The Haunted Jefferson Park

Posted: 12.20.2024 | Updated: 12.20.2024

In the daytime, Jefferson Park seems like any other city park. Children are laughing as they rush down the slide while pet owners are walking their dogs around the grass. However, as soon as the sun goes down, a different entity entirely comes out to play. 

If you want a break from the hot Phoenix sun, a night tour is a great way to see a different, darker side of the Valley of the Sun. Book a ghost tour with Phoenix Ghosts to investigate the more chilling side of the city. 

Is Jefferson Park haunted?

Jefferson Park is regularly called one of the most haunted sites in all of Arizona. Curious spectral fans will hide out in the park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the female ghost who resides there. 

Many nights, they’re treated to a quick shadow passing between trees — so fast that if the observer blinks, the figure is gone. 

A cursed park 

There are a few specific locations that can seem delightful in the daytime but take on a much darker tone as soon as night falls. Museums, for example, are lovely during work hours, but the artifacts’ shadows can look a little too lifelike when the moonlight falls on them.  

Beaches are another place where you can go from relaxing in the bright, hot sun to unnerving once the water becomes too dark to see through.

However, children’s playgrounds may take the cake for how vastly their vibe changes from day to night. In the twilight hours, the faint creaking of the swings’ chains sounds more like a warning than an invitation to play. That’s definitely the case for Jefferson Park in Mesa, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. 

In the daytime, the park has plenty of amenities for neighborhood kids to enjoy. There’s a ball field to hit fly balls or play a pickup game of softball. There’s a sand volleyball court, which is no doubt used heavily by the teens in the area. Then there are the multiple playgrounds with plenty of climbing routes and slides for kids as young as toddlers and up through elementary school. 

While laughter fills the air during the height of the day, this wasn’t the case on one fateful night.

Why is Jefferson Park haunted? 

The story goes that a young woman was in Jefferson Park one night and was assaulted and killed. While this woman’s identity has been lost to the wind, it’s said that her spirit has been unable to move on since that tragic night. 

The female apparition is seen in the park many nights to this day, particularly between 11:30 pm and 12 am. Her shadowy form is seen moving from tree to tree — a mere outline of the woman she once was. One person who witnessed the ghost didn’t realize they were seeing a spirit right away. At first glance, they thought they were just watching a girl walk around the edge of the park very fast — unusually fast. 

Only then did they realize that the girl wasn’t taking steps. Instead, she was seemingly floating along the sidewalk. Even when she walked under a streetlight, the woman stayed hidden in shadows until she was obscured by a building and then vanished out of sight. 

Her screams can still be heard by the locals who live nearby, acting as a dark reminder of her last day on Earth. 

Haunted Phoenix 

The Phoenix area is known for a lot of things: desert hikes, several renowned museums, and heat so stifling hot that it will melt the glue off your side view mirror. However, it has very underrated sites where otherworldly phenomena have also been seen.

There’s Hotel San Carlos, where, just weeks after its grand opening in 1928, a young woman jumped from the seventh floor and died as she hit the street below. Her spirit is still seen lingering around the guest rooms.  

Then, the Orpheum Theatre has two regular ghosts who haunt its stage and seats: a small child named Mary, who often attends performances in a dress with her hair in pigtails, and a masked ghost who has an eerier presence as he watches the shows. Finally, The Rosson House was ground zero for the heinous murder of a caretaker of the property. He still remains close, refusing to give up his duties around the place. 

If you’d like to see this haunted side of Phoenix once the sun has gone down, schedule a ghost tour with Phoenix Ghosts. Who knows what you’ll encounter on your evening stroll through the city? 

The United States is full of unknown or underrated cryptic sites. If you want to continue to learn about other phantoms and haunted areas around the United States, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. To discover more spooky spots around Arizona, be sure to read our blog.

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