Written By Mauricio Segura // Photo By: Mauricio Segura
Just south of San Francisco lies a quiet little town where the grass is neatly trimmed, the neighbors rarely complain, and almost everyone is six feet under. Welcome to Colma, California, where the dead have practically taken over the neighborhood, and the living are vastly outnumbered.
At first glance, Colma looks like another peaceful Bay Area suburb. There are shops, restaurants, houses, and passing cars. But venture beyond the main roads, and something unusual unfolds. Endless rows of tombstones stretch across rolling green hills. Towering mausoleums stand like miniature mansions. Marble angels watch silently over generations of departed souls.
This isn't the setting of a Hollywood horror movie. It's a real town with approximately 1.6 million permanent underground residents and fewer than 2,000 people still breathing.
And believe it or not, Colma wasn't always in the business of death.
Long before it became America's most unusual neighborhood, the area was known for farming, ranching, and growing vegetables. But in the late 1800s, neighboring San Francisco faced an uncomfortable problem. The city was running out of room for its dead.
As San Francisco grew, its cemeteries occupied increasingly valuable land. In 1900, city officials prohibited new burials within city limits. In 1914, they ordered existing cemeteries removed.
Apparently, even in death, San Francisco real estate was becoming unaffordable.
What followed was an extraordinary relocation. Beginning in the late 1920s, graves were opened, remains were collected, and thousands of former San Francisco residents were moved south.
Families with money could arrange individual reburials. Others weren't so fortunate. At Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, the Laurel Hill Mound became the final resting place for approximately 38,000 people whose remains were relocated without individual markers.
Colma's cemetery industry had begun in 1887 with Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery. More burial grounds followed. In 1924, the community incorporated as Lawndale to protect its cemeteries, eventually adopting the name Colma in 1941.
Today, walking through Colma's burial grounds feels like exploring an enormous outdoor history museum where the exhibits have names, dates, and remarkable stories.
Baseball royalty is well represented. New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio rests at Holy Cross, while San Francisco Giants great Willie McCovey and baseball star Lefty O'Doul are buried at Cypress Lawn.
Western lawman Wyatt Earp rests alongside his wife, Josephine, at Hills of Eternity. Denim pioneer Levi Strauss is buried at Home of Peace. Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst rests at Cypress Lawn, along with former San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
Holy Cross also contains the graves of Bank of America founder A.P. Giannini, former California Governor Pat Brown, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, who was assassinated in 1978.
Music fans might recognize Vince Guaraldi, the jazz pianist whose melodies became the soundtrack to Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. Legendary concert promoter Bill Graham rests at Eternal Home Cemetery.
There's also Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress murdered by followers of Charles Manson in 1969, and Betty Ong, the flight attendant whose courageous phone call during the September 11 attacks helped authorities understand the unfolding hijacking.
Perhaps Colma's most colorful resident is Emperor Norton, the eccentric San Franciscan who declared himself Emperor of the United States in 1859. He rests at Woodlawn Memorial Park, where his unusual life continues to attract curious visitors.
But with so many departed souls sharing one town, the inevitable question arises. Is Colma haunted?
Over the years, stories of unexplained happenings have circulated through its cemeteries. One former Colma police officer, Phil C'de Baca, claimed he heard babies crying inside a Cypress Lawn mausoleum associated with infants and stillborn children. His account, published in 1993, remains a chilling piece of local ghost lore, although no supernatural explanation has been established.
Another mystery involves Lillie Hitchcock Coit, the eccentric San Francisco philanthropist whose generosity helped fund Coit Tower. She rests in a family mausoleum at Cypress Lawn.
For years, cemetery staff reportedly discovered firefighting objects mysteriously appearing inside her locked tomb, including an old fire hose, a helmet, and antique equipment. Coit had been deeply devoted to San Francisco firefighters during her lifetime, making the unusual discoveries especially intriguing.
Were these gifts secretly placed by admirers, unexplained pranks, or something stranger? Nobody has established a paranormal cause, but the story has become part of the cemetery's fascinating folklore.
And then there's the atmosphere itself. On foggy mornings, headstones emerge from the mist like silent sentries. Narrow pathways disappear between old trees. Stone faces stare from weathered monuments, while the occasional rustling branch provides just enough sound to make an imaginative visitor look over their shoulder.
Yet despite its spooky reputation, Colma is remarkably peaceful. Its cemeteries feature beautiful gardens, historic architecture, elaborate monuments, and quiet pathways. They are places of remembrance, not haunted-house attractions.
Even beloved pets have their own resting place at Pet's Rest Cemetery, established in 1947.
Perhaps Colma's greatest attraction isn't its ghost stories or famous graves, but the countless ordinary lives remembered here. Immigrants, laborers, parents, children, artists, and dreamers share this extraordinary patch of California soil.
Their stories may have ended, but their history remains.
And while most towns proudly advertise their growing populations, Colma has embraced a wonderfully appropriate motto.
"It's great to be alive in Colma."
For those curious enough to visit, Colma is located in San Mateo County, immediately south of Daly City, and accessible via Interstate 280, Highway 1, and BART's Colma Station. An excellent starting point is the Colma Historical Museum at 1500 Hillside Boulevard, Colma, CA 94014. Admission is free, and the museum is open Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. Visitors should confirm hours before arriving by calling (650) 757-1676 or emailing cha@colmahistory.com. Additional information is available at www.colmahistory.com. Cemetery admission is generally free for respectful visitors, although hours vary. Holy Cross Cemetery, located at 1500 Mission Road, is open daily from 8 a.m. until sunset and can be reached at (650) 756-2060. After all, Colma welcomes the curious, but its permanent residents deserve a little peace and quiet.
