83: Cursed Cemeteries: Vengeful Ghosts & A Portal To Hell
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It's when your heart starts pounding. Night had just fallen when a group of four friends snuck past the large iron gate into the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. They'd all heard the rumors about this place and wanted to check it out for themselves. One legend said once you entered the cemetery, you'd fall into a trance.

But as they walked past the massive Gothic above-ground tombs nestled in the middle of the city, the cold air and adrenaline kept their minds sharp. According to another legend, there was one particular part of the cemetery with a haunting unlike anything they had ever seen or heard on their amateur ghost hunts.

Cemetery workers had supposedly quit their jobs in the middle of the night, running back through the iron gates in fear, never to step foot inside again after encountering this ghost. But what was particular about this haunting was you didn't go looking for it. No, it always seemed to find you.

That's when they heard it. They all looked at each other. Maybe the legends were true. The next step was to follow the sound deep into the labyrinth of the tightly packed mausoleums. The group rounded a corner and the thumping got a little louder. They were heading in the right direction. And just then, one of the girls froze. There, far in the direction of the thumping sound, was a figure.

looked almost as if someone had taken an eraser to the person. The edges were blurred, but its face seemed clear as day. It was a teen girl with a face twisted in unimaginable pain. Her arms were outstretched as if pleading for help.

This was the ghost so many had told them about. For over 100 years, people had been seeing this exact figure, but none of them had ever dared to get near and help this girl. And this time was no different. The group of friends turned around and took off running, leaving her with her arms outstretched behind.

Welcome back to Heart Starts Pounding, a podcast of horrors, hauntings, and mysteries. I'm your host, Kaylin Moore. I'm currently sitting here in the Rogue Detecting Society, getting so ready for spooky season. And we're kicking things off here with our Thrills and Chills series for Halloween. I can't think of a better place to start than the cemetery. I'm going to start with the cemetery.

I think cemeteries are beautiful. They're quiet. They're peaceful. People actually leave you alone. And being from New England, we have some old cemeteries. In my hometown, I love going to this one cemetery where my family's buried, stemming back to the 1800s. But every time I go, I'm careful to not go to the bad part of the cemetery. The part where the graves go back to the 1600s.

I know I can hear my UK audience laughing at me, but that's pretty old for us here in the United States. Those graves are often crooked and sinking beneath the soft ground. And when you walk over there, it actually feels like you may sink straight down until you hit a casket. That's the part of the cemetery where it said shadows like to walk around at night. Sometimes when I'm over there, I'll feel random cold spots. It's weird. The energy is bad. I don't like it.

But today, I want to tell you about some other cemeteries that also have bad and scary sections. First, I'm going to take you with me to Argentina and tell you about a teen girl whose spirit will probably never fully rest.

And then I'm going to take you to Kansas and we're going to explore a cemetery they say is a portal to hell. But first, listener Meme16 recently left a very nice review that they didn't have to leave saying, Now I just want to gather other mysterious stories to send in so y'all can deep dive and tell more. Once a week isn't enough.

Well, Meme16, you're actually in luck because next week I'm hosting two episodes, our usual Heart Starts Pounding episode, and I'll be guest hosting for Spotify's podcast, Serial Killers, and telling the dark and strange tale of the murder of Hex Hollow House. I had a blast collaborating with their team, so make sure you check it out. I'll put a link in the bio and I plan to release it on our feed here as well so all of you can listen here. They have an awesome guest lineup that I am just so honored to lead off.

I'll be followed by Annie Elise of Serialistly and 10 to Life, who I'm actually sharing the stage with this week in Orange County for her live show. And then the final Halloween episode for Serial Killers is going to be hosted by none other than the true crime legend, crime junkies, Ashley Flowers. So I hope you'll all enjoy next week's double feature. More after a quick break. This episode is brought to you by Fume.

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Nestled in between neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is our first stop, the Gothic-inspired Recoleta Cemetery. Under the cover of night, a night watchman pulls open the large iron gate to let us in. Of course, we tip him generously for doing so, and he gives us a skeptical look. See, he's not going to let us in.

even the locals know that this is not a place you want to be at night. You hardly want to be here during the day. They've all heard the stories of the shadow figures that appear out of nowhere in the corner of your eyes. But there's something I really, really want to show you guys.

