Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainEstablished in 1909 by Mexican American farm laborers who formed a mutual aid society to secure burial rights during the era of segregated cemeteries; nearby residents have reported the sound of babies crying from within the grounds for generations.
630 N LBJ Dr, San Marcos, TX 78666
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Community cemetery open to respectful visitors. No admission or fee.
Access
Limited Access
Uneven cemetery grounds with grass and gravel. Many headstones are damaged or missing.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1909 · Founded 1909 by Mexican American community in response to segregated burial practices · Established by mutual aid society with over 300 members by 1915 · Independently managed community cemetery not City-owned · Documented in Texas State University historical survey
In May 1909, a group of Mexican American farm laborers in San Marcos organized a mutual aid society specifically to establish a place to bury their dead. The founding is documented in historical records preserved and published by a Texas State University class that studied the cemetery's history. Pedro Carrillo, for whom the cemetery is named, led the founding effort alongside Antonio Sanchez, who became the first president of the society.
The context was segregation. In Hays County in 1909, cemeteries were racially segregated, and the founding families — most of them agricultural workers from the surrounding area — had no access to the established local burial grounds. The mutual aid society charged one dollar annually in dues, using the proceeds for cemetery maintenance and to assist members' families who could not afford burial costs. By 1915 the organization had grown to more than 300 members.
Among the documented founding figures was Luis Rosales, a farmer and founding member, and Jose Valdez, who farmed in the Center Point area before his death in 1905 — before the cemetery's formal establishment, suggesting the community need long predated the 1909 founding.
The cemetery has suffered vandalism over its history, leaving many headstones damaged or missing. It is not owned or maintained by the City of San Marcos; it operates through a community organization currently co-chaired by Tirso Torres, Toribio Torres, and Ireneo Torres Jr. The site was documented in a historical markers project and represents a significant record of Mexican American community history in Central Texas.
Sources
San Pedro Cemetery's ghost reputation is simple and locally specific: residents who live near the grounds have long reported hearing babies crying from within the cemetery. The sounds are described as faint and intermittent, coming from the direction of the burial grounds at odd hours. This report has circulated long enough that the cemetery acquired the informal local name 'Cry Baby Cemetery' — a designation documented in the Visit San Marcos tourism office's official listing of San Marcos ghost legends.
The folklore attaches the sounds to a baby allegedly buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the grounds, though no specific historical incident or identified burial has been publicly documented in connection with the story. The tale should be read as community folklore layered onto a cemetery with significant historical weight rather than as a documented paranormal incident.
Additional accounts describe vehicles stalling at the entrance to the cemetery before eventually restarting — a roadside-ghost motif common to Texas cemetery folklore more broadly. These accounts have not been independently verified.
Given the cemetery's founding history — established by a community denied access to segregated burial grounds — the site carries a gravity that is entirely historical and does not require supernatural framing. Visitors drawn by the ghost legend should be aware they are entering an active community cemetery with considerable cultural importance to San Marcos's Mexican American families.
San Pedro Cemetery is an independently managed community cemetery not operated by the City of San Marcos. Visits should be undertaken with full respect for the families who continue to maintain and use the grounds. The cemetery's historical significance as a Mexican American community burial site established in response to segregation-era restrictions is the primary point of interest.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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Aerial survey · USDA NAIPLlano, TX
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