The Salt Lake City Cemetery sits high up in the Avenues, overlooking the city. The oldest grave was dug there in September, 1847 – just a few months after Mormon pioneers arrived in the valley. The cemetery became official in 1851.The Salt Lake City Cemetery is full of interesting headstones and graves.

Local residents enjoy walking through this cemetery, and people come from all over to view the various headstones. Many famous Utahns are buried here, including past governors, senators and business owners.

However, one grave that is frequently visited is that of a woman who wasn't particularly well-known before her death: Lilly E. Gray.
Tracie Hall/flickr
Utah state records show that Mrs. Gray died of natural causes on November 14, 1958. But take a look at her headstone...
Lilly's husband, Elmer, ordered her headstone from Salt Lake Monument and requested that the phrase "Victim of the Beast 666" be inscribed under the dates.
Noel Fields/flickr
Why? Did Lilly really die due to some run-in with the supernatural? Was she involved in a satanic cult? Rumors and speculation abound.
Lilly was Elmer's second wife - they married in 1950. She died at age 77, and there's no indication from any official records that there was anything amiss about her death.
Tracie Hall/flickr
Elmer was an eccentric guy who had several run-ins with the law during his lifetime. He also had many conspiracy theories. He felt like the government was out to get him, and may have blamed the government for his previous wife's death.

In a legal document that he completed for the Utah Board of Pardons in 1947, Elmer states that his parents, "died of grief when kidnappers (sic) murdered my wife." On the same document, he states that "5 democrats kidnapped (sic) me." You can view the document on the Utah State Archives site here

When you look at his Board of Pardons application, you could conclude that Elmer Gray was either delusional or had a really strange sense of humor.

We’ll probably never know what Elmer meant when he placed that inscription on Lilly’s grave. He may have been insane, or he may have felt that there was some sort of conspiracy that killed his wife. So far, people who have researched this strange grave have failed to find any verifiable connection to satanism or the occult.

What do you think?

You’ll find ghost stories surrounding many of Utah’s cemeteries. This article includes 14 cemeteries with supposed hauntings.

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