Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA 1970s–2018 big-box store built on 19th-century ranch land where a ranch hand named Johnny Johnson reportedly died — and reportedly stayed.
130 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The former Toys R Us building is now occupied by other retail; exterior only. No admission charge.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat suburban commercial lot with paved parking. El Camino Real sidewalk access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1884 · Murphy Ranch land grant — one of the original Santa Clara Valley ranchos · Johnny Johnson legend — unverified ranch hand haunting · 1978 Sylvia Browne séance, featured on That's Incredible! · One of the most nationally covered haunted commercial buildings in California
Martin Murphy Jr. arrived in California in 1844 as part of the first emigrant wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada via the Truckee route. He obtained a Mexican land grant — Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas — encompassing much of what is now Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. Murphy became one of the largest landholders in the Santa Clara Valley, operating a prosperous cattle and farming operation through the 1850s and 1860s.
The ranch's workforce included seasonal and permanent laborers. Local legend, detailed extensively in KQED coverage, centers on a man named Johnny Johnson — also rendered 'Yonny Johnson' in some accounts — who allegedly worked on the Murphy Ranch in the 1880s and suffered an unrequited infatuation with one of Martin Murphy's daughters. According to the legend, Johnson was injured by an axe while working and bled to death from the wound to his leg. No documentary evidence of Johnson has been located in census records or historical archives, and KQED reporting notes this gap explicitly.
The Toys R Us built on a portion of this land in the 1970s operated for roughly four decades. It became unusually famous for a big-box store, attracting national media coverage because of employee and customer reports of unexplained phenomena beginning shortly after the store opened. The store closed in 2018 during Toys R Us's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The building has since been repurposed for other retail tenants.
Sources
Reports of unusual activity at the Sunnyvale Toys R Us accumulated over decades. Employees described voices whispering their names in empty aisles, merchandise sliding off shelves without apparent cause, unexplained cold breezes in specific sections of the store, and bathroom faucets turning on without anyone in the room. Several accounts involved a particular doll that appeared to move on its own.
In 1978, psychic Sylvia Browne conducted a séance at the store. The event was filmed and broadcast on the syndicated television program That's Incredible!, which gave the haunting national exposure. Browne identified the entity as 'Yonny Johnson' — a ranch hand, she said, who had been in love with Martin Murphy's daughter and died of a leg wound sustained while working the ranch in the 1880s. This account became the anchor narrative for all subsequent coverage of the site.
KQED reporting from 2019 notes that Johnson cannot be confirmed in census records or historical documentation from the Murphy Ranch period, making him a legend-figure rather than a verified historical person. The séance nonetheless established the haunting as a named-entity haunting rather than simply a location with unexplained activity — and the name 'Yonny Johnson' became one of the more recognizable ghost names in Bay Area paranormal lore.
Photographers have reportedly captured orbs and anomalous light phenomena during paranormal sessions at the store over the years. The Toys R Us closed in 2018; reports of ongoing activity at the current retail tenant are not documented.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Toys R Us closed in 2018; the building has since been redeveloped for other retail tenants. Visitors come to see the site of what was once described as Silicon Valley's most famous haunted commercial space. The exterior lot and surrounding Murphy Ranch land are accessible. There is no interior access to paranormal history.
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