Top 5 Most Haunted Cemeteries in the State of Texas

Just because Halloween won’t be here any time soon doesn’t mean that ghosts or spooks go by a calendar. Texas has long been known for some blood-curdling stories of hauntings that would make you want to leave the lights on at night, not the least of which come from the final not-so-peaceful resting places found throughout the state. Those who enjoy the scary tours and trips around Texas that speak of these legendary ghouls are sure to get a stir from the top 5 most haunted cemeteries this state has to offer. Tours are regularly scheduled for some of the more popular ones. For others, you simply need to muster up the courage to make the trip yourself. Regardless of whether you’re with a group or going solo, these cemeteries are sure to intrigue you. Explore some of the state’s most acclaimed haunted locales below.

1. Lubbock Cemetery

Photo: Facebook/I Love Lubbock

The Lubbock Cemetery has long been fancied as one of the most haunted cemeteries in Texas due to its close proximity to an abandoned railway trestle situated just behind it. The trestle is called by the name “Hell’s Gates,” and some say it’s haunted. Adding to the already creepy fact that more than 60K grave sites can be found there, the Texas Paranormal Research Society has stated their strong belief that angry spirits have made a home there. The cool factor comes into play when you find out who truly “rests” there, including a true Texas cowboy by the name of Henry Jenkins, the famed singer and songwriter Buddy Holly, and the first fallen police officer of Lubbock Julio Herrera.

There’s even an allegedly haunted angel statue guarding this cemetery. Located only yards from Buddy Holly’s grave, the angel towers over the grave of Officer Herrera. Legend has it that if you visit the cemetery at night and try to leave without first kissing the angel’s feet, a ghost will stop you from departing the grounds.

2. Aurora Cemetery

Photo: Facebook/High’s Trip & Roadside

The Aurora Cemetery is a three-acre graveyard previously known as the Masonic Cemetery. It’s said to be the final place of rest for hundreds who passed away tragically from an 1891 epidemic which was called “spotted fever” by area settlers but is now believed to have been a meningitis strain. Not only that, but the Aurora Cemetery is said to hold the grave of an unknown pilot believed to be not of this world! According to an 1897 newspaper article, an “airship” crashed into a windmill near the town in 1897, and the strange pilot was buried in this very cemetery. As one of the top five most haunted cemeteries in Texas, you can imagine the stories its spooks could tell!

3. Galveston’s Old City Cemetery

Photo: Flickr/Dan Thibodeaux

The Old City Cemetery in Galveston dates back over two centuries and is said to be one of the eeriest this state has produced. It consists of three burial plot layers, and more than 12,000 bodies. It holds the graves of some of the victims of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in American history. There are also grave sites for the likes of Elize Alberti, who was said to have taken her own life in 1894, but not before she killed her four children in a tragic postpartum depression incident. Texas war veterans, prominent families, and even a Confederate Army deserter are laid to rest there. Some in quite prominent sites, and others in unmarked graves. It’s an unnerving spectacle to behold. As far as haunted cemeteries go, the site is included on a local tour for those looking to poke around among the paranormal.

4. Austin’s Oakwood Cemetery and the Oakwood Annex Cemetery

Photo: Wikimedia/Larry D. Moore

Said to be one of Austin’s most beautiful yet most haunted cemeteries, Oakwood Cemetery and the Oakwood Annex Cemetery hold the graves of one of the very few that survived the Alamo, Susannah Wilkerson Dickinson, as well as 1880s Austin city marshal Ben Thompson. Whether the property is, in fact, haunted has yet to be proven, because the gates are locked each night at dusk. However, visitors along its exterior can try to capture evidence of spooky sightings on camera by filming or taking photos through its fence bars.

5. Baby Head

Photo: Flickr/Anita Dalton

Baby Head has a name that’s eerie enough on its own, let alone learning it’s attached to a Texas cemetery. It’s is located approximately 10 miles north of Llano, in the Texas Hill Country, and marks only a ghost town of sorts. The spooky moniker was procured when an infant’s skull was discovered on the land (also referred to as Baby Head Mountain). A town had developed at the site, and circa 1879, it grew to house a school, a post office, and a few businesses. But by 1968, only 20 residents called it home. All that remains today is a historical marker and the town cemetery. To say that this would likely count among the top five most haunted cemeteries in Texas would almost be an understatement.