Felix-Liliger Cemetery sits on a hill surrounded by an old weather-beaten wrought iron fence, deep in the Sun Bridge Conservation Area. Named after the Kansa Indian belief that they ascend to the afterlife on a sun bridge, the Conservation Area runs along the Missouri River north of St. Joseph, Missouri. There are perhaps a dozen headstones in the tiny graveyard. Over the years, many visitors have travelled to this remote location to find “Felix’s Grave.” There are many different stories about Felix. Some say he murdered his family, or that he died in a car accident and his body was never recovered. According to another legend, a witch was hung in an old oak tree in the cemetery and buried beneath it. Her headstone, which warns “here I lie, cross this grave and you’ll surely die,” allegedly glows at night. The cemetery has suffered vandalism in the past. In 1980, Elizabeth Liliger’s grave was dug up, and only some pieces of the coffin were ever recovered.
Mary Jane’s Grave - Middletown, Minnesota
Deep in the swampy woods north of Spirit Lake and the Minnesota-Iowa border, lies Loon Lake Cemetery. Now abandoned, fewer than 18 of the original 67 headstones remain. According to legend, in 1881 the townspeople of the nearby village of Petersburg accused an 18-year-old girl named Mary Jane Terwileger (sometimes simply known as Mary Jane) of being a witch and beheaded her. She was buried on a hill in Loon Lake Cemetery. Their troubles with witches did not stop there, however, and they saw fit to execute two more young women in subsequent years. The graves of these women became something of a local tourist attraction, so their headstones were removed to protect them from vandals. Unfortunately, the exact location of Mary Jane’s grave has been forgotten, and legend says that anyone who walks across it will die within 72 hours. According to one account, “This was perpetuated by reports of a young man who walked over the grave while hunting in the area. On the way home, a heavy fog ascended, and after he pulled his car over, he suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.” The cemetery is believed to be haunted by other anguished spirits as well.
The St. Omer Witch’s Grave - Ashmore, Illinois
St. Omer Cemetery is home to an unusual family monument that some say looks like a crystal ball on top a pyre. According to local lore, Caroline Barnes, one of four people buried under the massive stone, was put to death for practicing witchcraft. It is said that no pictures can be taken of her monument, and that it glows on moonless nights. The only evidence for the legend seems to be the gravestone’s dramatic design, the way local citizens grow nervous whenever the story is mentioned, and most strikingly, Caroline’s impossible date of death chiseled in the granite: February 31. The monument also faces north and south, while most headstones are oriented east-west. There is no historical or documentary evidence supporting the notion that Caroline Barnes was accused of witchcraft, but never-the-less, the legend has persisted.
Aurora Witch’s Grave - Aurora, Nebraska
Aurora Cemetery is a square, garden-like cemetery at the southwest corner of Route 14 and West 14 Road, north of Aurora in central Nebraska. The grave of Susan A. Gavan sits in the northwest corner of the cemetery, surrounded by iron posts that formerly held up heavy chains. Historically, Susan died in 1882 at the age of 40 and was buried with her 7-month-old daughter, May. Oddly, her husband and she were married on Halloween in 1861. Every Halloween, on their wedding anniversary, local teens venture out to her grave and dare each other to step on it. Susan, they say, was a witch who put a curse on the town before she was executed. Anyone who steps on her grave will either die within nine years, or by the age of 21. In reality, however, Susan was a respected woman. Her obituary read, “the community realizes that from our midst in life has gone an estimable lady, and extends heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family.” That has not stopped generations of local children from making nighttime journeys to the infamous Nebraska “witch’s grave.”
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