San Diego's Haunted Cemetery - Old Town's El Campo Santo

El Campo Santo Cemetery in Old Town San Diego is the city's second oldest official cemetery, having opened in 1849. The cemetery was only in use for 31 years and saw approximately 450 burials before it began to fall into disrepair. By 1889, El Campo Santo was treated with such little regard that a street car line went through it. Two streets cut through the edges of the cemetery as well, covering a number of graves under the roads. On San Diego Ave. the locations of the grave sites (which were relocated with ground penetrating radar in the 1990s) are marked on the sidewalk and road. On the opposite side of the cemetery, Linwood St has a plaque with a map to the grave sites, but no markers.
The cemetery is the final resting place to some important and infamous early San Diegans. The first Alcalde (mayor) of San Diego is buried there, as is Yankee Jim, who is said to haunt the Whaley House just a couple blocks away. The cemetery was the site of several executions, and along with the Whaley House down the street it has been the subject of a number of books and TV shows dealing with paranormal activity.
In this video we explore the cemetery, which El Camino Real and Highway 101 once went through, and talk about its history and a few of the many people buried there.
This has been the most requested place to do a video on from the comments section on other videos. Thank you to everyone who have offered ideas for videos. We really appreciate all the comments.
El Campo Santo is located at 2410 San Diego Avenue, San Diego, California 92110.
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Пікірлер: 113

  • @benvsreality
    @benvsreality3 жыл бұрын

    Back in the 80's they had a program where all the 4th graders would go to Old Town for a week and learn about local history. They'd even have you learn phrases in the Kumeyaay language. It was really cool. Don't think they do it anymore though.

  • @favsa5015

    @favsa5015

    3 жыл бұрын

    nope state of California cut a lot of educational programs

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    I did that as a kid, but I think you are right that they don't do it anymore.

  • @HoldOnToHope2023

    @HoldOnToHope2023

    Жыл бұрын

    I remember doing that in fourth grade. I loved it! They had us walk and walk and sit in the little court room of the Whaley House. I fell in love with Old Town and have been in love with it ever since. Dang now I feel old!!! 😊

  • @everybodyyogastudio212

    @everybodyyogastudio212

    Жыл бұрын

    They did it through the 90s when i was in school!

  • @doodlemunster1

    @doodlemunster1

    5 ай бұрын

    They were still running it in the early 2000s. We even got to learn how to make tortillas outside

  • @mattharker9212
    @mattharker92123 жыл бұрын

    ‘Eating on top of a grave site’ - morbidly funny!! Thanks for posting!!

  • @kevinconrad6156

    @kevinconrad6156

    3 жыл бұрын

    Picnics in graveyards used to be a thing.

  • @Jefferson66019
    @Jefferson660193 жыл бұрын

    Riverside CA here Thank You for the good Ideas for my road trips

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Our pleasure!

  • @seneschal4617
    @seneschal46179 күн бұрын

    I never ever get tired of Old Town. It has just a lovely atmosphere and even the newer night life spots and trendy restaurants can't damper it.

  • @VintageVermilion
    @VintageVermilion3 жыл бұрын

    You should do the Pioneer Cemetery in Julian. Lots of history there as well.

  • @violetdreams1799
    @violetdreams1799 Жыл бұрын

    one can really appreciate the work and respect the City put into restoring this cemetery... thank you for the tour, may they all rest in peace ❤️🕊️

  • @dougsmuaythai
    @dougsmuaythai3 жыл бұрын

    Yankee Jim really got a raw deal. Thanks for posting this video.

  • @matthewgauthier7251
    @matthewgauthier7251 Жыл бұрын

    That was cool thanks. Spent hrs wandering around old Town as a kid in the 60s. We used to come down on Sunday morns to get churros. It was a bit more rustic in those days as I remember it. My dad liked to visit often as he grew up a few blocks away. Love your videos.

  • @CactusAtlas
    @CactusAtlas3 жыл бұрын

    Nice shirt! (We have one too. Such a fun place.!😄) You know... back before I moved out west, Glenn & I went to San Diego and I vaguely remember seeing those markers and being quite mystified as to why there were graves under the street and sidewalk. Now I know why! Thanks for the information and great video as always!

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you. Yes, even while filming this I kept seeing people doing a double take at the markers on the sidewalk.

