Pioneer Park - anyone been lately?

[Anne-Marie]

Got a lot of hits on the K-II during the day and I?d like to visit the area again at night.  One fellow in the group reported getting EVPS by the headstones on his last investigation.  Another guy claims to see shadow people flitting through the trees on his nighttime investigations.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

I?m surprised by the number of graves this little park holds.  I found a cemetery plot map here.  With that many people buried, there?s bound to be some activity.

[PPI Brian]

Hi Anne-Marie,

No, I haven't been to Pioneer Park in a long time. I used to go there quite often and do EVP work.

Thank you for sharing the map of the old cemetery with us. It's my understanding that some (but certainly not all) of the bodies were disintered and relocated. It would be great to dig up all the information we can on the place and compile it here.

Mission Hills Calvary Cemetery

In 1870, the City of San Diego set aside ten acres of land, bought from Joseph Manasse, for a cemetery. Half of the cemetery would be for Protestant burials, the other half for the Catholics. The Protestants never used their plot. The Catholic section, said to have been laid out by Father Antonio Ubach, became known as "Calvary Cemetery." Many early San Diegans such as the Bandinis and Couts, the Ames and Father Ubach were amongst the 1,650 buried at Calvary.

With the opening of "Holy Cross," a new Catholic cemetery in 1919, Calvary fell to disuse. Burials continued through 1960, but were rare. The Catholic Parish of the Immaculate Conception continued to maintain Calvary through 1939, when the City took on the responsibility to provide employment under the W.P.A. Just before the City took over, a fire in the caretaker's shack, located on Calvary grounds, destroyed all the burial records except one book which dated back to 1899. 20 Unmarked graves lost their identity.

The W.P.A. maintained Calvary and built a protective adobe wall around it. Nevertheless, through the years, vandals and time turned the cemetery into an eyesore. In 1970, to clean up and avoid further deterioration, the City transformed Calvary Cemetery into a Pioneer Park, a process which, among other things, involved removing the majority of grave markers, and "storing" them in a ravine at Mount Hope where they remain today.

source: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/82fall/cemeteries.htm

[PPI Tracy]

Is it still a cemetery or is it a "park'?  (kind of afraid to ask)

Looking at the article, the cemetery they talk about right below is Fort Rosecrans. That is where my Father is buried.  It's a beautiful and peaceful place.  If I lived closer, I'd go there more often.  As it is, I've only been back there two other times since his funeral in 1990. 

Anyway, back to Mission Hills question.....

[PPI Brian]

Is it still a cemetery or is it a "park'?  (kind of afraid to ask)

Looking at the article, the cemetery they talk about right below is Fort Rosecrans. That is where my Father is buried.  It's a beautiful and peaceful place.  If I lived closer, I'd go there more often.  As it is, I've only been back there two other times since his funeral in 1990.  

Anyway, back to Mission Hills question.....

Hi Tracy,

This cemetery is several miles east of Fort Rosecrans, in the hills above Old Town. The area became known as Mission Hills because the first California mission, San Diego de Alcala was built on presidio hill above Old Town. The mission was relocated to mission valley and the original presidio fell into ruins.

Pioneer Park aka Mission Hills Park is both a park and a cemetery. Some of the bodies were moved, but many were left in place. The headstones were removed sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's and were later found dumped in a canyon behind Mount Hope Cemetery. Some of the markers were reset at the edge of the park. There's picnic benches and playground equipment on the site now. Here's a map that shows the location:



Here's an arial view of the park:



And here's a detail view showing some of the grave markers that were returned to the park (but not to their original location):



If we overlay the map Anne-Marie provided with the Google Map arial view, you can clearly see where the graves were (or still are):

[PPI Tracy]

Oh my Lord.  That's just....oh man, I don't even know what to say.  That is just horrible to disrespect the dead like that.  Everything about that is just so so so wrong.  You could have buildings/houses right on top of bodies.  Parking lot on top of bodies.  It's horrid to even think about what is possible.  Wow.  I had no idea. 

