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The Terrifying Legends and Truth About Stull Kansas · Mystery Archives Episodes

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In the heart of America's Midwest lies a town nearly
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forgotten by time, one church, 1 cemetery, and one legend that
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refuses to die. For decades, whispers of Stole
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Kansas have rippled through urban folklore, stories of a
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hidden stairway, the supposed grave of the Antichrist, and
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even a gateway to hell itself. They say the devil walks here
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twice a year and that the Pope refuses to fly overhead during
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his travels. What is it about this unassuming
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patch of land that grips imaginations and stirs fear and
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equal measure? Tonight we examine the truth,
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the myths, and the chilling legacy of one of America's most
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haunted places. This story holds a particularly
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special place in my heart. It's not only one of the first
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major mysteries that I heard about growing up, and one that
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really made me wonder just what strange secrets this world may
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hold, but it organically really as a result of those memories,
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was the topic of my very first ever Mystery Archives video back
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in 2020. It's hard to imagine that five
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years ago, when I was first laid off from my aircraft job at the
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time and was entirely unsure of the future and decided to
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reinvent and chase another dream of mine that I would have
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success. Half a decade later, not only
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would I have an incredible community that means the world
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to me and four published books out, but my channel would have
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introduced me to so many amazing people and lead to some once in
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a lifetime travels and adventures.
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All I can say is that I'm extremely lucky, I'm extremely
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grateful, and I hope five years from now we can look back just
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as, if if not more fondly, not only of the beginning, but of
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this time right now in our lives as the catalyst for future
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success and happiness. So thank you all again, through
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all of the ups and downs. I will eternally be forever
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grateful from the bottom of my heart and soul.
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And now let us dive into the perplexing and very creepy
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legends of Stole, Kansas. Stole, Kansas is a tiny hamlet
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in the American heartland, an unincorporated village West of
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Lawrence with only a few homes, a small newer church, and a
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modest cemetery atop a hill. In fact, little of the town
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remains beyond about 20 living residents in the graves of past
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locals. Historically, Stoll was once
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known as Deer Creek Community, founded in the mid 19th century
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by German settlers. In 1899, it was renamed for its
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first postmaster, Sylvester Stoll, after the short lived
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post office was established. By all accounts, Stoll has never
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been large, it's population never exceeding a few dozen
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souls, and nothing especially remarkable ever happened there
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in its early days. A couple of tragic accidents
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were recorded, however, a boy who perished in a farm fire and
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a man who went mysteriously missing, later found hanged from
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a tree. But no grand supernatural
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history marked Stole for Destiny.
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It was, for most of its existence, just another quiet
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rural crossroads. Yet despite its ordinary past,
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Stole gained an extraordinary and sinister reputation in the
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late 20th century. By the 1970s, whispers began
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circulating that Stole cemetery in the old Rune Church beside it
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were infested with dark, otherworldly forces.
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Today, the very name Stole conjures up horror folklore,
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tales of witches and diabolical rituals, a gateway to hell
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hidden beneath the earth, and the devil himself appearing
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among the tombstones. These legends have transformed
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Stole from an obscure Prairie graveyard into one of America's
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most notorious supernatural locations, a place that,
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according to myth, is so evil that even the Pope won't fly
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over it. So how did this sleepy Kansas
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burial ground become the subject of such terrifying lore?
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The story of Stoll's rise to infamy is a case study, and how
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folklore is born, and how fear can flourish in the shadows of a
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rural cemetery. The dark legends of Stoll might
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never have left local gossip if it weren't for a curious article
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printed in November of 1974 in the University Daily Kansan, the
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University of Kansas student newspaper.
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The article, titled Legend of Devil Haunts Tiny Town and
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written by student journalist Jane Pinner, was the first known
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publication to claim that Stoll was haunted by legends of
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diabolical supernatural happenings.
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Comparing the unassuming Kansas village to Washington Irving's
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legendary Sleepy Hollow, the piece reported that urban legend
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held Stole Cemetery to be a literal gateway to Hell, a place
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so accursed that Satan himself manifested there twice a year.
