Stull, Kansas: Gates of Hell

I don't know if there's a Gate to Hell in Stull, but my experience with it back in 2010 was a little strange. We were passing through on our way to Texas for a family reunion, and I'd heard that there was a "Gate of Hell" in Stull, so I managed to convince my brother to pull over so we could investigate. I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to be there, but both of us kind of just casually pretended the "No Trespassing" signs weren't present.

We didn't really expect to find anything.

It was late evening; the sun was just about to go down. It had a spooky atmosphere, sure, but nothing that set off too many warning bells -- until we found the blood.

Now, I'm perfectly aware that it was almost definitely animal blood, but it still creeped the heck out of both of us. It was in this gigantic splatter, and I'd say it would have to have been a deer or something that got hurt/killed, because there was a LOT of blood. I think someone must have come and hauled whatever it was away, because there were tire tracks leading from the gate to where we were. When the sun went down, we turned on our flashlights, and went to the portal itself. Definitely gave us that horror movie vibe, but no demons running around with pitchforks and devil horns. The place does have an aura about it that's hard to describe. It made me uncomfortable; got my pulse going. It was probably just the rumors that got me worked up -- it's probably just an average cemetery -- but it gave me the heebie jeebies, definitely.

I visit Stull about once a day. I attend the Stull United Methodist Church, across the street from the old Stull UMC, which is the supposed site of the "hell gate." We hold Easter sunrise services on the hill next to the old church, which I guess wouldn't work so well if the devil thought it was his spot. All this silliness about the place being a gate to hell is just nonsense. It's a nice old cemetery. The church itself was razed because it was falling down and was unsafe for all the kids who kept coming out to scare themselves.

As for the person who complained about shots being fired while they were there (they thought it was to scare them off), I can only guess they are unfamiliar with the ways of us country folks. We do tend to shoot at our food--turkeys, deer and such, and we take target practice to make sure we'll be good enough to hit our food when we go hunting. Since we live in the country, we don't go to any fancy "shooting clubs" to practice; we just go out in the back field and set up a target where our misses won't hit anything down the way. That said, you might think about how you'd feel if people kept showing up in your yard, trespassing and disrespecting your privacy, leaving litter and vandalizing the church your family attended for generations.

Stull is not a tourist attraction; it is a town where people live. The graves people trample so rudely in the cemetery belong to the ancestors of people who still live in Stull. People get a bit tired of being treated like a freak show, so visitors who are obviously gawking or behaving in a disrespectful way are likely to get some odd looks. If you'd like to visit, we'd love to have you. Sunday service at the United Methodist Church is at 11 a.m.

Found it. Turns out it was the cemetery we passed about 5 times trying to find it. Nothing odd happened, although we only went to the gate. You can see the witch's grave marker from the entrance, the large square foundation, and the church rubble all from the gates. Very creepy. Very interesting.

No trespassing signs are located on the fence, but the gate was wide open on a Friday afternoon, and no one bugged us. To get back the easiest way, head back east on N1600 back to freeway.

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.

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.