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Ghosts Amongst the Graves: A Visit to Bonaventure Cemetery

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Visit Savannah’s legendary Bonaventure Cemetery and take a chance to explore its haunted history – with stories of lost loves, war casualties, and ghosts among the graves!

Take a journey back in time and explore the secrets of Savannah’s mysterious Bonaventure Cemetery among the wild oak, marble statues and haunting beauty of the elaborate tombs. With stories of lost loves, war casualties, and allegedly haunted grounds, visitors can experience this eerie place and its rich history up close.

But of all the plants of these curious tree-gardens the most striking and characteristic is the so-called Long Moss. It drapes all the branches from top to bottom, hanging in long silvery-gray skeins, reaching a length of not less than eight or ten feet, and when slowly waving in the wind they produce a solemn funereal effect singularly impressive.
– Jon Muir “Camping in the Tombs,” from A Thousand Mile Walk

Introduction to Bonaventure Cemetery

Located in the marshy lowland of South Carolina, Bonaventure Cemetery was founded in 1845 and its nearly 300-acre grounds are home to a variety of interesting graves, monuments, and sculptures. 

Read about more haunted cemeteries around the world: Here

It was built upon the former Bonaventure Plantation from the 1700s. When the land was converted to a cemetery it was formed as a traditional Victorian cemetery with curving paths and grassy areas and huge trees around. Perfect for a family picnic as the tradition was. 

The Bonaventure Cemetery is said to be filled with ghostly spirits, tales of lost loves and tragedies, as well as legends about supernatural occurrences. Take a journey back in time and explore the secrets of this unique place up close – you never know what you might find hidden amongst the graves!

The Garden of Good and Evil

The cemetery has always been a scenic sight for the people in Savannah, but it became famous in 1994 when John Berendt wrote the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It is based on real life events in the 1980s of an antique dealer’s murder trial of a male prostitute. 

The Bonaventure Cemetery was featured both in the novel as well as the statue Bird Girl being on the cover and became so iconic it became a stop on the tour buses. 

Ancient Gravestones & Monumental Works of Art

While exploring the paths of Bonaventure Cemetery, you may come across some particularly interesting gravesites, including many monuments and sculptures that are centuries-old. Stroll past the tombs of fallen Civil War soldiers or take a moment to view the monumental sculptures created by contemporary sculptors. From angelic figures to intricate carvings of ships and flags, these grave markers can provide an insight into the lives and memories of those who have gone before us.

Work of Art: Many are drawn to the Bonaventure Cemetery because of the beautifully haunted Victorian sculptures found on the graves.//Source: wikimedia//Slowking4

Long considered a haunted site, Bonaventure Cemetery holds some of the most popular legends among locals and visitors alike. Take the time to read through the plots, statues and carvings around the grounds. Here you’ll find stories of lost loves, war casualties, and mysterious figures said to wander throughout the cemetery in search of something eternally lost. Take caution when walking after dark—you may just catch a glimpse of something paranormal lurking amongst the graves!

Unsolved Mysteries & Paranormal Hauntings

A visit to Bonaventure Cemetery is certainly not complete without hearing a few of the legends and stories of hauntings that have occurred here. Many visitors believe that numerous ghosts, spirits, and other powerful entities wander these grounds on a regular basis.

Some of the ghosts that are supposed to wander among the graves are from those that were buried alive and there are rumors of being graves that had scratch marks inside of the caskets.

The Grave of Gracie

One of the more famous graves in the cemetery is the grave belonging to Gracie Watkins. She was only six years old when she died of pneumonia in 1889 and is said to haunt the Regions Bank on Johnson Square in Savannah city. 

Her parents commissioned to make a sculpture of her in her favorite dress, a practice common in the Victorian era to those who could afford it. People to this day are still bringing her toys and flowers, wishing her to rest peacefully in the afterlife. 

Best leave the presents left for her alone, because according to local lore, her statue will cry tears of blood if you steal anything. 