The first thing you'll notice about this place is that the dead aren't buried underground. Nearly 5,000 above-ground vaults are packed in tightly across 5.5 hectares, which is 14 acres, organized almost like city blocks, making this truly a city of the dead.

Each vault is decorated in its own morbid style. Some tower over two stories tall with giant columns like an ancient Greek building. Some have domed tops. Others have massive spires like a church, but most of them are adorned with statues. Some are of angels. Others are grim replicas of those who are interred in the vault. As we walk through the tight alleyways of the cemetery,

thousands of frozen faces look down at us, a grim reminder that death comes for us all. This cemetery was built in 1822 over an abandoned monastery that housed the Order of the Recoletas in Buenos Aires.

The order has its roots in medieval times and was comprised of monks. The area is naturally prone to heavy rainfall, and the original architect worried that bodies buried underground would float to the surface and wash into the city. So the cemetery was built above ground. And I don't know if you've listened to our episode on the ghosts of New Orleans, but it's similar to how their graveyards are constructed.

We all round another corner, passing a sign warning us to not get lost in the hedge maze of graves. And that's when we come to our first stop. Before us is a large, white concrete tomb, scrubbed so clean you'd hardly be able to believe it was constructed in 1902. On top of the mausoleum is a name.

Rufina Cambaceres. And below it is the solemn statue of a 15-year-old girl standing by the door into her tomb. Her sculpted hand on the doorknob, as if she sorrowfully knows she must enter, though she wants to stay here. Rufina was the daughter of a celebrated author in Argentina, Eugene Cambaceres. Though he passed away when she was only five years old, he left her enough money to take care of herself for the rest of her life.

And by the time she was 15, she was described as the most beautiful girl in Buenos Aires. But beauty like hers can come with a price. And she found that most of the men stealing glances in public and vying for her attention were more than twice her age. That's how she met Hipolito Yerigoyen, a 45-year-old politician who would go on to become the president of Argentina in 1916.

Ippolito made frequent visits to Rufina's home to ask her mother about her. And what happened next, some chalk up to Rufina's lack of a father figure, others blame the time, but Rufina and Ippolito became a couple. After their courtship began, however, Rufina was struck with what was described back then as a fainting illness.

She was known to pass out for periods of time for no reason. And while doctors couldn't find the cause of the sudden illness, many friends and neighbors believed that they knew what was happening. See, we

Rufina's mother had fallen in love with Ippolito, and neighbors and friends believed that she was drugging her daughter to have romantic trysts with him. On May 31st, 1902, Rufina turned 19 years old and had an extravagant party to celebrate at the famous Teatro Colon Opera House. But that night, as a string quartet played and lanterns flickered, one of Rufina's closest friends pulled her to the side

and confessed to her what everyone already knew, that her mother and Ippolito were having an affair. Devastated, she ran home without telling anyone where she was going. The next morning, a member of her family's staff found Rufina lifeless in her bed. A doctor declared that she suffered such a strong fainting episode that it actually killed her. And that's what her death certificate said.

And now, over 100 years later, her body lies here inside this vault. But Rufina's burial is not where our story ends. For this next part, we're gonna follow Rufina's sculpted hand and enter through the door to her grave, where few have dared to go before.

Her dark, humid vault has remained untouched for decades, and cobwebs dangle from every corner. In front of us is Rufina's casket. It looks more like a porcelain tub than a coffin. It's intricately carved with claw feet and a cover that slides on. It's not nailed shut like a regular coffin, and that's for a reason.

This is not the original casket that held the girl. Rufina's funeral was described as, quote, a sincere manifestation of mourning by her good friends, which were as numerous as distinguished. That's according to the magazine Caras y Caretas, which published her obituary in 1902. The day after Rufina's service, a groundskeeper was polishing tombs when he heard a strange sound in the distance.

