La Belle Cemetery | |
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A photo of the statue | |
Background | |
Type | Haunting |
Continent | North America |
Country | United States |
One-Time? | No |
Theories | · Demonic entity · Ghost |
La Belle Cemetery is a purportedly-haunted cemetery located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The largest rumor of hauntings at the La Belle is the Nathusius Monument. It stands overlooking Fowler Lake.
Manifestation[]
- Ghost running into a lake
- Statue crying blood
- Blood on statue's palms
Background[]
The cemetery was first built in 1851, and was originally called Henshall Place, which is now part of Fowler Park. Henshall Place was the first cemetery in recorded Oconomowoc history. The cemetery then moved to Walnut St, which is now the parking lot of O’Reily’s Autoparts. In 1862, they moved all the bodies from the Oconomowoc Cemetery on Walnut St to the current La Belle Cemetery grounds. The land that is now the grounds for the La Belle Cemetery was first owned by Charles Sheldon, which he donated when the Oconomowoc Cemetery became too crowded.
There is a large statue monument sculpted as a cross and a woman mourning holding a bouquet of flowers. There are four people buried there, including the mother, Louise, the father Carl, the daughter Carolina, and brother Wilhelm. The Nathusius family had two other daughters that aren't buried at La belle. Anna died in 1862 when she was 2, and Minnie died in 1886 when she was 27. Both of them were buried in Dodge County. Another theory at La Belle is the young teenage girl Mary, who committed suicide by jumping off the La Belle bridge and drowning herself. It is thought that the Nathusius statue was made for Mary. There are many claims and articles that report the ghost of Mary walking down to Fowler Lake and drowning herself in the waters.
Notable Accounts[]
I have been there many times (before closing). Here are my experiences:
The first trip: This was my first time out looking anywhere. We took lots of pictures, walking around in pairs. The person I was with and myself both thought a certain spot felt strange (along the water, where the path branches to the left; if you go straight, you reach that small wooded area before the secondary entrance). We parked the car in roughly the same spot, and walked around near the wooded spot, near the crypt that looks like a hobbit-hole. We came back to the car, and found two doors open. Of course, we snapped off a few pictures right away. We found some small objects moved around (straws... yeah yeah... but we found my keys stuffed in the back seat when the were in my pocket; never quite figured that out).
The pictures came back pretty interesting. The Nathusius statue has a large purple not quite orb thing above it, and in another picture, there is a quite odd glowing red spire between it and the small building next to it. On the face of that building in another picture, there are two glowing lights (one white, one orange). It the white one is closer to the camera, and the orange one casts a shadow on the door. There are rather plentiful orbs, but most of all... In one of the pictures of the car... there is a faint image of a little girl standing next to it. It isn't extremely easy to see (and it's not a very good picture, it's from a disposable camera), but if you look closely at all, you can see a small girl with long hair standing by the driver's door.
Second trip: No phenomena, except again near that wooded spot, one camera started malfunctioning. After leaving and returning several times, we watched the same camera screw up in the same spot three times. Some pictures, mostly just orbs, a couple faces. The more notable event was finding out that the car was parked fairly near the grave of a 12 year old girl on the first trip.
After that, there really hasn't been any more activity, and no real photographic anomalies, except the occaisional orb, but I still like to go. It's a nice place. The spot between the statue and the hill in the center has a distinctively happy, peaceful vibe that doesn't seem entirely natural.
-xFatherxOfxLiesxTrivia[]
- This legend could also be categorized as a Location.