Stull Cemetery

Mason Mauldin

After all my research on Stull Cemetery, I have learned that you do not want to go to Stull, Kansas. There’s more to this story, but I want to get that out here in the beginning. For over a century, Stull Cemetery has been linked to countless legends involving witchcraft, and satanic cults. Blake Smith explains that the people of “Stull has suffered enough from the drunken idiots who were disappointed at the lack of supernatural activity”. The vandalism by visitors of Stull Cemetery has taken a toll over the last one hundred years. Erwin Seba said “Any little damage to a headstone could cost up to $25,000”. The people of Stull are fed up with the disrespect of the visitors and journalists that disrespect Stull and the Cemetery, and are not afraid to prosecute them, or to get the law involved. Stull is such a tiny town, and not even really a town based on the population, just a collection of a few houses, a church, and a graveyard. However, the small population of residents is not all that encounters Stull, Kansas. The place is believed to contain a number of residents that are from beyond this earth. In addition, the town is also home to a number of legends, and strange tales that are linked to the run down church and Stull Cemetery itself. Taylor explains there have been devil sighting since the 1850’s, and explains how the people buried here at Stull Cemetery had died from painful deaths, and that that’s why this location is so haunted. People have heard all the horrific and mysterious things that has happened at Stull Cemetery, like sprits appearing at midnight, and the noises heard over the years. According to the legend, the gate to Hell was either under or next to the little church in the cemetery. Taylor, and urban legends have tied the place, and have said that when the Pope flew over the US he had his plane divert around Kansas to avoid flying over unhallowed ground which, is Stull Cemetery. Some people have even told stories of seeing Satan himself on Halloween night, at midnight. Matthews said that even with all the hate, and horror towards the cemetery. The front gate is still wide open for visitors of family and friends, still putting fresh flowers that are propped up against the shiny new graves from the new burials. Overall this research has really opened my eyes not to step foot in Stull, but will you be brave enough to go check out Stull, and Its haunted cemetery for yourself?

Works Cited:

Matthews, Dana. "Haunted Stull Cemetery Is America's Most Off-Limits Portal to Hell." Week In Weird. 05 Jun 2016.

Smith, Blake “Keep the Hell out of Stull” Atlanta Examiner, 20 Oct 2010. doi:

94738bff678cda206cac3be5eb80f892634db6d4.

Seba, Erwin “Legends linger around Stull Cemetery.” Lawrence Journal- World Kansas. 01

Nov. 1999. doi: 0030003905.

Taylor, Troy. "Stull Cemetery! One of the Seven Gateways to Hell?" Apr. 2002.

Blackwood, Kendrick. “Old Tree Comes Down in Stull Cemetery” Lawrence Journal- World

Kansas. 31 Oct. 1998. doi: 0010095081

Links for further research:
Stull Cemetery Kansas study

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrraaUVvqRg

This video is a study of people around Kansas and what they have heard about Stull Cemetery and the church. It goes into detail about the cemetery and why it is haunted. 

Halloween in Stull

http://www.makingthemovie.info/stull/legend.html

This documentary talks about Stull on Halloween night. It also describes the people of Stull and how upset they are with the vandals of the cemetery.

Describing Stull Cemetery in detail

 http://www.weirdus.com/states/kansas/stories/gateway_to_hell/

This article by Weird U.S. describes the Cemetery and town in detail. It also goes into detail about the hauntings and demonic figures around Stull. 

The Stull Cemetery

 Okwunne Ogbogu
 

the mysteriously remains of the destroyed church

People who have visited Stull Cemetery often walk away forever changed. Not that it is apparently noticeable or an immediate note of something occurring, Stull causes something to effect peoples lives. Call it a curse or a black mark on their lives something paranormal is often thought to happen in the months following their visit. We all know a average sane persons life changes daily, but, many who have dared to set foot on the un-holy plot of land known as Stull Cemetery feel that something happened the day they did that has changed their lives for the worse. Some call it the devil's curse, some tales say the flames of hell actually has lifted up through the earth and burnt or marked their souls for damnation.
 
Kathy M., a paranormal investigator from Tennessee, said after traveling there to see what it was all about has destroyed her life. Upon returning home from the investigation with fellow team members everything went wrong. From the group disbanding, divorces, and even a sudden tragic illness and a death or two. Not one to believe in such things Kathy and her group out of fear started charting and documenting everything that had happen since their visit to Stull cemetery in late October of 2008.
 
