Panteón de San Isidro — the children's cemetery of Azcapotzalco, Mexico City

The Panteón de San Isidro in the Azcapotzalco borough of Mexico City is a cemetery exclusively for children — one of the most emotionally charged burial grounds in the capital. The cemetery, where only children are interred, is reportedly haunted by the spirits of the young dead who manifest as an intelligent haunting. Cemetery workers and visitors describe hearing children's laughter and singing from among the graves, seeing small figures running between the headstones, and finding toys left at the graves being moved to different locations. Some visitors describe feeling a small hand slip into theirs as they walk through the cemetery. The haunting is generally described as joyful rather than frightening — the children's spirits seem to be playing rather than suffering. In Mexican culture, where Día de los Muertos traditions celebrate the return of the dead with music, food, and flowers, a cemetery of happy ghost children is not as paradoxical as it might seem in other cultures. The concept of 'angelitos' — innocent children who go directly to heaven — means the young dead are not feared but pitied and loved. The Panteón de San Isidro represents this aspect of Mexican death culture at its most tender.