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Haunted Islands of San Francisco Bay: Ghosts, Crime, and Dark Histories

Alcatraz, Alameda, Mare Island, Angel Island, Yerba Buena, and Treasure Island loom out of the dark waters of San Francisco Bay. Even when they aren’t shrouded in mist, the islands are haunted by a past swirling with criminal violence, fatal epidemic, environmental disaster, and explosive sabotage. From an infernal duel on Angel Island to the cursed cells of Alcatraz and the Old 84 naval prison, Jeff Dwyer steers adventurous readers through a haunted history full of phantom ships and open graves. 

Once a twenty-seven-thousand-acre parcel named for the hills it features, Rancho Los Cerritos is a place where the past meets the present and provides a fascinating glimpse into California’s history.

Home of the Gabrielino-Tongva for more than five thousand years, the land was claimed and colonized by Spain and then Mexico before it became part of the United States. New Englander John Temple, together with his wife, Rafaela Cota, bought the land in the early 1800s. Through a workforce of Indigenous laborers, he built a unique two-story adobe to be the headquarters of a large-scale cattle ranch, propelling Temple and Rancho Los Cerritos to the forefront of Southern California’s prosperity.

Over the next two centuries, the Rancho adobe was home to gold rush miners, Mexican vaqueros, Chinese cooks, and more. These intrepid individuals persisted through feasts and famine, floods, droughts, and even war. Today, the adobe houses a historic museum and connects visitors to those who left an indelible mark on the region.

Join Dr. Leslie Reese as she shares the stories of the people who called Rancho Los Cerritos home.

Fascinating tales from the territories of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

From its earliest days to the dawn of the twentieth century, the Southwest was known as a place for dreamers, heroes, and lonesome drifters. People were drawn to places like Tombstone, where notorious events left a lingering legacy, and Taos Pueblo, with centuries of history contained within its adobe walls. Across the territories, the blending of cultures and conflicts that arose turned common people into legends. Names like Geronimo, Billy the Kid, Doña Tules, and Olive Oatman survive in story, along with other, wilder tales, like those of the Lost Dutchman mine and the Mogollon Monster.

Join author and illustrator Jessica Laughlin as she takes you on a journey through the wild frontier of the Southwest.

Set in the middle of a lush California valley, Danville, in the last century, has grown from an agrarian hamlet to a bustling town.

On land that once belonged to Native peoples whose lives were upended by Spanish conquest, pioneers came for the Gold Rush and stayed for the fertile land. Farms and ranches took root, and a community arose. The Danville Grange No. 85, Patrons of Husbandry, promoted better farming practices and spurred on the founding of the town’s first library. Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O’Neill called Danville home when he wrote his final, great plays, including Long Day’s Journey into Night, twenty years before a brand-new freeway led the charge into the modern era.

Join local author Beverly Lane as she shares gems from Danville’s past.

From the largest explosion in human history to the infamous Port Chicago Mutiny trial, Concord After World War II captures pivotal moments in California's history.

Explosive growth after the war made Concord a popular stop for presidents, celebrities, and musical events. A small town of about 1,500 people in the 1940s now is home to more than 120,000. Jazz musician Dave Brubeck was born here, and the internationally acclaimed Concord Blue Devils still perform here. The 1960s saw the birth of the annual Concord Jazz Festival and Concord Jazz Records. Concord became sister cities with Kitakami, Japan, in the 1970s. The controversial Spirit Poles were erected in the 1980s, and De La Salle High School’s unbelievable 151-game football winning streak began in the 1990s.

Area native Joel A. Harris is the author of Images of America: Concord and Past & Present: Concord. He is a state bar certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law. Harris is a board member of the Concord Historical Society, who provided many of the outstanding images presented in this book. Other wonderful photographs are provided courtesy of the Contra Costa County Historical Society and local residents.

Once a twenty-seven-thousand-acre parcel named for the hills it features, Rancho Los Cerritos is a place where the past meets the present and provides a fascinating glimpse into California’s history.

Home of the Gabrielino-Tongva for more than five thousand years, the land was claimed and colonized by Spain and then Mexico before it became part of the United States. New Englander John Temple, together with his wife, Rafaela Cota, bought the land in the early 1800s. Through a workforce of Indigenous laborers, he built a unique two-story adobe to be the headquarters of a large-scale cattle ranch, propelling Temple and Rancho Los Cerritos to the forefront of Southern California’s prosperity.

Over the next two centuries, the Rancho adobe was home to gold rush miners, Mexican vaqueros, Chinese cooks, and more. These intrepid individuals persisted through feasts and famine, floods, droughts, and even war. Today, the adobe houses a historic museum and connects visitors to those who left an indelible mark on the region.

Join Dr. Leslie Reese as she shares the stories of the people who called Rancho Los Cerritos home.

Before Butch Cassidy, there was Patrick Coughlin.

It began with the theft of some strawberries from a street peddler in Park City, Utah Territory, in 1895. By the time it was over, two lawmen were dead, and Patrick Coughlin was facing a firing squad. The young gunslinger, in a desperate bid to escape the punishment for his initial crime, caused one of the most thrilling manhunts in the state’s history. The outlaw and his sidekick went on a crime spree, escalating from stealing horses to gunfights, all with the posse tailing them, ending in a shootout at a remote cabin. When Patrick Coughlin was finally recaptured and tried, he would become the first prisoner sentenced to death in the state.

Join author and lawyer Brian Craig as he recounts the thrilling story of Patrick Coughlin, Utah’s original desperado.

Revel at the tales of these locals boys from Southwestern Pennsylvania going west to seek their Sin City dreams.

As turmoil rocked New Castle in the 1970s, a group of young men completed their military service and came home to a bleak future. Without college degrees or marketable skills, they found few options in Western Pennsylvania. Looking for a better life, they turned their eyes west.

Las Vegas promised women, gambling, excitement, and the chance to make a buck. Over their decades on the floors of Sin City’s casinos, they would rub shoulders with gangsters and stars and keep a sharp eye out for opportunity—and for card counters.

Based on hours of exclusive interviews, author Dale Perelman unfolds this cavalier group’s frolicking adventures as they navigated their way from the belly of the downtown Golden Gate to some of the Strip’s premier casinos, all while teetering along the right side of the law.

Nineteenth-century Chinese pioneers voyaged across the vast oceans to reach the last steamboat stop in the 旄舝 Gold Mountain, bringing centuries of wisdom from China’s ancient civilization.

Tehama County played a crucial role in shaping California’s early statehood. Its fertile terrain presented ample opportunities to succeed. Despite harsh discriminatory laws and racially driven tunnel folklore to perpetuate a negative narrative, five original families— Foey (Wong), 謯 Chew (Yuen), 鄺 Fong, 衒 On (Liu), and 蠊 Chin—made Red Bluff their permanent home, thriving as merchants and productive citizens. Individuals like Dr. Chew Yuen and Bo Do Hong operated traditional Chinese medicine practices throughout America with Red Bluff as their headquarters. Tehama County blended cultures, with its most distinguishable townsmen attending an annual Chinese and American banquet in Red Bluff’s Chinatown, merging the two cultures together. The deep bonds formed would culminate into a powerful petition by 20 influential leaders in support of the Chew family, who were detained at Angel Island in 1916, proving that Tehama County valued the Chinese community. This single act of kindness set the stage for a 20th-century Chinese American pioneer to be born, Dr. Kenneth Kendall Chew, and his research in aquaculture would change the world.

The Helen and Joe Chew Foundation has selected rare images from its collection and invited Chinese American descendants to narrate their origin stories, preserving the legacy of these pioneering families for future generations.