by Tom Ogden
HAWAII
Interstate H-1
Oahu
H-1 is the busiest highway on Oahu, cutting through the Koolau Mountains from east to west. The highway took seven years to complete, in part because of the number of ghostly encounters the workers had to endure. Some men were so frightened by the apparitions that they walked off their jobs and never came back. During construction, the bones of native warriors had been disturbed, and the excavation awakened the dead. Laborers would hear disembodied spirits talking to them, and sometimes the phantoms would materialize in full war regalia. Almost everyone who helped dig the mountain tunnels heard the cries of ancient warriors echoing inside the shafts.
These sightings are similar to tales of the Night Marchers, or huaka’i o ka po as they are known in Hawaiian. The ghosts are spirits of venerated warriors and chieftains from long ago that wander the earth. Not relegated to a single cemetery or even the spots where they fell in battle, the spectres walk in formation across the old trails they used to crisscross the islands. They can show up anytime, but they’re seen most often between 7:30 p.m. and dawn, especially on nights that were dedicated to the native gods. The terrifying part of the legend is that if you’re spotted by them, you will fall dead, and your soul will join the Night Marchers in their never-ending parade.
USS Arizona Memorial
Honolulu, Oahu
The USS Arizona was destroyed during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese warplanes on December 7, 1941. The Arizona suffered the most casualties of any ship in the harbor because the ammunition it was carrying was detonated. Of the 1,177 sailors and marines who were killed, 1,102 sank with the ship to a watery grave.
The ship was never removed, and its outline can be clearly seen through the depths. In 1962 a long, narrow memorial was built over the vessel, straddling the hull at a ninety-degree angle, to allow visitors to get close to the craft for remembrance and contemplation. Operated by the National Park Service, a boat from the shore ferries guests back and forth.
It’s often forgotten that the USS Arizona is not just a memorial. It’s also the final resting place of all those who were trapped inside. Their bodies were never recovered. Visitors to the site sometimes discover hazy human shapes in their photographs. Folks have encountered uniformed servicemen at the memorial that were actually ghosts. And at low tide, when the Arizona is most visible, many people have spotted the spectre of a single man wandering the upper deck. One story suggests that he was off the ship at the time of the attack and that now, in death, he’s returned to be with his comrades.
IDAHO
Ammon Cemetery
Idaho Falls
The Ammon Cemetery, established in 1912, has about three thousand interments. The ghost of a child has frequently been seen there, but it’s unclear whether it’s a boy or girl because no one has been able to approach the youngster. The ghost is always seen standing near one particular tree or up in its branches. The apparition can only be observed from a moving vehicle. If the driver stops, the phantom instantly disappears.
Canyon Hill Cemetery
Caldwell
Founded in the 1930s, Canyon Hill Cemetery has had more than twenty thousand interments. Red and green orbs and eerie mists are common at night, but the main haunting is that of a phantom female runner—with invisible legs. Known as the Midnight Jogger, she sprints through the burial ground on the footpaths at any time after, well, midnight. She may also startle you by tapping at your car window if you park between the trees facing the cemetery.
Dry Creek Cemetery
Boise
There are more than twenty-seven thousand interments in Dry Creek Cemetery dating to the 1870s. The burial ground plays host to a ghost horse. People say that if you stand along the Farmers Union Canal at the south end of the graveyard between 2:15 a.m. and dawn, you’ll hear the dis-embodied sound of a phantom stallion gallop by. (Be careful not to fall into the canal. It has very steep cliffs.)
Malad City Cemetery
Malad City
Malad City Cemetery was established sometime in the 1800s, and at least two thousand burials have taken place there. The graveyard has two ghosts that regularly appear. One is an unidentified woman in a red dress. The other is an elderly man who’s seen pulling weeds and doing other chores. Legend has it that the spectre is a former caretaker who committed suicide in the cemetery after being fired because of his age.
Pioneer Cemetery
Idaho City
Though today a small community of a few hundred people, Idaho City was a boomtown during its gold rush years, which began in the Boise Basin in 1862. Established in 1864, the wooded Pioneer Cemetery (also known as Old Pioneer Cemetery and Boot Hill) may hold as many as three thousand graves, but most are unmarked. Among the apparitions that manifest in the graveyard are a young Chinese girl and an old prospector with a short beard, wearing jeans and a vest.
