Seven Wards from San Quentin: Preston Castle in Ione

Reviewed by Josh N · Updated September 15, 2026 · How we verify

Set above the Sierra Nevada foothills in Amador County, California, Preston Castle in Ione is the kind of building that looks like a story before anyone tells you one. Red brick, arched windows, a tower line broken by decades of weather and vandalism, and behind it the long institutional history of a state reform school that ran on this site for more than a century. The ghost stories came later, and they attach themselves almost entirely to one unsolved death in the basement.

Quick Orientation to the Castle at Ione

• Official name: the Preston School of Industry, known colloquially as Preston Castle, or simply The Castle.
• Opened: June 1894. The cornerstone had been laid in December 1890.
• Named for: state senator Edward Myers Preston, who proposed the institution.
• Vacated: 1960, after new buildings were constructed nearby to replace it.
• Status: California Historical Landmark #867 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A further National Register listing covering most of the historic facility was approved in 2024.
• Open to the public: guided and self-guided tours on select days, plus evening events and overnight investigations. Hours vary by season, so check with the Preston Castle Foundation before driving out.

Seven Boys Transferred from San Quentin

The school opened in June 1894 when seven wards were transferred to Ione from San Quentin State Prison. The word ward matters here. A ward was a minor under the guardianship of the state, and not necessarily a juvenile offender, which meant the population inside the building was never uniformly criminal. Some boys arrived through the courts. Others arrived because the state had nowhere else to put them.

Preston is considered one of the oldest and best known reform schools in the United States, and it was California’s first state-run reform school for boys. The program was built around work, schooling and strict discipline, the standard rehabilitative theory of the era. Accounts of life inside describe harsh conditions, crowding, and punishment that could be severe. Those accounts are part of why the building carries the reputation it does today, although the day-to-day experience of individual wards varied enormously across seven decades of operation.

The Most Significant Romanesque Revival Building in the Mother Lode

Architecturally, the original 1894 structure is the headline. It is regarded as the most significant example of Romanesque Revival architecture in the Mother Lode, the historic gold country belt that runs along the western edge of the Sierra. The scale is the surprise: heavy masonry, deep arcaded entries, and interior corridors long enough that footsteps carry a considerable distance. That acoustic quality is worth remembering when you read the reports below.

The Unsolved Death of Anna Corbin

In 1950, Anna Corbin, a housekeeper who had worked at the school for years and was well liked by staff and wards alike, was found beaten to death in the basement of the castle. A young inmate was charged. He went through three separate trials and was never convicted. No one else was ever convicted either, and the case remains unsolved.

This is the anchor of nearly every ghost story told about the building. It is also the one part of the haunted narrative that rests on a documented crime rather than on atmosphere. Whatever visitors report in the basement, what happened to Anna Corbin in 1950 is a matter of record, and her killing has never been answered.

What Visitors and Investigators Report Inside

None of the following is verified. These are accounts from guests, tour groups and paranormal teams, gathered over decades and repeated often enough to become part of the building’s identity.

• Apparitions. Shadowy figures in corridors and doorways, including a female figure that visitors associate with Anna Corbin.
• Voices and footsteps. Disembodied speech in empty rooms and footsteps heard on floors where no one is walking.
• Cold spots. Sudden temperature drops, reported most often in the kitchen and the basement.
• Equipment interference. Investigators regularly describe batteries draining and electronics failing during overnight sessions.

A reasonable visitor should weigh those reports against the building itself. It is a large, cold, structurally compromised masonry shell with long sightlines, hard surfaces and very little insulation from outside noise. That does not explain everything anyone has ever experienced here, but it explains a great deal of it.

Preston Castle on Screen

The castle has a longer film résumé than most abandoned institutions. It stood in for the “Bleeding Heart Orphanage” in the 1984 comedy Bad Manners. The 2014 film A Haunting at Preston Castle and the 2019 movie Apparition are both set at the castle and the surrounding area. On television, the first episode of season two of Ghost Adventures is about Preston Castle, Ghost Hunters investigated the reported activity in season six, episode six, and The Lowe Files devoted its first episode, “Haunted Boy’s Reformatory,” to the site.

From a One Dollar Sale to a Forty-Five Million Dollar Repair Bill

The original building was vacated in 1960, but the institution carried on in the newer structures next door. In 1999 the official name of the modern facility was changed to the Preston Youth Correctional Facility. In 2010 the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced that the facility would close, and a closing ceremony was held on June 2, 2011.

The Preston Castle Foundation purchased the castle from the state for one dollar in 2014 and has been overseeing restoration since. As of 2024 the building remains in considerable disrepair. Full restoration could take many years, and the estimated cost of the repairs runs as high as $45 million. Tour revenue goes back into that work.

Touring Preston Castle

The castle is open for historical tours, photography sessions and paranormal events on select dates. Daytime tours run guided and self-guided, and the route takes in the corridors, dormitories and the basement. Evening tours and overnight investigations are offered for those who want the building after dark.

Two practical points. First, this is an actively deteriorating historic structure, so access is controlled and routes can change without much warning; confirm dates and hours with the foundation before you travel. Second, the grounds are not open to wandering. Exploring haunted locations can be dangerous, and trespassing on state or foundation property is not an option. Book a tour, stay with the group, and the building will give you plenty without any of that.

Sources

• State Reform School. (Ucr (official site))
• Weekly List Of Actions Taken on Properties: 10/7/2024 Through 10/11/2024 (National Park Service)
• Preston Youth Correctional Facility to close
• "Ghost Adventures" Preston Castle (TV Episode 2009) – IMDb
• Watch The Lowe Files Season 1 Episode 1
• Wikipedia: Preston School of Industry

Ghost Tours Nearby

Shadows, Scandals, & Secrets of Old Town Sacramento Ghost Tours★ 4.4 (225)from $26Gold Rush and Ghosts of Sacramento Smart Phone guided (App/GPS) Walking Tour★ 3.3 (3)from $10Echoes Of The Past Ghost Tour★ 4.0 (1)from $25

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