Called one of Mexico’s most dangerous beaches, the Playa Zipolite in Oaxaca has been a hippie paradise for decades. But lately, it has started appearing on many most haunted lists as well. Are there truly ghosts roaming the beach?
On the sun-soaked Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, lies a beach of extraordinary, unspoiled beauty. Playa Zipolite, with its golden sands, rugged cliffs, and endless horizon, should be a paradise. Zipolite is a nearly pristine beach about forty meters wide and two km long, with medium grain gold colored sand. The water is clear with tones of blue and green and the people are free spirited.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Mexico
The Zipolite beach in Mexico is perhaps most known for being the country’s only official nudist beach and it draws artists and party goers to the beautiful coastline since the 70s. It was also one of the beaches shown in the Mexican movie classic, Y tu mamá también.
Dubbed “La Playa de los Muertos” — the Beach of the Dead, this stretch of shore has long been associated with tragedy, mystery, and restless spirits, taking around 50 swimmers every year because of the strong current. The locals know it well, and those who listen closely swear the waves still call out the names of those they’ve claimed.
A Beautiful, Deadly Shoreline
The legend of Zipolite’s haunted reputation begins with its infamous waters that gave its name. It stretches from a small isolated cove called Playa del Amor on the east side to the new age Shambala retreat on the west end which is partially sheltered by rocks. Beneath the glimmering surf lie deceptive rip currents and fierce undertows, some of the deadliest along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
For this reason, the beach was long avoided by indigenous Zapotec peoples, who believed the shoreline to be a place where the veil between the living and the dead is perilously thin. Some stories suggest that long before it was a bohemian enclave, Zipolite was a site where the sick and dying were brought to meet the sea, offering their souls to the great beyond.
Ghostly Presences and Ominous Whispers
To this day, strange occurrences linger along Playa Zipolite’s sands. Swimmers speak of sudden, icy currents gripping their ankles in otherwise warm water. Campers claim to hear soft voices in the dark, calling out from the ocean, though no one else is near.
More than a few visitors have reported glimpsing pale, indistinct figures at dusk, standing at the water’s edge, watching the horizon. These apparitions vanish the moment one approaches, leaving behind only a strange sense of sorrow and an unexplained chill.
Local fishermen, who know the beach’s moods better than anyone, refuse to venture onto certain stretches after nightfall. Some claim to have seen ghostly forms wading out into the surf under the full moon, while others speak of phantom footprints that appear in the sand, leading toward the waves and ending abruptly.
How true are the legends of it being some of the most haunted beaches though? Yes, it has started to show up on lists of “most haunted beaches”, but was it rumored to have been haunted before this? It is worth noting that there are close to no Spanish articles about it being haunted, and more than one article mentions that their list was worked out with the help of AI. Could it be that AI is now making up ghost stories and haunted places?
The Haunting Beauty of Zipolite
Few places embody the contrast between serene beauty and spectral unease as perfectly as Playa Zipolite. In 2025 a series of mass abductions and murders from the area added to its creepy lore. Its waves are as deadly as they are mesmerizing, its sands as welcoming as they are haunted.
For all its modern reputation as a laid-back, bohemian beach town, the old stories of the indigenous using it as a burial ground persist.
Newest Posts
- Daníelspyttur and the Boy who Drowned and Haunts it
In a remote area in Iceland, the Daníelspyttur is named after a boy who once took off from work and drowned in the water. Ever since, people have thought it haunted as well as the surrounding area. - The Dream of the Basel Rhine Bridge about the Buried Treasure
A legend goes that a simple farmer from the Emmental in the Swizz alps had a dream about finding gold at the bridge in Basel. Visited by a ghostly shadow, he was guided around the country to find it. - The Haunting of Dalen Hotel and the English Lady of Room 17
In the deep fjords of Norway, the Dalen Hotel is one of the places said to be haunted by a guest who never really checked out. Who was the English Lady of Room 17? - Hvítárvellir-Skotta comes to Haunt a Family for over 120 Years
How long can a ghost linger? Some Icelandic ghost stories claim it is for 120 years. But if we are to believe the legend of Hvítárvellir-Skotta, she has been haunting a particular family for much longer. Perhaps even today? - The Haunting of the Antoniterkirche: Where the Monks Never Left
The transition from Catholicism to Protestantism sometimes got bloody. This was also the case in Bern where the Antonite monks of Antoniterkirche had been residing for centuries. Cast out, their former churches and chapels were left desecrated, but did they truly leave the city? - The Dying Screams of a Girl on Fire Haunting the Screaming Tunnel in Canada
Said to be haunted by the dying screams of a young girl who was set on fire and died, the Screaming Tunnel in Niagara Falls in Canada has become the site of some of the most eerily ghost legends said to linger within the dark. - The Restless Gatekeeper of the Rhine Gate in Basel
After the gatekeeper’s young daughter died in the Rhine, his only wish was to be buried next to her in the cemetery. As they all believed his own death was a suicide he was denied a burial in a consecrated ground. Now, he is forced to linger in the shadows, his only way to visit her grave. - The Haunting of Nes Church Ruins in Norway
The mysterious Nes Church Ruins in Norway has attracted ghost hunters and legends for centuries by now. But what is really lurking among the old stones after dark? - The Ghost of the Hay at Hvítárvellir on the White Floor
On the night before her wedding, a girl was tracked down by a ghost sent to kill her. Who was behind the haunting, and where did the ghost go after their encounter? - The Slave Trader of Ebenrain: A Tormented Spirit in the Shadows of Sissach
Meant to be a peaceful summer residence in Sissach, outside of Basel in Switzerland, the Ebenrain Castle turned into a haunted one after one of its former inhabitants is still haunting it. - The Eerie and Haunted History of Old City Hall in Toronto
Said to be haunted by numerous ghosts, the Old City Hall in Toronto, Canada is now known as one of the creepiest buildings in the city. From strange entities targeting judges’ robes in the stairs to the last executed prisoners in the country, the spirits of the building are said to linger. - The Ghostly Monk of Spittelsprung (Münsterberg) in Basel
Back at a time when the hills of Münsterberg were called Spittelsprung in the really old parts of Basel in Switzerland, it was also said a monk was haunting the streets. Gliding in and out of the houses frightening the children, he took no notice of the world of the living, always deep in his prayers. The question is, prayer for what?
References:
Most Haunted Beaches Around The World