List of reportedly haunted locations in La Candelaria

Bogotá's old city, La Candelaria is a neighborhood famous not only for its old architecture and rich history, but also because of its highly reputation for being haunted.^[1]

Casa Sámano Museum

Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History

Chorro de Quevedo Square

Ermita de San Miguel del Príncipe

• The ghost of a headless black dog haunts a street, named Calle de la Cara del Perro, after him. ^[2]
• On the corner of Calle de La Esperanza and Calle de La Parra sits a house where legends say horrifying satanic rites took place in. In 1999, a local newspaper reported a security guard found a two-meter tall white human shape on the patio, when he was there alone.^[3]
• Calle de la Peña: An old manor in this street has a terrible reputation. Apparently there's a ghost in the patio that had cursed the existence of everyone who has the misfortune to see it. Legend says that even Simon Bolívar got to see it when he was escaping from a complot to kill him. The husband of the actual owner hung up himself after some encounters with the infamous ghost; he left a note to his wife revealing the horrible secret of the ghost, but the wife refuses to reveal it.^[4]
• Calle del Panteón tells the legend of a young lady who appeared in front of gentlemen and asked for some companion so she would get to her home, in this street, safely. The next morning, when the unfortunate gentlemen were back to collect their belongings left in the house, they found the house abandoned, filled with human remains and coffins.^[2]
• Calle del Sol: Built in 1917 as a lodge for a religious community, but became the headquarters for the Colombian Intelligence Service (now DAS) in 1945,^[5] which was used to incarcerate and torture prisoners during La Violencia. Now an apartment complex, some residents report hearing screams, moans, laughs, punches and whippings, preceded by lights and strange fogs.^[6] Some workers of a restaurant, located in the dungeon, report toilets flushing by themselves, things changing position on their own, and an invisible force in the kitchen area which pats workers on their backs. Supposedly these are the souls of those who were tortured, or perhaps a witch who was the mother of one of those prisoners.^[7]
• The house where El Cuervo de Cartón Bar used to be located, behind Monserrate Buildings, from where have been reports of a jealous ghost who likes to pad on girls' backs.^[8]
• The Casa Sámano Museum used to belong to Juan Sámano, Viceroy of New Granada. Probably one of the most hated figures of Colombian history; in life he used to spit, step on and kick those he did not like, which he has continued doing in the afterlife.^[6] Surveillance have felt steps on the second floor and doors which appear to open by themselves.^[9]
• A treasure is rumouredly hidden in Chorro de Quevedo Square and is protected by the ghost of Jesús Torrado, a Spanish marshall who stole goods from fusilladed patriots and got killed because of it, after the Battle of Boyacá. Jesús uses to roam around the streets of La Candelaria.^[10]

