Stull, Kansas

Stull, Kansas
Unincorporated community

A view of Stull, facing south. The United Methodist Church is on the left, and an abandoned bait shop is on the right (2009).
Stull
Stull

Location within the state of Kansas

Coordinates: 38°58′16″N 95°27′22″W / 38.97111°N 95.45611°W / 38.97111; -95.45611Coordinates: 38°58′16″N 95°27′22″W / 38.97111°N 95.45611°W / 38.97111; -95.45611[1]
Country United States
State Kansas
County Douglas
Elevation[1] 938 ft (286 m)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Area code 785
FIPS code 20-68725 [1]
GNIS feature ID 0479114 [1]

Stull is an unincorporated community in Douglas County, Kansas, United States.[1]

History

19th century

When the community was founded, it was originally called Deer Creek.[2] The area was settled mainly by people of German ancestry, mainly Pennsylvania Dutch. By 1857, six families were living in the vicinity. Descendants of the original founders still reside in the community. In 1859, the settlers organized the Evangelical Emmanuel Church and by 1867 the members had collected enough funds to construct a stone church on land donated by Jacob Hildenbrand for that purpose and a cemetery. Until 1908, the sermons were preached in German.[2]

20th century

On April 27, 1899, a post office was established in the small community. It closed in 1903. The postmaster, Sylvester Stull, nevertheless earned the respect of those he had served, and the community decided to rename their hamlet after him. The small community never grew to be larger than about fifty individuals. And while a number of businesses were established in the area, most were short-lived. The exception to this was the Louk & Kraft grocery store, which was established in the early 1900s and lasted until 1955.[3][4]

In the early 1920s, plans for a bank and an electric railway extension through Lawrence to Emporia were cancelled.

In the early 20th century, Stull suffered two tragedies. A young boy was found burned to death after his father had finished burning a field and a man was found hanging from a tree after going missing.[2][3]

21st century

By the turn of the 21st century, the eastern wall of Evangelical Emmanuel Church had collapsed, and in early 2002, the church's western wall caved in following a windstorm. In March of that year, the structure was demolished. Following the building's destruction, 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.[5][6]

Geography

Stull is located at 38°58′16″N 95°27′32″W / 38.97111°N 95.45889°W / 38.97111; -95.45889 (38.9711124, -95.4560872),[1] 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.

Stull Cemetery

The Stull Cemetery[7] has gained a dubious reputation due to urban legends involving Satan, the occult, and a purported "gateway to Hell".[8] 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.[9]

After the University Daily Kansan article was published, students from KU journeyed to the cemetery to catch a glimpse of the paranormal. Over the years, people began vandalizing the cemetery. Since then, local police have discouraged curiosity seekers from entering the cemetery, especially on Halloween, and some people have been arrested for trespassing.[10] When the cemetery is closed, trespassing could bring a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail.[8]

Despite its dubious origins, the legend of Stull Cemetery has entered into 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.[11] Films whose plot is based on the legends include Sin-Jin Smyth,[12] Nothing Left to Fear,[13] and Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal.[12] The fictional cemetery is the site of the final confrontation of the Apocalypse in the "Swan Song" episode of season five of the television series Supernatural.[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) details for Stull, Kansas; United States Geological Survey (USGS)". United States Board on Geographic Names. October 13, 1978. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Martha Parker & Betty Laird. Soil of Our Souls: Histories of the Clinton Lake Communities. Parker-Laird Enterprises, 1976, 94–104.
  3. 1 2 Fitzgerald, Daniel (2009). Ghost Towns of Kansas. 2. Dan Fitzgerald Company. pp. 116–20. ISBN 9781449505196.
  4. ↑ Carpenter, Tim (November 28, 1997). "What's in a Name? Key Elements of Area History". Lawrence Journal-World. pp. 3B. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Building's Demolition a Mystery". Lawrence Journal-World. March 30, 2002. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Stull—Property Owner Authorized Razing of Abandoned Church". Lawrence Journal-World. March 31, 2002. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) details for Stull Cemetery, Kansas; United States Geological Survey (USGS)". United States Board on Geographic Names. July 22, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Hell Hath No Fury". Lawrence.com. October 26, 2004. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ Smarsh, Sarah (2010). It Happened in Kansas: Remarkable Events that Shaped History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-7627-6644-4.
  10. ↑ "Legends Linger Around Stull". Lawrence Journal-World. November 1, 1999. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  11. ↑ Kugelberg, Johan (July 1992). "Playboys of the Midwestern World". Spin. 8 (4). p. 16.
  12. 1 2 "The Most Haunted Place in Every State (Slideshow)". The Daily Meal. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  13. ↑ Turek, Ryan (May 29, 2012). "Slash Talks Producing Nothing to Fear". STYD. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  14. ↑ Engstrom, Erika; III, Joseph M. Valenzano (2014). Television, Religion, and Supernatural: Hunting Monsters, Finding Gods. Lexington Books. p. 95. ISBN 9780739184769.

Further reading

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