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According to Penner's sensational article, the Devil
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chose Stole as one of two locations on Earth where he
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would appear in person each year, specifically at midnight
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on Halloween and at midnight on the spring equinox.
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These bold claims were not backed by historical evidence,
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but they were evocative enough to capture readers imaginations.
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And with Halloween approaching, the students papers story struck
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a nerve and set the stage for an enduring myth.
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The 1974 article relayed several eerie anecdotes to support
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Stoll's spooky reputation. It describes strange occurrences
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in the Stoll churchyard and cemetery.
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One University of Kansas student claimed that an unseen 4 scrap
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his arm while visiting, and others reported episodes of
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unexplained memory loss on the grounds.
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Tales of witchcraft and devil worship were also woven into the
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narrative, implying that occult rituals had long been conducted
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among the weathered headstones. The piece even suggested that
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the legends were old, saying students learned these stories
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from older generations and that such tales had been told for
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over a century. What prompted the student author
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to write such an article? Some later observers have noted
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A satirical or tongue in cheek tone, suggesting that it may
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have been a creative piece intended for Halloween season
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entertainment. Indeed, the University daily
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Kansan apparently ran similar spooky features around late
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October and subsequent years, capitalizing on students
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appetite for local ghost lore. At the time, however, many
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readers took the 1974 article at face value, or at least found it
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compelling enough to spread the story further.
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Unbeknownst to the author, the legend of Stoll began
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snowballing. What started as a campus paper
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story soon escaped into a wider circulation as others retold and
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embellished the claims. When the news of Stoll's
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supposed demonic infestation reached the actual residence of
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Stoll, the reaction was a mix of confusion, amusement and anger.
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Long time locals were caught completely off guard by the
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article shocking assertions. According to the reports at the
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time, Stoll's residents claimed that they had never heard any of
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these legends before the 1974 publicity.
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To the people who lived there, the cemetery was a solemn family
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burial ground, not a haunted circus.
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The pastor of the active church across the road, the New Stoll
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Church, flatly dismissed the tales, suggesting that they were
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indeed invented by imaginative students but had no basis in
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real history. In short, the community of Stoll
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denied the stories completely, regarding it as a prank or
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fiction that unfairly painted their town in a satanic light.
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Local authorities were likewise not amused.
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In the years immediately following the article, Stoll
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began to be plagued by curiosity seekers and thrill hunting
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trespassers, especially around the dates of the alleged devil
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appearances. At first it was a trickle of
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brave or foolhardy college kids creeping into the cemetery at
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night, but upon the release of the article that trickle soon
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grew into a flood and went far beyond anyone could have ever
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imagined. Of course, the idea of
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witnessing Satan's arrival would prove irresistible to many.
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One early peak of legend driven fervor occurred on March 20th of
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1978, the night of the Spring equinox.
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Drawn by the rumor that the devil would emerge from Stoll's
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graveyard at midnight, a crowd of over 150 people gathered in
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the cemetery that night. They waited in the dark for
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something, anything supernatural to occur.
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Word. It also spread that violent,
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restless spirits might rise from their graves that same night,
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adding to the overall creepy atmosphere.
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In the end, though, the only spirits present were those in
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bottles. Many in the crowd had turned the
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vigil into a boozy party, and no specter or devil ever appeared.
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When midnight passed without incident, most went home
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disappointed and perhaps a bit tipsy.
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But importantly, the lack of evidence did not kill the story.
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If anything, the legend grew larger.
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Failure to witness the devil only fueled speculation that one
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had to come on the exact right time or have the proper, unholy,
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perhaps intuition to see him. In folklore, the story often
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doesn't require proof to thrive. The allure or possibility of
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experiencing something otherworldly can be enough to
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keep curious onlookers coming. By the 1980s, Stoll's eerie
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reputation was snowballing, much to the dismay of its citizens.
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At the heart of Stoll's mythos is the claim that the cemetery
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is a gateway to Hell itself, one of a few select spots on Earth
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where the barrier between the living world and the infernal
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abyss is thinnest. Over the years, Stoll has even
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been called one of the seven gateways to Hell worldwide.
