El Campo Santo Cemetery

Old Town San Diego's cemetery dates to 1849, but when roads and buildings were built over part of it, nobody moved the bodies. The graves are still under the pavement, and locals think that's why the place feels off.

El Campo Santo Cemetery, founded in 1849 as a Catholic burial ground in what is now Old Town San Diego, contains only 477 visible graves today. Many more lie forgotten beneath the streets and sidewalks. In 1889, the city made a decision that would haunt the neighborhood for the next century and a half: they ran the streetcar line directly through the cemetery rather than around it, tearing through dozens of graves. While some remains were relocated, an estimated 18 to 48 bodies remain entombed beneath San Diego Avenue, paved over and forgotten.

The desecration created intense paranormal activity that continues to this day. Among the most notorious spirits is James "Yankee Jim" Robinson, a horse thief hanged in Old Town in 1852. His grave radiates an intense, unsettling energy, and witnesses frequently report a tall, dark figure looming near his burial site. Robinson is aggressive--visitors often feel his presence before they see him.

Antonio Garra, the Cupeno leader executed by firing squad in 1852 for leading a rebellion against American settlers, also walks these grounds. A Native American spirit has been seen floating just above the ground, though whether this is Garra or another of the many indigenous people buried here remains unclear.

A woman in a white Victorian dress frequently glides along the south wall before vanishing. Nine-year-old Anita Gillis, who may have died of scarlet fever, haunts both the cemetery and the nearby Whaley House. Visitors often leave toys, books, and stuffed animals at her grave.

What makes this place unusual is the cars. Vehicles parked along the street above the buried graves are especially susceptible. Alarms go off for no reason. Engines refuse to start. Electronics malfunction. It happens often enough that regulars in Old Town know to park elsewhere--as if the dead beneath the pavement are making their displeasure known. Visitors also report sudden temperature drops, the sensation of being touched by unseen hands, voices from nowhere, and footsteps on empty paths.

In 1996, the local community hired a priest to perform an exorcism, hoping to bring peace to the tormented spirits. The ritual reportedly decreased the activity, though El Campo Santo remains one of San Diego's most haunted locations--just blocks from the infamous Whaley House.