tour are told to snap as many photos as possible to see if the camera captures what the naked eye cannot. The upstairs hallway is above Handles Gastropub, located at 855 Main St., in a building that stands in the location of one of Pleasanton's original and oldest hotels, which burned down in the 1890s.

Pinto said he and his cousin, who attended the popular tour together, were stunned by what he captured on camera. The photo seems to show the figure of a women in the mirror. Pinto said when he was listening to the tour guide, who was the man shown in the photo, he felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness after hearing about the brutal stabbing of the woman. Pinto said his cousin started snapping photos but captured nothing remarkable. Just second later, Pinto’s photo showed the shadowy woman’s shape, which was not visible to the naked eye, in the mirror.

“It is hard to explain the feelings I had while I was there,” Pinto told Patch. “Something there was telling me its a bad place. I left there with an eerie feeling.”

This is at least the fourth photo that has captured something spooky in the mirror. The first photo, taken in 2015 during one of the tours, seemed to show a face peeking out from the mirror's corner. The next day another photo captured an odd shadow in the mirror, and in 2016, a ghostly figure was captured yet again in the same location, in a photo taken during daylight hours. Museum on Main officials said it has long been reported that the building is haunted.

"People on the Ghost Walk often feel sudden chills in this location," museum officials said.

Pleasanton, which was originally named Alisal when it was established in the 1850s, was nicknamed "the most desperate town in the West" and was home to gangs, bandits and drifters continuously passing through and mingling with the locals and a few ladies of the night, which prompted the occasional drunken skirmish. Sickness, shoot outs and debauchery lead to many untimely deaths in the small but wild town and likely sparked the rumors of the hauntings, according to museum officials.

Whispers of hauntings in the historic buildings along Main Street have helped make the Museum on Main’s annual ghost tour wildly popular. This year, the tour drew 885 people and raised 15,000 dollars for the museum.

Read More:

• The 5 Creepiest Paranormal Places In Pleasanton
• Creepy California: Dark Tales From The Golden State

Photo credit Bill Pinto

2015 shadow photo courtesy Paige J., 2016 shadow photo courtesy Autumn Johnson/ Patch

2015 tour photo courtesy Laura Chalker