Gilberto Alzate Foundation

La Concepción Church

Las Aguas Cloister

Sanz de Santamaría House

• The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History headquarters harbor a couple whose romance seems to perdure even after life. They used to drink coffee on one of the house's balconies. When the wife died, the husband resisted to bury her, instead he embalmed her with the idea of still enjoying her company during his coffee time. People on the street sometimes catch the shadows of the couple in the balcony.^[11]
• The house which hosted the former Corporación La Candelaria is also the house of a couple of twin ghost kids who like to play around the central fountain of the house. Not being enough, a headless vigilant, who was murdered under strange circumstances, makes himself present, hiding the space where his head used to be under his ruana.^[2]
• The Ermita de San Miguel del Príncipe on the south corner of Chorro de Quevedo Square, where each October 3, an entity comes out from this church, takes a little walk before pulling off its sword, and then comes back to the church.^[12] Local stories say this is the spirit of a Spanish soldier who was called for a duel but committed suicide before the duel after having a heartbreak, so he's condemned eternally to look for his counterpart.^[10]
• The Errant Mule whose legend tells it haunts the 6th Street and gallops without a horseman. Some say it's the spirit of a woman who got murdered on that street and used to wear a wasted pair of horseshoes.^[13]
• The Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation is reported to be haunted by the ghost of Viceroy José Manuel de Ezpeleta, nicknamed "The Green Jacket Ghost". Legend says the ghost used to knock three times on a wall on the second floor and then disappear.^[6][14]
• Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos House: House of a famous painter during colonial times, whose ghost appears in the basement and the patio, wearing a long black cape.^[6]
• The José Caicedo Rojas House, also known as The Goblin's Mansion, is haunted by a goblin named Baltazar. Some people say the goblin is the spirit of a newborn, who was thrown into the patio's well by his single mother, afraid of being burned at the stake under the laws of the Holy Office,^[3] while others claim that Baltazar was a dwarf who was an ilegitimate son of an infanta and was brought to the Americas as a form to protect the royal family from a scandal, living all his life inside the mansion.^[10] The goblin is said to be well manered with women but to scare away every men who has the misfortune to get on its way.^[12]
• The José Maria Cordovez House hosts a ghost in each floor. The ground floor is haunted by a woman that tends to make a mess at nights, moving kitchen items, hitting doors and crunching the wood that divides the plants. On the second floor, there is a man who screams for help, even to the point to call for his mother; sometimes he has been seen smoking on corridors and restrooms.^[11]
• The José Raimundo Russi House is where Manuelito Ferro was murdered in front of, with Russi being charged for the crime. Some neighbors have said they hear the screams of Ferro and the sound of his stabbings.^[3][6]
• The Juan Montúfar House has been a boarding house since colonial times, and is still run by Montúfar descendants. Students who have lived in the house have felt presences, steps in the middle of the night, and temperatures drastically dropping.^[3]
• The streets around the campus of La Salle University host the spectre of a vengeful woman who was rejected by a Spanish priest.^[3]
• One block north from La Salle University, in front of El Ventorrillo, there is a house complex where violent deaths took place. People talk about finding human bones and listening children with no explanation.^[12]
• Under the main altar of La Concepción Church, three knocks are heard everytime a nun is about to die.^[2]
• La Quinta Porra Theater, known before as El Local Theater, is told to be haunted by theater company which worked there when it was named El Local. It´s said to be playful entity that hides things, plays with the theater´s lights and closes the door pins, forcing the company to get in the house by the roof.^[15]
• Las Aguas Cloister: A building occupied by Artesanias de Colombia is a former convent where people claim to hear noises and see shadows in the south-eastern patio, which the nuns used as a burial place.^[14]
• Manuelita Sáenz House: The ghost of the owner, recognized by her beautiful black long hair and manly fashion, has been seen leaping from the balcony, making her way to Liévano Palace.^[16]
• Palomar del Príncipe Park is haunted by a blonde blue-eyed boy, who used to feed the doves 300 years ago, and who now appears at dawn. A legend says that those who are cruel to the doves will be tormented by the soul of the boy.^[6]
• The Rosa Florida House is haunted by General Sardá, who was loyal to Simón Bolívar, and who manifests himself with the sound of his boots stepping on the sidewalks.^[6]
• San Paolo di Torino Hotel: History talks about the impossibility of having a proper place of burial since in Bogotá there were no cemeteries for some centuries, so people had to bury their family members in their home gardens. In this hotel some human remains have been discovered, which could explain the strange phenomena that some guests have felt.^[17]
• The Sanz de Santamaría House is haunted by the spirit of a priest who had his head smashed after rumouredly reported some patriots to be fusilladed by royal forces.^[10] Here you could also hear the legend of La Emparedada (the Walled Girl), a housemaid that turned on the rage of her employer when she blamed her for capturing the attention from her husband; when the employer could not easily get rid of her, the only choice she found was to wall her (not without a proper torture before) and leave her to breath by a small hole through the wall, which eventually kill her. Her ghost is still in the wall.^[17]
• The Silva Poetry House is where the famous poet José Asunción Silva committed suicide, shooting himself in the heart, in 1896. Visitors experience a feeling of sadness when they enter the house; moans and whispers are heard at night and dawn.^[6]

References

1. Instituto Distrital de Cultura y Turismo, ed. (2006). "La ciudad de los fantasmas". Retrieved 3 February 2013.
2. Ingrid Mora (2000). El Tiempo, ed. "LAS CASAS DEL HORROR (In Spanish)".
3. Stella Monsalve Gaitán (2008). "FANTASMAS DE LA CANDELARIA (In Spanish)" (PDF). Retrieved 29 March 2014.
4. "El ‘fantasma’ de la vieja casona (In Spanish)". El Periódico de Bogotá. 2011.
5. "Edificio Calle del Sol". Retrieved 15 April 2014.
6. El Espectador, ed. (2002). "Los 8 fantasmas de la Candelaria". Retrieved 15 April 2014.
7. Metrocuadrado.com (ed.). "Tres de los lugares más tenebrosos de Bogotá (In Spanish)". Retrieved 29 March 2014.
8. Luisa Fernanda Ramírez (2000). El Tiempo, ed. "EL BAR DEL FANTASMA RUMBERO (In Spanish)".
9. City Noticias. "SUPUESTO FANTASMA SE APARECE EN EL MUSEO CASA SAMANO (In Spanish)". Retrieved 15 April 2014.
10. Roberto Tovar Gaitán (1988). Colombia Oculta, ed. "Fantasmas de La Candelaria: Mitos y Leyendas de Santa Fe de Bogotá".
11. "Casas embrujadas de La Candelaria (In Spanish)". 2006. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
12. Plan B (2013). Youtube, ed. "Recorrido paranormal por las calles de La Candelaria. Especial la ciudad del terror".
13. Lamudi, ed. (2014). "El top 5 de La Candelaria embrujada (In Spanish)".
14. Gloria Helena Rey (2005). El Tiempo, ed. "ESPANTOS CAPITALINOS (In Spanish)". Retrieved 15 April 2014.
15. Semana, ed. (2007). "Que nadie olvide a 'La siempreviva' (In Spanish)".
16. Uncover Colombia, ed. (2014). "Day of the Dead: Ghostly Apparitions in Bogota’s La Candelaria".
17. Claudia Castañeda (2013). The City Paper, ed. "La Candelaria, haunted".