The Western Cemetery in Portland Has a Disturbing History That Will Give You Nightmares

If you've explored the Western Promenade and West End neighborhood on Portland's peninsula, then you've seen the Western Cemetery haunting the edge of Vaughn Street. The underground crypts flank the sides of the grassy gravesites with crumbling granite headstones. This cemetery has a disturbing past. One high profile tomb was opened to find nothing inside with no record of what happened to it's contents -- and it was just one of many.

According to PortlandMaine.gov, "This historic cemetery, dating from the late 1700s, is Portland’s second oldest cemetery...Western Cemetery was Portland’s primary burial ground from 1829 until 1852 (when Evergreen Cemetery was established). It remained active until 1910."

Author Karen Wentworth Batignani detailed the history of the Western Cemetery in her book 'Maine's Coastal Cemeteries: A Historic Tour'. According to her research, nearly 2000 tombs were desecrated between 1988 and 1989 and it is known for it's general disorganization.

A plan to organize the cemetery was drafted in the 1840s but during the 1866 Great Fire that destroyed most of the city of Portland the document was also lost.

Some tombs in the Western Cemetery have been opened throughout the years (for official business) only to be found with no contents inside. Completely empty. One of the most high profile tombs was the parents of famed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The tomb was opened and nothing was inside and no record of what could have happened to the people entombed there.