Overview

Mineral Point is a city located in Wisconsin.

There is nothing perhaps more chilling and fearful for some to visit than a cemetery. The hesitations can come from a variety of different areas, such as it reminding them of a lost loved one. Other times, people dread visiting one because it reminds them of death and their own looming mortality and the thought of having to shove off this mortal coil. And then some people dislike cemeteries because the very design and structure of them is supremely depressing, as expressed by weeping angelic headstones or twisted-looking mausoleum gargoyles atop their granite perches, staring back with stony eyes. And then there are some people in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, who make sure to avoid the local cemetery for fear of encountering its resident vampire!

The Mineral Point Graceland Cemetery is located in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The actual town itself was founded and settled in 1827, eventually attracting a very large contingent of Cornish immigrants from Cornwall, England, particularly during the 1830s. Naturally, with such a large influx of new residents converging on this area, a local cemetery was needed for the growing community. The original burial ground was known as the Old City Cemetery, where local residents who passed away were laid to rest beginning in the late 1820s. However, in 1863, Graceland Cemetery was established, officially dedicated in 1875, and became the final resting place for many of Mineral Point’s residents. Some of the remains and headstones from the Old City Cemetery were later transferred to Graceland. However, it was nearly 150 years later before this seemingly innocuous little spot of land became supernaturally famous.

In 1981, a local police officer named Jon Pepper was called to Graceland Cemetery on a report of a suspicious person. Venturing into the cemetery in the dead of night, the officer encountered what he would later describe as a “vampire.” The figure was reportedly extremely tall, with a pale or white-painted face, and dressed entirely in a black cape. When approached, the figure allegedly ran away before leaping over a four-foot barbed-wire fence and disappearing into a nearby pasture! The officer was so shocked by the encounter that he reported the bizarre events to his superiors. The following day, officers reportedly returned to investigate and discovered footprints in the snow leading toward the fence, but none could be found on the other side. The strange encounter became a local sensation, and although the figure was never identified, the story of the Mineral Point Vampire would continue to circulate for decades. Additional stories of vampire sightings in the area also began appearing over the years, although their origins and accuracy remain questionable.

The Graceland Cemetery, for whatever purpose, seems to be the location most closely associated with the Mineral Point Vampire. Strange enough is that paranormal researcher and author Linda Godfrey also told of a werewolf sighting in Mineral Point in 1987. According to the account, a woman named Kim reportedly witnessed a creature transforming from a werewolf-like figure back into a human. The story was later included in Godfrey’s book, Hunting the American Werewolf: Beast Men in Wisconsin and Beyond. Is the werewolf sighting somehow tied to the long-rumored Ridgeway Ghost? Or is it connected to the Mineral Point Vampire?

The cemetery also has an unexpected connection to horror entertainment: the ancestors of legendary horror actor Vincent Price were prominent members of Mineral Point’s community. His mother, Marguerite Cobb, grew up in the town, and several generations of his family are buried in Graceland Cemetery. Price himself never lived in Mineral Point, but he maintained a connection to the community through his family and even donated money to help repair the organ at Trinity Episcopal Church in 1962. With sightings being as few and far between in terms of reporting time, and lacking independent verification, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding these stories, and the paranormal world eagerly awaits the next sighting!