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Turnbull Canyon Haunts

Turnbull Canyon Haunts

Leslie Veliz
Los Angeles

Turnbull Canyon is less known for its spectacular city views and more for its macabre past. This past weekend, my friend Alma and I explored the canyon and the surrounding Hadley Greenleaf historical neighborhood.

Though I do traverse much of Los Angeles and its diverse neighborhoods, this was only my second time in Whittier. Nonetheless, I am completely charmed by its small-town feel and historical homes.

Whittier is home to Turnbull Canyon, a notorious nature preserve that has been the sight of several f***** up things. Let’s talk about it!

Welcome sign at the entrance of the canyon

First and foremost, the canyon has a reputation, so it was not difficult to dig up some first on it. In doing research, I came upon several legends that mention satanic rituals, KKK gatherings, and even an old mental asylum. None of these, however, have any real proof to corroborate them. Regardless, the truth is Turnbull Canyon is surrounded by tragedy.

All of my sources for the events I will be talking about will be listed at the very bottom of this article.

  • Turnbull Canyon was named after a murdered man:

    Robert Turnbull was a Scottish immigrant and shepherd who immigrated to California to make money in real estate. He ended up buying the canyon because he thought it was a good place to raise sheep.

    He gained a reputation for being the town drunk and was overall, a messy figure. Quakers wanted Turnbull’s land but he refused to sell it to them for years until they presented him with a very high offer. He accepted and shortly after, he was murdered under mysterious circumstances in 1888.

    Someone had severely beaten him up while he was drunk. As far as my research shows, the police never figured out who did it. To honor him, the quaker’s named the land after him and Turnbull Canyon was born.

  • The crash of flight 416

    Often regarded as a legend, an airplane crash did happen in Turnbull Canyon. In 1952, flight 416, which left New York City and was headed to Los Angeles, crashed into the canyon. All 29 passengers died.

    It’s believed the captain of the plane flew below the suggested altitude due to thick fog. This, however, caused one of the wings to scrape the canyon and lose control. The fog was so bad that locals didn’t even know a plane had crashed until hours later when they saw smoke coming from the hills.

  • Murder & mayhem

    In 2002, 17-year-old Gloria Gaxiola was shot in the head and killed on Turnbull Canyon road. Three men, who were thought to be her friends, were eventually arrested in 2008. They believed Gaxiola would implicate them in a robbery they had committed. They all were later convicted of her murder.

  • In 2009, Christine Martinez, a young woman from Bellflower, was attacked by friends and left for dead at Turnbull Canyon. They beat her up, slashed her throat, and jammed needles into her before they threw her into a ravine. Miraculously, she made her way out of the canyon and knocked on an elderly woman’s door for help. She survived her ordeal and the two men who attacked her were later convicted of their crimes.

  • In 2011, a man shot his girlfriend in the head and dumped her body in Turnbull Canyon. He fled to Mexico and was not convicted of her death until 6 years later.

Final thoughts:

Do I think Turnbull Canyon is haunted? Eh, I’m not really sure but I can’t deny that it’s definitely seen some sh**. That being said, I was taken aback by how eerie the canyon felt. Alma and I only hiked it briefly but its silence and fall foliage was haunting in its self.

Know before you go:

  • Turnbull Canyon is located at Turnbull Canyon Rd in Whittier, CA

  • There is no parking at the canyon entrance and the surrounding neighborhood is ALL permit parking

  • We parked at 13122 Hadley St, a public lot

  • Keep in mind you will have to walk around 10 minutes to get to the entrance of Turnbull Canyon from here but the parking is free and we did not get a ticket (we were parked for about 2 hours)

  • There are no bathrooms and I peed behind a tree (you gotta do what you gotta do)

To learn more about its tainted history, I recommend this episode (embedded below) from one of my favorite spooky podcasts, Morbid.

To check out another one of my spooky hikes, click here.

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