[Anne-Marie]

Brian - thank you for the overlay.  That's tremendous.  Even if the map is off-scale there's a whole lot of buried folks in the open parts of the park.

Here is an article from San Diego Uptown News that references the Calvary Cemetery website with the plot maps.  Lots of interesting information there.  I'm happy to note the gravestones were photographed before they were moved.

Pioneer Park Will Haunt You - At Least With It's Stories

BY Priscilla Lister     
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 12:50 
Pioneer Park in Mission Hills is the perfect spot for a Halloween wander ? if you dare.
It once was the site of the Calvary Cemetery, a Catholic burial ground where some 4,000 bodies were laid to rest from about 1876 to 1960.

The only evidence of the graveyard that remains today are nearly 150 tombstones that were saved and placed in the park?s southeast corner. There is also a bronze memorial that lists many of the people buried there.

When a new Catholic cemetery, Holy Cross, opened in 1919, Calvary Cemetery fell into disrepair and burials there were rare. The last one was in 1960.

By 1970, the city took over the site and transformed it into Pioneer Park, removing most of the headstones and ?storing? them in a ravine at Mount Hope Cemetery, where they are today.

But most of the bodies remain interred under the lovely grassy expanse of Pioneer Park.

?There was supposedly a woman (ghost) who would rise up and walk around there,? Valerie Goodpaster told a group of Grant Elementary school kids who did an impressive research project on Pioneer Park in 2005 (go to www.pioneerpark.net to read what they discovered, and even listen to a few oral histories from people, like Goodpaster, who grew up in Mission Hills).

?I get the creepiest feelings when I go there,? said Sally Richards, founder of Ghosts Happen, a local group that investigates paranormal activity throughout San Diego County. ?Over by the tombstones, I feel like I?m being watched.?


She said her electromagnetic field readers, a paranormal investigative device, ?go off the charts there. And one of our people did get a photo of something walking through,? she added. Go to the group?s Web site, www.meetup.com/ghostshappen/, to view photos, seeking one by Charles of Pioneer Park.

?I definitely feel that if I were buried there and my grave was destroyed, I?d be haunting the place,? said Richards. ?At one time it was a beautiful graveyard, and now it?s a beautiful park, a really friendly place during the day with people having a good time. But when the sun goes down, there?s a different feeling to it.?

Indeed, it is a lovely place during the day. The students at Grant Elementary right next door use it for physical education activities. It?s a neighborhood favorite for picnics and dog walks. There are eucalyptus trees as well as some lovely California peppers, ficus and Chinese flame trees. Some of the huge old trees have surely been there since the cemetery days.

But it?s the stories of the people buried there that still fascinate.

Marna Clemons, a professional genealogist and president of the San Diego Genealogy Society, spent more than two years full-time researching Calvary Cemetery.

She was doing some research for her sister-in-law when she came upon a Bible on eBay that belonged to the John Stewart/Rosa Machado family ? whose 1830s adobe home is today part of Old Town State Historic Park. While it wasn?t related to the research she was doing for her sister-in-law, she thought it held a lot of San Diego history, so she put together family information to give to the San Diego Historical Society.

?One thing led to another, which led me to learn about the history of Calvary Cemetery,? said Clemons. ?There was no complete record of who was buried there. I had the time, I started researching, and it led to a Web site.? Her Web site, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~clement/Calvary/home.htm, is an invaluable resource for information on the historic cemetery.

Lots of early city leaders were buried there, including John (Jack) Stewart, buried in 1892, and his wife, Rosa Machado, buried in 1898. Stewart, who lived to be 83, had been a shipmate of Richard Henry Dana, well-known author of ?Two Years Before the Mast,? had fought in the battle of San Pasqual, and was active in other early incidents connected with this region, according to his 1892 obituary in the San Diego Union, which is linked on Clemons? Web site.

