Hornitos

If you want a dash of supernatural, you can take a trip to Hornitos, a small town in the foothills of Mariposa which many say is haunted.

Although fewer than 50 people live there today, in the mid-1800s, Hornitos was a bustling mining town.

Rich with gold and outlaws such as Joaquin Murrieta, the town saw its fair share of crime. Ruins from its heyday still stand, serving as a reminder of what once was.

“I think it’s haunted, everybody that lives here thinks it’s haunted,” said Lisa Downey, a Mariposa resident. “Other people probably think it’s haunted too, but it is haunted. It really is haunted.”

Legend says that Hornitos was named after the early graves that populated the town, thought to resemble small ovens, or hornitas, in Spanish.

People will be paying tribute to these and other graves on Dia de los Muertos with a candlelit procession to the Catholic church.