Mountain View Cemetery may have been Vancouver’s first official cemetery when it opened in 1886, but Stanley Park was first.
Bodies had been buried on Deadman’s Island in Coal Harbour for thousands of years, and those who didn’t want their relatives interred alongside the socially undesirable, the diseased or unchristened, moved their burials further into Stanley Park.
This story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
The Pioneer Cemetery:
“Its very association with the First Nations and Chinese immigrants thus designated Deadman’s Island as a resting place for the pagan, the unchristened, and the socially and culturally anathematized,” says local historian Maurice Guibord.
The stretch of land from Brockton Point Lighthouse to the Nine O’Clock Gun had always been a burial ground for the Indigenous people who lived there, but as Gastown was settled it also became an alternative burial ground known as the Pioneer Cemetery.
Chinese burials:
Chinese people were initially buried there, but for most, it was only temporarily. The custom was to return the bones to China eventually, so the graves were shallow to allow for faster decomposition and to facilitate exhumation. Once the body had turned to bones, they were dug up by bone collectors, cleaned, packaged and returned to China. Failure to do this was said to create po—homeless and malevolent ghosts who stuck around and haunted living relatives.
Maurice believes that there are up to 200 bodies still buried there along the peninsula, including the remains of settlers, some Chinese people and the indigenous people who had abandoned the custom of above-ground burials.
Unmarked graves:
The graves weren’t officially marked and the burials weren’t recorded, so when the perimeter road was built around the park in the late 1880s, the bodies were just paved over. “They are buried under the road, under the trees, under the bike path and the walkway. They are all through there,” says Maurice.
Something to think about the next time you’re sitting in the car park or taking a walk along the Seawall.
For more ghostly stories check out these podcast episodes:
S1 E9 Three Ghost Stories and a Murder
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35 comments on “The Lost Cemetery of Stanley Park”
My imagination has always had bodies buried in the park as a result of criminal activity. Maybe even some cash or illicit treasure buried in the park. It isnt surprising at all to find out that bodies are buried in the park. Are their any plaques or monuments to acknowledge the dead buried in the park or at the naval reserve?
I would also imagine that many peoples ashes have been scattered throughout the park.
There is a small display board just before the Nine O’Clock gun. There was a smaller one plaque by Brocton Point (which might have been removed pre 2010 Olympics.) Eve, where could we get the names of the deceased and information regarding who they were? I have always wondered this. I get an eerie feeling when I have gone into the woods adjacent to the street in that area.
Sadly, if there were ever any markers on these graves my best guess is that they are now long gone.
Eve, How about the area of “Forest Grove” on Burnaby Mountain? I heard this use to be called Vancouver Cemetery in the early 1960’s, prisoners from Oakalla and the B.C. Pen, were buried there and only some bodies were exhumed.
Thanks Mary, sounds like a good story to look into!
Thanks for the fascinating history of our City,I have lived here for years and had no idea about this,only rumors. I hope people will have a bit more respect for when they walk through this area because no matter what the deceased where once living and we just don’t know what the circumstances of why they got interned there,so let’s give them the respect due,not everyone there was a bad person. Again thanks for sharing this regards Scott.
I had no idea that bodies were buried in the park. I think bodies were buried in other areas of the park, by the criminal element. There are several buildings that go back 100 years or so in the park. There are probably some ghost stories from people visiting or living near our beautiful Stanley Park.
Yes! I’ve experienced seeing Ghosts. It was about 1989 I would see an older woman and gentleman appear out of no where ask a question then disappear. Or they walk by you and smiling.
Very interesting, thanks. Hoping Eve looks into North Shore history too. There was a landfill in the city of West Vancouver at one time. So much history here too.
Hi Brad: I have a section of my book Vancouver Exposed devoted to North Vancouver history!
Deadman’s Island was used for millennia by the First Nations for their deceased, uusually wrapped in blankets or place in boxes, and left in the tree branches. Those were visible to the early residents of Gastown.