  • @MadHatterND
    @MadHatterND3 жыл бұрын

    Old Town...my old stomping grounds. I remember when Carlos Murphy’s was there!

  • @trendywipp3715

    @trendywipp3715

    3 жыл бұрын

    Wow Thats a blast from the past!!

  • @IMCcanTWEESTED
    @IMCcanTWEESTED3 күн бұрын

    I visited the Whaley House and that cemetery in 1968 when I was 13. Those same stories struck me so deeply and personally that a sole specter haunted my dreams telling me that when someone dies unjustly and traumatically…their essence… their blood cries up from the ground to anyone moved by their stories. The shimmering specter took the form of an adorable young girl maybe 9 or 10. She was telling me all of this when a beautiful piece of music began playing in my dream like a soundtrack. Voices were singing, “ but I’d like to get to know you, if I could.” They sang this again and again and I woke up to my clock radio . The music was the ending of a song by 60s band Spanky and Our Gang. “I’d like to get to know you.” The dream was so surreal and the girl so tragic that this song ending is still very emotional to me at age 70. 57 years after my visit to Old Town.

  • @brianpowell5082
    @brianpowell50823 жыл бұрын

    Very informative and interesting look at San Diego's past. As for the Whaley House, it is well known that the Whaleys haunt the home, but it is also interesting to note that the house was likely also haunted when the Whaleys lived there! Very interesting history there!

  • @teresagardenhire8424
    @teresagardenhire84243 жыл бұрын

    You did a great job with this video. I was born and raised in San Diego, we moved out in 2005. I worked down the street on Harney and went by this place and the Whaley house probably a couple times a week. I never did go inside the house and wish I had. I had no idea so many were buried there. Thank you!!

  • @MrMeowGusta
    @MrMeowGusta3 жыл бұрын

    Awesome video! My brother was actually a supervisor at the Whaley house pre covid so i got to hang out around Old town quite a bit, particularly the cemetery. I'm not much a believer to paranormal things but he's told me a few things that have definitely racked my brain.

  • @rayworx
    @rayworx3 жыл бұрын

    Grew up in SD. Been to Whaley House several times... never saw any ghosts, never felt anything strange. Guess I'm not spooky enough.

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Same here. I guess the ghosts don't like us for some reason!

  • @terryowens8563

    @terryowens8563

    3 күн бұрын

    Back in 1970 our class went to the Whaley House… later that night my friend’s family woke up to someone noisily. Walking up the steps to thier house … the dad looked out the window & saw the Whaley that killed herself( my friend looked exactly like her)… true story

  • @IHScoutII
    @IHScoutII3 жыл бұрын

    thank you for your work!

  • @christopherheflin5919
    @christopherheflin59193 жыл бұрын

    So sad. Interesting video. Thank you.

  • @ExitThrutheGiftShop
    @ExitThrutheGiftShop3 жыл бұрын

    Great tour! Appreciate all of the historical info about this interesting cemetery.

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it

  • @ITSBL00DLINES
    @ITSBL00DLINES Жыл бұрын

    Great video! Subbed!

  • @Sperry411
    @Sperry4113 ай бұрын

    We took a walking tour of the cemetery a few years ago at night. Tour is combined with Whaley House tour. Enjoyed it a lot.

  • @medavog
    @medavog10 ай бұрын

    super great info! thanks

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    10 ай бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @wjgraham63
    @wjgraham633 жыл бұрын

    Been many times there, and still learn something new. Markers in the street, I will have to check out.

  • @desertpatient
    @desertpatient3 жыл бұрын

    You might have forgotten about the Cemetery on the Cata Rana Ranch in Wyona where my Great Great Grandmother(Susan Bailey) and family are buried for old cemeteries. Nice video on the El Camp Cemetery

  • @kyleohara8700
    @kyleohara8700 Жыл бұрын

    It's always so weird when we build on top of stuff like this, but I totally also understand it'd be almost impossible to upkeep all grave sites everywhere forever, and it would be inevitable before our expansive nature as a species built on top of these places.

  • @peacefulamerican4994
    @peacefulamerican49943 жыл бұрын

    The Trolley station is haunted by the living. Brrrrr.

  • @Me97202
    @Me97202 Жыл бұрын

    Nice that it hasn’t been vandalized.

  • @cwwml
    @cwwml9 ай бұрын

    Excellent!

