Mission La Purísima

Founded on December 8, 1787, Mission La Purísima Concepción was rebuilt at its present site after the 1812 earthquake destroyed the original, and it is today the most completely restored of California's twenty-one missions, a state historic park returned to its 1820s appearance through Civilian Conservation Corps reconstruction in the 1930s. Father Mariano Payéras, who led the mission for nearly two decades, died there in 1823 and is buried beneath the church altar; his tomb was uncovered during the 1936 rebuilding. Volunteer docents have described a neatly made bed in locked padres' quarters found disturbed as if someone had slept in it, being pushed from behind when no one was there, and chanting heard in the early morning, and visiting investigators have reported cold spots throughout the church. The mission was the subject of a 2009 Ghost Adventures episode.