‘Cursed’ Central Coast mansion to haunt Discovery ghost hunters. When to watch
A historic — and allegedly haunted — Central Coast mansion is the spooky setting of a new episode of reality television show “Ghost Adventures.”
The episode, which airs Wednesday night on the Discovery Channel, features the Rispin Mansion in Capitola.
The 104-year-old home at 2000 Wharf Road has been barred from public access since 2011 in an effort to prevent vandalism, according to the city of Capitola.
The “Ghost Adventures” crew, which includes Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley, recently gained access to examine the “cursed home,” a Discovery Channel news release said.
“Sealed shut after a violent paranormal event in 2012, the abandoned home has become a vault of concentrated evil, waiting for an opportunity to explode,” the episode description said.
Here’s what to know about the local landmark where the paranormal investigation took place.
What is Rispin Mansion’s haunted history?
The Rispin Mansion was built by San Francisco millionaire Henry Allen Rispin more than 100 years ago in 1921, the city of Capitola said.
Rispin, a wealthy oil baron, was behind several developments in Capitola during the 1920s, according to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.
Rispin constructed his Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion beside the western bank of Soquel Creek in Capitola in Santa Cruz County.
The four-story house was built into a hillside and featured concrete walls, gabled tile roofs, balustrade terraces, arched portico and a chimney with six flues, the city of Capitola wrote in an application seeking to include the building on the National Register of Historic Places.
The mansion contains a total of 22 rooms across 10,000 square feet while the grounds and gardens extend to nearly 6 acres.
Rispin lost his fortune after the stock market crashed during the Great Depression, forcing him to sell off Rispin Mansion about a decade after it was established, according to the city. The property served as a convent for a while but was eventually abandoned for several decades.
“Vandals have stripped off or otherwise destroyed interior features,” the city said in its application. “The grounds have not been maintained and are overgrown with poison oak, weeds, berry bushes and other vegetation.”
Capitola property an epicenter for paranormal activity
The city of Capitola bought the Rispin Mansion in the mid-1980s, and the property was was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Capitola attempted to develop the mansion into a commercial hotel but its plan was thwarted in 2009 when a massive fire swept through the home.
In 2011, the city reconstructed the Rispin Mansion’s flooring and roof, and sealed off all entrances and openings to the public to avoid any further vandalism, according to the city’s website.
“There are currently no plans for the renovation of the building,” the city said, but a comprehensive landscaping project around the mansion will be complete this summer.
As the building has deteriorated, ghost stories about the site have surged.
These include tales of the dead who still walk its halls and a “dreaded curse” that befalls on anyone who tries to own the property, according to Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters, a group dedicated to paranormal activity research in the area.
Why did Discovery Channel show feature Central Coast mansion?
The “Ghost Adventures” crew decided to scope out the Rispin Mansion after a previous paranormal investigation at the site turned into a “terrifying event,” according to the release.
In 2012, the Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters team toured the Rispin Mansion with then-Capitola Mayor Michael Termini and local psychic Monnica Selpulveda, according to the group’s website.
While walking through the building, the group encountered warm and cold spots, flickering lights and felt someone touching their hair and tapping their shoulders at times.
One investigator said she was pushed into a staircase by an unknown force, the ghost hunters reported, and a bootprint was seen later on the back of her pant legs.
Since then, the sealed-off Rispin Mansion has become “a pressure cooker of concentrated malevolent energy,” the “Ghost Adventures” release said.
The Discovery Channel ghost hunters look into the building’s supernatural nature in the show’s latest episode.
According to the release, the team’s investigation will depict “terrifying activity that yields some of their most incredible evidence yet,” of paranormal activity.
When to watch ‘Ghost Adventures’ on Discovery Channel
“Ghost Adventures” airs at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14, on the Discovery Channel.
You can stream the show the following day on Discovery+ and Max.
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 12:57 PM.