  • @andrewmartin4233
    @andrewmartin42333 жыл бұрын

    If that place was here in Arizona, the city probably would have sold it to housing developers already

  • @budgiesnation

    @budgiesnation

    3 жыл бұрын

    Subscribe Me 😏

  • @erika021

    @erika021

    3 жыл бұрын

    and if there were any public outcry - it would "mysteriously" burn down in the middle of the night.

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Let's go Brandon

  • @connieg3377

    @connieg3377

    Жыл бұрын

    Not under our watch. Descendants and history aficionados are still here and in roles to keep tourism alive!

  • @silentone503
    @silentone5032 жыл бұрын

    Gonna check this out Friday

  • @Genise1313dirtydino
    @Genise1313dirtydino Жыл бұрын

    Awesome, tnx something else for us to do when we pick up our son from Navy for X-mas. Visit old Town often and went to the Whaley house tour. Didn't know bout cemetery. 👍

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    Жыл бұрын

    This is right down the street from the Whaley House. Keep walking and you can't miss it.

  • @darpub
    @darpub3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks

  • @LaVaqueraMarin
    @LaVaqueraMarin3 ай бұрын

    Interesting thank

  • @EdwardGregoryNYC
    @EdwardGregoryNYC3 жыл бұрын

    We were there on Día de Muertos a couple of years ago when we stayed in Old Town. Beautiful location.

  • @NovaRider760
    @NovaRider7603 жыл бұрын

    best time to go is during Dia De Los Muertas. the vibe you will feel and you can feel it too at the whaley house

  • @JustLikeHumansMusic
    @JustLikeHumansMusic10 ай бұрын

    Was there at Whaley house in '97, and the only person with digital camera on tour. They asked me to take a photo at a particular spot and we'd see something or someone. Not sure what it was in the photo but it was totally there -- weird shadows, on old woman in a chair? Upon seeing it in the camera display, several people left the room!

  • @davidboultinghouse3332
    @davidboultinghouse33323 жыл бұрын

    Good info sad to here though ,old graves all the families are gone probably, lost history for sure

  • @knmorris222
    @knmorris2223 жыл бұрын

    I have several ancestors who are buried there and I never knew their markers don’t necessarily correlate to who’s actually buried beneath.

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    They tried to restore it as close as they could based on an early photograph and early descriptions. The San Diego History Center has a picture from 1914 on their archives and you can see the one fenced off grave and nothing else but tall grass. It really looked to be in bad shape by then.

  • @matty_w
    @matty_w3 жыл бұрын

    So quiet down there when you were there!

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    I got there in the morning in hopes there wouldn't be any cars in front. A few hours later I'm sure it would have been crowded.

  • @isabelluque1606
    @isabelluque1606 Жыл бұрын

    Yes !!! Is very haunted?!!! I got really interesting experience there !!!

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Hog wash

  • @chuniquepaceno470
    @chuniquepaceno470 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the tour. I attended Mission Bay High School, just down the road from there and yet have never been there...isn't that they way it always is? Given the year (1849), the cementary was created after the US took over ownership of the area.

  • @Corgis175
    @Corgis175 Жыл бұрын

    Wish they had relocated the graves that are on the street. Shame. RIP to all unknowns.

  • @theresar.4860
    @theresar.48603 жыл бұрын

    Have you done pioneer Park in San Diego used to be a graveyard and some of the headstones are still there against the back wall

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yes. We have a video on it from last year. kzread.info/dash/bejne/d4Gq2o99g7rKh8o.html

  • @paranormalix667
    @paranormalix6672 жыл бұрын

    Buenas tardes, ese cementerio es elnque esta entre la 8 y el freeway 5?

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yes, south of the 8.

  • @toddnolastname4485
    @toddnolastname44853 жыл бұрын

    Not sure which is worse. This, where they just paved over the graves, or San Francisco, where they emptied the graves and sold the land to developers. And the expensive stone works were cut apart and used to shore up a section of shore.

  • @GabbaaGhoul

    @GabbaaGhoul

    3 жыл бұрын

    😧😦

  • @haven_lady675
    @haven_lady675 Жыл бұрын

    I've been to the Old Towne but I didn't went to the cemetery but I did came to the front of the Whaley House. The Ghost Adventures crew went to the Whaley House.

