Abandoned Cemetery: Purissima in Half Moon Bay

The town of Purissima was founded around 1860 and is located four miles south of Half Moon Bay. On September 15, 1868, prominent resident John Purcell deeded some of his property to the citizens of Purissima for a burial ground and the Purissima Cemetery was created with free burials to be provided to Purissima residents… By the 1930’s, the town of Purissima was abandoned. Other than an old schoolhouse and a cemetery and creek tucked away in the brush, there is no evidence of activity in this nestled away forgotten city of San Mateo County. No one is 100% sure as to what lead up Purissima into ghost town status; it is theorized to be a mix of difficulty in farming (it was too far out of the way) and the majority of prominent citizens all passing away around the same time period.

This cemetery is extremely difficult to find. Parts of the cemetery offer beautiful ocean views but the cemetery has been swallowed up by weeds, trees and poison oak and snakes and therefore dangerous to navigate through. In recent years, Purissima has been the focus of much attention, particularly “ghost hunting” groups. Perhaps this has something to do with the tale of the cemetery's first interment, a boy (whose name is recorded only as Downing) who reportedly fell ill and was buried alive. According to legend boy was only unconscious; the boy's distraught father opened the grave to put his doubts to rest and was horrified to see his son had turned over. What a frightening tale, be it fact or fiction; between stories such as this and the look of old abandoned cemeteries in general, its easy to surmise what keeps these ghostly tales going.

The cemetery itself contains many burials, including family plots. Many headstones are detached from the base; some of them lay in large chunks near a grave, and others have entirely disappeared. Whether missing or broken headstones are the work of vandals, or possibly the work of family members who wanted to salvage them for safekeeping, is unclear. I have no idea why a historical society has yet to jump in and organize a clean up of this lovely forgotten piece of history; I was told Purissima is left alone on purpose to detract vandals from causing further damage.

Photograph Copyright © 2005, Dayna Chalif