The original Vallecito Stage Station was built about 1851.
Not only is the Vallecito Stage Station, in San Diego County, a California Historic Landmark, but it is also reportedly haunted.
Located on the west side of the forbidding Colorado Desert, the name “Vallecito” means “Little Valley,” which dates back to the Spaniards’ exploration of this vast land. The valley, with its natural springs and grasslands, was a welcome relief to travelers after crossing the desert, which they called “The Journey of Death.”
The valley was originally Indian land called “Hawi.” The first European to visit it was the Spanish Captain Pedro Fages in 1781.
The road through the valley was the only wagon road into southern California, and during California’s Gold Rush, thousands of prospectors passed through Vallecito, refreshing themselves and their animals.
In about 1851, a pioneer named James R. Lassiter saw an opportunity in the valley and established a store and campground to accommodate the many emigrants. His home and outbuildings were made of sod cut from the plentiful ciénega (saltgrass). Soon, other pioneers built homes and businesses in the valley to serve the many travelers.
In 1854, Samuel Warnock and Joseph Swycaffer implemented the first regular mail route in southern California. The semi-weekly horseback delivery between San Diego and Yuma, Arizona, made Vallecito a regular stop along its route. In the fall of 1857, the nation received its first overland Atlantic to Pacific mail service when James E. Birch’s San Diego-San Antonio mail began operation. The forerunner of the Pony Express and the northern stage lines, it was known as the “Great Southern Overland,” but more familiarly called The Jackass Mail.
In addition to being a regular mail stop, it became an important resting place for Army detachments traveling to and from California. In 1858, it was made one of the famous Butterfield Overland Stage Route stops, which traveled between Missouri and San Francisco. With the new passenger service, Vallecito became prominent as hundreds of travelers used the valley as a resting place.
Though a welcome relief after days of exhausting travel through the desert, the stage station also had its dark side. Like numerous other places of the Old West, the station was witness to murder, robberies, and daily human miseries.
It is from this darker side that the station allegedly became haunted by the spirits of those who had met their death there — natural or otherwise.
One of the ghostly tales is the specter of the White Horse of Vallecito, which allegedly began with a stage robbery long ago. When the stage was traveling to Vallecito Station, four men on horseback held it up just before it reached Carrizo Wash. With guns pointed at the stage, the driver gave up a box containing some $65,000, and the bandits immediately fled.
However, as they were fleeing, the stage driver fired one shot, hitting one of the bandits. Once the rest of the robbers were gone, he carefully approached the man he had shot and was surprised to find not one but two dead bandits. The driver concluded that the gang leader had perhaps shot one of his men to keep a more significant percentage of the loot.
Stagecoach with a guard sitting on top, protecting whatever wealth it might have been carrying.
The two remaining bandits rode towards Vallecito Station, stopping somewhere in between to bury their ill-gotten gains.
When they arrived at the stage station, they stopped for food and drink and, while there, began to argue. According to the tale, the bandit leader excused himself momentarily, promising to continue the discussion when he returned. A few moments later, he rode through the doorway mounted on his big white stallion and shot the other bandit. However, as the wounded man returned fire and the leader fell dead from his horse. Spooked by the blasts of the guns, the white horse ran through the door and out into the nearby hills.
Today, it is said that the ghost of the White Horse continues to roam the hills near where the bandits have buried their loot. Usually appearing around midnight, the White Horse seemingly appears out of nowhere before galloping through the sand and disappearing again.
Two more ghosts who are said to lurk about the old stage station are two old Texas emigrants named Buck and Roland, who were allegedly both killed in a duel with each other.
In the Carrizo Wash area, a phantom stagecoach has been spied on numerous times over the last century. Pulled by four mules, the ghostly stage lumbers along the old Butterfield Stage Road carrying no passengers but driven by a spectral figure.
According to the legend, the stage traveled from El Paso, Texas, to San Diego with a box of gold coins in the 1860s. In addition to the driver, the stage also carried a guard to protect the money. However, when the stage reached Yuma, Arizona, the guard fell ill, and the driver continued without him. Somewhere in the area of Carrizo Wash, between the Fish and Coyote Mountains, the stage was held up by bandits, who killed the stage driver and fled with the box of gold. After the robbery, the stage, along with its dead driver, continued toward Vallecito Station before disappearing, never to be seen again.
Since then, the phantom stage is said to have continued its journey on moonlit nights, briefly hesitating at the site of the old Carrizo Station before continuing on its way and out of sight. The following day, the prints of wagon wheels and horses can be seen in the sand.
Vallecito’s most “famous” ghost is that of the “White Lady of Vallecito.” When she arrived on the Butterfield Stage, she had taken ill sometime in the late 1850s and had to be carried into the station. From somewhere back east, she was on her way to Sacramento, where her fiancé had struck it rich in the Sierra goldfields. Young and frail, her name was Eileen O’Conner, and she was taken to a bed in the back of the station and cared for over the next two days. Despite the best attempts of those tending to her, she died. When the station staff went through her traveling trunk, they found her white wedding dress in which they dressed her and buried her in an unmarked grave. But evidently, she was not ready to “go,” as almost from the beginning, people have said that she paces restlessly about the old station site, waiting for the stage to take her to Sacramento. Today, her grave and two others are in a small cemetery (Campo Santo) near the old stage station.
Another anomaly of the area is strange balls of light seen on Oriflamme Mountain, just north of the Vallecito Station. On dark nights, numerous people have reported seeing mysterious “ghost lights” that bob over the slopes of Oriflamme (“French for golden flame”) Mountain. The first recorded account of the ghostly balls was reported in 1858 by a Butterfield Stage driver. After that first report, more came in from soldiers, prospectors, and explorers traveling in the area. They were seen near Oriflamme Mountain, over Borrego Valley, and other nearby areas. In the 1880s, travelers said the “burning balls” were so bright that they lit the night sky like fireworks over the Vallecito Mountains.
Vallecito Station today.
The old stage station has been preserved in the Vallecito Regional Park in San Diego County, maintaining its history and legends. The present building, built in 1934, is a reconstruction of the original Vallecito Stage Station. In addition to preserving history, the park offers modern-day campers and picnickers a quiet place to enjoy the desert. The park is located on County Road S-2, about four miles northwest of Agua Caliente Springs.
The park is open from Labor Day weekend through the last week of May and is closed during the summer months.
Contact Information:
Vallecito Stage Station
37349 County Route S-2
858-565-3600
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2025.
Also See:
Death Valley Ghost Towns & Mines
See Sources.