Rose Hill Cemetery
Idaho Falls
Rose Hill Cemetery, with about 3,500 interments, dates to the 1820s. Rumor has it that a large square monument on the grounds is a crypt, and if you knock on it, someone will knock from inside. Also, a werewolf (or its ghost) is said to stalk the graveyard. Most likely the old wives’ tale started because there are neighboring headstones in the cemetery bearing the names “Ware” and “Wolff.” Allegedly the person buried under one of them really was a werewolf.
ILLINOIS
Alton City Cemetery
Alton
Alton City Cemetery is one of the oldest burial grounds in Illinois. Although the graves of Civil War soldiers have been moved to the adjacent National Cemetery, the site still holds the remains of many prisoners and guards from the Alton Military Prison. Perhaps one of them is the man whose apparition shows up dressed in a Union officer’s uniform. The spectre of a little girl also manifests in the graveyard—but only to other youngsters. Many parents have reported that their children later told them they had played and talked with a small girl in the cemetery, but the parents never saw her. It’s believed that the “invisible friend” is Lucy Haskell, who died of diphtheria at the age of nine, because kids usually see the spirit near the Hayner/Haskell monument. A third phantom at Alton City Cemetery is a Woman in Black who appears in and near the Grandview mausoleum. The ghost of abolitionist, minister, and publisher Elijah P. Lovejoy manifests near his memorial. Finally, the burial ground used to be the home base of a hitchhiking ghost known as the Woman in White or the Phantom Bride. The legend, which started around World War II, isn’t told very often today, but it concerns a woman dressed all in white who got into a taxi outside the cemetery gates. She gave the driver an address and settled in for the ride. When they arrived at the destination, the woman was gone. A man came to the door to tell the driver that the woman he picked up was his wife—but she had died years earlier. The story soon spread among the other cab drivers in Alton, and for years no taxi would stop at the cemetery to pick up any woman wearing white.
White Memorial Cemetery
Barrington
White Memorial Cemetery dates to the 1820s. Visitors have reported hearing unseen feet shuffling through leaves, but the graveyard’s most common ghostly phenomena are illuminated orbs that hover near the fence and sometimes stray over to the road. A phantom black car also haunts the graveyard. The same vehicle has been spotted about a block away, close to where a residence once stood. The house burned to the ground years ago, but it manifests now and again for a few seconds at a time.
INDIANA
Highland Lawn Cemetery
Terre Haute
One of the most unconventional residents of Highland Lawn Cemetery is businessman Martin Sheets, who had the interior of his tomb fitted with a chandelier and a phone to the outside. It’s said that there are whiskey bottles hidden inside the mausoleum’s columns. His ghost doesn’t materialize, but flowers appear outside the crypt without explanation.
Perhaps the most famous legend concerning the cemetery is that of St
iffy Green, a phantom bulldog. The friendly canine got his name because of his lopsided walk and green eyes, and he was the faithful companion of an elderly man named John Heinl. When John died in 1920, he was entombed at Highland Lawn. Stiffy Green began to sit vigil outside John’s mausoleum, and no matter how often he was taken home, the dog would escape and run to the cemetery. This went on for several months until Stiffy Green was found dead from exposure outside the tomb. Heinl’s widow had the animal stuffed, mounted, and placed inside the mausoleum beside his master’s crypt. Visitors to the tomb could see the canine through the bronze grill door. Vandals began to shoot at the animal, however, so she removed the dog and replaced him with a stone statue that looked exactly like Stiffy. By then, people were reporting that they heard a dog barking in the cemetery, but when they followed the sound, it led them to the Heinl mausoleum. And the ghost story doesn’t stop there! John Heinl’s apparition, sometimes smoking a pipe and occasionally telling his dog to hush, has been spotted walking the burial grounds; he’s always accompanied by the spectre of a small bulldog with penetrating green eyes.
