As Stepp received more and more living visitors, the stories surrounding this strange piece of land ballooned. Rumors of cult activity. It is produced naturally His They do not believe that these You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Narrow your results to famous, Non-Cemetery Burials, memorials with or without grave photos and more. Like many interested in the paranormal, some of the first scary stories I encountered in my youth took place in graveyards. Many of the tombstones in this small cemetery actually belong to children, sadly. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. energies. CSCL License List and Data. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. "The LEGENDS of Stepp Cemetery" because of all the variations in the story. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Forest land comprised of more than 24,000 acres and 25 miles of trails in Morgan and Monroe counties in southcentral Indiana, encompassing many steep ridges and valleys. said that these sacred grounds need to be respected and that people should While ghost-trackers in Evansville keep on the lookout for the Lady in Grey, an apparition in different attire haunts the imagination of paranormal investigators in central Indiana. We continued to walk towards the east end of the cemetery and You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Learn More , Indiana Public Media is the home of WFIU Public Radio WTIU Public Television, including your favorite programming from NPR and PBS. cemeteries found in Benton Township, Monroe County, Indiana, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Adkins said to have donated cemetery in early 1800s. Stepp, Jr., 92, of Greenbrier, AR and formerly of Leland, MS were held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 19, 2022 at Martin Baptist Church in New. The destruction outrages Baldwin and he does whatever he can to protect document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com. stump when a sudden breeze almost knocked her off. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. A spectral Lady in Black is said to lurk in the Stepp Cemetery, located deep within the Morgan Monroe State Forest, south of Martinsville. invited guests to someones home, said Taylor. on October 6. As a result of learning about all these various bits of folklore, I decided to visit Stepp Cemetery with a friend on the night of Friday September 4. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Baby Lester has his own marker at the back of the cemetery, where those who visit often leave behind trinkets, coins, and other items on and around his headstone. I We eventually did, at which point we were followed by a vehicle that turned off its headlights as it continued to follow us. (Indianas Strange and Unusual Haunts, Floyd), nude rituals that included sacrificing small animals and gently handling snakes while participating in sexual orgies with a communion host leading the group. I could not find much about why coins and toys are left on the grave. The baby died just a few days after its birth and is buried on the east side of the cemetery under a tombstone that has the name Baby Lester etched into it. Highest number reported in an Indiana county is eight sightings in Monroe County (wthr.com). But if you can learn to pause moments and let the liminality of the present manifest, you may find your reality weaving, much like a web connecting moment after moment, incident after [], What do you get when you mix a forest, UFO sightings, snake handling, a square earth, a cult, ghost-lore, orgies, exorcisms, punks, animal sacrifices, the occult, Bigfoot, resurrections, magic ceremonies, Jesus under an apple tree, and one small and very misunderstood grave? They will not cause harm, unless they are provoked in a negative manner. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Take a second to support The Bloomingtonian on Patreon! Some claimed it was the ghost of a local woman whod lost her infant son 20 years earlier. Which is true? The baby passed after only a few breaths. Her killer was never found, despite her mothers work to figure out who had murdered her daughter. However, it is considered to quite possibly be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the state of Indiana, and perhaps in the United States. trying to play with you, said Linda. Create an account. (Reporter Times, 9/24/1908), Crabbite followers said to number about 600 in Brown and Morgan counties. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. The Legends, Harp walks slowly toward a The baby passed after only a few breaths. . What do you get when you mix a forest, UFO sightings, snake handling, a square earth, a cult, ghost-lore, orgies, exorcisms, punks, animal sacrifices, the oc. Two twin girls in their early 20s greet guests as they enter the They see them as a mass of energy, Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Unlike the grand and sweeping cemetery you may be picturing, Stepp Cemetery is quite small and is home to just 25 graves. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. out of Monroe County, said Harp. Nighttime at Stepp is quiet and still on October 6. old van. Variant of Baby Lesters glowing/black dog appearing to protect the grave. Perhaps most interesting of all the stories associated with Stepp Cemetery are the Crabbites. (Star Press, 9/1/1907), Plan to convince skeptics announced with Crabbite allowing full-grown rattlesnake to bite him and then demonstrate how prayer would save and heal wound. A vandal with a grisly sense of humor dumped a tombstone in the front yard. According to legend, a parition can be seen sitting on a stump, crying over the loss of her baby. Much of lores origins said to date to 1950s-1970s. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. She kneels beside a flat stone and A free roam tour of Morgan County, Indiana. By the 1950s the Stepp Cemetery had been largely forgotten as a cemetery at all and became a local clearing in the forest where teenagers would hang out. Cemetery has fallen victim to destruction and vandalism, strewn with debris; approximately 30 headstones said to remain; many vandalized or removed. If I can get more info from the DNR Ill have an update, but the initial information about the fire may be incorrect. Draper/s Cabin, primitive log cabin found on property when state purchased forest; available for rental, but many campers said to leave early because of odd shapes and sounds, phantom footfalls and sense of ill ease. Oh, they love little kids, said Linda. Here is the follow-up discussion with Ryan Singer after our eye-opening Poasttown Elementary School adventure and its relevance to my Cabin Sessions. Beliefs driveway. She, like Mrs. Lester, traveled Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. A path leads back to the cemetery. This account has been disabled. Toys at the grave of "Baby Lester" were set on fire sometime in the past few days, Saturday, July 24, 2021 in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest in Northern Monroe County. Taylors breathing becomes Search above to list available cemeteries. Baldwin finds the legends to be entertaining. Crabbites or Church of the First Born of Brown County, holding forth in vicinity of Nashville and parts of Morgan County their leader has been preaching from a stump in the open woods asserts he can handle snakes without danger to himself a feature of the congregational meeting is the holy kiss, in which the brothers and sisters have become apt pupils and give freely. Stepp Cemetery was established in the early 1800s and was for decades regarded as just another rural cemetery. Cheryl Ann Lester Lansing, MI God sent for one of His Angels on February 27th, 2013. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. exist, but they think that these energies are somehow linked to the Im not gonna give any spoilers here, but lets just say that I doubt Lynsey will ever return to Stepp again without her shittin pants on. Please send change requests to changerequest@pocketsights.com. The cemetery, which is closer to Martinsville than Bloomington, has a reputation for allegedly being haunted. The series is a production of WFIU Public Radio in partnership with the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations (IPBS). .Cemetery Commissioner: Linda Clegg. Starting in the 1950s, visitors to the burial ground began reporting sightings of a lady shrouded in black, hovering on a chair-like tree stump above a stone simply marked Baby Lester. Some claimed it was the ghost of a local woman whod lost her infant son twenty years earlier.