Among the Tombs

It is said that some are simply lost souls looking for comfort in eternity while others may be seeking revenge from beyond death’s door. Who is what in the Bonaventure Cemetery is difficult to tell.

With stories of phantom carriage rides deep in the night and discordant voices calling from the shadows, spend an evening in Bonaventure to explore this graveyard’s paranormal possibilities.

I gazed awe-stricken as one new-arrived from another world. Bonaventure is called a graveyard, a town of the dead, but the few graves are powerless in such a depth of life. The rippling of living waters, the song of birds, the joyous confidence of flowers, the calm, undisturbable grandeur of the oaks, mark this place of graves as one of the Lord’s most favored abodes of life and light.”
– Jon Muir “Camping in the Tombs,” from A Thousand Mile Walk

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Featured Image: Wikimedia

History of Bonaventure Cemetery – Bonaventure Historical Society, Savannah, GA

Fascinating facts about Bonaventure Cemetery Savannah – Simply Wander

Bonaventure Cemetery – Wikipedia

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The Poltergeist of Greyfriars Kirkyard

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Tucked away in the Old Town of Edinburgh, the Greyfriars Kirkyard houses even the restless spirits of the locals. Even a poltergeist known as George Mackenzie.

Cold spots, white figures behind the graves and knocking noises from below the ground, the reports about Greyfriars Kirkyard being haunted are endless. A haunted cemetary is a must for an old town like Edinburgh and just at the end of George IV Bridge by the Museum of Scotland you will find Edinburgh’s one. At Greyfriars Kirkyard the visitors will leave wondering if it was just the wind or something more. 

The cemetery was built in 1562 by Mary Queen of Scots, also known as Bloody Mary throughout history. It is now one of the main attractions on the many haunted bus rides you can jump on in the old town. For good reason if we believe the locals. 

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Even today there is gruesome stuff going on in the Greyfriars Kirkyard. Edinburgh was a notorious place where grave robberies of bodies happened as the demand for fresh flesh for the medical schools were in high demand. Something of the past, there are not many cases of grave robbery as this today. But as recently as 2003 two teenagers were arrested for grave robbery as they cut the head from one of the corpses and used it as a glove puppet. 

Famous Graves

Many famous and notable residents of Edinburgh are buried in this place, including Hames Hutton, Robert Adam as well as perhaps the most famous local, the dog Greyfriars Bobby. 

Greyfriars Bobby: Edinburgh’s most beloved dog, Bobby is laid to rest in the cemetery.

Greyfriars Bobby was a dog so loyal to his master that he never left his side, even in death as he watched over his master’s final resting place for 14 years until he died himself and is now buried beside him in the Greyfriars Kirkyard with the queen’s permission. 

Even if they weren’t famous when they were alive, J.K Rowling made many famous today as she is said to have been inspired by the names on many of the tombstones. 

Many ghosts have been reported on this graveyard from when it was first built, however, today the Mackenzie Poltergeist is perhaps the most famed one. 

This is not the only supposed haunted graveyard we have written about. Check out these ghost stories set in cemeteries as well:

Ghost stories from cemeteries:

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Bluidy Mackenzie

In 2000 the spiritualist Colin Grant tried to lay one of the restless spirits to rest in the cemetery. A few weeks later he died of a heart attack. After his death, many attributed this death to be caused by the poltergeist of the cemetery, Bloody Mackenzie. 

Since the 19th century children believed that there was something off with this particular grave at Greyfriars Kirkyard. They used to run up to the keyhole and yell:

“Bluidy Mackenzie, come out if ye daur, Lift the Sneck and draw the bar!”

George Mackenzie was known as Bluidy (Bloody) Mackenzie when he was still living and was not remembered as a kind man. He worked as a lawyer for the King and imprisoned around 1200 protestant rebels that refused to pledge their allegiance to the catholic king. 

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The nickname comes from the horrible torture he made the prisoners he held captive in an area in Greyfriars Kirkyard known as the Covenanters Prison. It was an open area closed off by the city wall. Hundreds of people died when they went without water, food and shelter from the weather.

