Cemeteries

For ghost hunters in Italy who enjoy going to underground haunts, the Catacombs of Rome are just the place for you. These are ancient burial grounds, meaning many spirits just lingering about. Rome had some strict laws about burials inside of the city, and these underground passages were a place for those who wanted to bury their loved ones.

There are at least forty different underground burial sites in Rome, and a few of them have just recently been discovered. These underground burial sites began in the second century, and people from all walks of life were buried there. The system of underground tunnels that would become catacombs was first used by the Etruscan people who did live in Rome at one point. Then, the Romans were able to adapt these techniques and bury their dead in the Catacombs of Rome.

Where Are the Catacombs Located?

Even though it must seem as if a great deal of these catacombs exist, only a few are open to the public. The Catacombs of San Sebastian and St. Callixtus are located on the old Appian Way. They are open for visitors to explore and walk around in. Another open area is the Catacombs of Saint Agnese, which are located at Via Nomentana. There are several others in the area, and easy for ghost hunters to find.

Visitors flock to the catacombs for various reasons, including learning more about Roman history. There is a very dark history in this area, and some visitors mentioned how creepy the catacombs are. They are a good way to learn about the popes buried in them and the artwork buried with them.

The Paranormal Experiences

The Catacombs of Rome are the oldest in the world and house thousands of bodies. There are popes buried in these catacombs, missionaries, herbalists, saints, and more. With all of these people buried in the catacombs, there is plenty of paranormal activity underground in Rome. Rumors spread quickly that there were more than Christians buried in these catacombs. In fact, some felt that some rituals had been done in the catacombs that had summoned the dead and evil.

In the Catacombs of Rome, visitors have seen bones and skulls. It takes a true horror and paranormal fan to want to spend time underground with these bodies. There have been visitors who claimed that they have seen ghosts down here. Others have felt as if someone was watching them the entire time they were there. Some visitors commented about how they felt someone touch them as they walked around the catacombs.

There are five Catacombs of Rome that are currently open to tourists. Some of them offer tours, while others are simply self-guided. When visiting Rome, this part of history sometimes goes overlooked, but if you are a true ghost hunter, you will love this entire experience and what it can do for you.

For anyone looking into visiting one of the historic and haunted cemeteries of the New Orleans area, a quick search is likely to show St. Louis Cemetery No.1 or Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as the top ones. While neither cemetery will disappoint those looking to bask among the many rows of historical mausoleums and gothic headstones while searching for paranormal activity; they’re not the only cemeteries in the area that have a reputation for supernatural encounters. The little known St. Roch Cemetery in the heart of the city has earned a reputation of being one of the more haunted places to visit.

Is the St. Roch Cemetery in New Orleans Haunted?

The history behind the origin of the St. Roch neighborhood goes back to the mid-1800s. This smaller parish area was originally called Faubourg Franklin which was named due to the emerging railroad connections that it shared with the Pontchartrain area. However, as with most of New Orleans at the time, a deadly outbreak of Yellow Fever was ravaging the population. A German priest named Father Peter Thevis prayed for the intercession of St. Roch, a Catholic patron saint for good health. Fr. Thevis prayed that should nobody in his tiny parish die, he would build a chapel in honor of St. Roch. True to his saintly ways, the intercessory prayer worked with nobody dying and Fr. Thevis built not only a chapel but also a shrine and eventual cemetery. Word of the saint’s protection spread and the area was renamed in honor of St. Roch. Today the enormous iron gates bearing the saint’s name as it’s flanked by a pair of praying angels is what welcomes many to the cemetery.

The cemetery itself holds one of the rare paranormal distinctions of having a ghost dog on the premises which itself is ironic considering St. Roch is a patron saint for dogs as well. Over the years many visitors have seen a big black dog with shadow-esque features strolling throughout the rows of headstones. In the paranormal community, some say that a black dog is indicative of foreshadowing an event, while others claim it’s the supernatural manifestation of a repressed spirit.

This ghost dog that has prowled about the St. Roch cemetery only has the entrance or exit from which to enter, and some animal lovers have been heard to try and approach the dog to help aid it only for the dog to vanish into thin air or run into the entrance of a mausoleum and disappear!

Another ghostly specter resident to the cemetery is simply known locally as “the Hooded Ghost.” There’s no known origin to this spirit that is described as wearing a dark-colored robe with a hood. The Hooded Ghost’s face has yet to ever fully been described as anyone who has seen them has taken more notice of the height of this very elusive spirit. Some speculate this hooded entity may not altogether be a positive one as a sense of dread or sudden heart palpitations have befallen people that spot the elusive spirit.

Unlike some of the other cemeteries in New Orleans, the St. Roch Cemetery is maintained by the adjoining church and actually has longer, albeit normal business hours that typically restrict entry near sunset. This is one cemetery that’s off the beaten path and not subject to many ghost tours, thus making a visit to it a real supernatural treasure.

For people looking to explore some of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States, there is absolutely no question that they look to the city of New Orleans to fill this need. Unexplained as it may be, New Orleans is a city of heart, soul, voodoo, and magic that over time has created some of the most haunted places known to man. While cemeteries such as St. Louis Cemetery No 1 or St. Roch Cemetery of New Orleans are confirmed paranormal hits, for those willing to take a little bit of a drive the Big Woods Cemetery of Edgerly, Louisiana is a definite can’t miss where a ghostly gatekeeper looks to keep the living out permanently.

Is the Big Woods Cemetery Haunted?

Big Woods Cemetery was officially consecrated as a cemetery all the way back in 1827 when a wealthy Louisiana resident named James Bryan donated a dozen acres of land for the cemetery’s construction. It would take another decade or so before the plots began to gradually fill in with the graves of the deceased. Overcast with enormous oak trees, the cemetery remained an Edgerly mainstay for burials over the years even with the nearby adjoining Antioch Cemetery being added at a later date. To this day, the deceased are still interred inside Big Woods, but it’s the many ghost sightings over the years that have had some visitors to the cemetery on quite a paranormal edge.

Unofficially dubbed “the Gatekeeper”, many believe that there is a singular chief entity that roams about the grounds of the Big Woods. Oral legends from area locals claim that the stories began with people witnessing a brightly lit mist that would float about the cemetery in the dead of night. Nobody has ever been known to approach it, as those (un)fortunate enough to see it have explained that there is a sense of dread or uneasiness that seems to be attached to it that makes the living want to stay away.  It’s possible that his misty manifestation may be from the Gatekeeper who is said to prowl about the cemetery.

The most commonly reported encounter is seeing a dark shadow in the loose form of a man pacing somewhere near the main cemetery gate. One unlucky visitor claimed that upon approaching the gate near sunset, they were chased off the property by someone in a dark-colored antique-looking truck that was rather hellbent on them not entering the cemetery. Similar to the automotive troubles of the Smith Anderson Cemetery of Maine, visitors to Big Woods have claimed that upon coming across the shadow of the Gatekeeper, they immediately look to leave the cemetery only to find that their car engines fail to start preventing a hasty escape.

Some visitors believe that female spirits are responsible as the sightings of a young girl spirit walking and crying before disappearing might be responsible for some of the paranormal activity here. One visitor, in particular, claimed to come across a woman in a black robe with bright red hair smiling a devilish smile before walking past a large headstone and seemingly disappearing. Other times, visitors have seen streaking orbs blitz between rows of worn tombstones before being absorbed into the air itself with claims of ectoplasm being left behind on the tops of tombstones.

Big Woods Cemetery may be a three-hour drive due west of New Orleans, but with all the paranormal activity going on there, it’s hard not to mention the haunts of this so-called eternal resting place.

In New Orleans, the historic and classically gothic style cemeteries are one of the more enticing sights to see in the city. Many people cannot explain it and sometimes confess to feeling slightly awkward about it, but touring a cemetery in a visiting city provides something of disquieting thrill that they cannot explain. Naturally, a city as old as New Orleans is just about the most perfect place to take a cemetery ghost tour or venture off on your own and explore some of the most breathtaking and eerie graveyard sights you’ve ever seen. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 or St. Roch Cemetery maybe some of the more popular ones to visit, but for many who look for another haunted one to explore would be pleased with the paranormal sights and sounds at the Metairie Cemetery.

Is the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans Haunted?

The Metairie Cemetery sits in the lower easter portion of the Metairie area which of course is just a couple miles north of downtown New Orleans proper. Despite countless city blocks and streets, Metairie is sometimes affectionately referred to by locals as the rural portion of New Orleans. The grassy cemetery itself takes up over ten city blocks in Metairie and this makes sense considering the grounds were formerly the Metairie Race Course horse racing track that was built in 1838. The race track enjoyed twenty-six years of success until the events of the Civil War suspended action there. Soon enough bodies from the war began to pile up and by 1872, the track was closed and Metairie Cemetery was consecrated and opened for business with its most famous burial resident at the time being former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. However, as innocuous as this cemetery seems on the surface, it is anything but quiet.

Fighting against local corruption in the late 1800s, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessey was rumored to be murdered by Mafia members who had taken to bootlegging alcohol that came to New Orleans through various Caribbean connections. Hennessey’s murderers were never found, but he was buried in the cemetery. People who have visited claim to see a man in a police uniform staked out in front of Hennessey’s grave from time to time as if he were looking for someone in a sort of afterlife investigation into his own death.

The Tomb of Josie Arlington

One of the more popular haunted areas of this cemetery is the grave of a former New Orleans madam named Josie Arlington, who helped run the red-light district areas of the city which flowed from her own prestigious brothel. In 1905 the brothel burned to the ground taking a number of her employees with it.  From that point on, Josie was said to be obsessed with her own mortality, to the point that she purchased a lavish plot in the Metairie Cemetery. When she finally died in 1914, her relatives seemed to squander away most of her finances and since the mausoleum plot was an expensive one, her body was moved to a cheaper spot, and the plot sold for a hefty sum. However, Josie’s spirit is believed to be none to thrilled with this as paranormal theorists be of the opinion that the callous disturbance of her mortal remains somehow activated the supernatural activity that many experience in the Metairie Cemetery today.

Josie’s mausoleum at the Metairie stands nearly twelve feet tall and is built entirely out of granite. The area inside is occupied by the bodies of two people who bought the plot from Josie’s cash-strapped family members. To the front of the tomb are two copper doors, each with a round door knocker in the center of it. Most impressive is the granite statue of a woman whose hand is lovingly placed against the doors as if she were in mourning. Capping off the top of the mausoleum is a pair granite flames, that are painstakingly detailed in their design.

After Josie’s remains were moved, visitors near the tomb claimed that the nearby streetlights would turn red, no doubt a chilling afterlife reminder that Josie made her trade in the red-light districts of New Orleans. The most haunting aspect of this tomb is that visitors and sextons employed at the cemetery have claimed that the statue has disappeared completely at times and reappeared in other parts of the cemetery! The bizarre paranormal activity doesn’t stop there with this particular grave, as on Valentine’s Day every year (the anniversary of Josie’s death) the granite flames atop her former tomb are said to briefly turn into fire and burn before physically manifesting back into granite. Nobody has ever been able to capture this amazing feat on film, but the image of this occurring under such morbid circumstances give this plot in the Metairie Cemetery a whole new paranormal edge.

The Metairie Cemetery still remains one of the more popular cemeteries to visit for anyone traveling slightly north of the city of New Orleans. But if you go be sure to take a camera when visiting as you may be the very first to capture the “Flaming Tomb” in paranormal action.

Located just minutes from downtown Chicago in the outlying area of Bremen Township is the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve. An innocuous forest area known for its hiking trails, walking paths, and viewing points of natural wildlife that many locals find pleasant. However, deep within the heart of this heavily wooded preserve is an isolated, one-acre cemetery than many locals say is the most haunted location in the entire Chicago area. Bachelor’s Grove looks pleasant upon approach, tranquil and unoffensive to most, yet the supernatural activity here is one of the reasons this place is locked and entry is forbidden after sundown.

Is The Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery Haunted?

Burials in Bachelor’s Grove are said to go back as far as 1834 when a portion of German immigrants settling to the area were buried here as well as workers who perished on the nearby Illinois and Michigan Canal. Eighty-two burial plots are thought to be here, however, the cemetery is abandoned and overgrown. A local rumor is that Chicago mobsters from the 1920s and 1930s used to come here and bury bodies of those they killed. The cemetery has a sordid little history on-site as well. In 1966, a hunter in the preserve found a murdered teenage girl on the cemetery grounds. In 1989, a woman lures her jilted lover to the cemetery only to murder him to a nearly mutilated capacity. In 1993, a man was found nearly beaten to death after a shady and unspecified criminal deal went afoul in the cemetery. But just how haunted is Bachelor’s Grove?

This may be a paranormal first, but an actual phantom ghost house has been physically known to manifest and then disappear. Stories and encounters of this vary wildly, but the depiction of the sighting is that of a dark and dilapidated farmhouse with a trail leading to it. One of the more bizarre stories is from people who while hiking to the cemetery become lost along the way. Their previous hiking path disappears and it is as if they are being drawn into the ghost house by some sort of strange supernatural energy. Reports from people claim they feel disoriented and lose a sense of direction, although none of the people ever make it to the floating ghost house because they end up fleeing in terror from this nightmare. Nomadic ghost houses are not the only unexplained roaming entities, a series of mysterious lights are commonly reported. Vast glowing orbs that have claimed to have been sized at up to four feet in diameter are spotted appearing, floating, disappearing, and then reappearing again on both hiking paths adjacent to the cemetery as well as in tree-lines. The floating light orbs have been described as ranging in color from a deep yellow hue, all the way up to a burning red.

The Ghosts of Bachelor’s Grove

One of the most famous associations with the cemetery today stems from a photograph taken at the cemetery that many say is one of the most convincing and authentic pieces of paranormal evidence to date. In 1991, a woman named Judy Huff entered the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery with a paranormal investigation group. She was tasked with using an infrared camera to take pictures of the cemetery and anything that stood out as needing to be documented for their investigation. When the investigation was done for the day, Huff found herself being strangely compelled to take a few snapshots in the direction of some tombstones. When the film was developed, what she discovered could not have been more shocking. One lone photograph was of a picture of a ghostly figure, sitting solemnly on a tombstone looking downward in the direction of a grave. Over the years many people have tried to dispute Huff, and claim that the photo couldn’t possibly be real. Reputable photographers have examined the actual film negative that Huff kept of the picture from that fateful day and none have been able to prove that the photograph has been faked in any way.

Judy Huff’s Photograph of Bachelor’s Grove Ghost

The famous Judy Huff photograph is not the only instance of a female spirit being present in the cemetery. Known as “The White Lady” or “The Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove”, is a frequently spotted apparition of a taller woman dressed in solid white, carrying around an infant in her arms. She is thought to be buried somewhere on the property next to her infant child who possibly died at birth, the Madonna is spotted in and around times of full moons. Another spotted spirited is known as “The Farmer”. Believed to have been dragged to death by his horse while plowing, people have claimed to spot a ghostly spirit in period clothing stomping furiously behind a shadowy looking horse. If that wasn’t terrifying enough to see, the cemetery has been reported as having a mysterious two-headed ghost that roams the back of the land, while a black ghost dog has been reportedly spotted guarding the entrance.

Today the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is still accessible through the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve. Although abandoned, many who visit here claim that anyone who enters here must not come with bad intentions as it is a respected graveyard and in doing anything sinister is likely to cause a most unwanted manifestation. Guarded by Cook County Forest Officers, Bachelor’s Grove is only accessible during daylight hours.

Names and nicknames for cemeteries are always created with the utmost care and respect for the departed and their families. Typically there is a reference to the geographical area included if it is the only cemetery around. Other times, the creators of a cemetery name wish to convey very gentle, almost effervescent terms that describe emotions or even flowers. Grandview Cemetery, also known as Kasey Cemetery, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky seems likes a normal, and formalized name for a cemetery. However, it has been known to some locals and visitors, not as the Grandview, but instead “The Gates of Hell!”

Graves inside the Grandview Cemetery date all the way back into the 1700s, making it one of the oldest cemeteries in the entire state of Kentucky. The cemetery is in a borderline remote location and overgrowth has taken over parts of the land, as graves are scattershot amongst a Kentucky hillside. The origin of the cemetery is a mystery as not a lot of records name anyone officially creating it, however, it is likely called Kasey from a family name in the area. Elizabethtown was established in 1795 and few of the graves in there precede that date. There is little information available about its history, but one thing is certain, and that it’s a supremely haunted location of diabolical proportions.

Is The Grandview Cemetery in Kentucky Haunted?

Spirits here are said to be the supernatural manifestation of Satanic occult practices carried out in the cemetery and woods surrounding it over the last two hundred years. The atmosphere they create is one of invisible fear as few people have reported feeling quite uneasy stepping foot onto the cemetery property. This uneasiness is accompanied by them unexplainably bleeding out of their nose or even their mouth. Not life-threatening amounts, but no doubt getting a visitor’s attention. For those that flee, some people have reported loved ones who visited the cemetery walk away speaking in bizarre tongues and the further they travel from the cemetery, the strange language weakens in strength until their normal speech returns.

Satanic rituals have been reported here for quite a long time. In 2003 there was a discovery made at the cemetery by some locals that including the bizarre finding of dead cats, dogs, deer, and a baby calf. Kentucky State Police were actually called in to check things out, but a detective ruled out animal cruelty as there was no direct forensic evidence found to warrant such crimes. Animal sacrifices here have happened on the property so often over the years that some locals have referred to it as “the Killing Field”. Such sacrifices are said to call upon a witch that lives in the wooded area. People have reported hearing blood-curdling screams in the middle of the day as well as at night with nobody around at all. Unexplained black patches of grass along with blinking orbs that appear and disappear have this graveyard as perhaps the most haunted in the entire state.

Today the Grandview (Kasey) Cemetery is still accessible, albeit a little out of the way from the normal Elizabethtown roads. With its sordid history of witchcraft and borderline demonic activity in the cemetery, it lives up to the “Gates of Hell” nickname to the terrifying fullest.

Witches and hauntings have long been associated with the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts. The paranoia during those early Colonial days was all too real, and people lost their lives over actions and accusations. But the persecution of witches occurred again, nearly 160 years later on the opposite side of the United States in the state of Oregon. The sleepy town of Lafayette lies half an hour southwest of Portland and is home to the haunted and wholly eerie Lafayette Pioneer Cemetery. In fact, other than the headstones the only other sign that the land is a cemetery is that someone nailed a board saying “Lafayette Pioneer Cemetery” to a tree. This land is said to hold the spirit of a witch who some say doesn’t like visitors.

Is The Lafayette Pioneer Cemetery Haunted?

Her name was never known and her crime only a half-truth at best, but being a witch even in the mid-19th Century was a crime. According to oral history passed down over the years and reported by locals, there lived a witch in the town of Lafayette. Once she was discovered, she was violently beaten, and then taken out and hung. Her lifeless body was buried somewhere on the cemetery property and people claim that the paranormal and unexplained supernatural activity there is directly attributed to her.

One of the most bizarre and incredible reports of activity associated with the witch is a change in the weather. Not just rain to sun or hail to snow, but it’s almost as if the entire season changes. A hot summer day suddenly has a mid-winter gust to it. Winter winds suddenly give way to a spike in temperatures. If one is to make it inside the small, rusted wrought iron fence then the next experience is that of being watched. Many people who have entered the area claim they have feelings of dread and that they are not welcome. Past those encounters, many people have reported hearing whispering from a female voice. In fact, there is an EVP floating around on the internet that was recorded by a couple at the cemetery who captured the voice of the witch screaming, “run home!” It can’t be said with any degree of accuracy why the witch picks on some visitors as opposed to others, but even genial people visiting with respect have been scratched by an unseen entity here.

Unfortunately for the paranormal enthusiast, this cemetery today is currently off-limits to the public as a “no trespassing” rule has been put into effect by the county since the paranormal antics of the witch have caused a lot of unwanted attention.

Ghost towns are very chilling places that can evoke bits of dread in people because unlike an unseen poltergeist, a ghost town is tangible. Cemeteries, like ghost towns, bring about an even greater sense of dread because not only are they tangible, but they also contain the actual plots of dead people. Pere Cheney, Michigan is recognized as a ghost town by traditional standards today, and the Pere Cheney Cemetery is also recognized as haunted. However, this particular cemetery goes for the paranormal trifecta in that it is haunted by a terrifying witch.

Is The Pere Cheney Cemetery Haunted?

Pere Cheney is a modern-day ghost town in northern Michigan. It was founded in 1873 by a sawmill businessman named George Cheney, who was looking to take advantage of the ever-expanding Michigan Central Railroad. A general store, post office, carpenter shop, doctor’s office, and even a bustling hotel were added. In the late 1870s, the town’s population peaked at a little over 1,500 before tragedy struck. A raging case of diphtheria broke out and by 1917, only 18 people were said to have remained in the town. Once the outbreak occurred, the majority of the townspeople fled and moved away, however, it is thought that as many as ninety townspeople are still residing in the town cemetery. Local oral legends dictate that the town and the cemetery are haunted, and possibly by the Pere Cheney Cemetery Witch.

The most lasting theory on the witch is that her origins are not totally based in witchcraft. The belief is that she was going to conceive an illegitimate child out of wedlock. Due to cultural norms at the time, she was considered an outcast and she voiced her frustration by cursing the entire town, including the cemetery before being banished to the local woods. Another rumor has her being hanged at a large oak tree in the center of the cemetery, but this is only speculation, however, on more than one occasion, vandals have attempted to find her remains near the oak tree.

The witch isn’t the only resident spirit thought to be in this secluded cemetery, people who have visited have reported hearing the disturbing laughter and playful antics of children, although there are none to be seen. Other times, people have walked around the cemetery only to return to their cars and find dozens of child-like handprints all over their cars. Additionally, one of the more common occurrences is the presence of soft-colored orbs that have been reported floating about during the night time.

Pere Cheney Cemetery today is simply a ghost town cemetery forgotten by modern times. The road to visit there is challenging, and even looking at the headstones is more challenging since grave robbers and headstone thieves have made this destination a vandal’s paradise, but recent measures and patrols are being stepped up to make this a safe, and wholly respected place to visit.

A dozen miles outside of Portland, tucked away in the southeastern corner of Maine, is the Smith Anderson Cemetery. This sleepy and tucked away area from the hamlet of Windham is home to what many believe to be the single most haunted graveyard in all of Maine. If famous resident author Stephen King was ever looking for inspiration on a new novel, then Smith Anderson will definitely bring the chills.

Is the Smith Anderson Cemetery Haunted?

The cemetery dates all the way back to the mid-1700s, which is the date of the oldest grave residing there. Two-year-old Elijah Wight, son of a minister, has a tombstone dating to 1744. While the historical date lines up with Elijah’s grave, the name of the cemetery comes from two different families. Reverend Peter Thatcher Smith and his family’s tombs make up a portion of this cemetery. The other comes from a former mayor of Portland, John Anderson, with his family holding a sizable crypt on the property as well. A crypt that some visitors have reported a mysterious banging noise emanating from. This surprisingly isolated cemetery at the end of a long dirt road has over 528 known graves, with possibly more covered by vegetation. Was it mentioned that the spirits here have a penchant for automobiles?

As old as the cemetery is, the number one most reported experience here has to do with visitors’ automobiles. People visiting the Smith Anderson Cemetery have walked around for only minutes only to return and find there cars suspiciously moved anywhere from five to ten feet. Parking is level, yet there is no reason why so many people report their cars mysteriously lurching forward. Other times, people come back and find all four of their car doors wide open. Nothing is stolen, no signs of breaking and entering; just doors wide open. To date, there is no plausible explanation for the cars being moved but one theory is that they are parked on top of unmarked and deeply buried graves and the spirits want them moved. Cars also have been known to stall out and not start with no known mechanical problems, but then suddenly fire up.

Spirit-wise, noises and supernatural specters are what other visitors encounter the most. People report noises that resemble battle war cries along with chilling, siren-like noises. A shadow figure has been reported to walk amongst the tombstone rows late at night. One of the most terrifying reports is that a small percentage of people have had something follow them home from the cemetery. Some have reported that spirits have followed them home and wreaked poltergeist havoc in the form of loud banging noises, items moving, and the unsettling feeling of being watched.

The Smith Anderson Cemetery is still totally accessible to visitors near the Windham area of Maine. As harmless as the spirits are in moving a car or opening a door, there is a paranormal contingent that may not be as genial. If and when visiting this cemetery, a quiet and respectful decorum is essential.

Situated midway between the cities of Amarillo and Odessa, the northwestern town of Lubbock, Texas is classically steeped in western culture and music. In fact, the city of Lubbock holds more music venues than any other city in the entire state of Texas. Such love for music could not be truer than for one of Lubbock’s most famous sons, the musician Buddy Holly. Tragically Holly’s life would be cut short in an airplane crash in the Mid-West in 1959, but he would be interred in his hometown’s graveyard, the Lubbock Cemetery. In fact, his grave is mere feet away from a most haunted statue.

Is the Lubbock Cemetery Haunted?

The cemetery is almost as old as the city itself, featuring a mixture of both marked and some unmarked graves. It has been conservatively estimated that the cemetery is said to hold somewhere in the vicinity of over sixty thousand graves which makes it the third-largest cemetery in the entire state of Texas. Running along the backside of the cemetery is that of a narrow and high, abandoned railway trestle. The railway cars haven’t been used in quite some time, but that hasn’t stopped the flow of reports from people who claim there is a metallic ringing sound sometimes elicited by the trestle, which has infamously been dubbed “Hell’s Gate” by the locals.

As with Buddy Holly’s grave in the cemetery, within close proximity to it is the statue of a very large and formidable angel. Below the angel is the grave of Julio Herrera, he was the first policeman in Lubbock to ever be killed in the line of duty. Such a statue would seem to express sympathy, however, it has come to pass that it instead evokes fear. Urban legend has it that if you come across the statue, you must bow and kiss its feet. If you do not, then there is said to be a man in black who refuses to let you leave the cemetery. Some have claimed to have refused the gesture and made it out fine, but others have also refused and spoken of a man dressed in black with a disfigured face who stands at the gate and tells them they cannot pass. The sounds of whispering, as well as a general feeling of uneasiness near both the statue and the trestle, are said to be quite common.

Today the Lubbock Cemetery is still very much in business and open for the public to come in and pay their respects to any loved ones that are there. As for Buddy Holly’s grave, there have been a large number of reports from people who say that if you stand next to it you hear the mysterious sound of guitar music being played.

In 2006, after many decades of countless paranormal investigations, famed demonologist Ed Warren passed away at the age of seventy-nine years old. Thirteen years later in 2019, his beloved wife Lorraine passed away as well at the age of ninety-two. Founders of the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), the couple had finally earned a much deserved eternal rest after investigating some of the most violently haunted homes and possessed individuals the world had ever known. Were they to be cremated? Possibly their remains to be kept inside their much talked about and devilishly stocked, Warren Occult Museum? It came as no surprise that both of the Warrens had chosen burial as their form of interment. It also came as no surprise to anyone at all that the Warrens had chosen a haunted cemetery as to where they would be laid to rest.

Is The Stepney Cemetery Haunted?

The Stepney Cemetery is located in the Upper Stepney area of western Connecticut. For those familiar with that area, the Stepney Cemetery is also located a mere four miles from Union Cemetery over in Easton. The Union Cemetery is a supremely haunted graveyard in western Connecticut and famous for a spirit dubbed, “The White Lady.” Stepney Cemetery was formalized all the way back in 1794 when Noah and James Burr Jr. had donated the land for an area cemetery. The first-ever headstone belongs to a Revolutionary War soldier named Nathaniel W. Knapp, who was buried there in 1787, technically before the area was to be formalized as a cemetery. For a few years, Knapp’s grave was the only one in the cemetery at all, thus initially giving off an eerie and chilling display to those who passed by it.

People claim that Knapp’s spirit is haunting the cemetery today. Reports are varying that a man in a military outfit has been seen pacing back and forth amongst the tombstones. More than one soldier though is said to have been spotted and it is believed to belong to one of the cemetery’s many Civil War graves. While those are merely seen, there is a legend about Knapp that if someone spots his spirit and calls out his name, you may feel an unseen hand grip your shoulder. Even The White Lady herself, of nearby Union Cemetery, has been seen roaming near the entrance of the cemetery. Paranormal theorists believe that her restless spirit isn’t bound by just the one graveyard, but seems to be tied to that particular area of western Connecticut land itself.

Stepney Cemetery is considered a local historic place of significance in Connecticut. With both Warrens being buried there, it has become something of an unofficial pilgrimage site for those looking to pay their respects. Some who have visited and prayed beside Ed’s headstone and then touched the cross on his headstone have found it to be very hot to the touch….even in the dead of winter.

Is the Resurrection Cemetery Haunted?

You are driving alone at night on Archer Avenue outside Chicago. The skyscrapers of the city begin to fade behind you, as the smaller brownstones and shops peppered along this frequented roadway artery are spotted along the waysides. There’s a stretch of the road that is not as overgrown as the rest and something out of the corner of your eye snaps you to attention. In the dead of night, there is a young woman standing on the street corner waving you down to stop for her. She’s dressed in a rather short, white party dress in strapless dancing shoes with a small clutch purse firm in her grip. Something takes over mentally and you decide to pull over. Inviting her into the car you see she’s thin with long blonde hair and almost sparkling blue eyes, yet has a quiet demeanor. She asks for a ride further down the road and you oblige her, driving on ahead. You let the quietness about her in the car linger and wonder just why a fancifully dressed young woman is standing on a Chicago street corner in the dead of night…..when suddenly she asks that you pull over. You oblige and she exits the car and walks from your short sight before suddenly disappearing into thin air. Glancing up you notice the sign reads, Resurrection Cemetery, and it takes several minutes before you realize you just had an encounter with Resurrection Mary.

The ghostly folklore behind Resurrection Mary has been echoed by many urban legends throughout the decades, and her ghostly visage at the Resurrection Cemetery is considered to be the most popular paranormal entity in all of Chicago. The “vanishing hitchhiker” is a common ghost story that many people tell around a campfire, but are yet unsure of the possible origin. Indeed just minutes outside of Chicago is Resurrection Cemetery. It checks in massively at over five hundred acres with an estimated 161,000 graves and crypts.

Who is Resurrection Mary?

The cemetery was opened in 1912 as a Catholic graveyard and given the name of Resurrection Cemetery so as to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in Christianity. But how does Mary fit in? Not too far up the road from the cemetery was the Willowbrook Ballroom, a popular dancing hall for the area residents. Sometime in the early 1930s, there was a dance in the ballroom and a young woman named Mary is believed to have had an argument with her boyfriend and she decided to walk home. Alone in the night, she is struck and killed by a motorist somewhere in front of Resurrection Cemetery. One of the more popular events is that there is a section of the front cemetery gates where Mary is said to have held onto as she died, leaving a set of burned handprints on the front iron gate. The cemetery denied it and claimed a truck once hit it, but the discolored positioning and wrap-around grip have given paranormal enthusiasts just one more validated piece of physical evidence that Resurrection Mary exists.

There are multitudes of encounters with Mary from drivers over the decades since the 1930s. Famous Chicago-area ghost hunter Richard Crowe is said to have collected over three dozen validated and substantially convincing stories from local drivers who are said to have had an encounter with her. Crowe was a paranormal celebrity of sorts who made national television appearances on such programs as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Unsolved Mysteries. Concerning the spirit of Resurrection Mary, he believed fully that emotion was connected with her appearances. Crowe often explained that in the many paranormal and supernatural occurrences, there is often a common denominator that precedes the actual manifestation of a spirit. With Resurrection Mary, the connection with an automobile in the area of the cemetery is what triggers her appearances to unsuspecting people.

Crowe investigated the stories and found that along with automobiles, her appearances are also tied to the evening whenever there is a full moon or there is a clear sky with only partial moon. Something about the moonlight is able to cast a ghostly gleam off her white dress that draws people to her. Crowe even went as far as to reckon that in all the cases of drivers stopping for her, 99% of them felt overwhelming drawn in to do so. Story after story of drivers who pick her up and feel strangely compelled to drive her to the cemetery without question. One driver with a very credible career claimed upon picking her up and passing the cemetery on the opposite side of the street, she began shrieking for him to stop the car and pointed across the road at the cemetery. When he glanced to look and then looked back at her in the front passenger seat, she had completely disappeared inside his vehicle.

The overarching statement between all driver stories is that when she commands them to stop at the cemetery, all drivers have complied. Not a single driver ever refused to stop to let her out and it is unknown if anyone ever dared to carry her past the cemetery gate. The Resurrection Cemetery is still open to the public for those visiting the Chicago area. It remains a popular spot for those hoping to cross paths with Resurrection Mary sometime during the night.

The area around the El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico border has historically been a violent one. In the days of Western lawmen, it has even been said that Wyatt Earp himself was offered to help marshal the area, but he considered it far too dangerous of a job. Such a violent area of gunslingers, outlaws, gamblers, and Native Americans had the institution of a cemetery come rather quickly after El Paso was formally founded. Concordia Cemetery is chock full of old western graves, holding the mortal remains of many a man, woman, and child. For paranormal investigators, Concordia also is said to hold something supernaturally sinister as well.

Is the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas, Haunted?

Concordia Cemetery was constructed and had its first burial all the way back in 1856. Covering somewhere around 53 acres of land, it is best estimated that the cemetery is said to hold between 60,000 to 65,000 graves. Due to the unique location of El Paso as a border town, just about every sort of group is buried within the cemetery. Freemasons, Mormons, Chinese railroad workers, Mexican-Americans, Buffalo Soldiers, Jewish families, and Christians all seem to have their own informal sections in different areas of the cemetery. While these people lay to rest, some have been known to visit the cemetery with evil intentions on their minds. In fact, notorious serial killer “The Nightstalker” Richard Ramirez was known to visit the cemetery and perform Satanic rituals in the dead of night.

Paranormally speaking, Concordia is absolutely all over the place when it comes to supernatural activity. One of the more active spots is the infant section of the cemetery where newborns are buried. During some paranormal tours that have been hosted there, women who have had C-Sections have reported feeling a tingling sensation on their scars when passing the infant section. Other times people have heard childish jabbering and laughter in this area as well, without any children in the vicinity.

Another area of the cemetery has been labeled “the vortex” by paranormal groups because of the sensation of being pulled by an unseen force. Late at night, visitors have claimed to see a woman dressed in white off in the distance passing between rows of crumbling tombstones before disappearing into the night. Some locals have warned about entering the cemetery at night as it is still informally used by practicing Satanists as a spot to conjure up dark forces and any leftover ritual items are not to be touched or disturbed lest dark energy can befall you!

