Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA remote pioneer cemetery on Brown Road in rural Grundy County between Minooka and Morris, Illinois, widely regarded as one of the state's most notorious 'haunted' cemeteries and tied to a legend of a mischievous girl's ghost.
Brown Road, Minooka, IL 60447
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free, but the cemetery is posted against trespassing, especially after dark; fines reported up to $1,000. Visit only by day and lawfully.
Access
Limited Access
Remote rural cemetery at the south end of Brown Road, surrounded by farmland; uneven historic ground.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1850 · Historic Grundy County pioneer cemetery (also recorded as Walley/Cryder Cemetery) with 1,000+ burials · One of the most frequently cited 'haunted' cemeteries in Illinois · Profiled by folklorist Michael Kleen and regional media; now heavily posted against trespass
Aux Sable Cemetery lies at the south end of Brown Road in Aux Sable Township, Grundy County, Illinois, in the rural area between Minooka and Morris. Recorded in cemetery registries under the Aux Sable name (and historically as Walley or Cryder Cemetery), it contains well over a thousand burials and dates to the area's nineteenth-century pioneer settlement, as documented by Find a Grave and Grundy County genealogical records.
The cemetery has become one of the most notorious legend-tripping destinations in Illinois, profiled by outlets including the Channahon-Minooka Patch and Illinois folklorist Michael Kleen, whose account is titled 'Aux Sable Cemetery's Controversial Haunt.' Its isolation, age, and reputation have drawn enough nighttime visitors that the cemetery is now heavily posted against trespassing and patrolled, with reported fines as high as $1,000 for after-dark trespass.
The surrounding stories are entangled with the nearby Dresden Cemetery and the broader folklore of the Minooka-Morris area, and writers like Kleen have worked to separate the documented cemetery from the layers of legend attached to it. It remains an active, historic burial ground that should be visited lawfully and respectfully.
Sources
According to the Shadowlands Haunted Places Index and regional folklore, the best-known Aux Sable legend concerns the ghost of a young girl seen around the cemetery. As the story goes, she appears only to visitors who get out of their cars, and she is described as mischievous, said to roll down car windows when no key is in the ignition. Some online retellings connect her to a six-year-old girl's displaced headstone, a detail that circulates in local discussion but is not verified.
Additional motifs include the cemetery gates seeming to block visitors trying to leave, car windows fogging over, and mysterious fires or mists on the grounds. Folklorist Michael Kleen, who calls the site's reputation 'controversial,' has emphasized that these stories are oral tradition layered onto an ordinary historic cemetery, and that much of the lore is shared with or borrowed from nearby Dresden Cemetery. No paranormal claim here is independently verified, and the cemetery's owners have actively discouraged the nighttime legend-tripping the stories inspire.
Notable Entities
Visit the historic Aux Sable Cemetery on Brown Road, one of Illinois' most talked-about 'haunted' cemeteries, tied to the legend of a young girl's ghost. Visits must be lawful and during daylight; the site is posted and patrolled.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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