Stull is an unincorporated community in Douglas County, Kansas, United States. Founded in the mid-1800s, the settlement was initially known as Deer Creek before it was renamed after its first postermaster, Sylvester Stull.
Geography
Stull is located at 38°58′16″N 95°27′32″W (38.9711124, -95.4560872), at the corner of North 1600 Road ( CR-442) and East 250 Road ( CR-1023) in Douglas County, which is 7 miles west of Lawrence and 10 miles east of Topeka.
History
It seems likely that the town was founded in 1856; during this time it was originally called Deer Creek. The area was settled mainly by people of German and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and by 1857, six families were living in the vicinity. In that same year, the settlers constructed a stone church on land donated by Jacob Hildenbrand; this was later dubbed the "Evangelical Emmanuel Church" (in 1859, Hildenbrand donated more land for use as a cemetery). Until 1908, the sermons at the small country chapel were preached in German. On April 27, 1899, a post office was established in the small community, headed by Sylvester Stull. Soon after the office was established, the residents of the community began referring to their settlement as "Stull". According to the book Soil of Our Souls, the United States post office simply picked the name of the postmaster and used it to refer to the postal office, but other sources suggest that the name may have been picked in honor of Stull's service to the community. Regardless of its origin, the name stuck, the post office itself was discontinued in 1903.
At its peak, the small community never grew to be larger than about fifty individuals. Christ Kraft, an inhabitant of the settlement during the 20th century, recalls that life in the small town was "quiet and easy, sometimes even boring." Before the proliferation of automobiles in the area, trips to Lecompton, Lawrence, and Topeka, took two, three, and four hours, respectively. During the early 20th century, organized baseball became popular in the hamlet, and members of Stull played in a league with members from other Clinton Lake communities, like Clinton and Lone Star. During this time, hunting rabbits was also a popular activity. In the 1920s, there was talk of a "Farmers State Bank" being established in the small town, and there was also preliminary discussion about constructing a interurban railroad line through Stull that would have connected Kansas City and Emporia. However, these ideas never got off the ground, possibly due to the Great Depression. During the early 20th century, a number of businesses were established in the area, but most were short-lived; the exception to this general trend was the Louk & Kraft grocery store, which was established in the early 1900s and lasted until 1955.
During the 20th century, the settlement suffered two major tragedies. The first occurred when a young boy wandered into a field that his father was burning and died. The second occurred when a man was found hanging from a tree after going missing.
By the turn of the 21st century, the eastern wall of the Evangelical Emmanuel Church ruin had collapsed, and in early 2002, the structure's western wall caved in following a windstorm. In March of that year, the building was demolished. Initially, locals were unsure who had approved the razing, but it was eventually revealed that John Haase, a Lecompton resident who owned the land upon where the church was located, had authorized the demolition. Haase had been contacted a few days before by the Douglas County sheriff's department, who expressed their worry that the abandoned structure was at risk of collapsing.
Legend of Stull Cemetery
The Stull Cemetery has gained an ominous reputation due to urban legends involving Satan, the occult, and a purported "gateway to Hell". The rumors about the cemetery were popularized by a November 1974 issue of the University Daily Kansan (the student newspaper of the University of Kansas), which claimed that the Devil himself appeared in Stull twice a year: once on Halloween, and once on the spring equinox. After this article, the legend began to grow, eventually becoming more and more exaggerated. Soon, people said that the cemetery was the location of one of the seven gates to Hell. Eventually, the nearby Evangelical Emmanuel Church ruin became part of the story. People claimed that it was "possessed" by the Devil, and that bottles thrown against its wall would not be shattered. When the chapel's roof was destroyed during a storm, some said that rain water would not fall into the structure, even though its interior was exposed to the elements. With all this said, most academics, historians, and local residents are in agreement that the legend of the cemetery is false, not based on local folklore, and is perhaps best explained as the product of imaginative college students.
Following the initial University Daily Kansan article was published, students from KU journeyed to the cemetery, often on Halloween, in the hopes of glimpsing the paranormal. For instance, on March 20, 1978â€"the date of the spring equinoxâ€"over 150 people showed up to see if the legend was true. However, over the years, the number of people visiting began to take its toll on the cemetery; people began vandalizing tombstones as well as the interior of the chapel. To combat this, local police have discouraged curiosity seekers from entering the cemetery, especially on Halloween, and some people have been arrested for trespassing. When the cemetery is closed, trespassing could bring a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
Despite its dubious origins, the legend of Stull Cemetery has been referenced numerous times in works of popular culture. The band Urge Overkill released the Stull EP in 1992, which features the church and a tombstone from the cemetery on the cover. Films whose plot is based on the legends include Sin-Jin Smyth, Nothing Left to Fear, and Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal. The cemetery is also the site of the final confrontation between Lucifer and Michael in "Swan Song", the season five finale of the television series Supernatural. In a 2006 interview, Eric Kripke (the creator of Supernatural and the showrunner during its first five seasons) revealed that he had made Sam and Dean Winchester (the series' protagonists) be from Lawrence because of the city's closeness to Stull.
Gallery
See also
- Kanwaka Township, Douglas County, Kansas (location of Stull)
- Clinton Lake, southeast of Stull
- List of reportedly haunted locations in the United States
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Engstrom, Erika; III, Joseph M. Valenzano (2014). Television, Religion, and Supernatural: Hunting Monsters, Finding Gods. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBNÂ 9780739184769.Â
- Fitzgerald, Daniel (2009). Ghost Towns of Kansas. 2. Dan Fitzgerald Company. ISBNÂ 9781449505196.Â
- Kugelberg, Johan (July 1992). "Playboys of the Midwestern World". Spin. 8 (4). Retrieved November 13, 2017.Â
- Parker, Martha; Laird, Betty (1976). "Stull". Soil of Our Souls: Histories of the Clinton Lake Communities. Lawrence, KS: Coronado Press.Â
- Smarsh, Sarah (2010). It Happened in Kansas: Remarkable Events that Shaped History. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBNÂ 9780762766444.Â
- Stull Bicentennial Committee (1976). The History of Stull, 1857-1976. Stull, KS.Â
- Thomas, Paul (2017). "Stull Cemetery". Haunted Lawrence. Haunted America. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBNÂ 9781625859204.Â
External links
- Douglas County Maps: Current, Historic, KDOT