Yorba Cemetery

File:Portrait_of_Don_Bernardo_Yorba_by_an_unknown_artist.jpg, a wealthy Californio ranchero, founded the cemetery.]]

It is one of the oldest private cemeteries in the state of California.{{Cite web |last=Vanderknyff |first=Rick |date=1993-10-28 |title=Plots to Think About: Wander Through Some Local Cemeteries and Have Visions of the Past |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-28-ol-50373-story.html |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222082027/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-28-ol-50373-story.html |archive-date=2023-02-22 }} Many members of prominent Californio families such as the Yorba, de los Reyes, Peralta, Dominguez, and Navarro families are buried at the cemetery. The exact number of burials at this cemetery is unknown, but it is estimated between 120 graves (that were identified as of 1993) and up to some 600 graves.

According to local legend, a ghost referred to as "The Pink Lady" appears at the cemetery on June 15.Sources are inconsistent as to the frequency of her appearances:

• Every fourth year, according to {{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.3|title=Psychic witnesses: 'Crazies, Liars and those convinced'|first=Dave|last=Taylor|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=June 26, 1980|page=1 |via=Yorba Linda History |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130210906/http://yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.3#start |archive-date= Nov 30, 2023 }}
• Even-numbered years, according to {{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.10|title=City's sleeping spirit: Legendary Pink Lady hasn't appeared since sighted in the 1980's|first=Eric|last=Johnson|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=October 29, 1998|page=1 |via=Yorba Linda History |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130211937/http://yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.10#start |archive-date= Nov 30, 2023 }}

Some sources say that she is Alvina de los Reyes,{{cite news |last=Bailey |first=Bruce |date=June 14, 1990 |title='Pink Lady' Legend Has Roots in Fact |url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-0l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-1utfZz-8-00&a=d&cl=&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.9#start |newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|location=Yorba Linda, California|page=2 |access-date=8 June 2014 |via=Yorba Linda History |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715001755/http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-0l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-1utfZz-8-00&a=d&cl=&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.9#start |archive-date= Jul 15, 2014 }} a descendant of the Yorba family,{{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.2|title=Anybody see a Pink Lady?|first=Susan|last=Gaede|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=June 19, 1980|page=1}} and that she was killed in a buggy accident while returning from a dance at Valencia High School. There are no official reports of the ghost's appearance since the 1980s.Her appearance is documented in {{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.5|title=You need an appointment to visit 'Pink Lady'|first=Lance|last=Ignon|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=June 18, 1986|page=8}}Regarding her failure to appear on other years:

• {{cite news |last=Meier |first=Gisela |date=June 24, 1978 |title=Haunting Lady Stands up a Crowd of 200 Admirers |url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.fc#start |newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|location=Yorba Linda, California|page=2 |access-date=8 June 2014}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.4|title=Graveyard shift awaits date with 'Pink Lady': Will the Yorba Linda ghost stand them up again this year?|first=Lance|last=Ignon|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=June 11, 1986|page=5}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.7|title=Pink Lady fails to show|first=Renee|last=Wallace|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=June 23, 1988|page=4}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.8|title=Vigil for Pink Lady just a vapor of hope|first=Renee|last=Wallace|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=June 23, 1988|page=12}} Although the ghost herself has not been photographed, energy fields at the cemetery have.{{cite news|url=http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=tescol&cl=CL1&d=HASH07d520a2a8cd2648307d0b.6|title=Ghost story{{snd}}Yorba Linda style|first=Lance|last=Ignon|newspaper=Yorba Linda Star|date=December 3, 1986|page=1}}

• Yorba Hacienda

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last=Northrop|first=Marie E.|title=The Yorba Family Cemetery: California's Oldest|journal=National Genealogical Society Quarterly|date=June 1969|pages=96–103}}

• {{Official website|http://ocparks.com/historic/cemetery/}}
• {{Find a Grave cemetery}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Buildings and structures in Orange County, California

Category:Yorba Linda, California

Category:Reportedly haunted locations in California

Category:Cemeteries in Orange County, California