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This concept of a hellmouth in Kansas is closely tied to the
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tale of the Devil's scheduled appearances.
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In some versions of the story, the devil comes to visit a loved
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one's grave and stole. One popular variant holds that
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Satan has a wife or concubine buried in Stole Cemetery, and it
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is her grave that draws him here on those nights.
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Other accounts claim that the devil's infant's son is interred
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and stole, the offspring of a union between the devil and a
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witch, and so the devil rises to briefly visit this child's
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resting place. And albeit one could never
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verify such claims, they certainly add a deliciously
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creepy motive to the legend. I mean, imagine the devil
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tenderly mourning his dead witch bride or deformed child under
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the pale moonlight of stole. It's the stuff of campfire ghost
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stories, and because of its imagery, really, it's stuck in
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people's minds, including my own.
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Another embellishment that fed the gateway narrative came from
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a 1980 news article. In November of 1980, the Kansas
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City Times ran a story on stole that poured more gasoline on the
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fire. The Kansas City Times piece
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famously claimed that the Devil appears and stole every
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Halloween at the same moment he appears in a remote spot in
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India simultaneously at midnight in two different locations, as
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if stole and an unknown Indian plane were twin portals from
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these places, the article said Satan gathers all the souls of
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people who died violent deaths in the past year and leads a
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macabre procession of spirits. This colorful claim of a
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worldwide demonic parade further solidified the idea of stole as
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a key Nexus of supernatural evil.
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If Satan himself chose stole as one of his sacred meeting
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points, surely the ground there must be uniquely tainted.
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But why Stoll? Even the 1980 newspaper sought
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an explanation. It offered a now notorious piece
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of lore. In the 1850s, a stable hand
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allegedly stabbed the town mayor to death in a barn on the side
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that later became the Stoll Church.
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The old stone barn turned church was then gutted by fire.
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This dramatic origin story, a murderer and an act of
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desecration, was cited as the reason that Satan favored stole.
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There's one problem though. Stole or Deer Creek never had an
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official mayor at all. The town was too small for such
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an office. In other words, the murdered
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mayor tale was pure fiction layered on to myth.
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As these elements accumulated. By the mid 1980s, people were
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commonly referring to Stole Cemetery as a literal hellmouth.
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The legend of the hidden staircase to Hell emerged around
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this time, greatly enhancing Stole's diabolical mystique.
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According to this lore, somewhere near the old church,
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some say in its basement, others say in a concealed pit behind
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the runes lies a set of stone steps that descend directly into
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hell itself. Most versions warn that the
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stairs are not easy to find, that they might only reveal
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themselves at certain times of the year, perhaps on the equinox
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or Halloween, or they might be obscured by brushing
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gravestones. One particularly terrifying
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detail says that if you do find these steps and venture down,
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that it may take you weeks to climb back up to the surface, if
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at all, even if you only spent a few moments in the Netherworld,
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as though time in Hell follows different rules.
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In short, Stoll's Gateway isn't just figurative.
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The legend insists that there's an actual door to hell in that
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graveyard, sealed somewhere beneath the earth, and the Devil
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and his minions come and go at their leisure.
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It's a classic horror motif, a small town version of a
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Hellmouth, one that echoes through pop culture, from shows
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like Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Stranger Things and even
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Supernatural, and it seemed to have found a home and Stoll's
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story. No tale of a haunted town would
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be complete, though, without witches and dark magic, and
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Stoll's legend obliges. One often repeated story
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involves an old tree and stole cemetery that purportedly served
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as gallows for witches and bygone days.
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According to lore, local witches were hanged from this tree and
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buried below it, cursing the ground forever.
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By some accounts, this gnarled tree grew right through a
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headstone, splitting a grave marker in half with its roots,
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as if the very landscape protested the evil and turned
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beneath. In reality, there was a tree in
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the cemetery that had oddly grown up through a tombstone and
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broke it. A researchers note that the
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stone marked the resting place of two individuals, Betty and
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Frankie Thomas, who died in 1879, and the effect was a
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natural result of the trunks expansion.