It is said that by 1679 there were only 48 Covenanters left alive with the rest heads on spikes along the gate.  

Although Mackenzie ran away to England and died there, he was sent back after his death. After his death he was laid to rest in a mausoleum located on the same place where so many of his victims met their unfortunate end. 

The Black Mausoleum

Apparently the activity around the mausoleum never seems to rest. Dead animals turns up around it without an obvious cause of death and mysterious fires are also often blamed on the strange activity that seems to happen around the Black Mausoleum in Greyfriars Kirkyard. 

The Black Mausoleum: The tomb of ‘bloody’ George Mackenzie in Greyfriars Churchyard from the 1840s.

The story is that a homeless man seeking shelter from the weather broke into the Mackenzie mausoleum known as the Black Mausoleum and disturbed the spirits there, making a poltergeist angry and releasing its fury. Allegedly as soon as the homeless man placed his hand on the grave the floor opened underneath him and swallowed him whole as it dropped him into a grave of plague victims.  

Another version of the story is a criminal that hid inside the mausoleum for six months. John Hayes had apparently gone mad inside the mausoleum he only left to scavenge for food occasionally. According to him, the coffins in the mausoleum moved all on their own and he could hear Mackenzie turning inside his coffin. 

It was also here the teenagers aged 15 and 17 broke in and desecrated the corpse inside. Apparently they are rumored to even have drunk wine from the skull after they cut off the head. This incident was one of the things that made the cemetery and the Black Mausoleum famous

The Poltergeist of the Cemetery

Since then, reports of scratches, bruises and burns on people that have been there as well as people collapsing for no apparent reason in the cemetery. They claim that between 300 and up to 500 guests from the 90s to 2006 felt like they were attacked by this poltergeist. 

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References

Featured Image: Harry McGregor/Source

The Most Haunted Places in Edinburgh’s Old Town – Dickins

A Guide to Haunted Edinburgh | Authentic Scotland

Haunted Edinburgh | 23 Mayfield

Meet the Mackenzie Poltergeist of Greyfriars Kirkyard – Icy Sedgwick

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The Colonial Ghosts in Caldwell Cemetery

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In the bright summer village of Lake George you find the old Caldwell Cemetery. It holds the tombstones and the ghosts of the place’s bloody and disease ridden past. 

The village of Lake George is named after the lake with the same name who is also nicknamed The Queen of American Lakes. It is a beautiful northern village today and a popular place to visit in the summer. But this summer colony has a bloody past that is said to haunt the place to this day. 

One of the supposedly haunted places is at the local graveyard. The Caldwell Cemetery is an old cemetery with over 200 years the place having been used as a burial ground in Lake George in Warren County, New York. 

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It is an eerie looking graveyard even by day and the tombstones you find north of the cemetery are almost disappearing into the woods. 

Smallpox Victims from Fort William Henry

It was here in Caldwell Cemetery the victims of smallpox from Fort William Henry were buried. There was a big outbreak of smallpox there and it is the Colonial soldiers that are said to haunt the place. 

Haunted Cemetery: Caldwell Cemetery in Lake George is said to be haunted by more than one ghost. Source/find a grave

It is not only Caldwell Cemetery that is said to be haunted by soldiers in Lake George mind you. Now it is mostly known for being portrayed in the novel The Last of the Mohicans. But before it served as a place in the novel, Fort William Henry was also a place where many battles took place as it was on the route between the French and British colonies during the French and Indian War. The fort itself has a very haunted rumor as well as being a stop on the haunted history tour in the area. 

Smallpox used to be an extremely deadly virus. In America it is estimated that it killed up to 90 percent of the indigenous population. This was something that the commanders in the British forces took advantage of as an early biological weapon. The commander in chief, Lord Jeffry Amherst handed out smallpox-infected blankets to the natives in 1763. 

But also the soldiers of the British forces were not immune to it. And although the vaccine for it had already been used for a while, it was still claiming lies during the outbreak at the fort. Some sources place the outbreak in 1810, something that seems highly unlikely. 