When Mountainview Cemetery was opened in 1887, many of the settlers’ remains were moved to the new cemetery, but many were left behind. The cemetery refused the remains of Chinese at that point, so they remained in Stanley Park until they were returned to the deceased’s home village for reburial.
When I was working at the Vancouver Museum in the 1990s, I wrote the Haunted Vancouver tours. I did not find any references to ghosts or spirits in the park. But then, personal experiences are not always recorded. Local First Nations would also most assuredly have had tales of spirits of their departed linked to the park.
Great article.
Thank you!
thanks for such interesting info Eve. this forgotten history is fascinating barry Markle
I love your books ,have read some of them and them very informative
Thanks so much John, so glad you enjoyed them!
Love reading everything you have written Eve! Always very interesting and informative.
That’s so nice of you to say so – thank you!
When I was young I was a Navy League Wrennet on Deadman’s Island. no one would take out the garbage for fear of the ghosts that we had heard about! Early 60s
That is a very cool story, I have read about Deadman’s Island and its hauntings but I had never heard of the burials in that area of the park. I will definitely add this one to my Vancouver History Folder.
Good article. I too have enjoyed your writing. Also your articles have helped me discover many fine photos at the Vancouver Archive.
So happy to hear that! Thanks for dropping by
You write the most Interesting stories. I was born in Vancouver and have not heard of many.
Thanks so much, glad you’re enjoying the blog!
Could I have have a list /titles of the books you’ve written please? Also the price and how to get them? I’d rather have fact than fiction on the character side of Vancouver. Thank you.
Hi Lorraine – they are all listed here: https://evelazarus.com/books/ Just shoot me an email at eve@evelazarus.com with the one(s) you’re interested in and I can give you the price and how to get them. Thanks for asking! Eve
Was there not a man buried in the sea wall also that helped to build it. I remember reading about some guy who put the stones in the wall, and when he died they put him inside the wall.
Yes, Jimmy Cunningham! There’s a bit about him here: https://evelazarus.com/james-cunningham-seawall-race/
The indigenous graves “just left Unmarked” and paved over is actually forceful through colonialism. That’s a nice way of narrating the fact that we still actively had our villages in so called “Stanley park” when our beloved deceased bones were forcefully paved over for white tourists and “pioneers” aka land theft. It’s called oppression. Read up on conversations with August Jack Khatsalano about how Squamish members being forced out of the areas that are now overthrown by the so called elite. You simply say “first nations”. Why not research and state it is unceded Squamish, Musqueam, and tsleil waututh lands. There’s a lot more … it’s a horrible history of forcing our nations out of these lands and it was not that we lazily didn’t make graves….. we never abandoned the so called park we were forced through the Indian act and colonial laws to be forbidden from actively being present in our rightful lands 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
Thank you for filling in more of the history of the area, and you are quite right, but it wasn’t just Indigenous graves that were treated so disrespectfully. There were also Chinese and white settler graves there as well. For more information on Indigenous history please see Jean Barman’s excellent book Stanley Park’s Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch, and Brockton Point
Hi Eve,
Research on the Chinese burial removals at New West Secondary by archaeologists indicated that many of the historical removals left smaller skeletal elements of the bones and feet, and the like.
I would suspect that any such removals in BC would have left similar bones.
Apparently, if the individual had not contributed to the exhumation and transport fund back to China, they were left in the ground.
The roadway and grassy slope down to the seawall may still contain human remains from early Vancouver’s multicultural population, as well as the ~ 200 (estimated) unmarked graves back in the forest.
This would have made a great late October story. One can only imagine how many missing are in that park. Esp before the causeway.
I always thought Deadmans Is would have made for an amazing city hall location. The fact no one is allowed on it pains me as whats there now is not needed. I see Rikers Is in NYC is being developed. Deadmans should be returned to the park not the military.
I hope no one starts digging where the dots are looking for buried treasure! Just a thought.
Stanley Park is owned by the Federal gov’t and leases it to the city. Similarly, the beach to the high water mark is Port Authority land. Just to be clear.
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