Casa Negra
| Casa Negra | |
|---|---|
 The house in 2020 | |
 | |
Alternative names | Casa Mondragón |
General information | |
| Location | Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, Avenida Álvaro Obregón 212 |
| Coordinates | 19°25′02″N 99°09′52″W / 19.41709°N 99.16457°W |
Casa Negra (Spanish for "Black House"), also known as Casa Mondragón, is a house at the corner of Avenida Insurgentes Sur and Avenida Álvaro Obregón in Roma Norte, Mexico City. It is associated with an urban legend about a hospital fire and the unexplained deaths of a family, and has been a stop on ghost tours.
Building
The house's architecture has been described as Porfirian. In 2019, its black-painted walls bore graffiti, and street stalls obscured parts of the exterior. Diego Cera of Local.mx likened it to a ruined castle and reported trash and old mattresses inside. The building remained unused and in poor condition in October 2025.
Legend
Rafael Pérez Gay, in his column in the newspaper 'Milenio', tells of a legend as follows:
- A fire in 1916, during a typhus epidemic (“tifo”)
- tThe original owners had left the house empty after fleeing the Mexican Revolution
- Neighbors, stirred up by the Roman Catholic Church, locked the doors from outside and set the house on fire
- All the inmates died, and no one was ever put on trial for arson
- A certain Mondragón family bought the house in the 1920s
- Police found the parents and two small children dead in their beds, with no sign of violence
Other press coverage reports slightly different details:
- The house served as an improvised hospital for people with typhoid fever around 1935, during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas
- Neighbors believed the patients were possessed by demons and set fire to the building
- Patients and medical staff died in the fire
- The structure was not seriously damaged, was repaired, and was then sold to the Mondragón family.
- The family—two parents and their three (not two) children—supposedly died from unexplained causes a week or so after moving in
- The house then passed into government hands
The ghost stories associated with the house include screams, other noises, sudden cold, and apparitions of children.
Chilango noted in 2021 that contemporary newspapers did not recount the alleged fire. Time Out México likewise reported no newspaper archive records of the story. In 2024, Infobae stated that the supernatural claims were unproven and that the stories about the house might simply be products of local imagination.
In popular culture
The house has featured in horror-themed tours. The itinerary advertised for the Tour del Terror CDMX in 2025 included Casa Negra, the Hotel Posada del Sol and Casa País de los Duendes.
Diego Covarrubias's short story "La casa negra" appeared in issue 60 of Revista BiCentenario, in its "Cuento histórico" section. The narrator is hired to restore the house.
References
- 1 2 3 Izquierdo, Ignacio (19 April 2024). "Cuál es la historia de La Casa Negra, edificio abandonado de la colonia Roma que fue refugio de enfermos de tifoidea" [What is the story of La Casa Negra, the abandoned Colonia Roma building that sheltered typhoid patients]. Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
puede ser simplemente producto de la imaginación de las personas que viven en la zona
[may simply be a product of the imagination of the people who live in the area] - 1 2 3 "Leyenda de la 'Casa Negra' en la Roma: de Fidel a Mondragón" [Legend of the 'Casa Negra' in Roma: from Fidel to Mondragón]. Chilango (in Spanish). 21 April 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
en los diarios de aquellos años no se relatan estos hechos
[newspapers of those years do not recount these events] - 1 2 Basaldúa, Liz (30 September 2025). "Visita lugares embrujados de CDMX en este Tour del Terror 2025" [Visit haunted places in Mexico City on this 2025 Tour del Terror]. Chilango (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
Hotel Posada del Sol, Casa Negra y Casa País de los Duendes
[Hotel Posada del Sol, Casa Negra and Casa País de los Duendes] - 1 2 "Casas embrujadas que puedes visitar en la CDMX" [Haunted houses you can visit in Mexico City]. Excélsior (in Spanish). 1 November 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
sobresale por su estilo porfiriano
[stands out for its Porfirian style] - 1 2 Cera, Diego (22 October 2019). "La historia de la "casa negra" de Álvaro Obregón y por qué lleva tanto tiempo vacía" [The story of the "black house" on Álvaro Obregón and why it has been empty so long]. Local.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
una suerte de castillo en ruinas, rayado, tapado por puestos ambulantes
[a sort of ruined castle, scrawled on, hidden by street stalls] - 1 2 Mayen, Joana (10 October 2025). "¿Está embrujada? La leyenda de la Casa Negra de la colonia Roma en CDMX" [Is it haunted? The legend of the Casa Negra of Colonia Roma in Mexico City]. Excélsior (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
sigue en pie en la colonia Roma, deteriorado y sin uso
[still stands in Colonia Roma, deteriorated and unused] - ↑ Pérez Gay, Rafael [in Spanish]. "Casas embrujadas" [Haunted houses]. Milenio (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
en 1916, ante la epidemia de tifo que asoló la capital
[in 1916, faced with the typhus epidemic that ravaged the capital] - 1 2 Nava, Mauricio (2 September 2025). "Leyendas urbanas de la CDMX" [Mexico City urban legends]. Time Out México (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
sin registros en alguna hemeroteca
[with no records in any newspaper archive] - ↑ "¿Conoces la historia de la 'Casa Negra' de la colonia Roma? Es tan terrorífica como su fachada" [Do you know the story of Colonia Roma's 'Casa Negra'? It is as terrifying as its façade]. Food and Pleasure (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
foco de diversos tours y recorridos de terror en la CDMX
[the focus of various horror tours in Mexico City] - ↑ Covarrubias, Diego. "La casa negra". Revista BiCentenario (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2026.
me habían contratado para restaurar la famosa Casa Negra
[I had been hired to restore the famous Casa Negra]