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Historical Accuracy of the Fort William Henry

If it ever was an outbreak though among the soldiers is a bit clouded, as the Fort were said to be abandoned after the Siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, and left in ruins for over 200 years before being rebuilt in the 1950s. Meaning that the fort you can visit today is nothing more of a replica.

Under Siege: Depiction of the Siege of Fort William Henry in 1757.

Also, as the U.S got its independence from Britain in 1776, there would not have been any British colonial soldiers at the Fort in 1810 anyway. 

What about the smallpox victims in Caldwell Cemetery then? Even though the years and dates from most sources date the smallpox outbreak to 1810, it could very well have been much earlier. Fort William Henry before the siege was known to be in bad condition with frequent outbreaks of smallpox. 

So who is to say really, that there weren’t really any soldiers victim to the disease from Fort William Henry that are still roaming Caldwell Cemetery? 

The Ghost Soldiers in Caldwell Cemetery

The haunting rumors appear to have very military details to it as it is said to be mostly the soldiers of the fort that are haunting the grounds. Those who claim to have experienced something paranormal at the place tell about smelling burnt gunpowder as well as hearing the sound of musket fire when entering the graveyard. The ghosts that are spotted are often reported to be wearing a soldier uniform. 

And considering both Fort William Henry as well as the place around Lake George itself, the lingering presence of the spirits from the soldiers dying in the battles over the years makes sense. 

The Grave of the Founding Father

There is however, not only soldiers from colonial times that have created paranormal rumors and ghost stories in Caldwell Cemetery. And that is where the founding father of the place comes in. 

Before being renamed, Lake George was known as Caldwell, named after the founder of the place in 1810 (which might be why 1810 keeps showing up in accounts of the hauntings of the graveyard).

According to the author Lynda Lee Macken who writes books about haunted places, she tells her own story of a paranormal experience. When she was a teenager she was investigating Caldwell Cemetery with friends when one of the burial vaults started to glow orange.

The next day when she went back to further investigate she found that the tomb belonged to the founder of Lake George, James Caldwell, an Irish Presbyterian buried in a Catholic churchyard. 

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The haunted places of Lake George Village

Haunted Lake George, New York – GhostQuest.net

The Rise and Fall of Smallpox – HISTORY

Siege of Fort William Henry – Wikipedia

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The Ghost on the Moor

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In a time when suicide was a sin, a man took his own life when he couldn’t have the woman he loved. His tormented soul is said to haunt the moors in Dartmoor in Devon, England were he was buried. 

An unmarked grave outside the parish boundary lays the body of George Stephens that lived in Dartmoor in Devon, England. In some sources, he is called John. He committed suicide in 1763 or 62, depending on the sources, after his marriage to Mary Bray, a farmer’s daughter fell through. 

There are conflicting variations as to why the marriage fell through. In some cases, it was the parents of the girl that rejected him because they deemed him unworthy of their daughter. In other variations of the legend though, she betrayed his love right before their wedding. 

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The Haunting Heartbreak

In his mind, Stephens was so in love with Mary and there could only be her for him. In some accounts of the story he would walk outside her home every night to keep an eye on her. It was then he found out she was cheating on him with his best friend only a week away from their wedding. 

The Grave: The grave to Stephens can still be seen out in the moors in Dartmoor.// Source

In some versions he only spots her with another man at a fair in their village after her parents tore them apart because he wasn’t worthy. No matter if they actually were engaged or not, the pain of him not being able to be with her was too much for him to bear.

In many versions of the tale, Stephens kills her after her betrayal. It is most often by poison. Either a poisonous apple or deadly nightshade. 

In other versions though, he only kills himself with a sort of poison used for rats and Mary lives on without him causing her any harm. It is then said she lived to be very old, but never married. 

The Ghost at the Grave

Because of the manner of his death when he took his own life, he was not allowed a proper burial by the church and was laid to rest near Peter Tavy Moor, only marked by a granite post that you to this day can still see. 

