Such a historic and majestic place and a must see whenever you find yourself driving through Ione, Northern California. Preston Castle is actually the Preston School of Industry- a youth facility for troubled boys (or wards of the state). It opened in 1895 and housed boys as young as 8 years old. People have said that it's haunted and it probably is. All I know is the first time I was in there, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness (like I could feel the emotions of some of those boys that were there so many moons ago). Then I found out from one of the docents (volunteer tour guides) that some boys that ended up at Preston did not commit any crimes to get there, and that during the Great Depression some parents couldn't afford to take care of their families so they would drop their sons off there. How sad is that? If only the walls at Preston could talk The building and it's architectural design is remarkable and beautifully built. It's damaged due to the roof's slate being removed when the building was originally up for demolition. Now the building is being preserved and looked after by the Preston Castle Foundation and they do a remarkable job of weekend tours and events throughout the year. I highly recommend their self guided tours during the weekend or if you're daring, try the overnight haunted tour! read more

Me and my family went to preston castle haunt and it started to rain we waited 1hour and a half in the rain and then we ended up going home don't go that is all I can say I wouldnt emblem give it one star read more

It's a beautiful building and I'd love to go back in the day to have a tour! We went for the haunted house. The actors did well and I felt that they're costumes and makeup were perfect for the setting. A decent amount of the building was used and incorporated, which made for a good amount of time in the haunted house. This was their first weekend of the year putting it on so I understand they're going to need to work some kinks out....I felt the ticket prices are too expensive for what you get. They jam pack people in there so you're bumping into people the entire time, the people two feet I front of you get scared so you already know what to expect and it leaves NOTHING up to the imagination. We got the upgraded vip tickets so we didn't have to wait in a long line which was unnecessary. I wish we had saved some money. The video in the entrance plays on a consistent loop which is irritating. If they had spaced groups out so you're not on top of each other it would have been a way better experience. I was REALLY disappointed with that. we won't ever be going back to the haunted house event. read more

Our family attended last night.... it was a great time!!! Buy your tickets online before, it ended up being sold out & they were turning people away. Luckily we got there early, the line was really long & it moves slowly. If you can't go early ... buy a VIP pass. Everything felt very organized & thought out well. The costumes were great & actors were scary!!! Front of the group was best, you didn't know what to expect read more

The castle itself is interesting to see but the tour was dragged out much longer than necessary. It took 1 hr and 15 minutes after waiting around an additional 20 min for the tour to begin. Our tour was led by two giggly teenage girls who provides little in the form of interesting information about life inside the walls of the castle. They did expound on the possible ghost encounters they had experienced in the house which was a distraction from the history and more relevant information of the home. They spoke of the function of each room with minimal detail and yet struggled to move our group efficiently through the castle. The interior of the castle has sadly been stripped bare of anything of architectural interest and is very dirty and in a state of terrible disrepair. Of great concern to us was the immense amount of mouse droppings that literally covered the floors and every possible surface of the house. Given the recent health warnings of hantavirus this seemed a huge health risk to expose us to. This tour has the potential to be great if they would take a lead from places like Alcatraz and add first- person narratives from those who actually lived there. They also need to tighten up the length of the timing of the tour and do some basic house keeping for dust, cobwebs and mouse droppings. read more

Regarding the Halloween tour 2015 Worst experience ever. AVOID THIS MONEY TRAP! Over a two hour wait for a low grade tour thru 2 floors of poorly prepared scenes and equally poor costumes. When the scenes were well done, there was no punch line. Kids screaming in our faces was about the scariest thing there so No scare what so ever, even my 10 year old daughter thought it was boring. We were literally pushed through the halls and if we didn't move fast enough there was someone waiting with a flashlight to wave us forward. At one point my wife was body slammed by an employee in a totally dark hallway - obviously they couldn't see any better than we could. As we exited, we were asked if we had fun and we responded no, can we get a refund. We were told "not tonight". Sacramento offers much better haunted houses at the same price. read more

