The Prairie Ghosts Summary
Stull Cemetery, and the abandoned church that rests next to it, is located in the tiny, nearly forgotten Kansas town of Stull. There is not much left of the tiny village, save for a few houses, the newer church and about twenty residents. However, the population of the place allegedly contains a number of residents that are from beyond this earth! In addition to its human inhabitants, the town is also home to a number of legends and strange tales that are linked to the crumbling old church and the overgrown cemetery that can be found atop Stulls Emmanuel Hill. For years, stories of witchcraft, ghosts and supernatural happenings have surrounded the old graveyard. It is a place that some claim is one of the "seven gateways to hell."
The legends say that these stories have been linked to Stull for more than 100 years, but none of them made it into print until the 1970's. In November 1974, an article appeared in the University of Kansas student newspaper that spoke of a number of strange occurrences in the Stull churchyard. According to the article, Stull was haunted by legends of diabolical, supernatural happenings and the legends asserted that the cemetery was one of the two places on earth where the devil appears in person two times each year. It said that the cemetery had been the source of many legends in the area, stories that had been told and re-told for over a century.
The piece also went on to say that most students learned of Stull's diabolical reputation from their grand-parents and older individuals, but that many of them claimed first-hand encounters with things that could not explain. One student claimed to have been grabbed by the arm by something unseen, while others spoke of unexplained memory loss when visiting the place. Like many other locations of this type, the tales of devil worship and witchcraft also figured strongly into the article.
But were the stories actually true?
Not according to the residents of Stull, who claimed to have never even heard the stories before. They were bemused, annoyed and downright angered that such things were being said about their town. The pastor of the new church in Stull, located right across the road from the old one, indicated that he believed the stories to be the invention of students at the university.
But such stories have a strong hold on people, as evidenced by the reaction to the article that claimed that the devil would appear in Stull Cemetery on the night of the Spring Equinox and again on Halloween. On March 20, 1978, more than 150 people waited in the cemetery for the arrival of the devil. The word also spread that the spirits of those who died violent deaths, and were buried there, would return from the grave. Unfortunately, the only spirits that showed up that night came in bottles and cans... but this did not stop the stories from spreading.
All through the 1980s and up until today, stories have been told about Stull Cemetery and as time has passed, most have grown more horrifying and hard to believe. The problem seems to be that the cemetery has a lack of real, documented accounts of strange activity. The weird tales seem to be little more that urban legends and second-hand stories from teenagers and college students.
Chris Nen's Summary
Stull is located about 15-20 miles outside of Lawrence, Kansas. It is a very small town, and only has a few houses and other buildings within the city limits. The rumored gateway to hell is an old cemetery with a small crumbling church in the back that has been burned down. The only remains of the church are four stone walls and a few burnt beams for the roof. The inside walls are covered with grafitti, and the floor is grown over with weeds and grass. The church was allegedly burned down by satanists who used to (still do?) hold rituals there. The police and townspeople are very protective of the cemetery and watch for tresspassers. In one instance, a police car followed my friends and I all the way back to Lawrence to make sure we didn't try to come back. They mean business... If you get caught in the cemetery, you will at least get a $100 ticket, if not worse!
Around the year 1993, you may remember when the pope flew to Colorado in order to speak to a large audience. What you may not know however is how, according to an article in Time magazine, the pope asked to fly up and around Kansas, into Nebraska, and then back down into Colorado. The pope said that the area around eastern Kansas (where Stull is located) was so unholy, that he didn't even want to fly above it. There is also the now famous "Stull" EP by the alternative group Urge Overkill. The cover of the album has an actual picture of the cemetery with the church in the background. The song itself talks about the location of the town, and has references to hell and evil (666). It would seem strange to me that a popular, national band would have a picture of and talk about Stull for no reason.
Adam's Summary
The tiny town of Stull, Kansas (which sits at an elevation of 940 ft) is named after Silvester Stull, a postmaster of the area way back when. Thanks to S.S. Leggett for this info. "The town of Stull was named after Silvester when he was postmaster. Silvester was born 19 Mar. 1862 in the Stull area, Isaac was his father. Silverster reared 11 children near Stull - His wife was Mary Bertha Koehler. When they retired they moved to Orange Co. California, and Silvester died there 4 July 1931 He is buried at Fairhaven Cemetery in Orange Co. California." Stull, KS was first settled by 18 people who organized the Evangelical Emanuel Church. The land for the church was donated by Jacob Hildenbrand. The pine tree which was deemed to be 100 years old or so in 1952 was thought to be planted around the time the church was built in 1867. The headstone that was split by the roots of the tree which is mentioned later in this page had the names of Bettie and Frankie Thomas who both died in 1879. Stull had two major tragedies in the 1900's. The first is about a small boy who's father was burning a field of tall grass. After the field was done being burnt the charred remains of the boy were found out in the field. The other tragedie is of a man who was reported missing and was later found hanging from the limb of a tree. Could that possibly be the branches of the pine tree??? Stull also had a road when natural gas came through in 1905 called Devils Road which was adjacent to the Kraft Store. A look at any old maps of Stull will show that..
I'm sure some of you are wondering, since Stull is supposed to be a gateway to hell, then where is the gateway. That is a big question in debate. Some say that it is in the church, while others say that it is somewhere else in the surrounding area. When I was there, I only looked a little bit, and I know for a fact that they are NOT inside the church, unless they magically appear through all the rubble or something, and that they are not out in the cemetery itself anywhere, leaving the only options to be either to the North, East, or West side of the chruch. I received an email today (3/29/99) from Ryan, and this is what it said: There are "stairs" that lead somewhere down. They are behind the chruch on the right side of the church if you are facing the church. They aren't easy to find, however, because they are well covered by the grass that has grown on top of the lid that covers them. It is not easy to find them, it took a friend and I about 3 hours of snooping around. We came upon this about 6 years ago. If you really want to see or hear awful and weird stuff, if you can, try to campout behind the church for a night. Do this behind the church to avoid the patrol that do drive by there at night every hour or two. Take a flashlight and plenty of batteries, becacue you will have a ton of trouble keeping the flashlight working and it will go out a lot, trust me, i know. Have Fun!
