Turnbull Canyon: The Place of the Devil — Whittier's Canyon of Cursed Ground

Hutukngna: The Place of the Devil

Long before European colonizers arrived in California, Turnbull Canyon was a place that the indigenous Tongva people — the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin — considered spiritually significant and dangerous. The Tongva name for the canyon, Hutukngna, translates to "The Place of the Devil" — a designation that predates any of the documented tragedies that would follow by centuries. Whether the name reflected a specific event in Tongva history or an intuitive recognition of the land's character is not recorded; the Tongva oral tradition was substantially disrupted by colonization. What is documented is that the name persisted into the historical record and that the canyon's reputation has never fully recovered from it.

The Mission Era and the Deaths of the Resisting

Following the founding of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in 1771 — the nearest major Spanish mission to the canyon — Tongva and other indigenous people of the San Gabriel Valley were compelled into the mission system under conditions that historians have extensively documented as amounting to forced servitude. Those who resisted conversion to Catholicism faced severe punishment. Local historical tradition, preserved in accounts gathered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation and documented in regional historical surveys, holds that some of those who resisted and died in or near the canyon were buried there, their spirits restless under the weight of how they died. The canyon walls in local oral tradition are described as carrying the grief and anger of the colonial era.

The Asylum and the Teenager

In the early 20th century, a psychiatric facility was established in the canyon — a common practice of the era, when asylums were deliberately located in remote, isolated areas away from population centers. The facility was later abandoned, and its ruins became part of the canyon's dark geography. Local legend, consistent across multiple sources over decades, holds that a teenager died within the ruins under unexplained circumstances. The specific identity of the victim and the exact date of the incident are not established in the public record, which has led some historians to question whether the story is folklore rather than documented fact. However, the ruins themselves are real, and the site continues to attract both ghost hunters and local teenagers despite official closures.

The 1978 Pacific Southwest Airlines Crash

On September 25, 1978, Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 collided with a Cessna 172 private aircraft over the San Diego area, killing 144 people in what was at the time the deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. The crash is not associated with Turnbull Canyon directly — however, local historical accounts frequently conflate or misattribute this disaster with an actual plane crash in the vicinity of Turnbull Canyon in the 1970s that killed 29 people. The confusion between the two incidents has been a persistent feature of the canyon's legend. Both incidents are documented in aviation records, and the smaller crash near the canyon appears in contemporaneous local news accounts.

Reports of the Paranormal

Turnbull Canyon is regularly cited in Southern California paranormal investigation circles as one of the most reliably active locations in the region. Reported phenomena include: apparitions of Native American figures in traditional dress seen at dusk on the canyon trails; unexplained lights hovering above the canyon rim; the sound of children crying with no visible source; cold spots in temperatures inconsistent with the ambient conditions; and electrical equipment failures experienced by investigators. The canyon has also been the site of reported occult activity over the decades — altars, symbols, and evidence of ritual practice have been documented by both park rangers and investigators.

Access and Status

Turnbull Canyon Road is a public road that runs through the canyon and is accessible to vehicles. The surrounding hiking trails are part of the Puente Hills Preserve, managed by the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority. The ruins of the old facility are on private or restricted land. Despite this, the canyon continues to draw significant late-night traffic from visitors seeking paranormal encounters, which has led to ongoing friction with local law enforcement and land managers.