Before the events of April 23, 1874, Thomas B. Clarke was a staunch skeptic of the Spiritualist movement and all things supernatural. Yet, within three days, he became an ardent believer, confessing to anyone who would listen about the horrors he had witnessed. The cause of his sudden transformation? An entity now known as the Oakland Ghost.
Clarke, a respected U.S. Treasury officer at the Oakland Sub-Treasury, was regarded as rational, level-headed, and of sound mind. He lived with his wife, daughter, young son, and three boarders in a nine-room mansion on Castro Street. The Clarke Mansion had no history of violence or tragedy—nothing that might explain what was about to unfold. In all the years prior, neither Clarke nor any of his household had experienced anything remotely paranormal.
That changed on the night of April 23.
At around 11:30 p.m., as most of the house slept, the doorbell rang incessantly, followed by violent knocking. Clarke and one of his boarders went to investigate, expecting to catch a mischievous prankster, but found no one. As they stood at the stoop, a deafening bang echoed from upstairs. Rushing back inside, they witnessed a basket of silverware levitate from a table and hurl itself down the staircase. A chair soon followed, spinning wildly across the dining room. The disturbances escalated—chairs, a steamer chest, even a sofa were thrown about as if by unseen hands. The chaotic assault lasted for hours. At around 3:00 a.m., exhausted, they attempted to sleep, only to be roused by another tremendous crash. Investigating once more, they found the front door—torn from its hinges—leaning eerily against the parlor wall.
The following day, the shaken residents tried to go about their routines, though whispers of the night’s events spread quickly. Several members of the household shared their experiences, and soon the story reached a reporter from the Daily Alta California. Intrigued, the journalist sought Clarke for an interview and published an article on the haunting.
That evening, friends of the family and boarders gathered to examine the inexplicable disturbances. Their curiosity was soon met with another terrifying display. Chairs and furniture again moved of their own accord. A pair of gloves filled with ghostly hands. A piano played by itself as its wooden frame warped unnaturally. Every person present witnessed these manifestations.
By the third night, news of the haunting had gripped Oakland. A crowd of nearly five hundred gathered outside the mansion, hoping for a glimpse of the supernatural. Inside, Clarke, his family, and their guests endured yet another violent siege. Heavy chests, bureaus, and armoires were lifted and shifted. Books and personal belongings were tossed through the air. The disturbances grew so intense that they could be heard from the street. Five men from the crowd convinced Clarke to let them enter, determined to witness the phenomena firsthand.
The relentless onslaught continued deep into the night, culminating in a bloodcurdling scream that echoed through every room of the house. Clarke’s daughter later claimed to have seen the entity’s face and was profoundly disturbed by the encounter. After this terrifying climax, the house fell silent. The haunting, it seemed, was over.
In the aftermath, a twenty-member research team conducted an official investigation. Their conclusion? The events were a hoax—likely orchestrated by Clarke, his family, or the boarders.
Clarke was furious. In response, he wrote a scathing 20-page pamphlet denouncing the investigators and their methods, followed by a 50-page firsthand account detailing the haunting. Despite several more newspaper articles on the case, public opinion remained divided. Yet dozens of witnesses—including an Army colonel, a bank officer, a reverend, and a schoolteacher—swore to what they had seen. The investigation dismissed their testimonies, suggesting they had merely fallen for Clarke’s deception.
Not long after, Clarke and his family left Oakland. Whatever happened in the mansion had left him permanently changed. By 1877, he claimed to have contacted the spirits of George and Martha Washington, whom he said had dictated several books through a spiritual medium. Until his death, Clarke swore the Oakland Ghost was real.
His daughter, Helen, continued to share her account of the haunting for years. The case appeared in multiple publications before the American Society for Psychical Research conducted its own review in 1913. Their verdict? Inconclusive.
After the Clarke family’s departure, the mansion reportedly remained uninhabited for decades. In the early 1970s, it was demolished to make way for the I-980 freeway. Yet three Victorian-era houses still stand at 17th and Castro, near the site of the Clarke Mansion. Residents there have reported eerie encounters—a spectral woman with a chilling scream, seen wandering the street where a certain house once stood.
Jason Roberts is a Seattle-based author noted for his acclaimed western horror series The Dead Wind Trilogy as well as other works of cosmic horror infused with historical fiction. His web-based series, Dark Distractions examines paranormal mysteries, unexplained phenomena, and all things strange.
