THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The Carmel Mission (Mission San Carlos Borromeo) in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, is famously haunted by spirits tied to its late-18th-century Spanish colonial history and ancestral Native American burial grounds. Visitors frequently encounter the ghost of its founder, Father Junípero Serra, pacing the historic hallways before vanishing into thin air, alongside ghostly padres, shadowy figures, and a young Native American boy wandering the grounds. The site is highly active with classic poltergeist disturbances, including candles that mysteriously self-light and float through the basilica, the touch of invisible hands, and a terrifying phantom rider atop a headless white horse that manifests at dusk.
The mission was built directly adjacent to an ancient American Indian burial ground. There are several ghosts haunting the mission, including the ghost of a dog that is heard but not seen. The ghost of one of the of the original founder’s Father Serra can be seen walking around with a candle at night, and appearing inside the chapel on New Year’s Eve. The ghost of a young American Indian boy has also been seen, but little is known about him.