Field file · Spectral · Local legend
Stull Cemetery
Also known as Gateway to Hell, Devil’s Church of Stull
A tiny Kansas graveyard said to host the Devil twice a year, a campus legend born in a 1974 student newspaper article.
Stull is an unincorporated village west of Lawrence, Kansas, built around a stone church and a small cemetery. The Emmanuel Evangelical church was erected around 1867, the cemetery was laid out in 1869, and congregation moved to a new church across the road in 1922, leaving the old building to decay.
The supernatural reputation is much younger. In November 1974, the University of Kansas student paper, the University Daily Kansan, ran a story about a local legend that the Devil visits Stull twice a year, on Halloween and the spring equinox. Later versions claimed the graveyard was one of seven “gateways to hell,” that the Devil had fathered a child there with a witch, and that stairs in the ruined church led below. Students and curiosity-seekers began to gather on those two nights; crowds of several hundred were reported by the late 1990s.
The ruined church lost its roof to storms and its walls collapsed in early 2002. The landowner then had the remains bulldozed on the sheriff’s advice that they were a hazard. Vandalism and stolen headstones led to nighttime closure, fencing and patrols; entering after dark can bring trespass charges. A claim that Pope John Paul II rerouted a flight to avoid Stull has been traced to no reliable source.
What witnesses describe
Reports describe ghostly lights, a presence in the ruined church, a spectral figure in black and, in the main legend, the Devil himself on Halloween and the equinox. No consistent description exists.
Where and when it’s seen
A small rural cemetery and the former church site, reported at night, mainly around October 31 and the spring equinox.
Notable sightings
- About 1867Church built Stull, Kansas
A stone church was built, with the adjoining cemetery established in 1869.
- November 1974The Kansan story Lawrence, Kansas
The University Daily Kansan printed an article on the Devil’s supposed twice-yearly visits, the first known written form of the legend.
- March 2002Church demolished Stull, Kansas
After storms collapsed its walls, the old church was bulldozed on safety advice.
What could explain it?
- The tale appears to have started as a campus rumor in the early 1970s, with some tellers crediting a fraternity prank, and was amplified by the newspaper article itself.
- Historians and Stull residents say there is no record of satanic activity or any witch or demon child, and locals widely dismiss the stories.
- Night visitors in an abandoned ruin are easily frightened by wind, animals and one another, and crowds on the two “devil nights” fed the reputation.
Legend, culture and tourism
The legend appears in the 1992 Urge Overkill EP Stull, in horror films and in the television series Supernatural, whose finale was set in the cemetery. Residents ask visitors to respect the graves of their relatives.
Places to visit
Open to the public in daylight only; trespassing after dark is enforced, and visitors should respect the graves.
Where it’s reported
Sources
First published · Updated
