You Won’t Want To Visit This Notorious Missouri Cemetery Alone Or After Dark
By Beth Price-Williams|Published October 07, 2019
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Beth Price-Williams
Author
A professional writer for more than two decades, Beth has lived in nearly a dozen states – from Missouri and Virginia to Connecticut and Vermont – and Toronto, Canada. In addition to traveling extensively in the U.S. and the U.K., she has a BA in Journalism from Point Park University (PA), a MA in Holocaust & Genocide Studies from Stockton University (NJ), and a Master of Professional Writing from Chatham University (PA). A writer and editor for Only In Your State since 2016, Beth grew up in and currently lives outside of Pittsburgh and when she’s not writing or hanging out with her bunnies, budgies, and chinchilla, she and her daughter are out chasing waterfalls.
Darkness may make us more wary of visiting a cemetery, especially if it tells tales of the paranormal, but there are some spots that are so haunted that we’d probably not want to visit, especially alone, during the daylight hours either. This notorious Missouri Cemetery, in fact, hasn’t had any new burials for years, but that hasn’t stopped one long-term resident from causing a ruckus with visitors.
The haunted tale of Peace Church Cemetery in Joplin, which dates back to the mid-1800s, starts with one permanent resident, Billy Cook. The infamous serial killer went on a three-week murdering spree in 1950.
Cook embarked on his six-state crime spree posing as a hitchhiker. He kidnapped his first victim in Texas, shoving him into the trunk of the victim’s car. The victim, however, escaped.
The occupants of the next car that would stop for Cook wouldn’t be so lucky. Cook’s first murdered victims were a family of five and their dog. By now, Cook was near his hometown of Joplin, where he dumped his victims.
During the-three week murdering spree, Cook killed six people before he was apprehended by authorities in California. The native Missourian received the death penalty and was sent to San Quentin.
California executed Cook in the gas chamber just two years later. His body was then shipped back to Joplin and buried in an unmarked grave just outside of Peace Church Cemetery.
Cook’s final resting place, however, didn’t provide him with much rest or peace. He took it upon himself to stir things up with visitors to the cemetery.
He also appears to express his unhappiness with being on the outskirts of the property by throwing things at visitors. Some have even claimed to have been mysteriously scratched while at Peace Church Cemetery.
Do you know of another notorious Missouri cemetery that you really wouldn’t want to visit alone or after dark? Tell us about it in the comments! Click here for more tales of the paranormal at Missouri’s cemeteries.
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