St. James Cemetery

When you burn down their house, they got to go somewhere.

          File Under: Ghost, strange places, Haunted Places cemetery
          Location:  Edwardsville, Illinois HWY 159 (Mapped)

   Southern Illinois has more haunted cemeteries than they have people in WWF t-shirts. I know it's hard to believe but trust me it's true. One in particular favorite haunt of mine as a kid was the St. James cemetery on HWY 159. The story of the ghosts really has to do with the historic Three Mile house that was 1/2 mile away from St. James Cemetery. The Three Mile House is known as one of Illinois most haunted houses ever, but was completely destroyed by fire March 6, 1985. We have a very large feature story planned on the house next month but for now I want to tell the story about the Cemetery. The place has always had stories of glowing eyes after dark, floating objects and several ghosts sightings. However after the Three Mile House burnt it is said that the sightings increased significantly and some people are convinced that the ghosts relocated to the St. James cemetery which is about 1/2 mile away.

So, what is the link between the the St. James Cemetery and the Three mile house any sane person would ask?

Well it is said that the fireplace in the restaurant had a secret tunnel that lead out to the gazebo in the center of the Cemetery. Some claim that the tunnel was part of the underground railroad to help slaves escape into the woods behind and off to the next tunnel. A couple of years ago I started thinking about this strange story and wondered if it was true, could there really be a tunnel under the gazebo. I spent a lot of time playing in St. James and I remember there was always a lock on the door that was at the base of the gazebo. On a recent trip back to the Midwest I stopped in to check out the Gazebo. No more lock, I shot a few photos inside and you can see that there is about an 5-6 foot basement under the Gazebo that is currently being used to store planks of old 2X4's and what nots. I'm not a believer in ghosts only because I've never seen one, but damn if this isn't one creepy place I could definitely picture them living.

Some of the stones date back to the mid 1800's and the elements have definitely had their toll on many of the stones.

Read the story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch on St. James

All the photos from the cemetery.

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Comments

[Fred Fosnot]

I read a story about the Three Mile House wich is located across the street from St. James cemetery, or at least that's what the story said. It said its off of Route 159 between Edwardsville and Route 140. Do you have any adress or cordinates I can use?

[Ryan]

If you look South-West from the cemetery, there is a yellow ranch style house with a 2 car garage attached to it. It sits at the end of what used to be Hwy 159, before they took out the underpass and put in an overpass. The address is now 6587 Miller Dr. There is a small mound to the north of the house that was created when the new house was built, and a rusty old sign pole with nothing on it, this is the exact spot where the Three Mile House stood.

[Cynthia]

St. James cemetery is a pretty creepy location. My boyfriend use to mow that very same cemetery a few years back. He has some strange stories, especially afterhours. One such story involves him and his coworker/buddy accidently tipping one of the stones over a little and low and behold a passage. He said he didn't mean to find it but that when he did he couldn't help but look some. He followed it untill it went under the 159. I believe it's the tunnel that goes to Three Mile house! He could tell you more.

[The Guy That Did It]

LOL @ Cynthia.