Lafayette, Colorado - Vampire Grave

This is in response to the "vampire grave" being a new addition to the Lafayette Cemetery. I am 33 years old and I first heard about it when I was 12. This makes it a minimum of 19 years old. I am not sure why it's considered a vampire grave (Which is kinda funny as it is, considering vampires are thought to be immortal) merely because the deceased was from Transylvania. [Cindy, 08/20/2009]

I cannot say that this "attraction" was very scary to me, but I do have a rebuff for the youngster who claims "this didn't even appear until after I was born and I am 17". My husband and I lived in Lafayette, Colorado 5 years before he/she was born and we were told the "vampire legend" by a 40-year old who had been born in the town and lived there his entire life. He first heard mention of it back when he was a teen, so a good 20 years prior to 1986 when we lived there, making this local legend at LEAST 42 YEARS OLD, at a quick guess.

When we were there in the mid-1980s, the site was overgrown with a few bushes and had a tree-like plant (not sure of the species) growing from where the chest area could be assumed to have been. We went both in daylight and dark and didn't find anything overtly creepy, but then we don't scare easily. It was a colorful local story, though, and is worth a stop if you are in the area if you have a curiosity for such things. [Cathy Waters, 07/08/2008]

When we arrived at the cemetery on June 3, 2008, we began looking for an unkempt grave with rose bushes as described. We could find nothing and so we asked a very nice grounds keeper who led us to the grave. The rose bushes are gone and it now looks just like an ordinary grave next to a tree. We really kind of felt sorry for the guy when we left. It no longer feels like anything other than the final resting place of an elderly man from Transylvania. [Melissa Duncan, 06/12/2008]

I just had to comment that the "Vampire Grave" in Lafayette is utterly ridiculous. It didn't even appear until after I was born, I'm seventeen. There are more interesting graves to see there, like the Savage boys or Thomas Auflick -- a man older than Colorado itself. Or the handful of kids that died along with the Savage boys in what seems to be an epidemic in 1893. And the accusation of the residents being afraid? Hell, it's right next to a main road and a recreation center. It's not like it's out in the middle of nowhere. The grave itself would infuriate travelers if they were even suckered in to go visit it -- it's a slab of concrete with words written on it with a stick, placed strategically next to a tree. I love this cemetery, as I love my hometown's history. The [tips were] poorly written and made my intelligence hurt. [Kaylin Brandenburg, 05/20/2008]

The Vampire Grave headstone is surrounded by trees, on the north side of the graveyard (W. Elm Street), close to the NW corner of the graveyard. [Pat Munson, 12/10/2006]