A group of ten of us went on a 'Ghosthunter' overnight two weeks ago at the very creepy Preston Castle. We arrived at 7:00pm and left, yes......at 4:00am. Some of the serious 'hunters' in our group had all the equiptment you would need to search out the residents. We did not see any ghostly presence, but what we did see, unfortunately, was what seemed the entire population of BATS in California. I don't like bats, and they sure seemed annoyed that we were there. When traversing a long, dank hallway on the second floor, we shined our flashlights toward a closed off hallway to look around. Here came literally hundreds of flying mice heading in our direction. Sort of like the opening of the old cartoon, Scooby-Doo. Luckily, they pretty much fluttered above our heads rather than attching themselves to our necks. IF YOU DON'T LIKE BATS! DON'T GO! Otherwise, the overnight was amazing, and near the end we were asking questions with a special recorder and asked 'Do you have anything to say before we leave?" When we played the recording back, we got a low, ghostly whisper.....No! One of the docents, Paul, also got a recording of a resident that said, "Hi Paul" out of the blue. Makes you think, huh? Lot's of fun, especially if your a fan of the ghost shows on TV. read more

This review is for the regular castle tour. The Preston Castle aka the Preston School of Industry was used from 1894-1960 as a reformatory school for troubled boys. It had many famous wards including Merle Haggard, Rory Calhoun and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (from the Jack Benny show). The architecture of the building is Romanesque Revival. Unfortunately, the building was slated for destruction and left to deteriorate from 1960-2001. As a result, there are many areas that are simply too dangerous to venture into and most of the original fixtures and furnishings are long since gone. This place has gotten a lot of attention due to it's supposedly being a hotbed of paranormal activity. A movie (Preston Castle) and several television shows (Ghosthunters, The Great Escape, etc) have been filmed here including an episode of the original Dragnet series. I wish the tours focused more on the true grim history of this creepy place. They are trying to raise money to restore the building into a usable state so I am sure they don't want to make the tours too depressing by telling people about the horrors and atrocities of life at Preston. They do hold events like wine tasting, movie nights, special photographer's days, overnight ghost tours and a 5K run. I really like the look of the place even in it's present dilapidated state. I hope when they eventually restore the building they leave the distressed look of the doors and walls, all the cracks from age really look amazing. I enjoyed my time at Preston Castle, it would definitely be a fun place to visit around the Halloween season. read more

This place has the perfect setting and is just plain amazing, I LOVE IT here . The Halloween Haunt is what I look forward to every year, and the best part is that they change it up each year making it a different experience all together, On weekends you can take day tours or if your braver you can do overnights, those are sooooo worth it, Lots of history in this place, and its just sooo much fun. they have several events throughout the year and YES there is plenty of activity for any one that likes the paranormal. check this place out !!! Yes it is an old building so wear good walking shoes and bring your allergy medicine, it can also get hot on summer days so bring yourself some water. No A/C? who cares....suck it up. There is restoration going on but there are PLENTY of open rooms to investigate and there are no props anywhere or any crowdedness of any sort. The tours are great ! All depends on who you get to lead the tour. Ive always had GREAT docents that know all the history and add their own experiences with the permanent wards there. Overall it's a great time, and definitely worth checking out. read more

Preston Castle was fabulous!! Our party of 5 had a wonderful time. The docents were friendly and informative and the history is intriguing! We cannot wait to go back for more!! Thank you PC Foundation for all your hard work and for keeping the castle open and available to the public!! read more

Horrible experience at their haunted house. We waited 2 1/2 hours to get in. They way overbook with hundreds of people showing up. Only 3 portable discusting toilets for all those people. No where to wash your hands. Once inside, a few times I was touched by staff that scare you and one was blowing on my neck and pulling my bra strap! Never again. Just awful. read more