"The long list of current and past tragedy's read like a laundry list of the Devil's dirty work", says Kathy. It's infamous nicknames are The Seven Lost Gates of Hell, The Cemetery of The Damned, Satan's Burial Ground, The Devil's playground and most infamous The Seventh Gate to Hell. Stull cemetery is often said to be where Satan the Devil himself appears. Located in Stull an unincorporated town in Douglas County, Kansas, and United States. The old haunted cemetery as many have claimed located in Stull has gained an decent amount of recognition due to various urban legends referring to the Devil, and as being a supposed gateway to Hell. Local police have discouraged curiosity seekers from entering the cemetery, especially on Halloween, and some people have been arrested for trespassing there. The cemetery is also the site of the final confrontation of the Apocalypse in season five of the television series Supernatural.

 

burnt out church, old tree, and rusty graves

If people were asked where one of the gates to hell might be located, very few would say Kansas, but according to locals, it just may be. The place is called Stull Cemetery in Stull, Kansas. The small town of Stull was settled in 1862. At first sight, the cemetery appears very normal. Picture of the burnt-out church Roughly 100 graves etc., there is more lingering right under the surface. In 1995, Time Magazine asked Pope John Paul 2nd why he ordered his plane to fly around Kansas, and his response..."I don't want to fly over unholy ground..." Some of the hype may come from the fact that Stull Cemetery is located in the Topeka zip code prefix of "666", or perhaps even that the road leading up to the cemetery, was literally named Devil's Lane up until 1905. In 1974, the University of Kansas college newspaper did a report on Stull Cemetery, which sites the legend being over 100 years. The elders of the small town believe that Stull Cemetery is one of the alleged 7 gateways to hell, allowing Satan to allegedly manifest on earth through a supernatural portal. This legend comes from a handful of local rumors, one being that Satan's unholy son is buried within the walls of Stull, and that on the Spring Equinox, and on midnight of Halloween, the Prince of Darkness comes to earth to visit the tomb of his son. Picture of the burnt church the exact location of the gateway to hell is unknown, but most of the controversy centers on the burnt out church in the cemetery.
 
Stull Cemetery, the church was built in 1867, and was swept over by the mysterious fire in the early 1900's. Some say that the religious community destroyed the church in an attempt to seal the gateway to hell. Although the church has no roof, it is said that no rain will ever fall within the church. Another secret to the Stull mystery revolves around the pine tree that was mentioned above. It is reported that witches were hung from this tree during the Spring Equinox Sabbat years ago, and that a town man was reported missing for some time, only to be found later hanging from this very tree. Modern covens did indeed visit this cemetery to pay homage to those witches that died there, up until 1998, when the caretakers had the tree cut down and removed. Halloween night of 1999, media from Lawrence Journal World and Sunflower Cable Station Channel 6 News were at the cemetery by permission of the Sheriff. At 11:30pm, only 30 minutes before the alleged gate to hell would be cast open, an unknown representative of the cemetery caretakers appeared, and requested the Sheriff to remove the reporters. The media left peacefully, mere moments before the stroke of midnight.



Works cited:
Gintowt, Richard. "Hell Hath No Fury." Lawernce.com. Lawrence Journal World, 26 Oct. 2004. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Marin, Patricia. "Haunted Stull Cemetery Continues to Fascinate Paranormal Researchers." Examiner.com. Examiner, 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Schafer, Adam. "Real Stories of Real Haunted." Haunted Houses & Haunted Places. Hauntedusa.org, 1999. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Taylor, Troy. "STULL CEMETERY! ONE OF THE SEVEN GATEWAYS TO HELL?" STULL CEMETERY! ONE OF THE SEVEN GATEWAYS TO HELL? Prairieghosts, Apr. 2002. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Waugh, Lisa. "HauntedAmericaTours.com "Changing The Paranormal Landscape ~ One Page At A Time!"" STULL CEMETERY Haunted Cemeteries Real Ghost In America ... HauntedAmericaTours.com. Hauntedamericatours, 2004. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Links to further research:

Haunted Stull Cemetery continues to fascinate paranormal researchers
http://www.examiner.com/article/haunted-stull-cemetery-continues-to-fascinate-paranormal-researchers
A ghost-hunting examiner explaining the importance of the Stull Cemetery

Haunted Kansas
http://www.prairieghosts.com/stull.html
Some additional information about Stull Cemetery

Hell Hath No Fury
http://www.lawrence.com/news/2004/oct/26/stull/
An article that goes deeper to find the truth of the Stull Cemetery