At first, he thought it was just his imagination. Sometimes spending time among the dead caused his mind to invent sounds and shadows. At least, that's what he told himself. But there it was again. He looked over in the direction it was coming from and saw the grim statue on Rafina's grave. There was no mistaking that it was coming from inside her tomb.

He slowly walked towards her vault, scared that even his footsteps would attract the attention of whoever was inside. It wasn't uncommon for thieves to rob the dead here. The groundskeeper peered in through a small crack in the door, where he saw nothing. No one was inside. Rafina's tomb lay undisturbed.

At least, that's what it looked like at first. Upon closer inspection, he actually saw that her casket had moved just a few centimeters away from the wall. The next day, he ran to tell the girl's mother what he saw, and she arrived at the tomb and moved the casket back to its proper place against the far wall. She didn't really give it any more thought than that, though. But

But Rufina had an aunt back in Italy who had heard the story of her niece's moving casket and got a terrible feeling. She took a boat over to Argentina as quickly as she could, which would have been weeks if not months back then. And upon arrival, she actually demanded that the girl's casket be opened. And once the lid was cracked, it was clear that the banging sound was not from thieves.

Rufina's body was flipped over from its resting position, and her face was covered in scratches. Most terrifyingly of all, though, the underside of the coffin's lid was also covered in scratches. It seemed that the girl was not dead when she was buried, and she awoke after being buried alive.

In a desperate attempt to get out, she pounded on the coffin's lid and scratched as hard as she could. So hard that the coffin had actually jumped away from the wall, but the lid held tightly.

After that, her aunt ordered that her body be placed in a tub-like coffin with a removable lid, and that's what we see here before us. Though the chances of Rufina springing back to life and trying to get out of her coffin once more are slim, her aunt didn't want to take that chance. More after a short break.

Okay, I need to tell you guys about the return of the spine-tingling podcast Rattled and Shook. It's from Tenderfoot TV, which are the creators of the hit podcast Radio Rental. I'm sure if you listen to this podcast, you know it. Rattled and Shook is a weekly discussion-based horror comedy podcast.

Think of it as a variety show for all things creepy adjacent and horror light. Join hosts April and Meredith for season two every week for new scary stories, horror themed games, special guests and more. Season two of Rattled and Shook is available now. Listen for free on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

For our next story, we're going to travel back to the U.S. to a small town in the Midwest called Stull, Kansas. One night back in 2015, a

A man named Sam was driving with his brother to a family reunion when they decided to pull over and explore Stull Cemetery. They had both heard the ghost stories and decided it was time to see for themselves if they were really true. Unlike Recoleta, Stull Cemetery looks like a traditional cemetery, gentle rolling hills peppered with small tombstones.

It's said that the name Stull is a secret variation of the word skull, and the name was chosen after something horribly strange and macabre happened at the grave of a witch. Legends of Stull Cemetery being a portal to hell have circulated for over a hundred years. It's supposedly one of seven portals to hell around the world that the devil uses to come to Earth.

Logos say that the church that used to stand next to the cemetery was the portal, and that the devil would travel each year on Halloween night to visit the grave of a witch who gave birth to his child.

As Sam and his brother walked into the cemetery under the cover of night, they would have seen the grave of that witch. See, decades ago, the grave and the one next to it started unexplainably sprouting roots. It was as if a tree was growing out of the womb of the witch buried below. The only explanation the town could think of at the time was that the devil must have cursed her after she gave birth to his son.

As Sam walked past the witch's grave, he would have maybe seen the tree in its full form. Gnarled branches twisting into grotesque skeletal fingers that clawed at the night sky. The creaking of branches like a chorus of tortured souls.

Just beyond the grave laid the remains of the church that was said to be the portal to hell. The one-room brick building was demolished in 2002, but the rubble took ages to be cleared from the cemetery. And that's where they wanted to go. If he could just sort through some of the rubble, maybe he would be able to find the portal. Sam took a big step forward...

and felt something wet on his shoe and leg. In the pitch black, he couldn't really see what it was, but when he touched his leg and brought it to his face, the liquid was thick and dark, and it had a pungent metallic smell to it. It was blood.