Wow! This place is awesome, and just a short drive from Sacramento. I did the Halloween tour last year, which was the first year for the Halloween tours, and I am going again this year. The line was long, but it was well worth the wait. My 21 y.o. daughter went with me and she didn't let go of my hand the whole time we were in there. The building itself is straight out of a horror movie, and the atmosphere at night is really creepy. You get to tour the old boys' dorms, the medical ward, creepy spots where people were murdered in the castle. If you're looking for something to do for Halloween I highly recommend this tour. ** Bonus material. While in line last year an ambulance and fire truck pulled up to the entrance. My daughter and I were next in line with a group of others to enter the castle so we saw this up close, no joke! Everyone was looking around wondering what the heck was going on, and about 20 minutes later a woman is wheeled out on a gurney, and the fires trucks and ambulance zoom away. So we were all scratching our heads in confusion. Well our group went in next, and the tour guide, who himself was pale as a sheet tells us that he was leading the last group through the infirmary, where many boys had die, and lots of ghostly activity was reported, when this woman and her b/f start acting like fools. Like on those ghost hunting TV shows, and they were shouting things at the "ghosts". Like "I dare you to touch me", and "If you're here give me a sign" etc etc. And all of a sudden the woman was pushed down an adjacent stairwell! No joke! He said there was no one next to her, she was saying the provocational things, then all of a sudden she was "pushed" down the stairs. Now I didn't see it, but our tour guide said it had just happened in front of him, and he himself was freaked out. That event made our tour all the scarier. read more

Kathy and I have spent time in Waterman/Ione, in the foot hills of Northern Calif. this morning. As we found out today, The "Preston Castle," a State of Calif youth "rehab facility/Reform School" was built in 1894 to turn young criminals around. It is a Magnificant building in need of repair. Our tour was enlighting and eye opening into the past. Kathy and I recommend it to all. read more

Wow....we went on a guided, night time tour of this place. What a TRIP!! We had a group of 15 of us somehow there were no lights the night we went. So all we had was cell phone lights which made it even crazier!! Tim and Anna were our tour guides and led us on a great 2 hour journey on this castle! I have never been anywhere known to be haunted before. We videoed orbs in one room and we downloaded apps on our phones that pick up magnetic fields. There was a TON of activity with spirits. It was really cool!! I would recommend going at least once to say you've been there! read more

Absolutely love this place! The people giving the tours are knowledgeable and charismatic! Having events here is such a great idea, I can't wait to see what they do next! read more

exceedingly poor management!!!! the lines were horrendous!!! when we arrived it was raining (not their fault, obviously ) but i had my disabled little brother with me. he has c.p., but can walk alright he just can not stand for long periods of time especially in the cold. before we even got in line i asked them what the arrangements were for some one in his situation and they told me to get in line and the would shuttle him up... after over an hour in line and hours ahead of line we asked again. at this point he was having leg spasms and he still had to walk through the house. finally they got him out of line and moved our group up, and only after getting harassed by the other guest who were angry that we only stood in line for an hour. we got to get in the line that lead into the house. thank goodness we didn't bring my mother like we were going to, she is in a wheel chair .from what i could see there was zero wheel chair access, and since my brother had to walk up and down the stairs multiple times i couldnt see that going well. we ended up being more worried about him that we couldnt enjoy the house. this was absolutely insane. on a good note: the actors were were great, as for the rest of it: the people outside keeping order were indifferent and unhelpful,the whole thing was disorganized, the lines were unreasonably long the parking was a disaster (tons of parking, no one to direct the people so they were parking in the street thinking there was no more marking. there were so many people we couldnt even get into the handicap parking) we went as a big group. 160$ wasted. read more

The history is amazing! I have been passing Preston my whole life and finally took the tour. Not for the ghosts, but for the history! It is a complete crying shame the state allowed and even encouraged it's destruction! Hopefully interest and a lot of hard work will get it back. Well worth the 10.00 to tour. read more

I am currently doing research on the Castle. Specifically the wards that were sentenced to stay there during the years that it was open and functioning. If you have any information or would like to tell your story, please e-mail me at prestonschoolofindustrysearch@gmail.com read more

Knowing the history of this castle and being intrigued, I was excited to have a Saturday off so I could go on this tour. I wasn't expecting much for ten dollars. I was pleasantly surprised with an hour long tour with a knowledgeable tour guide to boot. We ventured through the castle (the areas that were safe) and the grounds around the castle. I was very pleased. I also have ADHD, I was not bored once! read more