Kansas' Most Haunted: The Ghosts and Legends of Stull Cemetery

I've seen quite a lot of cemeteries over the years, working as historic surveyor and also volunteering on cemetery clean-up committees. I've spent time alone in cemeteries rumored as haunted and experienced nothing, but there are still a few that interest me. One of those is the Stull Cemetery in Kansas.

Stull Cemetery is located in the ghost town of Stull, Kansas. It isn't a ghost town in the traditional sense because there are still people living there, but for the most part this tiny little town has died off. Even the church that once sat beside the cemetery is neglected and falling down. When a town can't support a local church, it's a sign that the end is coming.

The cemetery has always been at the center of local legends, but those stories only grew during the 1970s. We'd probably say now that a lot of those rumors came from the teenagers who spent their time at the cemetery. They drank, did recreational drunks, and caused some mischief. If they didn't start the stories, they certainly contributed.

According to the legends, the devil himself appears at Stull twice a year. Others claim that they've had someone touch them when no one was there and seen odd figures in the cemetery. Then there are the stories of cults and witches practicing in the woods. There are also stories of vehicles being moved while in the cemetery and things moving on their own.

Stories are also told of the old Stull Church. At one point the building was nothing more than four stone walls without any supporting beams or roof. People claimed that even in a torrential downpour, the rain wouldn't fall inside the Church. The building itself was razed in 2002 and that led to even more stories.

Apparently one wall had fallen down and the building was even more dangerous than it had been before. One day the neighbors woke to find that the old church was gone, knocked down only to its foundation, yet no one will take responsibility for the demolition. Everyone claims that they weren't involved.

There are also stories of how the town got its name. According to some the name was once Skull because that was the name the devil chose, but that over the years the name was changed. In actuality though, the town was named after the former postmaster. There are also claims that the old church was once a barn where a local man was brutally murdered. When the land became part of the cemetery, the negative energy stuck around.

Most of the legends though revolve around the Stull Cemetery. One rumor claims that a witch is buried there and that she was a friend of the devil, hence his annual visits. Supposedly witches were hanged from a tree that once stood there. Not to mention the story surrounding the child the devil had with a local witch. The child is supposedly buried somewhere inside the cemetery and his ghost wanders at night.

An odd story surrounding the cemetery involves how far the story has spread. Supposedly the Pope himself knew the story and refused to fly over the cemetery on a trip to the US during the early 1990s. something tells me if this were true, the story would have been reported quite a bit!

Obviously those living in Stull were growing a little annoyed with the constant intrusion of people hoping to catch a glimpse of the devil. Hundreds of people would pull in on Halloween night and those visiting the cemetery had no qualms about knocking over tombstones and leaving behind their trash. Police began patrolling the cemetery regularly and a chain link security fence was added. The owner also added no trespassing signs.

Maybe now that the old church is gone, the town of Stull, Kansas can rest easy again. Or at least get some rest from those annoying ghost hunters...

Sources:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/mar/30/buildings_demolition_a/http://www.prairieghosts.com/stull.html
http://www.millersparanormalresearch.com/Pages/2005/pages%202005/Cemetery2005-1.htm