Shortly after his death, locals began noticing strange things happening out on the moor. His ghost was seen several times and the sound of shrieking could be heard in the night at his anguish. It is even said that a certain Rev. Dr. Jago of Tavistock was summoned to lay his spirit to rest. 

If it worked though is not certain as the locals continued to be afraid to walk the moors in the dark in fear of running into the restless spirit of the man so tormented, the pain of it all continued into his afterlife and never gave him the rest he craved for. 

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The viking ghosts which still haunt this bloody corner of Devon and 11 other spooky legends you have never heard of

Stephen’s Grave | Legendary Dartmoor

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The Witches of the Black Diamond Mines

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Guarding the old mining community, these ghosts of these two women have been dubbed witches by the locals, feared as well as revered in their lives. Who were The White Witches of the Black Diamond Mines?

Before the place in the San Francisco Bay area used to be a bustling mining community at the turn of the century. The coal mines was operating until 1945. Now the mines are closed and the place forgotten, but the remains can still be reached an hour away from San Francisco. 

Although named the Diamond mines, there was no sparkling diamonds to be found in the mines. Instead it was coal, the black type of diamonds. It is here the legend of the white witches started to take hold of the mining community.

Overview

Type of Haunting:Female Ghost, Witches
Place:USA, North America
Other:Haunted Cemetery
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The Contra Costa County is ranked as the scariest place in California because of legends like the Black Diamond Mines and the White Witches that are said to be haunting the place.

The White Witch in Rose Hill Cemetery

Sara Norton worked as a midwife to the people living in the small towns across the bay area and she delivered over 600 babies in her time. She was a widow to Noah Norton that even got the town Nortonville named after himself. 

She died however in 1879 at the age of 68. She was on call at her midwife duties when she was thrown from a carriage to make a delivery in Clayton and was killed in the accident. 

According to the legend, Sarah was not a religious person and told her own kids that she didn’t want a church funeral. However, when she died that was exactly what they gave her and her spirit became enraged. On the day of the funeral a storm crashed their plan and they decided to go through with the funeral the next day. The next day however, another storm came crashing and ruined their plans. The townspeople took the hint and skipped the formalities and buried her in the Rosehill Cemetery. 

From then on the spirit of Sarah has been spotted in the old mining towns as well as floating around the tombstones in the graveyard. 

Mary the Wailing Witch in the Black Diamond Mines

Another lady that is haunting the place is Mary, who history forgot her last name. She was working as a nanny in the 1870s, but in contrast to Sarah that brought life into this world, her legacy tells that she put life out. 

All of her children that she cared for died of illness and it was not soon before she was accused of witchcraft after some local townspeople allegedly found evidence of her dark rituals that resulted in the death of their children. 

In some variations of the legend, she worked as a school teacher, not a nanny. And with the diseases of the times, it is not unlikely diseases went through the community, striking the kids at the same time. So was it a tragedy or witchcraft? The townspeople certainly was of the belief that it was and set out to punish her.

The legend differs from how Mary met her death. Although the evidence is lost to us, it supposedly was enough to hang her for her crimes in some versions of the story. In other version her dead body was found in the mines under strange circumstances. But it was not enough to bring her out of this world. 

To this day she is spotted guarding the mines wearing all white and seeking revenge for her murder. But there is also another side to her hauntings. It is said that it is mostly children that see her, and she pushes them out from the dangerous mines that are filled with harmful gasses and unstable tunnels. 

So the question remains, is she remaining in the world as a resentful witch, or as a protector of children that she wasn’t able to be alive?

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Haunted? Why East Bay’s Black Diamond Mines Are So Spooky To Some | Concord, CA Patch

Black Diamond Mines is Most Haunted Cave Near San Franciscoi

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve | East Bay Parks

Spooky Trails and Tall Tales California: Hiking the Golden State’s Legends, Hauntings, and History by Tom Ogden

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The Cemetery for the Nameless

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In an old cemetery in Vienna for the victims of the Donau river, these nameless dead ones rest in one of the most haunted places in Friedhof der Namenlosen. 

