Definitely Disturbing': Handyman Reportedly Finds Calif. Patio to Be Made of Hundreds of Tombstones

(Photo: CBS13)

A handyman was doing some work on a home in Manteca, Calif. when he reportedly made a startling discovery: the patio "bricks" were actually old tombstones.

“It’s kind of scary,” Daniel Lopez, the handyman who made the haunting discovery, told KTXL-TV. “There were 300 plus, I think. Wouldn’t have known it until somebody flipped them over; they looked like bricks.”

Lopez called the police, who weren't immediately able to determine how the final memorials made their way to the California property.  According to CBS13, neighbors speculate the tombstones must have been there for decades, likely installed when the patio was originally built.

(Photo: CBS13)

“I thought it was creepy. I don’t know why anyone would want to keep one of those,” neighbor Ernie Saavedre remarked. “That’s interfering with somebody’s past.”

Neighbor Stephen Cortes added: “They are pretty legit tombstones. They have the dates the names. I can see a lot of them — definitely disturbing.”

A similar case occurred back in 2011.  While police originally thought the tombstones may have been stolen, they concluded that the final epitaphs actually had mistakes or flaws and had to be discarded.  As such, they ended up being used for construction.

But according to Fox40, authorities eventually said the stones were only meant to be temporary markers, and were replaced when the permanent ones arrived at Parkview Cemetery.

Regardless, the property owner got rid of the memorials as fast as he could.  He is trying to rent out the property, and said the sight of them was startling potential customers.

CBS13 has more on the story: