Cemeteries

From strictly a paranormal perspective, the state of Connecticut is a very interesting state. Perhaps the most famous haunting ever within it, the Haunting In Connecticut, ranks high in the supernatural stratosphere of the United States. And of course, everyone knows about its most famous paranormal investigation couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Yet one of the oldest to ever find statehood, the geographical area that makes up Connecticut today was believed to be inhabited as far back as 1614. Over three centuries worth of graves have been put into the ground and to this very day, some just refuse to rest in peace such as the Union Cemetery in Easton, Connecticut where Ed Warren himself had an encounter.

Is The Union Cemetery in Connecticut Haunted?

The very town of Easton, Connecticut was founded all the way back in 1757. Located in the southwestern corner of the state, Easton was considered a fairly remote location at the time due to the treacherous hillsides that ran along the Aspetuck River. Records are sketchy as to when the ground for the cemetery was first being used. The oldest tombstones in the cemetery are believed to be dated to somewhere in the 1600s, but even then there are unmarked graves that could possibly hint at something older than that. The cemetery itself is only a few acres wide and is flanked closely by of all things the highway junction routes of 59 and 136 right there in Easton where the cars can be audibly heard from the cemetery. But what exactly haunts the Union Cemetery?

The most famous spirit in the cemetery is dubbed “the White Lady”. She has been described as having a long face with cascading black hair on either side of her head and wearing a long flowing, period piece white dress. The White Lady has been known to walk along Highway 59 and many times drivers have encountered her ghostly visage up close and personal when some have even said to have driven their cars straight through her. Police have been called over and over to Highway 59 and Union Cemetery for calls of a woman in white walking around the roadway, but upon arrival, she’s never found.

Local Connecticut artist Roderick Vescey is one of the first ever to bring about attention to his roadway encounter with the White Lady. Driving home late one evening on Highway 59 he encountered a particularly misty patch of very low fog on the roadway. Vescey thought nothing of it as that time of year the weather in Connecticut was habitually damp, but looking back he did begin to question why it affected just that particular area of the road adjacent to Union Cemetery. As he neared his sedan into the low hanging mist, Vescey spotted inside his sedan’s passenger seat, an older man in a bowler hat with a beard and sad expression on his face. A moment later the man disappeared and when Vescey returned his gaze to the road, the White Lady was standing a mere few feet from the hood of his sedan. Without even realizing what was happening and failing to brake, his vehicle passed through her completely. Vescey said that as his vehicle passed into her a giant rush of wind blew across his body and that for the next few miles, everything he saw out of his eyes had an unexplained red tint to it.

Ed Warren himself had a particular paralyzing encounter with her. Ed reportedly spent an entire week at the cemetery overnight, observing a bizarre series of paranormal lights that culminated with a chilling encounter on September 1, 1990, at precisely 2:40 am. Warren observed the wild flickering of paranormal orbs and lights when he heard a woman weeping somewhere in the cemetery’s distance. Traipsing along rows of faded tombstones in the dead of night, Ed began to follow the lights and noticed that they began collecting themselves and forming into the shape of the White Lady. Ed claimed to approach her spirit when a series of crudely shaped black shadows that resembled the form of a dog and it refused to let her spirit drift towards him. Warren said that instead, this mysterious shadow seemingly forced her spirit to drift toward the Highway 59 roadway area.

The exact history of the White Lady may never be truly known, nor will the origin of the black shadow that Ed Warren encountered in the cemetery that night. Of all things, Ed Warren did record the encounter on a VHS tape that he had left running in the cemetery that night and the tape’s contents remain securely locked up in the Warren’s Occult Museum.

New Bern, North Carolina is a sleepy coastal town on the Atlantic Ocean. Picturesque with small-town charm, it is a welcome tourist spot away from all the hustle and bustle of nearby Wilmington, and even Myrtle Beach. Land originally packed to capacity and then some, the Cedar Grove Cemetery was the best place to bury a loved one. Emotions at any cemetery are always high, but have you ever heard of one where the actual cemetery gate itself weeps for you?

The cemetery itself was constructed all the way back in 1800 and it is considered one of the oldest cemeteries in North Carolina. Clocking in at just over thirteen acres, the cemetery is situated in the heart of New Bern’s downtown area near the historical district. A massive and surprisingly detailed gray, coquina shell wall surrounds the cemetery, as well as a staggered triple entrance arch that was added in 1853. Known by many locals as “the Weeping Arch”, it is in a paranormal class all its own.

Is the Cedar Grove Cemetery haunted?

The Weeping Arch dates all the way back to not long after the cemetery was first constructed. Even then, people were remarking that when passing underneath the arch, small droplets of water would descend and fall onto a person, although sometimes the water has a red-rust color to it. Activity picked up over the decades to where the droplets would manifest if a funeral party were to pass underneath. Somehow a twisted urban legend developed that anyone passing under who gets hit with a droplet will be marked for death next.

The cemetery is also said to house over three hundred Confederate soldier graves on the property. Various paranormal enthusiasts have spoken about grave robbers turning out in the cemetery sometime around the turn of the Twentieth Century. These particular robbers dug up Confederate graves to try and cash-in on any Civil War era memorabilia. However, once the graves and bodies were disturbed, it is believed that this somehow awakened the spirits. People have reported seeing spirits of men in period piece Civil War clothing walking around tombstones before disappearing.

The Cedar Grove Cemetery today is one of the more popular tourist destinations in New Bern and even earned a spot on the National Register of Historic places in 1972. Today the cemetery is fully accessible by the public and welcomes visitors. One of the more popular events held adjacent to the cemetery is the yearly Ghostwalk, hosted by the New Bern Historical Society. It’s a weekend-long, family-friendly event that takes visitors of all ages on a historical tour of the cemetery as well as around town while educating them on the various spirits of the past……just be mindful and forewarned of the Weeping Arch.

There are many names for cemeteries. Graveyards, catacombs, repositories, necropoleis, ossuaries, and even resting places. None of these individual names for a cemetery causes one to pause upon hearing. However for those in and around the Baltimore, Maryland area, whenever the Westminster Burial Ground is brought up in conversation, people tend to give an eerie silence about such a location. And rightfully so.

Is The Westminster Burial Ground Haunted?

The Westminster Burial Ground is a very old cemetery located in the heart of the city of Baltimore. It was built all the way back in 1797 to serve as the local cemetery that was used by the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore. The parishioners of the church that helped bring about its construction included William Patterson who was a civic architect that was influential in many of Baltimore’s surroundings and Col. John Eager Howard who was a decorated commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The cemetery remained virtually untouched until 1852 when the Westminster Presbyterian Church was erected over a portion of the cemetery which contributed to a smaller arrangement of underground catacombs. In fact, the cemetery has such an incredibly rich historical value that it was actually added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Without a doubt, the most famous and most frequented grave in the entire cemetery is of melancholic poet and author, Edgar Allan Poe. Born in 1809, Poe was a ne’er do well that bounced around from a flurry of odd jobs to even a stint in the United States military. Struggling with family problems as well as periodic bouts of alcoholism, Poe turned to poetry as a way to try and cope. Many women in his life tragically died including his younger wife, Virginia Clemm. Many editors were critical of Poe’s later works as they lamented and dwelled on his many themes of beautiful women dying tragically young. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found, “in great distress, and in need of immediate assistance” according to the man who found him staggering about the streets of Baltimore at night. In a fevered and delirious state, Poe finally succumbed to death all the while muttering the mysterious name of “Reynolds” over and over before he passed. All medical, hospital, and death records for Edgar Allan Poe were officially declared lost and the intimate details of his death were never known.

Edgar Allan Poe Tombstone

After he passed, Poe was buried in the Westminster with an elegant tombstone marking his grave. Sometime in the 1920s, the figure of a man clad entirely in black, accompanied by a silver-tipped cane and using a hooded scarf and hat to obscure his identity, became a frequenter at Poe’s grave in Westminster on the anniversary of his death. In the early morning hours, the mysterious figure would enter and then leave roses along with a bottle of cognac at Poe’s grave. The tradition carried up all the way until 2009 when the visitations mysteriously stopped. Notes left by the figure included such statements as, “Edgar, I haven’t forgotten you”, and “The torch will be passed”.

While the mysterious “Poe Toaster” annually visited Poe’s grave, another entity has been spotted there for decades, Poe’s spirit itself. Many visitors to the Westminster who have gone in hoping to catch a glimpse of Poe’s tombstone have walked away totally surprised to have seen Poe’s ghost standing by the grave itself. Described as being in period dress, with dark matted hair, and a sad expression, his ghost is also spotted in the nearby Presbyterian Church. Many paranormal enthusiasts claim that Poe, even in death, is still longing for something unknown to the world.

One of the more terrifying entities in the cemetery is the “Screaming Skull of Cambridge.” According to various oral legends, the skull belonged to that of a minister in the area who was brutally murdered. Details are sparse, but it was rumored that there was a terrible shrieking noise associated with the minster’s body and that cement was stuffed into the skull somehow and buried in the Westminster. Today people have reported hearing an incredibly high-pitched, piercing scream that comes from the area where the screaming skull is said to be buried.

Another popular spirit in the cemetery is that of Lucia Watson Taylor. Just sixteen years old when she passed away in 1816, Lucia’s ghost is one of the more spotted specters. Long dark hair and in a flowing white dress, visitors to the cemetery have reported seeing her ghost kneeling in front of her own grave, hands clasped and in prayer before fading completely away. And for any troublemakers to the cemetery, there is said to be the spirit of a nineteenth-century groundskeeper who is said to walk the rows and vocally call out any loud visitors before he shuffles off and fades away.

Today the Westminster Burial Ground is still fully accessible and highly visited by the public making it one of the more popular places to visit in the entire city of Baltimore.

Stull Cemetery lies in the most unincorporated area of Douglas County, Kansas. This bleak, and semi-isolated cemetery appears on the surface to be nothing more than a rural and eternal resting place for northeastern Kansas folk. However, what is it about this cemetery that was rumored to cause His Holiness Pope John Paul II to actually give Vatican pilots instructions to fly around it when he visited the United States in 1993?

Is the Stull Cemetery in Kansas Haunted?

In 1857, the tiny area of Stull was just beginning to surface on maps. Originally it was called Deer Creek due to the abundance of deer that were spotted around the nearby water source. The settlement was mostly people from Pennsylvania Dutch Country as well as a small contingent of German settlers who had recently fled from the German Confederation. The small town eventually added its first and only postmaster in Sylvester Stull for who the town is named after. At its peak, Stull is said to have had only fifty people living in the area. However, the number of dark entities said to be inhabiting the Stull cemetery is thought to be extremely numerous and one of the reasons why this place is called, “the Gate to Hell”.

What’s infamous about the Stull Cemetery is that there was a dilapidated stone church on the property. Once built in 1867 and called the Stull Cemetery Church, it had suffered greatly over the years due to the harsh north Kansas weather. The roof to the church was largely gone and one of the more disturbing reports by visitors was that it did not get wet from the rain. People have claimed that although it may be raining, once they enter the church, despite the roof missing, somehow the interior of the church remained bone dry. Paranormal theorists have reported that there was a large amount of black magic ceremonies performed inside the church. Something akin to the once Christian church being abandoned and rites to Lucifer performed inside, it somehow corrupted the already crumbling altar inside and forever tainted and poisoned the consecrated grounds on which it stood.

The belief is that so many black magic rituals were performed here that whatever supernatural portal to Hell was opened, was permanently left open. In fact, there were few reports of a single staircase inside the church that many claimed were twisted into the ground and that they at one time led to a doorway to Hell itself. Sometime in 2002, the church was mysteriously demolished with nobody knowing what truly happened or who authorized its destruction. The remaining visible stairs were said to be filled in with earth and overgrown vegetation today covers up any remaining traces of the stairs or stone bits from the church.

In 1974 a local University of Kansas student newspaper published some local student accounts of experiences inside the cemetery. Many walked away with the impression that if you visit the cemetery on either Halloween or on the date of the Spring Equinox, that Lucifer himself will appear to you. Naturally these reported experiences along with other paranormal events at the cemetery caused it to be bombarded with visitors. The property owners of the Stull Cemetery had local law enforcement intervene and eventually quelled the bi-annual, late-night visits.

In witchcraft circles, the tree represents a sacred foundation that provides a powerful spiritual essence. The Stull Cemetery had one particular tree in particular, a tall pine tree that was slightly blackened at the base from occult ritual use. Oral legends spoke of occultists using the tree for rituals and that some were caught and actually hanged at the tree itself. Many people claimed that they had come in contact with the ghostly specters of witches that had been hung at that very tree. So many people made the tree a destination and spectacle to visit while ignoring the sanctity of the cemetery, that the property owners had the tree officially taken down in 1998 so as to quiet the intense fascination with it.

The Stull Cemetery Tree that was removed.

For any casual visitors to the cemetery, their supernatural experiences vary wildly in their intensity. Some people who have visited reported feeling dizzy and then ultimately losing a sense of time. Not in the respect that time passed quickly, but that time altogether has fast-forwarded past them. The supernatural belief of this is that if there is indeed a gateway to Hell on the property, the intense attraction of it is so strong as to cause disorienting lapses in time. Chilling and downright frightening noises and screams are heard by visitors as well. The cemetery is indeed in a very rural part of Kansas with no visible signs of life around, yet bloodcurdling screams and unearthly noises have been reported as being heard by visitors.

The Stull Cemetery is still accessible by the public, but for limited hours due to all of the paranormal commotion that it has caused over the decades. To date there are no paranormal groups or activities allowed inside the cemetery and local law enforcement is strict on trespassers, especially those on Halloween.  If the land is indeed haunted enough to keep the ultimate leader, exorcist, and head of the Catholic Church from even flying over it in an airplane, then that should speak for itself.

The very idea of a ghost town brings to mind the visual of an abandoned Western town, all boarded up and desolate. Thrust into solitary locations with no signs of life whatsoever, they are among the most chilling of memorials to life that once was. But what about cemeteries connected to ghost towns? Bodie, California is the site of one such lasting cemetery ghost town. This former gold mining town is tucked away within Bodie State Historic Park, just outside the Bodie Hills on the Nevada state border. However, not all is pleasant for those looking to take from the Bodie Cemetery. Be forewarned now of the curse on the cemetery, for anyone who takes something from the cemetery will be struck mercilessly with bad luck.

Like all Western ghost towns, Bodie was named after a man who discovered gold there in 1859, W.S. Bodey. The area instantly became a hotbed for gold prospecting and the small town of Bodie was erected. Bustling with saloons, railroad drifters, stamp mills, and even a Wells Fargo bank, the town was cashing in on the backing of all the gold found. However, once the gold dried out, the people slowly left the town and by 1912, the town was abandoned. Of all things though, the cemetery certainly remained active.

Is The Bodie Cemetery Haunted?

The most remarkable thing about the Bodie Cemetery is that there is a particular supernatural activity that involves children. Dwelling within the cemetery is the spirit of the “Bodie Angel.” This diminutive little entity is said to be that of a young girl named Evelyn Myers. According to legend, her father was prospecting with a pickaxe and during a vicious backswing, she stepped from his field of vision and was struck. Her death was instant and her remains buried in the cemetery with her family moving away from grief. Visitors to the cemetery have reported that if they have children accompany them on a visit, they become transfixed and communicate with a sometimes unseen spirit. One family reported their child was engaged in a giggly conversation near the young girl’s grave. The parents asked the child who they were talking to, and their reply was chilling in its truth, “the little girl with the hole in her head.” Men who have toured the cemetery have also reported that they have heard a young female voice speaking out and saying the word, “daddy.” Naturally, they look around but there is nobody else in sight. Other times, visitors report hearing a child’s laughter that’s wholly out of place considering that they’re in a cemetery and there are no living children around.

The little spirit of Evelyn is not the only female that is said to reside inside the cemetery. A fraction of the bodies in the cemetery are those of Asian railroad workers that while being employed for the railroads out West, took their chances on finding gold in Bodie. For those who perished, some claim that their spirits were not buried properly under certain Asian burial customs and as a result there is some spiritual unrest. The spirit of one such former resident, dressed solely in white has been spotted, but never photographed or filmed by visitors. She has been seen slowly walking between the graves looking lost or distraught. Other times, she has been seen sitting next to an unmarked grave and weeping. Her name and origin are unknown, but she is only referred to as the “Woman In White”, by visitors and some park rangers.

Even though there is the child’s presence at the cemetery, there is also the Bodie Curse. The popular belief is that the people who prospected in Bodie were extremely dedicated to finding and keeping their possessions. During such wild outlaw days in the heated desert, possessions were all people had. The tourist in most people have taken to slipping into their pockets a ghost town rock, or even antiquated nail. There is a very real belief that taking from this area and in the graveyard, in particular, causes the ghosts to “wake” and thus curse the individual who has taken something from them. Because the cemetery lies within the state park, it is not uncommon at all for park rangers at the station to receive in the mail an envelope or box containing a piece of something from the cemetery. Park rangers say there is always a letter accompanying the returned item with the person confessing to nothing but bad luck ever since they have taken the item. The pieces are returned to the graveyard and with no followup letters from people, it is safe to assume that the ghosts of Bodie are satisfied with the returned items and the curses called off.

Today, the Bodie Cemetery and ghost town itself are open to the public for visits, again as it resides within a California State Park. However, the park’s commission and rangers themselves advocate that any visitors be respectful and mindful of the physical and spiritual remains that are there. And above all else, do not take anything from the cemetery lest you be struck with the Bodie Curse.

It goes without saying that cemeteries and graveyards are the final physical resting spots for a loved one’s remains. Dignity, proper decorum, and an overall sedated sort of existence, these cemeteries and graveyards are not the places for noisy human behavior. As it so happens in Troy, New York, at the Forest Park Cemetery, the quiet surroundings there have been unduly violated by the ghosts who long haunt this hallowed and sacred ground.

The stretch of land that makes up the cemetery is believed to have been used as a graveyard all the way far back as 1856. However, by 1897 the land that the Troy locals were using as a graveyard was formally purchased by a businessman and named the Pinewoods Cemetery, as this particular section of Troy is referred to as the Pinewoods. Hard for one to imagine, the cemetery actually went through a formal bankruptcy in 1914 when not enough plots were purchased or paid for. A new owner came in and got as far as renaming it the Forest Park Cemetery before it was bankrupt once more and a large portion of the land parceled off. Largely abandoned with well over an estimated one thousand graves in the cemetery, it has become a chilling memorial to the dead. It is from behind these very cemetery gates that the haunting encounters and stories have emerged.

Is The Forest Park Cemetery Haunted?

Right away the atmosphere is moody and dark and backdropped against the granite tombstones and aged mausoleums is an angel statue that has been decapitated. There’s an urban legend that some teenagers years ago snuck around the cemetery at night and discovered the angel bleeding from the eyes. They were so scared they cut off the head and threw it away. Today, some visitors claim that this blood from the statue still drips from the neck where it lost its head, but this has never been confirmed. For those brave enough to make it past the headless angel, people have reported being scratched by an unseen force in the cemetery across the back of the neck and down their arms. Flurrying red orbs and spectral lights are sometimes spotted floating and streaking past some of the caved-in graves.

Sometime in the early 20th Century, a young soldier from the war in Germany named Harold Horne committed suicide at the cemetery. Paranormal visitors to the cemetery claims that Harold’s spirit has not only been spotted traipsing around the plots at night but also has acknowledged the living with an audible, “hello” in their direction.

Today the cemetery still sits on those twenty-two acres, totally abandoned to the world. Upkeep is done by those with an affinity for appreciating the sacred grounds. A formalized gate was put in to help eliminate wanton loitering about, but as the headless angel sits near the front of the cemetery, with its grisly and mutilated visage, many locals have deemed those very gates, “the Gates To Hell!”

For paranormal enthusiasts who are excited by the proposition of investigating or exploring a haunted cemetery, those in New Orleans are always at the top of the list. But for those looking to visit a cemetery in a city that doesn’t have as much hustle, bustle and the same level of paranormal activity with the most gothic tombstones in the South, the Bonaventure Cemetery just east of Savannah, Georgia is a must see.

Records with the city show that the area which is now the Bonaventure Cemetery was once a sprawling plantation during the 1800s owned by John Mullryne. In 1846, the land was turned over and a cemetery was formed in its place. At over one hundred and sixty acres, the cemetery is vast in size and definitely an active place.

Is the Bonaventure Cemetery Haunted?

The most famous ghost of the Bonaventure Cemetery is that belonging to a spirit called “Little Gracie”. She was born to W.J. Watson, a man who owned a famous luxury hotel in Savannah during the late 1880s. At the age of six, Gracie died from pneumonia and her father was so heartbroken that he had a life-sized headstone sculpted in her image where he would regularly leave her flowers.

Over the years, people have reported if flowers are left at her gravesite, that the eyes of the statue will cry tears of blood. Whether it is over her unexpected death or her father moving away is anyone’s guess. Other times, the spirit of Gracie in a white dress is seen by visitors running amongst all the various tombstones in the cemetery.

Another famous statue inside the cemetery is said to come alive at times. The statue of Corinne Lawton was sculpted after her she drowned herself in the Savannah River in 1877. Her family was reportedly so ashamed she had taken her own life, they had her headstone face away from the rest of the family plot. Reports are that the face of Corinne’s statue smiles at friendly and respectful visitors to her plot while at other times, her face is capable of twisting up at anyone who scowls at her statue.

For those who are interested, the Bonaventure Cemetery is completely open to the public and there is no cost to enter it. It is regarded that for those visiting, bringing a camera is actually encouraged. Whether it be for a moving statue or to capture their beauty itself, the Bonaventure Cemetery is agreed to be one beautifully haunted place.

Woodlawn Cemetery Circus Train Tragedy

On June 22, 1918, at approximately 4 am in the morning, veteran train driver Alonzo Sargent fell asleep at the helm of his 21-car locomotive and crashed into the temporarily-stopped Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train carrying 400 circus performers. The haunting accident happened just outside Hammond, Indiana.

The colliding train was moving at nearly 40-miles per hour and the collision decimated the three rear cars carrying many performers. The train held over four hundred passengers who worked for the circus. Many perished on impact, and many more after a roaring fire broke out from the train’s kerosene lamps. 86 men, women, children are said to have died from this tragedy with 127 reported injured. The disaster did not discriminate, taking the lives of “showmen” including clowns, trapeze artists, lion tamers, the strongman, “roustabouts” and more from all walks of life. The total body count is close, but not exact because of poor employee records and many bodies burned to ash from the inferno. No animals were harmed.

Haunted Showmen’s Rest. The Circus Graveyard at the Chicago Woodlawn Cemetery.

Days later, fifty-three of the recovered bodies were buried in a mass grave plot on the outskirts of Chicago in a patch of cemetery land purchased by the Showmen’s League of America. Only five bodies were ever officially identified and given a proper burial.

The mass grave markers have no specific headstones instead using markers such as “Unknown Male No. 39,” or circus names such as “Baldy” or “Smiley,” or even circus job such as “4 Horse Driver.” Five stone elephants were erected to honor the fallen circus workers.

Since then, more circus performers have been buried at Showmen’s Rest and the section of Woodlawn Cemetery has grown to 750 plots. Still, no animals have been buried at the cemetery. Forest Park’s cemetery is only one of four Showmen’s Rest Cemeteries in the United States. The others are Southern Memorial Park in Miami, Florida, another Woodlawn Cemetery in Tampa, Florida and Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma.

Is Showmen’s Rest haunted?

The Showmen’s Rest Cemetery is one of the more uniquely haunted graveyards in the United States, even more considering the tragedy that befell the victims of its mass grave. Chief among the disturbances is the sound of elephants crying in the distance even though there are no elephants buried on site. An Oak Park Police Officer once reported the actual ground beneath him vibrating as if an elephant were physically trampling past him. There is no official documentation by cemetery employees as to when the paranormal activity first began at Showmen’s Rest.

Laughter and circus music are also heard at odd hours. Due to the otherworldly sounds, various EVP and investigation sessions have been conducted by paranormal groups over the years. While nothing sinister has turned up on the EVPs, an unusual circumstance of the electronic equipment being jammed or drained of battery life is said to happen quite frequently.

The Clown Cemetery

Showmen’s Rest in Chicago is also known as the Clown Cemetery for the clowns who have been buried there. Clowns from the 1918 train disaster and more have been buried at Showmen’s over the years. During the 1918 Hammond Train Wreck, “Big Joe” Coyle, a circus clown, lost both his wife and children who were trapped in the inferno. He could not get to them, although he tried to reach them, he was pulled back from the flames by his comrades. He wept as they perished.

Coyle would go on to manage a vaudeville show titled “George White’s Scandals” where the famous Three Stooges would begin their career. “Big Joe” Coyle worked as a clown into the 1950s, albeit he was sad and had a very hard life. He died 42 years after the tragedy in 1960. His final resting place is not known.

Each year, Showmen – men, women, and children who work in circuses and carnivals – come to Showmen’s Rest to pay homage to their brethren from the train disaster and many other fallen comrades over the years. This is typically run around Clown Week which has given Showmen’s Rest at Woodlawn the nickname of “The Clown Cemetery.” Not to be confused with the “Clown Motel” in Nevada which rests next to a cemetery itself.

Myths of the Showmen Cemetery

A few myths have come about over the years. People have said that elephants were buried at Showmen’s Rest and that several perished attempting to save lives at the disaster. Woodlawn Cemetery representatives confirmed that there are no animals at the cemetery and they are “not allowed to bury animals on their premises.” The representative did mention that many get confused because of the “cemetery’s proximity to a nearby zoo.”

In all regards, if ghosts do exist, there are many reasons why they would be at Showmen’s rest. The show must go on.

Lantern led ghost tours through the streets and cemeteries of a 280 year old settlement.