Park Cemetery
Fairmount
Every year, thousands of people visit the nondescript Park Cemetery to visit the grave of James Dean. The film idol died in 1955 when his Porsche Spyder 550 collided head-on with another vehicle at the intersection of Routes 466 and 41 near Cholame, California. For more than fifty years people have been hearing the squealing of phantom tires and a terrible crash at the site of the accident, especially on September 30, the anniversary of Dean’s death. Fans of the actor come to Park Cemetery to take a handful of dirt from the star’s grave, and many of them sense his presence. A few have even said they saw Dean’s apparition.
Stepp Cemetery
Martinsville
No one knows who started Stepp Cemetery or exactly when, but it was sometime in the early 1800s. The burial ground is located deep within the Morgan-Monroe State Forest, and it only contains about thirty tombstones, all of them weathered. There’s a row of headstones near the south end of the graveyard, and nearby there’s a tree stump that vaguely resembles a chair. According to an old wives’ tale, Stepp Cemetery is haunted by the spectre of a Woman in Black (or Lady in Black) with long, white hair. Most often she’s seen sitting on that old tree trunk, crying. When spotted, she’ll sometimes turn to face the person interrupting her solace and give the intruder a chilly, piercing stare.
While there are many variations of the legend explaining who the spirit is, or was, here’s the most common version: The ghost is a woman who moved from the East with her husband. He began to work in a local quarry, and the couple soon had a daughter. After the husband was killed in a dynamite blast, his remains were buried in Stepp Cemetery. The daughter grew up and died in a car accident while returning home from a date. She, too, was interred in Stepp Cemetery. Before long, her mother, dressed all in black, began a daily visit to the graveyard, where she would talk to her lost husband and daughter. Often she would rest on the old tree stump near their graves or sit there weeping as the sky grew dark. If anyone tried to talk to the woman, she would flee into the forest and not come out until the other person was gone. In time, it was said, she went insane and eventually died. She is also supposedly buried somewhere in Stepp Cemetery. Now her ghost continues the mourning as the Woman in Black, usually manifesting on nights of a full moon. Whether the apparition shows up or not, it’s considered very bad luck to sit on the tree stump. And sometimes police are called to the site when passersby hear disembodied, uncontrollable sobbing coming from the woods. No one is ever found.
IOWA
Iowa State University Cemetery
Ames
Iowa State University has had a cemetery on its property since 1876. The two-acre tract, with more than seven hundred interments, is located in the northwest corner of campus, and it’s one of the few active graveyards on the grounds of a US university. People have reported seeing cloudy apparitions roaming among the tombstones, but none of the ghosts has ever been identified.
Little Sioux Lutheran Cemetery
Milford
According to legend, back in the early 1900s the workers erecting a fence around Little Sioux Lutheran Cemetery encountered a problem they’d never had before. Some unnatural force was preventing them from digging a post-hole at one particular spot along the west border of the graveyard. After breaking several shovels, they brought in a large earthmover to find out what was making their task so difficult. What they discovered surprised everyone: an unmarked grave. Was the unknown person’s spirit stopping them from disturbing the gravesite? Rather than tempt fate, the maintenance men diverted the fence. Even today, visitors can see where the fence was rerouted at the fourth post.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Marcus
On August 16, 1893, Martin and Helena “Lena” Schultz were bludgeoned to death with a hammer, their farmhouse ransacked, and their money stolen. (Many books on the paranormal list their names as Heinrich and Olga Schultz.) Suspicion for the murder fell on a farmhand, named in some sources as Will Florence. The man was questioned but released after no evidence linking him to the crime was found. He quickly left town and was never seen again. Soon after the Shultzes were buried, the image of a face appeared on the north side of their tombstone. The man who made the stone told everyone the streaks were natural graining in the white marble, but many people insisted the mark looked like the farm-hand. Three suspects were charged with the murder over the next six years, but none of them was found guilty. The crime remains one of Iowa’s most notorious unsolved mysteries.