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But in the imaginative retellings this became proof of
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supernatural wrath, split through the stone by the ghosts
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of dead witches. As one dramatic account put it,
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for years visitors would point to the so-called Hanging Tree
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and stole as evidence of the town's wicked past.
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Its looming presence, coupled with dead branches clawing at
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the sky, certainly added atmosphere to the graveyard.
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Some said that on full moon nights, a coven of witches
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gathered by an old well near the tree to perform rituals and cast
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spells. Others whispered that strange
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figures had been seen levitating around the tree and the rune
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church, dancing with the devil on dark nights.
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And as fanciful as these claims were, they continued to become a
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part of Stole lore. Interestingly, the infamous tree
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is no longer there. It was cut down in 1998 for
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reasons unknown, possibly removed by fed up locals.
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But by the time it fell, Trees legend had already entwined with
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Stole's greater myth. So even without its physical
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presence, the tale of the Witch's hanging tree continues
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to be retold. Another focal point is the
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mysterious grave marked Witch with Two Eyes.
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In the cemetery stands, or once stood, A weathered gravestone
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bearing the surname Witch. According to one legend, the
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Devil's own child was buried in this grave.
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The story goes that a witch in stole consorted with Lucifer and
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bore him a son. The son was born so
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horrendously, grotesquely deformed that he died within
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days. The infant was then buried under
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a tombstone bearing the name and on certain nights also
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previously mentioned, The devil will rise to visit that grave
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and mourn his offspring. Of course, alternative versions
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say that it's the grave of the witch herself, and that the
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tombstone is a deliberate misspelling meant to hide her
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true identity. In truth, however, records show
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that the witch grave and stole belongs to a 19th century woman,
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an elderly farm wife named Anna Witch, who died in 1910, along
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with an unnamed infant who died in the 1860s.
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There's nothing obviously sinister about the real witch
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family, but the coincidental name was too perfect for legend
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crafters to resist. Thus, it became a fixture in
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Stoll's menagerie of dark characters.
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And of course, who can forget them?
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Stories of occult rituals and satanic cults that stole are
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still abound. As the legends spread from the
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80s into the 90s, people claimed that clandestine black masses
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were being conducted inside the roofless ruin of the old church.
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Visitors sneaking in at night reported finding evidence of
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candles, pentagrams, an animal remains, purported signs that
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covens or Satanist groups were using stole as a ritual ground.
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Rumors held that so many black masses were performed in the
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abandoned church that the building became demonically
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possessed itself. In one often repeated anecdote,
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an adventurous visitor in the 1990s found a strange altar like
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set up in the church was chased out by unseen forces or possibly
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roped figures. Such claims are obviously
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difficult to verify and could well be fabricated by
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overzealous ghost hunters, but nonetheless, by the turn of the
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Millennium, the idea that Stole Cemeteries Church was a magnet
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for devil worship had become part of the lore.
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Local police even noted that vandalism in the site often
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spiked around Halloween, possibly due not just to
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pranksters but to self styled occultists drawn by the legends
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power. Whether any genuine dark rides
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ever took place is possible, but the scariest rituals in Stole
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were more than likely teenagers lighting candles.
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But in the legend, the ruins of the demonic church held secrets
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of sacrilege, and the very walls were said to refuse to fall to
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the elements because of an unholy energy within and part of
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that particular section of the story.
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I do remember when I had first researched the story that I had
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come across tales of rain not making its way into the church
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itself despite it pouring outside, and also despite the
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church when it existed, not having a roof.
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Beyond witches in The Devil, numerous ghostly encounters and
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bizarre phenomena have been linked to Stole by those who
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claim to have experienced its horrors first hand.
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One of those is known as the Woman in White.
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On certain nights, drivers on the highway by Stole have
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reported a phantom woman in a white dress appearing on the
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roadside. One version says that on the eve
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of Halloween, this pale lady lingers near the cemetery and
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lures drivers to their doom. Another is the whirlwind from
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nowhere. One of the most frequently told
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tales involves an encounter with a mysterious wind inside the
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cemetery on an otherwise still at night.
