Quimby Road

Quimby Road climbs into the hills of East San Jose, offering beautiful views of the valley below. However, this quiet residential road has a spectral resident who appears only at midnight - a jogger who has been spotted by countless drivers over the years.

Quimby Road winds through the Evergreen foothills of East San Jose, a scenic route with sharp turns and spectacular views that has served travelers since the 1860s. Named after John Alonzo Quimby, San Jose's mayor from 1863 to 1869, the road was originally an unpaved carriage path leading to his ranch in the hills. Today, the quiet residential stretch near 3799 Quimby Road is known for something far more unsettling than its history—a ghostly jogger who appears only at midnight.

Drivers traveling up the hill at the witching hour have reported seeing a man in running attire making his way along the dark roadside. The specter's behavior is always the same: when drivers slow to look, the jogger stops and stares back at them with an unnerving stillness. He never speaks, never gestures—just fixes his gaze on the witnesses before continuing his run and then vanishing into thin air. No one knows who this midnight runner was in life or what tragedy bound him to this stretch of road.

The legend has been documented by History San Jose and investigated by the "San Hauntse" podcast in Episode 15, though hosts Manuel Ávalos and Carmen Sánchez found it "surprisingly difficult to research" the origin of the haunting. Author Elizabeth Kile included the Quimby Road Jogger in her 2022 book "Haunted San Jose," cementing its status as one of the city's most enduring urban legends.

Witness accounts span decades. A woman named Dilea recalls seeing a figure in green or yellow jogging near her family's hilltop home when she was seven years old—the man "passed by a tree and he disappeared," leaving her cousins shocked. In January 2023, Michelle Bayquen spotted a male jogger late at night during dangerous conditions—darkness, howling wind, and rain causing mud to run off the road. He wore dark shorts, a navy blue T-shirt, and a gold necklace. When she posted her concern for his safety on Nextdoor, neighbors asked: "Did you see the ghost?" She couldn't be sure—"he looked real to me," she wrote, "though I don't recall his face."

Some thrill-seekers have driven to Quimby Road specifically hoping to glimpse the phantom runner, but he's known to disappear into the hills once spotted. Residents near the top of the road have reported additional phenomena: an elegantly dressed woman in period clothing searching for her husband, and objects being thrown by unseen hands. Whether the jogger is the spirit of someone killed on this treacherous road or a residual haunting from an earlier era, his midnight runs continue—an eternal loop through the dark Evergreen hills.