Tourism in graveyards is not an uncommon thing. Most people seek out the gravestones of famous names we still remember. And in Vienna, tourists seek out names like Beethoven, Brahm and Strauss. But there is a place to visit for those who bear no name on their black iron crosses. The inscription says only Namenlos (nameless). Because in the Friedhof Der Namenlosen, the cemetery of the nameless, the people put in the ground there have no names. 

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It is frequently cited as one of the more haunted places in Europe, which is saying a lot and several paranormal investigators insist that the place is indeed haunted. However, the story behind the cemetery is more than not a sad one rather than a scary one. 

The Drowned in Danube

Namenlos: The crosses in this cemetery bare no names and the graves are marked with ‘Nameless’.//Photo: Rokun

Hidden away from the classy and timeless city of Vienna, an industrial site with Silos and warehouses surrounding the place, there is a graveyard of the victims claimed by the Danube river that bares no name, and those killed by their own hand and therefore turned away from the catholic burial grounds like the Vienna’s Central Cemetery, Zentralfriedhof. 

The cemetery opened in 1840 to be a place for the dead that had no family claiming their bodies to give them a final resting place. Before building around the river changed its current, drowned people used to wash ashore near this cemetery. Up until 1900, no less than 478 nameless bodies were buried in this place. Most drowned in the Danube or by suicide. 

Today, the nameless are buried together with the people in the Central Cemetery, but the graves that are already there are taken care of and remembered. Tourists and passersby leave small gifts and flowers for the graves that would otherwise be left alone with no family and friends  to visit them. 

Remembering the Nameless

Every year on All Saint’s Day there is a small ceremony by the local fishermen to the unknown dead. They float a raft down the Danube, decorated with flowers, wreaths and with a commemorative writing both in German, Hungarian and Slovak. 

The raft drifts down the river to bands playing and follows the current of the river, just like the nameless first came to the place. And on the raft it is written with a request to gently push the raft onwards if it gets stuck on the riverbank.

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Featured Image: Wikimedia/HeinzLW (Cropped)

Friedhof der Namenlosen: Die Toten, die die Donau freigab

Cemetery of the Nameless – Vienna, Austria – Atlas Obscura

Cemetery of the Nameless

der friedhof der namenlosen | story.one

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Ghosts of Canyon Hill Cemetery

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The haunted rumors of the haunted cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho includes everything from a female jogger to an old lady. So much so that it even draws paranormal investigators inside the gates of Canyon Hill Cemetery. 

The cemetery is located at 2024 North Illinois Avenue in Caldwell in Idaho. Canyon Hill Cemetery is an old cemetery that dates back to the early 1800s and houses many souls as their final resting place. But some will have it that not all of the spirits resting there, are at peace. 

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from USA

People have thought the cemetery haunted for a long time. Those claiming Canyon Hill Cemetery to be haunted say they can feel the temperature change suddenly, becoming colder the second you enter the cemetery. There are also rumors about a strong smell no one can explain or figure out as well as the feeling of someone following you. 

Haunted Cemeteries

Haunted cemeteries have long been the subject of chilling folklore and spine-tingling tales. These resting places of the departed are believed to be inhabited by restless spirits, giving life to stories of ghostly apparitions, eerie sounds, and inexplicable phenomena. In the moonlit hours, legends tell of tombstones that come to life, shadowy figures that wander among the graves, and mournful whispers carried on the wind. Whether fueled by superstition or genuine encounters, haunted cemeteries capture our imaginations, inviting us to ponder the mysteries of the afterlife and the ethereal connections that bind the living and the dead.

Read More: Check out all of our ghost stories from Haunted Cemeteries

Several paranormal investigators have taken the trip to the Caldwell Idaho Cemetery themselves to have a look. There are especially two ghosts that most people tell of. 

The Old Lady at the Bench at Canyon Hill Cemetery

Apparently there are rumors about an old lady who only sits on the bench late at night at Canyon Hill Cemetery, not saying anything to those passing the graveyard. According to those who have claimed  to see here they looked away for just a second just to find her gone when looking back. 