  • @rebeccaferren5296
    @rebeccaferren52964 ай бұрын

    Do you only tour and produce videos of the western states. Come to Ohio, we have some verrry cool things.

  • @mawi1172
    @mawi1172 Жыл бұрын

    That lizard crack was 🤣🤣🤣🤣 funny!

  • @Idahoguy10157
    @Idahoguy101573 жыл бұрын

    In those days threatening another’s life could be used as self defense justification for later killing whoever threatened your life

  • @fredklemaster3687
    @fredklemaster3687 Жыл бұрын

    Here is a question for you, as you mentioned, Highway 1 runs right through this Hallowed Cemetery! Has anyone driving on that Highway Witnessed any Spirits, wondering around, wanting to inform anyone where they were laid to rest? I was Sincerely curious! I wish some of the San Diego's Government, would re-route Highway 1, and give some solace to the restless spirits, so they would Not be so Restless, therefore won't have to Scare Anyone No More!?!

  • @jamesrichardson1326
    @jamesrichardson13263 жыл бұрын

    I've been to the Waley House in 2013.

  • @TheRetirednavy92
    @TheRetirednavy923 жыл бұрын

    Forget that, the house is still haunted by the original owners. Saw her in 1989.

  • @budgiesnation

    @budgiesnation

    3 жыл бұрын

    Subscribe Me 😏

  • @berettaman7
    @berettaman7 Жыл бұрын

    I believe th tomb of revbel leader Antonio Garra is at the southern wall of the cemetery. Chief Antonio Garra of San Diego County’s Cupeno Indians, Indian nations where told to pay taxes and that, along with other issues gave cause to Antonio Garra to spark sentiments against the Americanos, there was a revolt, led by Antonio. On Nov. 11, 1851, a war party of Quechans and Cocopas was en route to Camp Independence when they happened upon white sheepherders. A small battle ensued. Five herdsmen and seven Indians were killed. From there, the tribes moved toward Camp Independence. Under the pretext of wanting to trade horses, the Indians sought entry into the fort. Suspecting a trick, the camp commander refused entry to the Indians and ordered them to leave. When the Indians ignored his command, and the officer ordered that the camp’s 1-pound howitzer be aimed at the camp’s entrance. The Indians beat a hasty retreat. From a safe distance, the Indians fired their arrows into Camp Independence, but to no effect. As the siege went on a dispute developed between the Quechans and Cocopas over how the sheep taken from the sheepherders would be divvied up. Dissolution set in and the Quechans (who were later to attack San Diego) abandoned the siege and headed home. With the revolt crumbling, Garra traveled back home, where he learned that the Chuillas were about to assail Warner’s Ranch. Garra was unable to block the raid because he became ill. In the subsequent attack on his ranch, John Warner managed to shoot his way through the attackers--killing two Indians--and led his wife to safety. Garra’s son also headed a war party that attacked and killed invalids taking the waters at the nearby hot springs. Things had gone too far not to press ahead with the revolt. Garra wrote a letter begging Chief Juan Antonio of the Chuillas to join in the war. Chief Antonio replied by requesting a face-to-face meeting with Garra. It was a trap. Jealous of the esteem the Chuillas people held for Garra, Antonio had made a deal to capture his rival and turn him over to Gen. Joshua Bean. Chief Garra and his son were taken to Old Town where they were tried for treason, murder and robbery. Garra’s defense attorney argued that his client couldn’t have committed treason since he never swore allegiance to the United States, and couldn’t be guilty of murder, since, as chief, he had the power to make war. Despite those arguments, Garra was convicted on all charges. Before his execution by firing squad, Chief Antonio Garra addressed the crowd from Old Town: “Gentlemen, I ask your pardon for all my offenses and expect yours in return.” Source: “Kit Carson’s Long Walk,” By Henry Schwartz: “The Handbook of North American Indians”

  • @kop1579
    @kop15793 жыл бұрын

    Can you do normal heights next ?!?!?!

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Naw too dangerous 😝

  • @pennycopperhatch9315
    @pennycopperhatch93153 жыл бұрын

    Man imagine the person digging up the grounds when the area got Modernized back in the day then bumping into the old coffins etc...Creepy Ass!

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thats one of my nightmares any time I have to do any digging.

