Location Description and History

Because of arrangements made with county officials and law enforcement professionals to obtain permission to investigate this site, the location of this cemetery is not being made public. Therefore we are simply referring to this graveyard as "Graveyard X" and are not revealing its true name. The graveyard itself is quite dangerous. There are numerous open graves that have been concealed by tumbleweeds that have blown into them. Headstones lie in precarious positions, some having been completely knocked over. There are also numerous rattlesnakes in the area.The cemetery sits in an area that is not patrolled by law enforcement and has no caretaker. Little is known about the history of this cemetery other than it was started by the family of John Thompson, who came to this area from New York in 1840. The cemetery is very isolated and cannot be seen from the road due to low hills. It is surrounded by an iron fence that is rusted and falling apart in areas.

The cemetery has a sinister and dreadful feel about it. Since the 1970's, it has been a popular place for teenagers, many of whom foolishly damage and destroy the grave markers here. This desecration could be the cause of the haunting that is said to be taking place here.

It makes you wonder about the old legends that started the use of tombstones in the first place. It was said that the heavy stone was placed over a grave to keep the dead inside of it. So what happens when the stone is removed?

We first visited the graveyard during the day with Rick, a local who had seen the ghost lights in the cemetery. He escorted us to the place where he saw the lights coming from and his position when he saw them. When the graveyard is seen in the daytime it is almost difficult to comprehend the amount of vandalism that has occurred here. On the way back to the car, Carl almost fell into a desecrated grave that had been dug down at least four feet. It was covered by tumbleweeds which concealed the "sudden drop" below. Fortunately, he was able to dive across to the other side before he fell completely in. The cemetery itself is actually fairly large and spread out over a series of gentle desert hills dotted by patches of cactus. We arrived at the graveyard just after dark. We had previously decided on a search pattern in which we would circle the graveyard and spiral in towards the center.

So armed with a 35mm camera and a EMF meter, we swept the cemetery for unusual fields. We located one interesting target near the far end of the graveyard (southeast) that measured 8 milligauss and held steady for about 6 seconds. We took three photographs of the surrounding area. On the way back to the car we came across three rattlesnakes.

After the EM sweep, we decided to take up separate positions around the cemetery to "wait" for the ghost light if it decided to show. Carl stayed next to the car in the parking area (since this is the location where the ghost light is most often spotted) while Cody positioned himself near the back fence near the area where we registered the EM field during the sweep. We kept in contact with short wave radios.

After waiting for 132 minutes, a small blue flickering light appeared towards the west end of the graveyard. Carl was able to see it clearly from his position, but the light was not visible from Cody's area. The light moved towards the east as Carl moved up and took a photograph of the light. according to Carl, the flash illuminated the "area" and he thought he could see a shadow (perhaps of a person) near the light. There was also very strong odor in the air that resembled burning hair. Immediately, the light turned and started moving rapidly towards the southeast, away from Carl's position. Carl then radioed to Cody that the light was moving his way and that the light might be a person carrying a light source of some type.

Carls' account:

"I was watching light from Cody's flashlight coming down the hillside towards the "ghost light". Suddenly his light dipped downwards and disappeared. The ghost light, now at the far eastern end of the cemetery, vanished from view. Thinking that Cody had dropped his flashlight, I radioed up to him asking him if he wanted me to turn on the car's headlights so he could at least have some light to see by. There was no reply. I checked the radio and then called him again. Still no reply. I stood there thinking about the situation for several seconds. It could be possible that he dropped his radio as well, so I grabbed my flashlight and started walking up towards the last position where I saw his light.

Suddenly a series of loud profanities came shrieking from the cemetery. The sound startled me for a moment before I realized that the source of the cursing was Cody. As I moved towards the cussing, I could also hear the sounds of something scrambling along on the ground. It was too loud to be a snake and occasionally I could make out the sound of dirt being moved about."

Cody's account:

"From my position I could not see any type of light in the graveyard. after receiving Carl's radio transmissions I started moving down towards the northeast. Still not seeing anything, Carl started directing me towards the area where he was seeing the light. Prompted by Carl's observations that the light was moving rapidly, I started running, dodging tombstones and cactus as I moved to intercept this "ghost light" that was still invisible to me.

I came blazing around a patch of cactus when suddenly I tripped over something and stumbled forward. That was when the ground disappeared and I had the sensation of falling for several seconds. I also felt "sticks" scratching against my body as I fell. Eventually I found the ground again and quite suddenly. The sudden stop knocked the breath out of me as I landed chest first in the dirt.

It took several seconds before I realized that I had just fallen into a hole of some kind. I wing led my toes, then my fingers trying to figure out if I had been injured by the fall when suddenly I heard the most awful sound. It was a rattling noise coming from the area near my feet.

I panicked and did something that you are not supposed to in this type of situation. I jumped up (and rather swiftly I might add). On the way up I felt the snake strike my boot as I scrambled up the side of the hole. Unfortunately, as I grasped onto the edge of the hole it started to collapse, the dirt falling back inside the hole and pissing the snake off even more. Desperately, I reached out and grabbed a large rock with one hand as I pushed my legs back, finding the other side of the hole. This stabilized me and preventing me from falling back inside but I was strung out across the hole and quite stuck. If I tried to move anywhere, sections of the walls would collapse and my gasp on the large rock would slip just a bit. Well...at least I was out of the striking distance of the rattlesnake.

Realizing the predicament of my situation, I started yelling for Carl. Eventually (what seemed like hours) he found me and put a little bit of illumination on the problem. The "large rock" that I was holding onto wasn't a rock, it was a tombstone. Carl braced himself against it and grabbed my wrists, enabling me to swing my legs around to the other side of the hole. Once I was back on my feet, we took a look at the "hole". Well, it turned out not be a hole at all, but a desecrated grave.

From the looks of it, it was about 6 feet deep and the coffin inside had either been taken away or had rotted. It was hard to tell with all of the broken remnants of tumbleweeds down there. Then came the truly scary part. There was not one rattlesnake down there, there was three of the bastards. Somehow I had managed not to get bitten, which is truly amazing.

Having tested my luck enough for one evening, we cancelled the rest of the investigation and headed back to the hotel for a few beers."

The developed film contained three interesting images. The one pictured on the left was the most fascinating. This is the picture Carl took of the "ghost light". it is strange because it does not contain the "blue light" that Carl reported seeing. instead it contains an image that appears to have characteristics of an apparitional quality. The light itself is still suspicious. However we were not able to ascertain the source or composition of the light so it is still a mystery.