This Supposedly-Haunted Indiana Cemetery Has Graves Dating Back To The Early 1900s
Indiana is one of the older states in the union, with an incredibly intricate and rich history. Cities and towns have been popping up in the region for literally hundreds of years, and as such, there’s bound to be some super-old cemeteries with super-interesting histories. And cemeteries there are! The Hoosier state is home to over 100,000 cemeteries and burial grounds. This one, though, has some legitimately creepy anecdotes surrounding it.
It opened more than a century ago, in 1884, at what was then North Third Street. The first person to be buried there was a 30-year-old woman by the name of Samantha McPherson, who died of typhoid fever entirely too young.
Ever since, the cemetery has seen some notable burials and has had numerous reports of strange and unusual occurrences on the grounds. A chapel was built there in 1893, and the grounds have been renovated more than once since.
Some of the mausoleums on the grounds are over 100 years old; they're masterfully crafted out of granite and marble, and they maintain their beauty today. The landscape of the cemetery is sculpted after the late 19th-century Romantic style. It's beautiful, quiet, and a lovely place for some inner reflection.
Of course, a cemetery this old is bound to come with memories and ghosts of its own. As beautiful as it is, it's certainly not without its phantoms. One of the older spirits is said to be that of an old bulldog by the name of Stiffy Green, for his stiff-legged gait and green eyes. Barking has been heard many times coming from inside the mausoleum that old Stiffy shares with his owner.
He arranged to make sure that this was an impossibility. He was decked out with an "escapable" casket, with hinges to be able to be opened from the inside, and a phone inside the mausoleum. He paid to keep the phone in service for years following his internment, and it's said that when his beloved wife died years later of a stroke, she was found clutching her phone. When Martin's tomb was reopened to lay her to rest beside him, the phone inside the mausoleum was reported to have been inexplicably off the hook.
It seems a bit cliché to speak of ghosts inhabiting a century-plus-old cemetery, but hey, maybe the stereotype exists for a reason. Highland Lawn Cemetery is very old, very beautiful, and very, very spooky- particularly after dark.
For more information including a detailed history of Highland Lawn Cemetery, folks are encouraged to visit their website. Have you ever explored an old, haunted cemetery? Where was it? Tell us your spookiest ghost stories in the comments below.
Address: 4420 Wabash Ave, Terre Haute, IN 47803, USA
