Hans Holzer

There is a two—story brick mansion in the Old Town section of San Diego, California, that was built in 1856 by Thomas Whaley. Whaley also built an annex to the house, which he rented to the county in 1869 to be used as the courthouse.

As San Diego grew, a strong rivalry developed between the Old Towners and the New Towners, who wanted the courthouse to be located in the new area of the town. In 1871, while Whaley was away, "a gang of New Towners broke into his house, terrorized his wife and daughter, and stole all the court records," reports Dennis William Hauck in his book The National Directory of Haunted Places. The gang also damaged the house, and Whaley was involved in a bitter twenty—year fight for reparations...