The Concordia Cemetery is highly visited in El Paso each year by locals and tourists alike. Paranormal groups in El Paso have been known to run tours inside the cemetery with the most popular dates being between October 31 and November 2 when the “Day of the Dead” ceremonies take place and activity is said to be at an all-time high.

Cemeteries and graveyards are places where the dead are buried and the living go to mourn and remember them. It can be a common thought to those who enter past those cemetery gates, that there are perhaps spirits there. Waiting and watching, but nonetheless, they are trapped or wandering the grounds in a supernatural purgatory. To most people, seeing or knowing the spirit of an innocuous man, woman, or child roaming the cemetery grounds can be brushed off without concern. However, when you encounter and enter into a cemetery that is haunted by a dark entity, then your perception and complexion are liable to change completely.

In northern Knoxville, Tennessee is the Old Gray Cemetery. Adjacent to the Knoxville National Cemetery, the Old Gray was first established all the way back in 1850. Contained within a sprawling thirteen acres, the Old Gray Cemetery is home to nearly 5,700 graves. Being the second oldest cemetery in the city of Knoxville, the Old Gray (which was named for poet Thomas Gray) actually appears on the National Register of Historic Places and is known for its plots containing the remains of senators, colonels, mayors, legislators, and even a governor. The antiquated yet ornate tombstones set coolly against the serene backdrop of the nearby Smoky Mountains make this cemetery a picturesque one. However, when the sun goes down, something far more sinister makes itself known to unlucky visitors.

Is The Old Gray Cemetery Haunted?

The entity said to be haunting the cemetery is referred to as Dark Aggie. The description of this terrifying spirit vary, but it chooses to manifest itself in the shape of a man but clouded by a black mist. The timing of Dark Aggie appearing is closer to that of sundown when the cemetery doesn’t really have anyone there. Straggling visitors have reported seeing Dark Aggie simultaneously walk and sometimes float, within the rows of tombstones. For the more unfortunate, they have reported Dark Aggie being alerted to their presence and chasing them out of the cemetery in pure terror. Some people have reported that before seeing Dark Aggie, they have mysteriously heard an unseen entity whisper their name. Spinning around naturally, they find nobody living to be in the vicinity. Visitors have also reported a crying sound to emanate from the rear area of the cemetery as well as a whistling noise of unexplained origin. One of the more interesting occurrences is people who have taken photographs inside the cemetery claim that blurry shapes and malformed orbs appear.

Dark Aggie is said to be haunting the Old Gray Cemetery to this very day. Informal paranormal investigations of the cemetery haven’t yielded much in terms of origin for this potentially malicious entity, but the most echoed advice is that if you see Dark Aggie, remain still and do not bring attention to yourself or else if you do you risk being chased off the property.

If there is one thing that rings true about the paranormal, is that it can exist anywhere, anytime, and in places of unlikelihood. Hawaii is the fourth-smallest state, covering a little over six thousand square miles and hovers near a population of 1.5 million. Often forgotten due to its location, Hawaii is not to be dismissed from the paranormal community. Believed to be inhabited as far back as 300 A.D., Hawaii is packed with countless ghost stories and haunted locations. One of the more haunted locations on the island? The Manoa Chinese Cemetery.

Located on the island Oahu, and sitting just a mere three miles west of Honolulu, The Manoa Chinese Cemetery has the distinction of being both the oldest and largest Chinese cemetery in Hawaii. The cemetery was built all the way back in 1852 and stands out among other island cemeteries due to the particularly ornate decorations which are also accustomed to Chinese cemetery standards, such as facing both the water as well as being lined by trees. Aged granite lions and dragon-like statues are peppered throughout, while a banyan tree appears to be the cemetery centerpiece. Feng shui plays a popular role here as the Chinese believe in the principle of geomancy and its role in placating unstable spirits into a more harmonious role in the universe. With such a concept, spirits here are certainly alive and well.

Is The Manoa Chinese Cemetery Haunted?

One of the more peculiar paranormal activities here is the presence of children. Naturally, the cemetery possesses a quietness, but visitors have claimed to hear the undeniable laughter of children despite none being visible. At other times visitors have noted the crying sounds of infants without any around. Near such graves in the evenings, visitors have claimed to see orange orbs flurrying around over the tombstones. In many descriptions, the orange spots appear to be cinders from a fire that doesn’t exist. Within Hawaiian culture, there is the belief of the “akua lele” which is described in similar circumstances, is that of a flying god who brings about death and bad luck to some.

In 2008, a Honolulu police officer was dispatched in the middle of the night to a noise complaint at the Manoa Cemetery involving possible trespassers. Arriving, the officer spotted a pair of what looked to be young teens hiding behind a tombstone. He approaches the tombstone only to find that the pair had disappeared. Walking back to his patrol car, the car’s radio suddenly turned on with the volume all the way up. Nobody was there to turn it on, and the officer switched it off only to see a mysterious force turn the radio back on and drive the volume dial up before his very eyes.

The Manoa Chinese Cemetery is still one of the most popular tourist destinations on the island of Oahu. The cemetery itself is also one of the more visited ghost tour spots on the island, however, if you go and see a bring orange flying orb….get out as fast as you can!