Oak Hill Cemetery
Cedar Rapids
Thirty-six-acre Oak Hill Cemetery was established in 1853. The burial ground was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. It’s said to be haunted by a mischievous Czech phantom named Tillie, who was interred in a potter’s field. Some versions of the ghost story say she was stoned to death for being a witch. Her spectre is usually seen carrying a lit candle, and from time to time she tries to pull a visitor into one of the mausoleums. That’s the old wives’ tale, anyway. But Oak Hill Cemetery doesn’t have (and never had) a separate potter’s field. Also, the grave purported to be Tillie’s probably contains the remains of two Czech babies instead. The infants were most likely buried at Oak Hill Cemetery as their parents passed through Iowa in the 1800s.
Oakland Cemetery
Iowa City
Established in 1843, the Oakland Cemetery has grown from one square block to forty acres. The graveyard is best known for a striking eight-and-a-half-foot-tall statue known as the Black Angel, which marks the graves of the Feldevert family. Cast in golden bronze and erected in 1912, the figure has darkened over the years to a near ebony color. It’s particularly unsettling because the face is cast downward rather than up toward Heaven, and its wings are not uplifted. Various legends surround the effigy: The sculpture turns a shade blacker every Halloween; anyone who touches it will die unless he or she is a virgin; people who touch it at midnight on Halloween will die within seven years; those who deface the angel will die or come down with a serious illness; any girl kissed near the statue in the moonlight will die within six months; shadowy shapes and peculiar noises can be detected near the monument. As unnerving as the Black Angel is, Oakland Cemetery may actually have a ghost or two! On at least one occasion, the spirit of Annie Oliver has risen from the ground and danced on her grave. Folks have reported seeing nameless apparitions roaming the graveyard as well.
KANSAS
Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery was established in 1862 and encompasses thirty-six acres. It’s located fully within Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation, which is one of the oldest continuously active military posts in the United States. The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. One of the ghosts in the graveyard is Chief Joseph, a leader of the Wallowa band of the N
ez Percé. He didn’t die at the fort, however, nor is he interred in the cemetery. (He passed away on the Colville Indian Reservation in 1904 and is buried in Washington State.) It’s thought that he’s returned to Fort Leavenworth because he was held at the garrison along with four hundred of his followers for eight months in 1877.
The spectre of Catherine Sutter also wanders among the cemetery’s headstones. She stopped at the fort with her husband and two children en route to Oregon in 1880. One day the father sent the kids out to collect firewood, but they didn’t return. Their bodies were never found. The Sutters stayed on through the winter, hoping against hope that their children would turn up. Catherine would leave the fort and walk out through the snow, relentlessly searching for her young ones, but to no avail. She caught pneumonia, died, and was buried at the fort. Her troubled spirit appears in the cemetery, clothed in a calico dress and a black shawl and sometimes carrying a lantern. Even when her ghost doesn’t materialize, her voice can be heard on the night wind, plaintively calling out to her children.
More than a dozen phantoms have been seen in various buildings at Fort Leavenworth, including a Lady in Black, an old woman, an elderly man in a white robe, a bad-tempered young girl, a priest, a man with a mustache and goatee, Mrs. Sheridan (wife of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan), Gen. George Custer, and several of the men who died with Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (His soldiers appear on the garrison’s old parade ground instead of in the graveyard.)
KENTUCKY
Oak Grove Cemetery
Paducah
Oak Grove Cemetery was founded in 1847 on thirty-six acres of land. Perhaps its most famous occupant is high school instructor John Thomas Scopes, who was put on trial in 1925 for teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee’s Butler Act. The case became known as the Scopes Trial or, more commonly, the Scopes Monkey Trial, and it formed the basis of the popular play and movie Inherit the Wind. It’s not Scopes’s ghost that haunts the graveyard, though. Rather, it’s the spectre of a young woman named Della Barnes, who died on June 27, 1897. Her father had a life-size statue of her carved in Italian marble, and he placed it at her grave. (Unfortunately, the memorial has been heavily vandalized.) Urban legend says Della was murdered by her jealous fiancé and that he cut off her finger to take back the engagement ring. In reality, she probably died from an accidental overdose of morphine. Barnes’s recognizable ghost meanders the cemetery, usually carrying a small light of some sort. Shy, she instantly disappears if anyone tries to get close.