Opened in 1875 on a former Mexican land grant, Napa State Hospital buried approximately 4,368 patients in an unmarked field — a calf barn sits atop the burial ground; the California Memorial Project maintains an on-grounds monument.
2100 Napa-Vallejo Hwy, Napa, CA 94558
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Memorial visits are free but require an appointment through the hospital executive office at (707) 253-5454.
Access
Limited Access
Hospital campus grounds; burial field and memorial are on flat agricultural land. Access is by advance appointment only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1875 · Napa Insane Asylum est. 1875 on former Mexican land grant · Approximately 4,368 patients buried in unmarked field (1875–1924) · Outbuilding and calf barn constructed over portion of burial ground · California Memorial Project monument maintained on site · The Cramps played a free concert for 100 patients on the patio, June 1978
Napa State Hospital was established in 1875 as the Napa Insane Asylum, California's second public psychiatric institution. The site was selected on land in the lower Napa Valley that had previously been part of a Mexican-era land grant. The facility was designed along the Kirkbride plan, with a central administrative block and wings intended to provide graded care for patients at different stages of treatment.
Patients who died at the hospital from 1875 through 1924 — a period spanning the facility's first 49 years — were buried in a field on the hospital grounds. No individual markers were placed over the graves. An estimated 4,368 patients are interred in this area, though the exact count varies across sources based on the records that survive. An outbuilding and an unused calf barn were subsequently constructed over part of the burial ground; the structures remain on the site today.
The California Department of State Hospitals operates the California Memorial Project, which maintains a monument on the grounds of Napa State Hospital acknowledging the patients buried there. The project was established in recognition of the unmarked nature of the burials and the absence of other public memorialization. Visits to the memorial and burial area require an appointment through the hospital executive office.
The hospital remains an active state psychiatric facility. In June 1978, the punk band The Cramps played a free concert for approximately 100 patients on the hospital patio — an event that was photographed and later widely circulated, becoming one of the more unusual documented episodes in the facility's history.
Sources
Napa State Hospital appears in California haunted-location compilations primarily because of the documented scale of its unmarked burials rather than specific paranormal incidents. The image of approximately 4,368 patients interred in an anonymous field — partially beneath an agricultural outbuilding — is the site's primary historical anchor, and visitors who arrange access to the memorial encounter that history directly.
The California Memorial Project's monument acknowledges the patients buried on the grounds, a formal recognition that distinguishes Napa from some comparable sites where the burials remain completely unmarked. The monument's existence does not diminish the weight of the history; it makes it more legible.
The 1978 Cramps concert — documented in photographs that circulated widely — represents a different dimension of the site's history. The event was organized by a hospital staff member and brought the band to perform on the outdoor patio for roughly 100 patients. Questions about the ethics of the event, and about what the patients understood of it, track closely with similar questions raised about the Utah State Hospital's Haunted Castle.
Specific paranormal accounts for the campus are anecdotal and do not appear in reviewed sources with the consistency or specificity found at more tourist-accessible comparable sites.
Approximately 4,368 patients are buried in a field on the hospital grounds, most in unmarked graves. An outbuilding and unused calf barn sit directly atop part of the burial area. The California Memorial Project maintains a monument on the grounds acknowledging the patients buried here. Access requires advance appointment with the hospital executive office.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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