10 California Cemeteries Stalked by Vampires

Vampires are the darkest of the dark.

They stalk their prey relentlessly.

Under cover of darkness they wait, in the one place where death reigns, but life – just enough life, pulsing with deep, rich blood – comes to visit.

California Cemetery Vampire

Photo credit left: flickr/davetoussaint right: flickr/lutman123

Updated 2/9/2020 – These ten California cemeteries are filled with haunting reports of spirits, vampires and unexplained sightings.

Where the bodies of hundreds and thousands are laid to rest, the specters of the night are sure to gather.

If you are attracted to this kind of darkness, you will do well to pay a visit to these ten places.

You’ll find a variety of stories and situations, but one thread in common – nothing is as it seems.

You may go to pay your respects or you may go to seek adventure, but in either case, you might want to pack some garlic and a wooden stake and try to figure out a way to keep the vampires out until the sunlight they cannot abide emerges.

This will be their undoing and your victory.

But first, you must find them.

10 California Cemeteries Stalked by Vampires

#10 – Yorba Cemetery

10 - Yorba Cemetery – Pink Lady, Yorba Linda - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo courtesy Orange County Archives

According to legend, a girl wearing a pink dress and her boyfriend were killed near the Yorba Family Cemetery on prom night by a nearby train.

She is believed to appear on June 15 every other year.

She is likely not alone – where ghosts tread, vampires are not far behind.

#9 – Savannah Memorial Park Pioneer Cemetery

9 - Savannah Memorial Park Pioneer Cemetery, Rosemead - California Cemeteries

Photo credit: yelp/mikka m.

Apparitions are caught on photo during the day.

At night, people can be heard talking and children playing – the cemetery is filled with the bodies of orphaned children.

Everything within a few blocks of this cemetery is built on unmarked graves, where bodies still rest, and vampires still roam.

#8 – Marysville Cemetery

8 - Marysville Cemetery, Marysville - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: flickr/dancingstarbeads

Multiple ghost figures have been identified here, mysterious figures roam about and unexplained glowing lights have been picked up on photos.

Vampires are alleged to stalk the night as well – they are most at home in the land of the dead, although they still seek the blood necessary for their life.

#7 – Calvary Cemetery

7 - Calvary Cemetery, Hanford - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: hanfordsentinel.com

Legend holds that an apparition of a older woman shows up every night in a white dress, and a certain mausoleum is open every Friday night.

When the mausoleum opens, vampires are said to come forth, searching for the sustenance that will keep them going once daylight arrives and they are returned to the mausoleum.

#6 – Adelaida Cemetery

6 - Adelaida Cemetery, Paso Roble - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: slocgs.org

Ghostly inhabitants may steal your car keys here; a minister’s wife who committed suicide at 19 visits late on Friday night in a white nightgown and Adelaida Cemetery has a tree that bleeds.

Vampires are drawn here, for the blood, the tragedy and the possibility of their own triumphs.

#5 – Rose Hill Cemetery

5 - Rose Hill Cemetery, Pittsburg - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: panoramio/baker7598

Rose Hill Cemetery is said to be haunted by the town founder’s wife who was thrown from her buggy.

She is said to appear as a glowing, floating form, along with other strange sights – floating crosses, 13 ghost children, cries, laughter and wind noise even when no wind is blowing.

Who can doubt that this rural cemetery is a perfect breeding ground for vampires?

#4 – Cherokee Cemetery

4 - Cherokee Cemetery, Cherokee - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: findagrave/alan misner

In the 1800s, legend says, the town sweetheart was murdered and the murder was burned alive in his house near the cemetery.

Visitors report hearing his loud, heavy footsteps.

Visitors are also on the alert for vampires who prey on their victims in the night, when the footsteps are loudest and the memories the strongest.

#3 – Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery

3 - Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: flickr/whenigodeaf

Locals hold that a beautiful lady once drowned her six children near hear, and she now haunts the road around the cemetery.

She is known as the Weeping Woman, forever in search of her lost children, never to find them.

Vampires may stalk the area behind her, leaving no trace other than a whiff of blood.

#2 – St. Mary’s Cemetery

2 - St. Mary’s Cemetery, Ferndale - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: flickr/ujelang

Three black dogs haunt this graveyard, as does the ghost of a girl hanged here in 1870 for being a witch.

A stone mausoleum in the back of the graveyard is the resting place of a vampire – the doors are welded shut, and through holes in the back, you can see a dark violet casket with a large cross on top.

Disturb the vampire at your own risk – you have been warned.

#1 – Hollywood Forever Cemetery

1 - Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood - California Cemeteries Vampires

Photo credit: polverino.com

Opened before 1900, this cemetery is home to hundreds of legendary Hollywood players.

A weeping woman spirit is heard near the lake, and vampires, drawn by the unmistakable power of fresh blood are sometimes spotted here.

Your Next Step

Vampires stalk the cemeteries of California, seeking a new source of fresh sustenance from the visitors who come to pay their respects to the dead.

You could not find a more appropriate place for vampires than a place of death, loss and grief.

Get directions here, then visit a local cemetery from this list.

Or take a road trip to visit several.

But remember…you do so at your own risk.