145-acre bluff cemetery above the Mississippi hosting Iowa's longest-running paranormal history walk since 1870
2736 Windsor Avenue, Dubuque, IA 52001
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Cemetery grounds free; GRIPS Haunted History Walk approximately $10 per person
Access
Limited Access
Hilly cemetery terrain with paved and unpaved paths across 145 acres
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1870 · Iowa Governor Stephen Hempstead burial site · U.S. Senator William Boyd Allison burial site · Oran Pape — first Iowa State Patrol officer killed in the line of duty · Victorian-era park-style cemetery design
Linwood Cemetery was established in 1870 on a series of wooded bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River on Dubuque's east side. The site was chosen for its natural elevation and its distance from the city's congested downtown burial grounds, following a national movement toward park-style rural cemeteries that were as much civic amenities as burial sites.
Among those interred at Linwood are Stephen Hempstead, who served as Iowa's fifth governor from 1850 to 1854, and William Boyd Allison, a U.S. Senator who represented Iowa for 35 consecutive years—one of the longest Senate tenures in state history at the time of his death in 1908. The cemetery also holds the grave of Oran Pape, an Iowa State Patrol officer shot and killed during a 1931 traffic stop near Ames, making him the first member of the patrol murdered in the line of duty.
By the late 20th century, Linwood had become one of the most visited historic sites in Dubuque, drawing genealogists, historians, and, increasingly, paranormal enthusiasts drawn to its Victorian-era monuments and documented ghost lore. The Greater Inland Region Paranormal Society (GRIPS) established an annual Haunted History Walk through the grounds, bringing guided interpretation to the cemetery's darker chapters.
Sources
Linwood's paranormal reputation is largely sustained by the Greater Inland Region Paranormal Society, which has conducted both public tours and private investigations on the grounds. Reports gathered through those events describe cold spots appearing without meteorological explanation along the ridge lines, faint apparitions observed near the older Victorian-era monument clusters, and audio anomalies captured on recording equipment during overnight investigations.
The cemetery's topography—deep ravines, dense tree cover, and dramatic elevation changes—creates conditions that investigators note tend to amplify both sound and suggestion. The graves of figures who died violently or tragically, including Oran Pape and several Civil War veterans, receive particular visitor attention during the annual October walk. Ghost tour participants have reported seeing a figure in period dress near the older hillside sections, though no photographic evidence has been authenticated.
Local guides on the GRIPS walks note that the cemetery has drawn paranormal investigators since at least the 1990s, well before the formal tour program began.
Self-guided walk through 145 acres of historic graves on the bluffs above the Mississippi River. Notable burials include Iowa Governor Stephen Hempstead, U.S. Senator William Boyd Allison, and Oran Pape, the first Iowa State Patrol officer killed in the line of duty.
The Greater Inland Region Paranormal Society leads an annual October walking tour through Linwood's most storied sections, pausing at notable graves and documented paranormal sites within the cemetery.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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