Stoneking Cemetery

Iowa · United States · Cemetery

A family plot in Iowa where the warning concerns the trees at the back, and what you are not supposed to see sitting on one of the graves.

Stoneking Cemetery near Williamson, Iowa was a family plot for the Stoneking family, and the warning attached to it is unusually specific about geography.

The danger is behind the trees at the back. According to the story, anyone who walks behind them and sees Stone King sitting on his own grave will die. Local account holds that a man did see him and was killed in a motorcycle accident a week later.

An update from December 2003 supplied the correction that turns the legend back into history. This was not the burial place of a figure called Stone King. It was the Stoneking family cemetery, and the name has been misheard into something more sinister than it was.

The same correction adds a claim we have not been able to confirm: that the headstone of Joseph Stoneking appeared in the original Children of the Corn film, which was shot in Iowa. The submitter was careful to say it needed verifying, and it still does.

The wording on the stones is what visitors go out to read.

FAQ

Where is Stoneking Cemetery located?

Stoneking Cemetery is in Iowa, United States.