If there’s any spot in Philadelphia that’s ripe for haunting, it’s the Capitolo Playground.

Rec center

Playground

Giant grassy field

As we mentioned a few weeks ago in our post on the Palumbo Recreation Center, Philadelphia has a long and inglorious history of loose interpretation where the term ‘final resting place’ is concerned.  The frequently used Capitolo Playground, bound by 9th, 10th, Federal, Wharton and Passyunk, is bathed in the tasteful neon glow of the Pat’s and Geno’s intersection.  However, as Samuel L. Smedley’s 1862 Philadelphia Atlas shows, the same plot was once called Lafayette Cemetery.

In 1862

According to Philadelphia Speaks, Lafayette Cemetery was established in 1839.  It would ultimately become a destination for 47,000 of the city’s deceased.  And there it remained through…