All around Sam on the ground was a pool of fresh blood, not congealed at all. Sam screamed and tried to run out of it, splashing more on his legs in the process. His brother came over to see what the fuss was and insisted that it had to be from an animal. Maybe something had gotten killed right there. There was, after all, a black cat that was known to prowl through the cemetery, said to be the reincarnation of Satan's child. Maybe it had killed a mouse.

But it was far too much blood to be a mouse. It was like if someone had killed a deer and strung it up on the devil's tree until all of its blood soaked the earth. But there was no sign of an animal at the site. The boys took off after that. It wasn't worth it to find the portal.

Kids and adults alike have been looking for the Stull portal to hell since 1974, when a local paper ran an article about the cemetery being visited by the devil every Halloween. While that's often cited as the first written record of the cemetery's spooky past, it's unclear if the haunting was just something locals told each other about before. The Daily Kansan ran an article detailing how a University of Kansas junior and two of his frat brothers went looking for the portal one night.

The junior claimed that after he got out of his car and started walking towards the church, he felt an icy cold hand grab his arm as if to hold him back. He turned around to swat away one of his fraternity brothers,

only to find that they were about 25 yards behind him. The cemetery has such a supernatural reputation that it's said even Pope John Paul II requested that his plane be diverted when flying over America so that he wouldn't have to fly over such unholy land. Celebrities have also had strange experiences at the cemetery. Kurt Cobain told Time magazine once about his time near the cemetery. He said,

Quote,

Ariana Grande even had a ghostly encounter there. She wanted to swing by the cemetery while on the road to see what it was all about. And in an interview with Complex, she said, quote, I felt this sick, overwhelming feeling of negativity over the whole car and we smelled sulfur, which is the sign of a demon. And there was a fly in the car randomly, which is another sign of a demon. I was like, this is scary. Let's leave. I rolled down the window before we left and said, what?

I'm not kidding.

There have been a few theories as to where the exact portal is. Most say it's at the church and some others believe that it's at the grave of Geneva Stull, the founder of the town's wife.

And while there are a few other guesses, there's no debating that the church has been the site of the most strange phenomena. Six years before it was torn down, the roof totally collapsed. People noticed that when it was raining outside, if you stepped into the church, the rain wouldn't touch you, even though the roof was gone.

Ghost hunters also found that if you marked a glass bottle with an inverted cross on it while standing at the church wall, it wouldn't break. Though it was said that if it did break, the thrower was then marked for death. One night, a boy named Stevie was with his girlfriend visiting her parents' house in Lawrence, Kansas. Her dad decided it would be a fun trip to adventure to Stull Cemetery that night.

Stevie, of course, did not want to go. He had heard the stories and decided whatever was happening at the graveyard was none of his business. But he also wanted to impress his girlfriend's family, so reluctantly he piled into the car with them.

They drove the 20 minutes it takes to get there from Lawrence, and everyone but Stevie was buzzing with excitement. But that all changed when they got out of the car. There was a strange, stagnant heaviness in the air, as if the wind couldn't even move.

They walked around the graveyard in complete darkness, not saying a word to each other, afraid that if they used their flashlights, they would be spotted by the sheriff or protective locals. It was well known that police patrolled the area at night to stop vandals and daredevil teens. Walking around, Stevie remembered seeing one tree that he described as contorted and dead.

And just past it were the ruins of the church. His girlfriend and her parents had somehow already made it almost all of the way there. And when he caught up to them, he noticed weird scratch mark disturbances around the rubble of the old church. Probably caused by some teens, he thought. And that's when Stevie's girlfriend came upon a glass bottle sitting upright in the rubble.

His girlfriend told him the legend about testing if a bottle shattered could show whether or not the devil was going to drag you to hell. Perhaps that was why the bottle was there in the first place. Someone else may have been doing that test, but the bottle was still in perfect condition, meaning that the previous player had survived. Stevie thought it would be funny to pick up the bottle and leave it somewhere more obvious for the next group of visitors to be frightened by,

But his girlfriend's father had other plans. He shined the light on Stevie and told him to grab it. "'I don't think I need to,' Stevie protested, his hands starting to sweat. But now his girlfriend was pressuring him to do it too. "'Come on, don't be scared.'

