The Haunted History of San Francisco’s Westerfeld House

Pop star Kesha and rapper GaTa conducted their own investigation into the storied past of one of the most haunted mansions on the West Coast.

Rapper GaTa and pop star Kesha listen for ghosts at the mysterious Westerfeld House in San Francisco, California.

Kesha and actor-rapper GaTa check in for a night of sheer terror at the mysterious Westerfeld House. Is master illusionist Harry Houdini responsible for the electrifying paranormal activity? Or is it the satanic rituals and an unsolved murder? They must listen to uncover the truth.

Photo by: Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (Screenshot from TRVL's "Conjuring Kesha")

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (Screenshot from TRVL's "Conjuring Kesha")

The Westerfeld House is a San Francisco, California, icon on the corner of Scott and Fulton streets, just steps away from the iconic Victorian-style Painted Ladies.

While their architecture is similar, Westerfeld stands on a hill in stark contrast to the cheerful Painted Ladies. The brooding mansion is painted deep green and gray on the outside, and the inside has been carefully restored.

Built in 1869 by German businessman William Westerfeld, the home has always been the site of strange activity. Westerfeld only lived in the home for six years before he died, and the home’s second owner invited magician Harry Houdini to the home. Houdini reportedly stood in the home’s tower as he tried to send telepathic messages across the San Francisco Bay to Oakland. Later, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi stood in the same tower to transmit the first radio signals on the West Coast.

Russian Czars used the home as a hangout in the 1920s, and a Russian colonel was reportedly killed in a dispute over a woman.

The home was a series of apartments for a time where fringe artists and musicians lived. The Grateful Dead reportedly crashed there for a while. Legend has it that Bobby Beausoleil, a member of the murderous Manson Family, was first inspired to kill while living at Westerfeld.

In the 1970s, Anton LeVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, practiced demonic rituals at the home.

Today, the house is owned by Jim Siegal, who sleeps in the bed where George Westerfeld died. Siegal bought the abandoned house in 1986 and slowly restored the Victorian home to its former glory and even had it blessed by Buddhist monks to rid it of the strange energy.

Despite his attempts to cleanse the home, the hundred years of occult practices and odd visitors have left their mark on the property.

Siegal once felt something get into bed with him and sink into the mattress as he was lying in the main bedroom. There are unexplainable temperature changes and flickering lights at the home. The home’s caretaker sensed a critical spirit enter the library and scold him for touching the books.

Whatever remains in the home was ready when popstar Kesha and rapper GaTa arrived to begin an investigation of their own; the front door knob turned on its own to beckon them inside.

Find out what they discovered on Conjuring Kesha, streaming now on discovery+.

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