Nine Young Ghost Hunters Rescued From a Chapultepec Ravine While Searching for the 'House of Aunt Toña'

MEXICO CITY (night of Sept. 26–27, 2026) — At about 11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, one of nine young people lost in the dark in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Forest called for help. They had gone into the woods to look for a house. They were brought out about an hour and a half later. By one news agency’s account, one of them had been stuck in a cave at the bottom of a ravine.

The house they were looking for may not exist, at least not in the form the legend describes. It’s known as La Casa de la Tía Toña, the House of Aunt Toña. For years it has drawn curious visitors into some of the most rugged parts of the forest, according to Infobae México.

✓ What we know

On the record: documents, statements, dates and places. Sources below.

• The call. According to a Sept. 29, 2026, report by Infobae México citing an information card from Mexico City’s Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC), one of the group called the C2 Poniente command and control center. He said he was with eight other people and that they couldn’t find their way out of the wooded area. Need To Know, a British news agency, put the call at around 11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26.
• The place. The group called for help from near Circuito Joaquín Clausell and Calle 10 in the Third Section of the Bosque de Chapultepec, in the Miguel Hidalgo borough, Infobae reported. SSC officers went to the spot and made contact with the caller, which let them narrow down where the group was.
• The rescue. SSC police and firefighters found the group and guided them to safety, Infobae reported. According to Need To Know, rescuers used ropes and specialist mountain equipment to go down into a ravine about 65 feet (20 meters) deep. The agency reported that one of the group had become trapped in a cave while the others tried to find a way out, and that the operation ended at around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27.
• No injuries. All nine, aged 17 to 20, came out unhurt, and none needed medical care, according to Infobae and Need To Know.
• Why they were there. After the rescue, Infobae reported, it emerged that the group had gone into the forest looking for the Casa de la Tía Toña. Coast to Coast AM picked up the story on Sept. 30, 2026.

? What’s claimed

Accounts, testimony and theories, as told by the people who tell them.

The legend comes in several versions, which Infobae summarized on Sept. 29:

• The widow. The house is said to have belonged to the widow of a wealthy merchant. After her husband’s death, the story goes, she inherited his fortune and the house and took in children who were living on the street.
• The first ending. In one version, the children stole jewelry and valuables from the house. The woman beat them to death and threw their bodies into the ravine beside it.
• The second ending. In another, the widow came to feel the children were ungrateful for her help. One afternoon she served them poisoned food. When they died, she ate it too, out of remorse.
• The haunting. Her spirit is said to remain near the property. Some people say that if you get too close, you can hear the children crying. Another story says a group of students later died trying to cross a bridge to the house’s entrance.

What the record shows

Infobae was direct about the evidence. “Despite how widespread the legend is, there are no documents or testimonies that prove the story of the widow and the children whose deaths supposedly gave rise to it,” the outlet wrote. It added that none of the claims “has official proof” confirming that the events happened. Need To Know likewise reported that there is no historical evidence that Tía Toña existed or that the killings took place, and called the tale an oral legend.

There isn’t even agreement on which house is meant. Infobae reported that several properties in the area have been linked to the legend. One version says the original house was demolished and a mansion built on its remains, which is offered as an explanation for why more than one site is pointed out. Dead of Night Dispatch is not naming or picturing any of them. As Infobae notes, the properties are privately owned and occupied, and it reported no statements from their current owners.

A warning

Infobae ended its report with a warning for anyone tempted to follow the group’s route. The general recommendation, it wrote, is not to try to find or enter any of the houses linked to Tía Toña. They are private property, and entering without permission could constitute the crime of allanamiento de morada, or unlawful entry into a dwelling.

The ground itself is the other hazard. The properties are surrounded by dense, hard-to-reach woodland “where it is easy to get lost” and where the ravines raise the risk of accidents, Infobae wrote, “as happened with the case of the adolescents.”

The nine who went looking on the night of Sept. 26 never found the house. According to the reports, they found the ravine instead, and they needed ropes and firefighters to get out of it.