Stull

Overview

A church, a cemetery and a story

Stull sits in the farm country of western Douglas County, about 12 miles west of Lawrence. It began in the mid-1850s as Deer Creek, a settlement of German-speaking families whose church met in members' homes. In 1867 they built a stone church, the Evangelical Emmanuel and Deer Creek Mission, and chartered a cemetery beside it.

The place never grew much. A post office ran from 1899 to 1903 in J. E. Louk's house, and the town took the name of its only postmaster, Sylvester Stull. In 1912, 31 people lived in the area, and the settlement peaked at about 50. The congregation moved to a new wooden church across the road in 1922 and left the stone church to decay.

Stull's fame came later, from a November 1974 article in the University of Kansas student paper. It claimed the Devil appears in the cemetery on Halloween and the spring equinox. Historians and residents reject the story, but it drew trespassers for decades. Today the sheriff guesses about 20 people live in Stull, and the church that owns the cemetery still holds burials there.

Timeline

From Deer Creek to Stull

1. 1857The settlement, then called Deer Creek, first appears on territorial maps. The Kansas City Star dates its founding to 1856.
2. Before 1867The German-speaking settlers' church meets in members' homes.
3. 1867The stone Evangelical Emmanuel and Deer Creek Mission church goes up, and a cemetery is chartered beside it.
4. 1899–1903A post office runs in J. E. Louk's house. The town takes the name of its only postmaster, Sylvester Stull.
5. 1908Sermons stop being preached in German.
6. 1912Only 31 people live in the Stull area. At its largest the settlement had about 50.
7. 1922The congregation builds a new wooden church across the road, and the stone church is abandoned.
8. 1955The Louk & Kraft grocery closes.
9. 1962The Deer Creek school closes. Children go to school in Lecompton.
10. Nov 1974A University Daily Kansan article, "Legend of Devil Haunts Tiny Town," spreads the cemetery legend.
11. March 2002After a wall collapses in a windstorm, the landowner has the old stone church bulldozed on safety grounds.
12. July 25, 2022A fire does substantial damage to the newer church. Officials suspect lightning.

Legends

The "gateway to Hell"

These are legends, not history. The story that the cemetery is a gateway to Hell, where the Devil appears on Halloween and the spring equinox, traces to the 1974 University Daily Kansan article. Its origins are generally put down to students. Historians and residents largely reject it.

Several add-ons are plainly false. One says the killing of a mayor in the 1850s started it, but Stull was never incorporated and had no mayor. Another says Pope John Paul II had his plane rerouted around Stull; there's no evidence of that. Claims that a rock band canceled a Kansas show over Stull are also false.

The legend still spread widely. Urge Overkill named a 1992 EP after the town, and the cemetery is the setting of the season five finale of Supernatural. In 2024 the sheriff said trespassing had quieted over the years, though Halloween still brings a little traffic.

What's here

A working cemetery behind a fence

The cemetery is mowed and still used for burials. Many of its 19th-century headstones carry German surnames. The 1867 stone church was bulldozed in March 2002 after its walls failed, and only its foundation remains. The newer church across the road was damaged by fire in July 2022. The cemetery belongs to the Stull Community of Faith Church. A handful of houses and buildings make up the rest of Stull. The historic maps below run from an 1885 sheet to 1983.

• Cemetery (private, fenced and locked)
• Foundation of the 1867 stone church
• Stull Community of Faith Church
• A few houses

Historic maps

Stull on USGS maps, 1885–1983

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

18851:125,00019471:250,00019551:24,00019831:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Lawrence is the closest city, about 20 minutes east. From Kansas City the route follows I-70 west to Lawrence and then US 40 and North 1600 Road. Both end at the crossroads. Stay on the road: the cemetery is closed to visitors.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Stull in photos

The Stull crossroads in 2009, with the church and a bait shop that had closedThe cemetery and what was left of the old church, 2007The cemetery in 2014The cemetery in 2019

Visitor reports

Been to Stull?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Stull

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Kansas index.

• Belvoir3.8 mi SE · Douglas
• Lecompton6.0 mi NE · Douglas
• Richland7.5 mi SW · Shawnee
• Twin Mound7.8 mi S · Douglas
• Lapeer12.0 mi S · Douglas
• Franklin14.7 mi E · Douglas
• Indianola16.0 mi NW · Shawnee
• Louisiana17.6 mi SE · Douglas

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Stull, Kansas", retrieved October 2026: founding, names, church and cemetery dates, post office, population, demolition, the 1974 article, false add-ons to the legend, popular culture, 2022 fire.
2. Lisa Gutierrez, The Kansas City Star, via AOL (October 28, 2024): 1856 founding date, cemetery fence, lock and signs, private property, the church as owner, burials, German surnames, the stone church's foundation, the sheriff's advice and trespass consequences, quieter Halloweens, current population.
3. KJHK, "Douglas County's Gateway to Hell" (2016): residents and deputies watching the cemetery; arrests for trespassing after hours.
4. Elevation from a USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 19, 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The Stull crossroads in 2009, with the church and a bait shop that had closed: Bhall87, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The cemetery and what was left of the old church, 2007: Ryanmetcalf, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
• The cemetery in 2014: Ayleen Gaspar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
• The cemetery in 2019: Gatsbydog3, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Lawrence 1885, 1:125,000; Lawrence 1947, 1:250,000; Clinton 1955, 1:24,000; Lawrence 1983, 1:100,000.