Stull, Kansas - Gates of Hell

I grew up in Wellsville, KS, which is about 19 miles from Lawrence, and I NEVER heard of the Gates of Hell or anything of that nature regarding Stull, KS. My daughter is a Freshman at the University of Kansas with a recent weekend being "Family Weekend" on campus. I live in Long Island, NY now and came back "home" for the "Family Weekend" whereby my daughter couldn't stop telling me about the Gates of Hell in Stull.

I was like "...what the hell are you talking about..."?!? Needless to say, we made two visits to the unearthly portal -- one during the day and another late at night -- and I'm happy to report NOTHING happened other than "Dad" was freaking out about trespassing in the middle of the night (that's what middle age does to you).

There's a spooky picture in the new church showing the old church and a tombstone in the foreground with the name Wittich on it. Now THAT's strange -- otherwise it was more hype than reality. [Mike Rossi, 10/07/2009]

[RA: Dad!! Don't embarrass meeeee.]

Finally made it to Stull. I'd had a passing interest in it for several years after seeing the cover of the Urge ep called "Stull" as a kid. Well, I happened to be in the area. I had to stop by. Stull is not all that easy to find and I think part of that may be by design, but it is most certainly in the middle of nowhere to begin with.

The grave yard itself is securely locked and signs are clearly posted to keep out. We got pictures in front of it, as well as in front of the Stull Evangelical Church across the street. We were there all of ten minutes when someone, unseen on the property adjacent to the bait and tackle store fired a gun into the air twice. Well, we were just leaving anyway, jerk-o. Honestly, the people of Stull should be more tolerant. They have a unique attraction there, and with the right efforts it could be cultivated into a real financial boon. [Dewey Meadows, 09/18/2009]

This is a newspaper article in the Lawrence(Kansas) Journal World with a recent picture of the remains of the church that is said to be one of the gates of hell. I have to say that I went by this place 4 or 5 times a week from 1951 to 1970 and never saw anything suspicious. [Steve Elmore, 06/07/2009]

There are 2 cemeteries in Stull: one large newer cemetery off of the main road through Stull, and one off the the gravel road just west of the white steeple church on the main road. The large fenced-in one is reported as being put in place to keep people away from the real cemetery.

If you go down the little gravel road maybe a mile or two (I don't have a very good sense of distance) there will be another little gravel road on your right side that goes up and slightly to the right. Up here is where you can find the other cemetery. It's very small with very old graves. There is the reported hanging tree, or at least the stump of it since it was cut down.

I honestly think that the reason there is controversy over Stull is the fact that the residents claim it is all false. This is small town America; they don't want attention. They don't want rowdy teenagers looking for a scare and causing trouble in their town. They are trying to protect and hide their secrets.

I've been to the old cemetery, though. I don't believe in most stories, but I definitely believe in Stull. Not that much happened, but in a completely clear part of the sky we started hearing growling noises like it was coming out of the air once it started getting dark. [Tessa, 05/11/2009]

I have to enlighten you all on the "GATES OF HELL AT STULL" As all reports state, nothing was known till around 1966 when it became known to all and now has spread around the world. Tales of the Pope flying around Kansas, a witch, and a werewolf son sired by the Devil, and countless more stories.

The original story was: the town was cursed until all have died off that kill the people of Skull just south of Stull (now under water of Lake Clinton). They were an evil group of devil worshipping perverts. But they tried to kill the Sheriff's son, who was only trying to get some romance from a girl from Skull. The town of Stull rose up and wiped them out and burned the town. One last woman who was said to have escaped for a while, was hung by the Church in the Stull cemetery, cursed them all until their blood lines were forever gone.

Sounds great, doesn't it? Well the truth is, I made the whole thing up with some friends in high school in 65'. It was the best ploy to get a girl scared and out in the country looking for ghost and things to scare you. We still laugh at the whole thing. . [T. Zefer, 09/20/2006]