THE LEGEND OF STEPP CEMETERY
The Stepp Cemetery is located some fifteen miles north of Bloomington, Indiana and five miles southeast of Martinsville, Indiana.
The miles east of the forest entrance, on Old State Highway 37, Stepp Cemetery stands on a slight rise about hundred yards north of the main park road.
The history of Stepp Cemetery is clouded in some mystery. June Fulford, a long time resident of northeastern Monroe County. According to Mrs. Fulford, Stepp Cemetery was connected with the Crabbite religious sect, a Fundamentalist group given to such practices as snake handling. Mrs. Fulford recalled that her grandfather, who served in some official capacity in the area, was called upon to disperse, with a bullwhip, a group of Crabbites engaged in ritualized sexual license.
The legend of Stepp Cemetery goes as follows: 1) a women, witch or female ghost dressed in black frequents the grave of her husband, daughter, son, infant of unspecified sex, or any combination of these relatives; 2) the women appears seated on a stump-sometimes called the "Warlock Seat: - near the entrance to the cemetery; 3) a person who sits on this stump, usually at a certain hour or on a certain day, often meets death or other misfortune within a stated period of time and 4) several deaths and mutilations.
The miles east of the forest entrance, on Old State Highway 37, Stepp Cemetery stands on a slight rise about hundred yards north of the main park road.
The history of Stepp Cemetery is clouded in some mystery. June Fulford, a long time resident of northeastern Monroe County. According to Mrs. Fulford, Stepp Cemetery was connected with the Crabbite religious sect, a Fundamentalist group given to such practices as snake handling. Mrs. Fulford recalled that her grandfather, who served in some official capacity in the area, was called upon to disperse, with a bullwhip, a group of Crabbites engaged in ritualized sexual license.
The legend of Stepp Cemetery goes as follows: 1) a women, witch or female ghost dressed in black frequents the grave of her husband, daughter, son, infant of unspecified sex, or any combination of these relatives; 2) the women appears seated on a stump-sometimes called the "Warlock Seat: - near the entrance to the cemetery; 3) a person who sits on this stump, usually at a certain hour or on a certain day, often meets death or other misfortune within a stated period of time and 4) several deaths and mutilations.
this is a creepy place. i just went there when i took a friend "snipe" hunting. we saw ppl have left stuff on their graves... i found out about this place through
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they also have info about other local bloomington sites
here is an article about the stepp cemetery in Indiana University's student paper.
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http://btownurbanmyths.blogspot.com
This is the final resting place of many of my family members and some of the area's first pioneers. It is one of many rural farm cemeteries created to lay to rest our loved ones. People have virtually destroyed the monuments and the grounds with their "investigations" and teenaged "pranks". Reuben Stepp owned the land and farmed it long before it was a State Forest. It's a cemetery that deserves respect and dignity to those buried there. I only hope and pray that one day no one will treat your final resting place with the same disregard. If I am not mistaken, it is illegal to be in any Indiana cemetery after sunset by state law. Any set of woods at night is creepy and full of weird sounds. It's called wind and animals.
ReplyDeleteNot all investigators are disrespectful. And since u have family there u should know that when i go back there..i honor them and bring them lavender and try to pick up the big limbs off headstones and put back any flags or flowers. I respect all ancestors.i thank them for sharing their space. I investigate to hear what they wana say
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