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Two young men visiting the graveyard reportedly experienced
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a sudden and violent gust that blew out of nowhere, and this
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gust was said to shake trees and pelt them with debris.
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Startled, they ran for their car, only to find that,
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inexplicably, the car had somehow moved itself to the
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opposite side of the road and was now facing the wrong
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direction. On another occasion, a man
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exploring the old church claimed that an invisible blast of air
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knocked him to the ground and pinned him there, as if an
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unseen force was holding him down.
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Strangely, outside the church, it was a calm night, or so the
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story goes. These accounts of localized
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malicious wind have led people to call it the Devil's Wind,
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supposedly a sign of demonic presence.
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Others have reported accounts of lost time and even blackouts.
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And of course, as we've already discussed a bit, apparitions and
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figures being seen alongside the Lady in White.
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Some chilling tales claim that a small boy can sometimes be seen
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hiding behind a gravestone or darting between them or the
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trees. Some have even described this
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boy as being wolfish in appearance, having a deformed
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face, leading many to believe that perhaps this is the ghost
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of the fabled Antichrist. In fact, a grainy photograph is
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circulated that allegedly shows a werewolf like boy peering from
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behind a tree in the cemetery. Albeit the photos authenticity
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is dubious at best and can't really be verified, it still
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definitely is pretty creepy to look at.
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These encounters, of course, are difficult to substantiate, but
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they are precisely the kind of campfire tales that keep the
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legend alive, providing tantalizing proof to those eager
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to believe that Stole Cemetery sits on a threshold between
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worlds. Another infamous and outlandish
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claim about Stoll is that the Pope refuses to fly over eastern
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Kansas because of the cemetery's unholy power.
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This legend specifically alleged that Pope John Paul the Second,
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during a 1993 visit to Colorado, insisted that his private jet
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take an alternative route to avoid passing over Stoll from
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the air. The story further holds that
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Stoll's ground is so profane that the Pope, considered God's
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representation positive on Earth, did not even want to
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cross above it, even at 30,000 feet.
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Of course, in reality, there's no evidence that this ever
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occurred. There's no records in Time
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magazine or any official itinerary about a papal flight
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path or anything of the sort altered due to unholy ground.
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So who knows, maybe it happened, but more than likely, it
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probably didn't. Still, though, the allure of the
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story is understandable. It gives the Stole legend a
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stamp of global recognition, implying that even the highest
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religious authorities secretly know that Stole is a literal
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hellmouth to be shunned. It seemed like all of these
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stories, for the most part, culminated in one very fateful
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night. That night was Halloween of
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1988, and it marked an incident that was a turning point.
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Apparently, a crowd of around 500 people showed up that
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Halloween night. Their cars lined the country
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roads surrounding stole with everyone hoping to catch a
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glimpse of the devil at midnight.
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The result, of course, was a nightmare for law enforcement.
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Some of the crowd even grew unruly.
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A few gravestones were toppled and defaced, and the already
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fragile church rooms suffered further vandalism.
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The small Douglas County Sheriff's Department.
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This was simply enough. By Halloween of 1989, they had
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set up a checkpoint stationed with deputies at Stoll, telling
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everyone who was headed there for a thrill to turn away or
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they would be trespassed. Anyone who slipped in, of
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course, were promptly issued citations for trespassing, and
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in subsequent years this became a routine, which means that to
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this day, you can't visit stole without the fear of getting in
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trouble or the possibility. So as someone who's covering its
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tales and trying to uncover the truth behind these notorious
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legends, don't go there. Don't bother anybody who lives
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there. Don't bother local law
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enforcement. It's honestly just not worth it
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in this case, I promise. The church that was once within
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the graveyard itself was known as the Evangelical Immanuel
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Church is no more, only its foundation remains a low stone
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footprint among the graves. In March of 2002, the abandoned
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church was mysteriously torn down, with the owner later
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saying that it was done for safety reasons as the structure
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had become a hazard. The iconic rune, long associated
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with Stoll's darkest legends, vanished almost overnight.