Who she is, who she is watching over no one knows. She is however not the only one said to haunt the cemetery.

The Lady on the Bench: Who is the ghost of the old lady just sitting on the bench. Some sort of a watcher of the graves? Perhaps she herself is six feet under the earth of one of the tombs in the Caldwell, Idaho Cemetery

The Midnight Jogger at Caldwell, Idaho Cemetery

The Midnight Jogger is a ghost story that is told to haunt Canyon Hill Cemetery in addition to the old lady on the bench. Apparently the ghost of the jogging female appears when you park between the trees that are overlooking the cemetery just ahead. According to the stories she appears as you drive past her, but are gone as soon as you turn to have another look.  

Read Also:

The Running Lady of Beeford

A ghost haunts the roads of small English village. She is known as the Running Lady and according to legend, known for causing accidents.

Some reports that she doesn’t have any legs to carry her and just floats above the ground around the Caldwell Idaho Cemetery. Some even go so far to claim she comes over to knock on the window of the car, although her intentions are unclear.

Ghosts of Canyon Hill Cemetery

As the rumors of hauntings continue to circulate around Canyon Hill Cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho, the curiosity of paranormal investigators and daring locals alike grows stronger. Despite the chilling tales of the old lady on the bench and the ghostly midnight jogger, the true nature of these apparitions remains shrouded in mystery.

Whether fueled by superstition or genuine encounters, haunted cemeteries like Canyon Hill Cemetery carry with them an undeniable allure. So, if you ever find yourself passing through the gates of Canyon Hill Cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho, take a moment to feel the shift in the temperature, listen closely for whispers carried by the wind, and keep an open mind. Who knows what spectral secrets await those who dare to explore the haunted grounds of this ancient cemetery?

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Haunting at Canyon Hill Cemetery in Caldwell

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The Joelma Building and the Ghosts of the 13 Souls

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In the 70s, a deadly fire broke out at the Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brasil, killing many people. Later, the building is reported haunted, and the ghosts of the victims are crying for help from beyond the grave.

In downtown São Paulo in the southeast region in Brazil, a building stands that were the site of one of the most horrific fires that the world ever saw. Today the building has been renamed and is called Edifício Praça da Bandeira, but it is probably most known by its former name, the Joelma Building. 

The 25-story Joelma Building is famous because of a fire that started in the building in 1974 that took the life of at least 179 people, and is the world’s worst skyscraper fire in history besides the World Trade Center fire by death toll. 

The Death Fire of the Joelma Building

On a Friday the 1. February at Avenida 9 de Julho, 225, an air conditioning overheated on the twelfth floor in the morning. The building was used as an office building so at this particular time, the working day had started. The banking company Banco Crefisul S/A that worked in the building had 756 employees present.

The Fire: Although the Joelma Building didn’t collapse, the whole building was swallowed by the flames.

The Joelma Building was a brand new building and completed in 1971 and it shouldn’t have any old or rusty things that would malfunction like this. The reason why the air conditioning overheated was that it used the wrong plug that it needed. Also, the materials that had been used to build the interior of wood, the fabrics and such were very flammable, and in no less than 20 minutes, the entire building was engulfed in flames that trapped the people inside. 

There were no emergency lights, fire exits or fire sprinkler systems that would help the people trapped by the fire and smoke inside, and after the tragedy, it put a new focus of how important standard things like this was in a building. But for those trapped inside of the fiery hell, it was all too late.

There was a chain of events that led to the big catastrophe the death fire turned out to be. The firefighters came only 20 minutes after the fire started, but didn’t have proper equipment with them to put out the flames in the tall building. The ladders they had could only reach up to 14 floors of the building with 25 floors, and those above were left to their own devices.

The fire in the Joelma Building turned into a battle of survival. They tried to rescue the people on the upper floors by helicopter as well, but didn’t manage to get close enough to get them safely out.

By the time the fire was extinguished, over 300 people were injured, and they estimate that between 179 to 189 people had lost their lives. 

