Ghost Towns of the Bay Area

California has an abundance of historic ghost towns, including a handful around the edge of San Francisco Bay, some familiar places you may not have thought of on those terms before.

Despite the holiday on the horizon, Phillip Varney, author of Ghost Towns of California and other books about these largely forgotten communities, says that in his experience, any ghosts lingering in them are mostly metaphorical. Mostly.

Below, the remains of the warden's home on Alcatraz Island.