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Many hoped that this would finally put the tales of the
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demonic church to rest. Yet even after its demolition,
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Stoll's sinister reputation proved stubborn.
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The legends continued, with visitors still reporting uneasy
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feelings near the foundation and claiming that the area was just
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as haunted without the walls in place.
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In the aftermath of the church's removal, law enforcement did
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notice a slight downturn in trespassing, at least for a
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while. With the primary visual symbol
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of the legend gone, casual curiosity seekers might have
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been less tempted and gradually would fade away.
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But it didn't quite happen that way.
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If anything, the story of the church's demolition became part
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of the lore, too. They tore down the church to
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close the gateway. Some would say the church fell
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because the demons holding it up finally fled.
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The foundation stones themselves became many attractions, with
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some legend trippers digging at the side in hopes of uncovering
28:41
remnants to that elusive stairway.
28:44
Today, visitors who managed to sneak in might only see a grassy
28:48
area with scattered blocks and an empty patch where the most
28:52
evil church in America once stood.
28:56
Stoll's journey from an obscure village to the infamous horror
28:59
lore encapsulates just how folklore, media, and collective
29:03
fear shape public perception. Legend grew not because of any
29:07
real evidence, really, but because the idea that it was
29:11
thrilling and terrifying and equal measure.
29:14
It combined classic tropes. A haunted cemetery.
29:18
Witch hangings, The devil walking among us mortals with a
29:23
specific local location that people could actually visit.
29:27
Really. It was a recipe for a self
29:28
perpetuating urban legend and one that continues to endure to
29:33
this day. You know, is it possible that
29:37
people have experienced some kind of paranormal activity
29:40
there Once Upon a time? It's possible only about in the
29:44
way that anything is possible, in my opinion.
29:47
Is it worth going and harassing the locals or risking getting
29:51
yourself into trouble with law enforcement as a result?
29:54
Definitely not. I've had the pleasure of driving
29:58
by Stole, and I will tell you that if you didn't know what was
30:01
there or allegedly there, you wouldn't really miss much.
30:06
In a final analysis, the legend of Stole Kansas is a testament
30:10
to the durability of folklore and the allure of the MC Cobb,
30:14
but began as a likely prank or creative article blossomed into
30:18
an immersive narrative complete with an infernal portal,
30:22
vengeful witches, spectral winds, and even the devil
30:26
himself. All of it said in a quiet
30:29
Midwestern graveyard. It shows how a community's name
30:33
can be Co opted by legend, how media and imagination can build
30:38
a complex mythos practically out of thin air, and how even when
30:42
faced with facts, many people will choose the more fascinating
30:46
fiction. For the people of Stoll, the
30:49
legend has been more of a curse than a blessing, bringing
30:53
nothing but headaches and vandalism to their doorsteps.
30:56
And yet, for the countless others who have been thrilled or
30:59
chilled by the story, Stoll represents that tantalizing
31:03
possibility that maybe in some forgotten corner of Kansas, the
31:08
forces of darkness brush up against our world.
31:13
Thank you guys so much for checking out this video, albeit
31:16
it's a bit different from my usual content.
31:19
I think the few residents left and stole might appreciate
31:22
someone bringing some facts to the table with this one.
31:24
God knows they've endured enough.
31:26
With that being said, if you liked the video, leave it a
31:29
like, hype it if you can and subscribe if you haven't
31:33
already. And please let me know your
31:35
thoughts down below in the comments.
31:37
You'd like to further support.myworkyoucanjoinmypatreon@patreon.com/mystery
31:42
Archives or visit mysteryarchives.myshopify.com.
31:47
I sell like shirts or hoodies or any of my four books.
31:51
I really and truly appreciate you guys taking the time and as
31:54
always, this has been Cody here at Mystery Archives.
31:57
Make sure to stay safe out there from demons or fanciful legends
32:02
and take care. I'll see you next time.