I wrote the text of the following article in the 1990s after visiting San Diego to take photos of haunted places. The article was based upon information available to me at that time.
–Elisabeth Busch, July 2020
It may be the spirit of the original owner, John McConaughy, who haunts this building today. John was the first person in San Diego to run a scheduled transportaion service. His stagecoaches ran from San Diego to Julian, California. His Victorian house was built in the “Stick Eastlake” style and was restored as part of Heritage Park in the 1960s.
Today a group of lawyers works in the McConaughy House, and they have some ghostly company. Some of the lawyers have told tales of hearing footsteps in an upstairs hallway while they were working downstairs; when they go to check out the noise, the footsteps stop and nothing is there. Another common occurrence is the swishing sound of trees on the outside of the building. Not so strange, except there are no trees close close enough to hit the walls! Perhaps John McConaughy is just making these noises to remind his tenants that he is still around.
Sources:
Haunted San Diego: A Historic Guide to San Diego’s Favorite Haunts, Gail White, 1992 Tecolote Publications, San Diego, pp 76-78