An 1868 pioneer 'Old Settlers' burial ground — all that remains of the vanished stagecoach town of Spadra — where visitors report a period-dressed figure among the headstones and the laughter of unseen children.
2850 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona, CA 91768
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Closed to casual visitors due to past vandalism. The Historical Society of Pomona Valley offers tours a few times a year, including every Halloween. Contact HSPV to arrange access.
Access
Limited Access
Small 2.5-acre cemetery behind a locked gate, down a dirt road across railroad tracks; uneven historic ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1868 · Pioneer 'Old Settlers' cemetery established 1868 · Last surviving feature of the lost stagecoach town of Spadra · Founded on land donated by rancher Louis Phillips · Owned and preserved by the Historical Society of Pomona Valley
Spadra grew up on land that had been part of the sprawling Rancho San Jose grant, settled in part by families who had come west escaping poverty and the aftermath of the Civil War in the American South. The community owed its existence to a stagecoach line established in 1859 running between San Francisco and Memphis by way of Los Angeles, and the town of Spadra was formally founded in 1866. By 1870 it had three stores, warehouses, blacksmiths, a school, and a post office.
The cemetery was established in 1868 after Melinda Arnett, a Spadra resident, died and rancher Louis Phillips — a Jewish immigrant from Prussia — offered a portion of his land for her burial. Spadra Cemetery became an important non-sectarian 'Old Settlers' burial ground: it accepted non-Catholic dead at a time when nearby cemeteries were restricted to Catholics. The town's share of mysterious deaths, suicides, and murders helped fill the small graveyard over the following century.
Spadra itself faded as Pomona grew, and the town was annexed by Pomona in 1964. The last burial at Spadra Cemetery took place in 1971. Four years later the 2.5-acre site was deeded to the Historical Society of Pomona Valley. Today, apart from the nearby Phillips Mansion, the cemetery is essentially all that remains of Spadra. It sits behind a locked gate down a dirt road across railroad tracks, and the Historical Society opens it for guided tours a few times a year while working to protect it from the vandalism that has plagued the site for decades.
Sources
Spadra's paranormal reputation is the most-told ghost story of the Pomona Valley, recounted by Atlas Obscura, La Verne Magazine, and local paranormal writers, and folded into the Historical Society's Halloween tours. The best-known account describes a man dressed in 19th-century clothing who walks silently among the graves and then vanishes without a trace. Other visitors describe shadowy figures slipping between the headstones.
A second strand of the lore centers on children: tour-goers and visitors report hearing laughter, feeling small hands, and sensing a nurturing presence in parts of the cemetery, sometimes accompanied by an unexplained floral scent. Local paranormal accounts attach names to some of these figures — including a restless spirit said to be named James Fryer and child spirits — but these names appear only in informal paranormal write-ups and have not been confirmed against burial records, so they are noted here strictly as folklore rather than verified biography.
The Shadowlands seed for the site adds that the cemetery is eerily quiet despite sitting near a freeway, that items have seemed to disappear and reappear elsewhere on the grounds, and that a hot wind rises 'out of nowhere' — felt only within the cemetery — when visitors are disrespectful. These remain anecdotal, but the cemetery's restricted-access status and the Historical Society's stewardship are documented fact.
Notable Entities
The Historical Society of Pomona Valley leads guided tours of the historic Spadra Cemetery a few times each year, including around Halloween. Tours cover the pioneer families of the lost town of Spadra and the cemetery's preservation, with access otherwise restricted to protect the site from vandalism.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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