The 13 Souls in the Elevator

40 people tried to jump out of the Joelma Building when they realized they wouldn’t manage to get down on the lower floors. Of these jumper there were none survivors because of the height of the building. The only way to escape was by getting down to the lower floors, but with no emergency exits, the people inside found themselves trapped. 

13 people tried to escape by using the elevators of the building that was at the time still working. Although not recommended to use under fire, they were desperate enough to try to escape. The plan didn’t work though and the elevator stopped on its way down and trapped them inside where they died of suffocation as the flames were closing in on them.

The bodies were badly hurt by the fire and it even took time to make the carnage of huddled corpses into 13 individuals. They never managed to identify the 13 souls and today they are buried in anonymous graves at the Vila Alpina Cemetery. 

Haunting the Cemetery

These 13 souls have since been suspected of still lingering in this world as ghosts. At the site of the mass grave of the 13 unidentified bodies there were reports of moaning and cries for help for those that in their dying moment, never got rescued. 

The Thirteen Unknown Graves: The graves of the 13 souls that were never identified in the Joelma Building fire. Visitors comes and puts glasses of water for them. // Photo: Wikimedia

The cemetery caretaker at the time, Luiz Nunez was so bothered by this and became desperate to stop the noise of their cries and poured water over the graves. This act of extinguishing an eternal fire he meant helped to quiet them, at least for one day. 

From that day, visitors started leaving a glass of water on the grave instead of the usual flowers. 

The Haunting at the Joelma Building

Back at the building where this tragedy happened, the reports of the paranormal continue to this day as well. People experienced strange phenomena where the cars in the parking lot outside of the Joelma Building would suddenly start blinking with their lights without anyone turning them on, and the inside of the building was also haunted. 

It is said that every floor above the 15th floor is haunted, where the firefighters ladders didn’t reach. People keep seeing shadows in the stairways and experience malfunctioning elevators. Fire alarms going off with no fire is also some of the activity that is apparently going on there. 

Curiously enough It is not the only tragedy that happened on the site of where the building stands either. And the place where the building was built has been called cursed land because of its history.

Cursed Land

In 1948, a chemistry professor named Paulo Camargo lived in a house at the same place where the Joelma Building would be built with his mother and two sisters. They had a lot of illness in their family that took a lot of energy for Camargo that had to take care of them by himself. It didn’t get better when Camargo found a girlfriend named Isaltina dos Amaros that his mother didn’t approve of. 

It all ended with Camargo killing his entire family by shooting them and throwing them down a well. They never really found a clear motive as to why he ended up doing what he did. And they never got a chance to dig further either. When the police came and discovered the well, Camargo killed himself with the very gun he had used on his family.  

When they built the Joelma building it is said they changed the entrance so the address wouldn’t be the same as the murderers. But the place was still the same and some even called it cursed land because of the place.

Even before the gruesome murders in 1948, the place was believed to be a ‘pelourinho’, a public place were they would take slaves and criminals. They would tie them up and torture them, and at times, also kill them for the public up to the abolition of slavery in 1888.  

Purified by a Buddhist Monk

Today the Joelma Building is once again renamed and something stands on the top of a past buried tragedy. After the fire the Joelma Building closed for 4 years for reconstruction. It was renamed Edifício Praça da Bandeira after it opened again to rid itself of its past. But there are some things you just can’t bury. 

In 2004, they were doing work on the building, but the owners was met with hesitant workers, not wanting to be there at all because of its haunted history. Many wouldn’t step into the new building until it was blessed by a Buddhist monk. The monk that did the blessing said in interviews that she had purified the place and deemed it safe for the living. The Buddhist monk also said that she could do nothing about the ghosts on the upper floors, and that they still lingered.

But is it enough to ward off another tragedy to have a monk purify the place? Is the supposedly cursed land clean and cured? Or was it just a coincidence that they happened on the same land as the past atrocities? 

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References

Joelma Building – Wikipedia

The Killer Doctor, the Swirling Fire, and the World’s Most Haunted Building

13 Haunted Locations Across 7 Continents