I lived in San Diego, California until I was 10. The beach was magical, Balboa Park was spooky and the Presedio and Old Town seemed downright haunted. The desert felt haunted too as well, strangely New England never felt that way to me though. Maybe its because the land in the East feels a little more worn down by occupation, broken of whatever wild spirit it once had. The Puritans had this idea that the devil was in the darkness of the unexplored woods, just waiting to snatch them away. I've felt a bit of that old wariness in places too, but usually in the West, where the land is still raw and not use to people.