"I grew up here in Ione and went to the Junior High here, I took the school bus past the Castle every day," Preston Castle volunteer Melissa Zelico told the Ledger Dispatch last fall. For a lot of Ione, that's how the castle shows up most of the year: a Romanesque outline on the hill above town, glimpsed from Preston Avenue or a school bus window.

Getting inside follows the calendar. The Preston Castle Foundation's guided and self-guided tours run April through August, and its site now says the 2026 season is over. The historic flashlight tour is also finished for the year. The public paranormal investigations have moved on to 2027 dates. The next Paranormal 101 night is January 16, 2027.

That leaves the Haunt. For the rest of October, the only way through the castle's doors is a haunted walk-through, and the money it raises pays for most of the work that keeps the building standing.

Four nights left on the schedule

The Foundation's 2026 Haunt page lists six dates: October 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24. As of Monday, October 12, the first weekend is over. Two Friday-Saturday pairs remain.

Gates close at 10:00 p.m. General admission is listed at $35 and VIP at $50. Admission is open to all ages, though the Foundation warns the intensity may be too much for younger children. On the Foundation's events page, the VIP FastPass ticket card reads "From $53.50," so the price you pay at checkout may not match the $50 in the event text. Tickets are sold through prestoncastle.org. Last year the Ledger Dispatch reported that tickets had to be reserved in advance, none were sold at the castle, and the Haunt sells out every year.

Regional press has noticed. On October 6 the Stockton Record called the castle one of Northern California's most popular paranormal attractions. More out-of-town cars on the castle road over the next two weekends would be no surprise.

What the tickets pay for

The Haunt is the Foundation's main fundraiser. In the Ledger Dispatch's 2025 coverage, Zelico, who serves as the castle's paranormal team leader, Haunt volunteer coordinator and Haunt makeup artist, described it this way:

"This is the biggest event of the year the Castle hosts, and we are under new management. We run on donations and fundraisers like the Haunt. It is a huge production with 200 volunteers on any given night, and around 1,500 guests per night at the Haunt. It truly brings in the majority of funds which are very needed to restore this place."

Take that 2025 estimate of about 1,500 guests a night, multiply by six nights at a $35 base ticket, and you can see why the Foundation puts its year around this event. A FOX40 report from October 2025 also said the proceeds support restoration, and that more than 100 volunteers put on the show.

The Ledger story connected the money to specific work. The first-floor wraparound porches had not been attached since the 1950s, and reinstalling them began the year before. Zelico said the first two phases were complete and that the 2025 Haunt would pay for phase three. The same article lists earlier results. A spiral staircase replaced the old ladder in the damaged belltower. The second-floor West Wing, once off limits because of failing stairs and floors, can now be used.

Next on the list is sealing the building against wildlife. "Before you know it, the entire building will be sealed solid; so the foxes, skunks, millions of bats and owls will be in their outdoor habitat and not damaging the Castle," Zelico told the paper.

That is last year's report. No 2026 update on the porches or the sealing work has been published yet. The pace is slow because each repair has to look historically right and still meet modern standards. "When you are refurbishing a building that is 130 years old and is a Registered Historical Landmark, you can't just go to a hardware store and get gutters," Zelico said in the same Ledger Dispatch piece. The Foundation's FAQ, which carries no date, says the full repair cost is unknown and "ranges upward from $25-$30 million," and that a structural analysis is underway. Against a number that size, each porch phase is a small step, and the Haunt is how most of those steps get paid for.

Why the route changes every year

The Haunt has to fit inside whatever parts of the building are safe that year. FOX40 reported that the route changes every year. In 2025, its fifteenth year, the production used 19 rooms and 8 hallways across three floors, plus outdoor areas like the back patio and the meadow. "We try to extend the Haunt every year, but it is dependent on the work that gets done every year," Zelico told the Ledger Dispatch.

So the event funds the repairs, and the repairs give the event more building to use. A West Wing that couldn't be entered a few years ago is now usable floor space. The Foundation promises "ALL NEW scares" for 2026 but hasn't said what changed.

Last year's organizers also described a deliberate tone. Zelico said the team sticks with "the historic values in the Haunt, not going above and beyond with blood, guts and gore," because the Preston School of Industry was meant to rehabilitate the boys sent there.

Fitting dinner around your entry window

Main Street mostly closes for the night around the time the second Haunt window opens, so your entry time decides when you eat. These hours come from listings confirmed in September 2026, and they can change, so call ahead.

1. Blue Stone Public House, 12 W. Main St., is open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
2. Don Luis Mexican Restaurant, 21 W. Main St., is open until 9 p.m. both nights. It opens at 7 a.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday.
3. Burke Family Restaurant, 25 W. Main St., is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
4. Ione Chinese Restaurant, 321 Preston Ave., serves until 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
5. Paisano's Pizzeria, 325 Preston Ave., is open until 8 p.m. both nights.

With the 7:00 window, you'll likely come out of the castle after most of these kitchens have closed, so eat at Burke's or Paisano's in the late afternoon. With the 8:30 window, you have time for a sit-down dinner at Blue Stone or Don Luis first. Ione Sweets, 15a Preston Ave., is open noon to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, so any sugar for the walk-through has to be bought before the gates open. Church & Main at 13 W. Main St. closes at 3 p.m. and works better for a slow Saturday morning.

Locals Night, Christmas, and the volunteer roster

In 2025 the Haunt had a Locals Night on October 4. Tickets were $15, the night was reserved for Amador County residents, and tickets were sold for cash only at Kristi Roots Insurance and Ione Sweets. No 2026 Locals Night appears on the Foundation's published Haunt schedule. If you're hoping it returns, ask at those two counters.

After October 24, the castle is closed to the public until Christmas at the Castle on Saturday, December 12. Entry to the grounds is free for Santa, the gift shop and the craft fair. The self-guided tour of the building costs $25 for ages 12 and up and $15 for ages 6 to 12, and children under 5 get in free. Santa is listed from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., and Andy's Crossover Kitchen is the listed food vendor. It's the one daytime chance this season to see the interior with the lights on.

The Haunt also runs on local labor. Last year the Foundation asked for actors, setup crew, security and logistics help through [email protected], and it welcomed high school students working toward their community service hours. The work starts months before the gates open. In 2025, setup alone took five weeks.

Historic buildings in the foothills cost money to keep up, whether it's a 130-year-old landmark on the hill or a century-old house off Main Street, and part of what they're worth comes from the work that has gone into them. If you own a historic home in Ione and want to know how its restoration and character show up in today's market value, Kristina Agustin can walk you through it. Get your Instant Home Valuation to start the conversation.