Cave Johnson Couts, who was ultimately one of the wealthiest men in Southern California through his Rancho Guajome near Oceanside (now a historic site), was originally buried in the Old Town Cemetery in 1874 but was later moved to Calvary Cemetery. Couts had graduated from West Point Academy with Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in 1843 and served during the Mexican War. He married Ysidora Bandini.

Ysidora Bandini was buried beside her father, Don Juan Bandini, who had been married to Maria de los Dolores Estudillo, member of another prominent Old Town family.

Father Antonio Ubach presided over Ysidora Bandini?s funeral, according to an 1897 San Diego Union obituary about the ?impressive services over the remains of a pioneer,? again linked through Clemons? Web site.

Father Ubach was also buried in Calvary Cemetery. A priest in Old Town for 23 years beginning in 1860, he was called the ?Last Padre.?

?There were a lot of children buried there, several murders, drownings and many gruesome deaths involved trains, trolleys and horses,? said Clemons. She has even transcribed several letters between Charles Gooch and his wife Julia, written during the Civil War.

Many of these murder and accident cases were documented in the local newspaper at the time, and are linked on her Web site. Go to the ?Stories to Tell? section and click on highlighted names. Or search the database alphabet for names of people buried there and click to see if they have a story to share from the old days.

You?ll probably get caught up searching for all kinds of stories, which just might help you if you greet any of the players in Pioneer Park at night.

GETTING THERE: In Mission Hills, go to the south end of Randolph Street where it stops at Washington Place. Park anywhere along the street at the park.

[PPI Jason]

This is incredible. I've never been here. When are we going?

[Gary]

Hey there Alpha Mike, it has been a while!!  How the heck are you?  You should get in touch with me sometime!!

Also, all the information above is awesome.  I would totally be down to take a trip.  Add this to our list!

[PPI Tim]

It sounds like a road trip for PPI.

[PPI Debra]

It sounds like a road trip for PPI.

Can we bring Anne-Marie too?

[Gary]

It sounds like a road trip for PPI.

Can we bring Anne-Marie too?

That would be awesome!   

[PPI Brian]

It sounds like a road trip for PPI.

Can we bring Anne-Marie too?

If she would like to accompany us. 

[Anne-Marie]

Absolutely!  Count me in!!

I caved and bought a PX last December and have been meaning to try it out at the park.  Let's do it!

Gary, where have you been?  We need to hang out!

[PPI Tracy]

Road Trip for SURE!!!!!!!!

[Gary]

FYI, I am headed out to Mission Hills Park tonight with Anne-Marie and a couple of her friends.  Should be interesting, I'll let you know how the evening goes.  I will of course have my cameras with me, and I hope someone has an EMF detector.  We shall see. 

Here is to the night ahead!     :o

[PPI Debra]

FYI, I am headed out to Mission Hills Park tonight with Anne-Marie and a couple of her friends.  Should be interesting, I'll let you know how the evening goes.  I will of course have my cameras with me, and I hope someone has an EMF detector.  We shall see. 

Here is to the night ahead!     :o

How fun!
Keep us posted.

[PPI Brian]

Awesome. Looking forward to hearing all about your experiences there. 

[Gary]

Just got back home.  I stayed for about 2 hours, a few other stayed later.  It was a really cool place and I'd like to go back. 

There are claims of shadow people that can be seen throughout the park and I'm pretty sure I saw 1 or 2 unexplainable moving shadows.  One in particular I saw in from across the park directly in front of me.  There was a house with a fairly bright porch light lighting their driveway.  My first thought was the home owner walking outside.  The driveway wasn't fully visible until I walked up to it and looked over a brick wall dividing the home and park.  There was about an 8 foot drop or so on the other side, so whatever I saw was on our side of the wall, or extremely tall.  It appeared to walk at a normal pace and disappeared behind a tree.  I saw some other questionable movements but more out of the corner of my eye.  So, I don't know.  I'd like to go back and try some more.  I like that it's only 5 minutes from my house. 