  • @fthurman

    @fthurman

    3 жыл бұрын

    Would most people have been in old coffins/would the old coffins still be surviving? I'd think untreated wood in the ground would either rot or desiccate.

  • @armandolopez8983
    @armandolopez8983 Жыл бұрын

    4 or 5 years ago my nephews and me were walking passed Whaley House back building and about 11pm when EVERYTHING was closed. We saw shadows in the second floor window. Thats all, just shadows. Go figure?

  • @icantthinkofaname5986
    @icantthinkofaname59862 жыл бұрын

    are they buried in boxes, or just in the ground

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    2 жыл бұрын

    Most likely buried in coffins but after 150 years there probably isn't much left of the wood.

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Walmart bags🤣

  • @justkim1
    @justkim13 жыл бұрын

    How was this allowed?

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Biden approved it😄

  • @mawi1172
    @mawi1172 Жыл бұрын

    But really, what a creepy place. Thanks for showing me. Now I don't need to see it. 🥺🥺🥺😁😁

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Don't be afeard 😆

  • @lourdesalbinafloresrios7638
    @lourdesalbinafloresrios76382 жыл бұрын

    Looks like one of the cementerys of Tijuana o.O

  • @evevasquez-ee7fz
    @evevasquez-ee7fz Жыл бұрын

    We went to the cemetery my daughter is gifted and seen Yankee jim disappear behind a tree we didn't know nothing about him till a woman that works at the whaley house just with the description my daughter gave the woman said sounds like it was Yankee jim .

  • @favsa5015
    @favsa50153 жыл бұрын

    cool video, I live in san diego and didn't know a lot of this info

  • @SidetrackAdventures

    @SidetrackAdventures

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @robertlyman9789
    @robertlyman9789Ай бұрын

    Sewer pipe running thru mine😂

  • @MountainFisher
    @MountainFisher Жыл бұрын

    There is a lot of "They did what?!!? in this video! Starting with hanging a man for stealing a boat and owners of the boat were on his jury? Somehow that doesn't sound fair does it? Then running a streetcar through an old cemetery AND don't forget the roads, what the heck! Shooting an unarmed man in the back and getting away with it because the other guy threatened him?!!? I'm guessing it was because the shooter Couts had HIS friends on the jury as Mendoza worked for him and Couts was a big time rancher. 1865 San Diego had a different ethos, so you'd better not threaten your boss who had the money. At first I thought it was because Couts was white, but instead it was because he was rich. Wrong either way. Biggest surprise is the Whaley house being the most haunted house in America! News to me.

  • @SanDiegoKid
    @SanDiegoKid Жыл бұрын

    Been to this cemetery on many a drunken nights always looking for ghosts but never seeing any lol

  • @caljensandie365
    @caljensandie365 Жыл бұрын

    How does a cemetery became in disrepair? A cemetery is not a build to become in disrepair

  • @T-Babbbldot
    @T-Babbbldot4 ай бұрын

    When you see St. Peter after you die and he asks how you died, you can say that you died twice. After the first death, your body was run over by a car for the 2nd death.

  • @chrisgentry7242
    @chrisgentry72427 ай бұрын

    The idiot stealing a boat should've been charged with piracy.

  • @richardcrites1484
    @richardcrites1484Ай бұрын

    And still nobody feeds the poor old guy under the floor and his skin and bones poor fella 😁

  • @monsterfrank
    @monsterfrank3 жыл бұрын

    that place is haunted i use to do a live stream on youtube there before youtube changed there policy on live streaming I ran into yankee jim pretty scary guy and edward likes whisky he said it during a live stream i don't do ghost adventures anymore and i don't live in san diego anymore ok take care and safe travels

  • @georgemarinez7650

    @georgemarinez7650

    Жыл бұрын

    Scaredy 🐈

  • @icegiant1000
    @icegiant10003 жыл бұрын

    No wonder it's haunted. How pissed off would you be, if 100 years after being buried, some idiot decided just to pave a road over your grave, and stick a penny in the ground that says 'grave site', no name, no nothing, just junker cars rumbling over your grave, and idiots with their dogs walking over your spot? I swear, only in California.

  • @elobreroperiodismoypolitic1806
    @elobreroperiodismoypolitic18062 жыл бұрын

    Kind of spunky

  • @user-ir5sk5dw4q
    @user-ir5sk5dw4q10 ай бұрын

    Haha I just completed 1k