Stevie took a deep breath and then reached for the bottle. "'It's just a legend,' he told himself. "'It's just a legend.'" As he brought the bottle up towards his face, an unnerving hissing sound pierced the air. It sounded like a gas bubbling ferociously, like someone had shaken the bottle up, except the bottle was empty."

Just then, a strange gargling came from about 15 feet away, near where one of the walls of the church used to be, followed by a strange clicking noise. Stevie spun around and shined his flashlight at the rubble, expecting to see some sort of animal.

but nothing was there. He turned back towards his girlfriend's father, who looked completely shaken. He explained that he had lived in Kansas his entire life and had never heard an animal like that.

Spooked, Stevie dropped the bottle and it crashed against the foundation of the old church, but it didn't shatter. He took that as a sign that it was time to leave and the group quickly stumbled out of the church and back to the car. On his way out, Stevie took a picture of the graveyard. It was so dark outside that the flash illuminated the grass in front of him and part of a tree, but the rest of the frame looks like a dark, bottomless pit.

However, Stevie swears that where the back of the cemetery would be in the photo, he can see a face. And to this day, he wonders what would have happened if the bottle had shattered. More after the break.

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One girl named Greta was driving with a car full of other high schoolers towards Stoll Cemetery. They'd heard rumors and none of them were particularly blown away by the supernatural, but since they only lived an hour away, they figured why not take the trip?

Greta had read a story about a little boy who apparently died in a fire set by his father and was buried in the cemetery somewhere. She wanted to go find his gravestone and pay her respects. Only Greta and one other person admitted that they believed ghosts could be real, even if they weren't 100% certain.

Everyone else said that they were crazy for believing that. The group got to the cemetery in the dead of night. Greta actually felt like the grounds weren't that creepy initially, especially for what was supposed to be one of the seven gateways to hell on earth.

She was honestly bored until an unbearable piercing scream rang through the air. It was so intense, real, and it sounded tortured, like a pig being slaughtered, or, as her friend pointed out, like a little kid burning alive.

She went to put her hands over her ears, but when she turned to the group, the only other person who heard the noise was her friend who had also raised her hand when someone asked if ghosts could be real. Maybe only those who tapped into the supernatural world could be touched by the energy, but the traumatic experience still rings in her ears whenever she thinks about that place. And maybe...

Maybe that is a function of these places. Maybe those who believe are the ones who really see things. Although I will say there have been issues with believers going to Stull Cemetery. The cemetery is now closed at night and patrolled by police. And that's because of years of vandals coming and disturbing the land, trying to conjure the devil back to the cemetery.

It's gotten so bad that locals complain that the graves of their loved ones buried there have been destroyed. We are a darkly curious bunch here at Heart Starts Pounding. I would never do anything but encourage you all to visit graveyards, including Stull, as long as you're being respectful.

So it breaks my heart that people are going to these cemeteries and wreaking havoc. It also kind of feels like the best possible way to become cursed for life, just saying. So if you do find yourself at a cemetery, especially an old and neglected one,

consider bringing some granite and stone cleaner. Most cemeteries will have access to a water source, so you could fill up a bucket with some cleaning solution and water and just go to town. I usually use a scrub daddy and a toothbrush and just really get in there. It's a great arm workout, and plus it really racks up your good karma points.

Anyways, what's the most terrifying cemetery tale you've heard? Share with me on Instagram or comment on YouTube, Spotify, or in an Apple review. And I'll catch you next week as we dive deeper into our Thrills and Chills series this Halloween season.

Heart Starts Pounding is written and produced by me, Kayla Moore. Heart Starts Pounding is also produced by Matt Brown. Additional research and writing by Marissa Dow. Special thanks to Travis Dunlap, Grayson Jernigan, the team at WME, and Ben Jaffe. Sound design and mix by Peachtree Sound. Have a heart pounding story or a case request? Check out heartstartspounding.com. Until next time, stay curious.

Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it, even in cold. Butter? Yep. Chocolate ice cream? Sure thing. Barbecue sauce? Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide Pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new Coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be Tide.