Est. 1887 · Arizona's first territorial psychiatric institution, opened January 1887 · Approximately 2,400 graves dating to 1888, most unmarked · Cemetery enclosed by razor-wire chain-link, unmaintained for decades · 2023 Phoenix Magazine investigation documented specific buried individuals including children and formerly enslaved persons
The institution now known as the Arizona State Hospital opened in January 1887 on a 160-acre parcel east of Phoenix, authorized by the Territorial Legislature as Arizona's first psychiatric facility. From the beginning, the population admitted was broad by design: patients were committed for conditions ranging from recognized mental illness to poverty, alcohol use, epilepsy, and behaviors that territorial authorities and families found inconvenient.
Death at the institution began almost immediately. The cemetery on the hospital grounds — designated All Souls Cemetery — received its first burials in 1888. Over the following decades, approximately 2,400 individuals were interred there. The vast majority of graves were left unmarked, identified in hospital records only by number. The state provided minimal maintenance, and over time the burial field degraded to unmaintained earth enclosed by chain-link fencing topped with razor wire.
A 2023 investigation published in Phoenix Magazine examined the cemetery and the surviving records in detail. The investigation documented specific individuals buried there: an emancipated formerly enslaved person, an 11-year-old boy committed for causes the records do not specify, and a girl committed for epileptic fits in an era when epilepsy was categorized as a psychiatric condition requiring institutionalization. The investigation found no evidence of systematic effort to identify, memorialize, or maintain the burial field.
The Arizona State Hospital continues to operate as an active psychiatric facility administered by the Arizona Department of Health Services. The All Souls Cemetery remains on the grounds, enclosed, unmaintained, and largely invisible to the public.
Sources
- https://www.azdhs.gov/az-state-hospital/timeline.php
- https://www.phoenixmag.com/2023/11/01/buried-secrets/
- https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/161910
Unexplained lights moving within the cemetery after darkCold spots near the cemetery fence lineSounds of movement or voices from within the enclosed burial areaPersistent sense of being watched near the perimeter
The Arizona State Hospital does not market itself as a haunted destination, and its status as an active psychiatric facility means organized paranormal investigations on the grounds are not permitted. The haunted reputation of the site circulates primarily through dark-tourism documentation and regional paranormal forums, driven by the visible presence of the All Souls Cemetery with its razor-wire enclosure.
Accounts from visitors who have documented the perimeter from public streets describe unexplained lights moving within the cemetery boundary after dark, cold spots near the fence line, and a persistent sensation of being watched. Several accounts describe the sounds of movement or low voices from within the fenced area when no one is visibly present. These reports are informal, gathered from paranormal web forums and the comment sections of local news coverage, and are not corroborated by systematic investigation.
The documented history provides context: roughly 2,400 people were buried without permanent markers in a field that was then sealed behind razor wire and left without maintenance. The physical conditions of the cemetery — its neglect, its enclosure, its mass of unmarked earth — make it a focal point for dark history visitors regardless of whether paranormal phenomena occur there.
Where this legend is told