[PPI Tim]

Alright, who is up for a cemetery trip?

[PPI Karl]

Very interesting! 

Would love to join you on a follow-up Pioneer Park outing. 

[PPI Brian]

Sounds like fun. Was it quiet enough to try doing an EVP vigil, or is there a lot of ambient noise from the neighborhood?

[Gary]

Sounds like fun. Was it quiet enough to try doing an EVP vigil, or is there a lot of ambient noise from the neighborhood?

An EVP session could be done.  I would say there could be worse places.  Next chance I get I will throw a video clip up with audio for example.  It was also extremely dark.  My IR capabilities were no match for the darkness, hehe!!

[Anne-Marie]

Re: EVPs   In the past I've heard you can pick up EVPs by the headstones.  The neighborhood is pretty quiet after midnight.  We heard the train and sirens in the distance, other members of the group chatting, a gabby PX, and a couple of owls.

I didn't stay much longer after you, Gary.  I think I was home by 2:30.  My feet are still cold...

[Anne-Marie]

Here's one of Zoe's pictures from our night at Pioneer Park:

The arrows point to the weird orb-like things - not normal for her camera.  One fellow thinks he sees someone sitting with their back to the tree in the bigger orb.

[PPI Tracy]

On the top of the building where the arrow is pointing to, it appears to possibly be a smoke stack or vent of some sort.  

The round "orb" like item to the right is interesting.  If you look towards the lower center of it, there appears to be a thick light-colored circle with a darker center to it.  The light emanates outward from it.  I believe it could be a circular receptacle, such as a trash can or recycle can or some other container.  The flash of the camera is reflecting off of it, causing the appearance of a large globe of light.  It is darker in the center because you are looking at the inside of the receptical and the fact that circles appear to also emanate from the center, makes me think it is the rim of the receptical.

Just my 2.5 cents.

[PPI Brian]

Hi Anne-Marie,

This is an interesting infrared image. I downloaded the picture and studied it, but there's no XIF data, so I don't know anything about the camera model, the exposure settings, ISO settings, etc. Can you fill in the blanks for me? 

[Anne-Marie]

Brian - sorry for the delay.  This is the info from Zoe's photo:

Date Apr 9, 2011 4:31:42 PM
Width 4032
Height 3024
File Size 2277017
Camera Digital
Model Digital Camera
ISO 99
Exposure 1/2 sec
Aperture 3.2
Focal Length 5mm
Flash Used false
Orientation 1
White Balance 0
Metering Mode 3
Exposure Program 0
Exposure Bias 0.0
Date and Time (Original) 2011:04:09 23:31:42
Color Space 1
X-Resolution 72.0
Y-Resolution 72.0
Resolution Unit 2
Software QuickTime 7.6.6
Date and Time 2011:04:14 16:56:58
Host Computer Mac OS X 10.6.6
YCbCr Positioning 2
Date and Time (Digitized) 2011:04:09 23:31:42
Max Aperture 3.4
Light Source 0
Sensing Method 2
Custom Rendered 1
Exposure Mode 0
Scene Capture Type 3

[PPI Brian]

Hi Anne-Marie,

Thank you for posting some of the EXIF information on this image. Although there was no camera model mentioned, it did indicate that there was no flash used and the exposure length was 1/2 second, which is a long time to hold a camera still unless it's mounted on a tripod. Is this image from a digital still camera or could it be a still taken by a digital video camera? Sorry for the questions, I'm just trying to determine if the strange "orb" could be caused by infrared light reflecting off the various lens elements and their respective coatings. 

[Anne-Marie]

No problem - I'm not a camera person so this is educational for me. 

I believe it's a Bell and Howell DNV900HD camcorder.  She mentioned she used a Sima IR light.  This was the only photo with orbs.

Here's another photo from the same area - no trash cans!

[PPI Tracy]

Okay Anne-Marie.  There are no trash cans.  I retract my 2.5 cents.