Trinity Episcopal church haunting in San Francisco
By: Paulroger2@aol.com

Trinity Episcopal Church was built in 1892 and sits on the corner of Bush and
Gough Streets. In San Francisco. It is a large stone gothic church that was
designed after the Durham castle in England.

I have been a sexton (caretaker) for the church for about the last 10 years.
Meals on wheels have started their program of feeding approximately 160
elderly folks around the neighborhood at our church. Monday through Friday
between 11:30am and 1:30pm the dining room is full of elderly people and it
is a good way to utilize the space.

However, two of the kitchen workers have quit shortly after starting. They
only lasted a few days when on two separate occasions they became frightened.
One worker was going up the steps to the hallway when he suddenly saw a
ghost, sort of like a grey entity or shadow of a figure coming out of the
men's bathroom. and disappear through the wall on the other side of the hall.
The other worker saw it again on another occasion near the entrance to the
kitchen from the hallway.

We used to have a 7-day candle on the healing alter that burned 24 hours a
day.

When Paul, who is the other sexton, and I would come in to clean on Monday
morning, the candle would always be out and I or Paul would always have to
relight it. It never went out on any other day and their are two other 7 day
candles in the church that burn 24 hours a day, but they never went out like
this one did. every Monday it would be out. We thought it must be a draft
somewhere, funny though the draft always happened between Sunday afternoon
and Monday morning.

I saw it one evening in the church when I was vacuuming near the chapel
alter. It looked like a 3 dimensional shadow of a human figure and it came
down the steps and went right passed me. Startled by it, I turned off the
vacuum and swiftly made my way down stairs calling out for Paul. I made him
come back up with me to investigate my experience with the ghost. We sat in
one of the front pews and waited silently for a while but nothing else
happened that evening.

One time, it was late afternoon, I was straightening all of the kneelers
pushing them all underneath the pews. When I walked down the middle aisle I
was checking that all the kneelers were in straight rows. About halfway down
the church in one of the rows, one of the kneelers was pushed out from the
rest of the kneelers. This kneeler looks different from all the rest and is
sort of an oddball kneeler and I distinctly remember pushing that kneeler
under the pew. I was startled by what I saw, but I went over and pushed it
back underneath the pew. no one else was in the Sanctuary with me and Paul
was cleaning the rooms downstairs at the time.

On still another occasion It was a Sunday Morning, people from the 8:00am
service had left and the Father Michael had gone into the Rector's office to
chat with Father Cromey. I was again vacuuming the carpet in the Sanctuary
of the Church when the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I turned
around and saw a tall slender figure wearing an off-white linen suit and he
was across the aisle in the other section of pews but he was standing their
facing me, and as I started to focus on his face he vanished right before my
eyes. I was not startled this time because I sensed the figure was not
trying to frightened me. I turned off the vacuum and paused for a few minutes
and looked all around the church, hoping to get a glimpse of the ghost again,
but I didn't and I continued with my vacuuming.

One time, it was about 10 in the evening and I was mopping the bathrooms in
the ambulatory, (a curved half-circle hallway where the church offices are
located), and minutes before, I had come out of the room where the cleaning
supplies are kept. As I began mopping one of the bathrooms I heard like a
man's footsteps coming from that room. I stopped mopping and the footsteps
went down the hallway passed the bathroom doorway and I could see out into
the hallway and I saw nothing as the sounds of the footsteps walked passed
and continued to the other end of the hall. I was frozen stiff and couldn't
move. Again, the hair on my neck stood up and I flung the mop aside and ran
downstairs yelling for Paul.

Sometimes when I am in the men's bathroom downstairs all alone. I often feel
like someone is watching me.

This is where other people have observed a grey shadowed figure standing in
the hall just outside of the men's restroom.

Other people have had similar experiences too within the walls of this old
church built in 1892.

There is a crypt under the church where the founder, Rev. Flavel Mines is
buried. and we also have the columbarium in the Sanctuary of the church that
holds the remains of about twenty people.

Another time, about eight in the evening, our neighbor Andy went out to
dinner with us, we took him to a little cafe located near the church. So we
parked in the church parking lot. When we came back from the cafe, I took
Andy into the church to show him around. We came down the backstairs and
into the hall, when Andy suddenly said frantically, "what is that!" When I
looked down the hall I didn't see anything, but Andy described a grey shadowy
looking figure near the Men's restoom door in the hall, it had vanished by
the time I looked. I never told him about the ghost until he saw it himself,
because lately, I have sort of forgotten about it.

But with this recent occurrence with the two kitchen workers, it's reminded
me about my ghostly experiences here and I know that it is continuing.
I said out loud one time to the ghost, that I didn't want to be startled by
it or to hear it anymore and for me it seemed to stop. but who knows, one of
these days or nights, it's going to give me another startle when I least
expect it.

I think it's fun because I know that the ghost is not mischievious and is
just trying to get to another part of the church when people come around. So
I guess it's a lonely ghost. probably a church member from long ago. or
someone that used to attend one of the support groups that go on every
evening in the dining room. I don't know.

But when I have had my experiences with the ghost or ghosts, at the time, I
wasn't thinking about anything spooky when it happened. so I know I didn''t
imagine it. I'm usually thinking about other things and not anything to make
myself get spooked.

And the kichen workers didn't know anything about the ghost prior to their
ghostly experiences there.