Portland's 1829 municipal burial ground beside the Western Promenade, contains the parents of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and bears documented scars from a 1988-89 grave-desecration episode that disturbed an estimated 1,942 tombs.
2 Vaughan Street, Portland, ME 04102
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free, self-guided daytime access. No formal visitor center.
Access
Limited Access
12-acre sloped municipal cemetery with uneven turf and many damaged or sunken markers from past vandalism.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1829 · Portland's primary municipal burial ground 1829-1852 · Burial place of Longfellow family members · Documented 1988-89 grave-desecration history
Western Cemetery was established by the City of Portland in 1829 as a successor municipal burial ground to the older Eastern Cemetery on Munjoy Hill. The grounds were expanded in 1841 to their present twelve acres, occupying the bluff between Vaughan Street and the Western Promenade in Portland's West End. The cemetery served as the city's primary burial ground from 1829 to 1852 (when Evergreen Cemetery was established in then-separate Deering) and remained active for new burials until 1910.
The cemetery contains roughly 6,600 graves and tombs. Notable interments include the parents of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of the original tombs were set into the slope as brick-vaulted family vaults entered through doors on the cemetery's lower terrace.
Between July 1, 1988 and August 1, 1989, the cemetery was the site of an extended period of vandalism and grave desecration in which an estimated 1,942 tombs and graves were disturbed — a figure documented by Interment.net's Portland reporting and by Maine news outlets revisiting the events. Tomb doors were broken open, and when descendants later attempted to recover or relocate ancestors, multiple tombs — including the Longfellow family tomb — were found empty. The remains of those removed during the desecrations have not been fully accounted for.
The City of Portland began a multi-year restoration partnership with the Stewards of the Western Cemetery in October 2003. Work has focused on stabilizing brick vaults, resetting toppled stones, and rebuilding the perimeter fence. The cemetery remains an active site of historical preservation rather than active burial.
Sources
Western Cemetery's paranormal reputation rests on a documented historical trauma rather than an inherited ghost story. Between July 1988 and August 1989, an estimated 1,942 tombs were disturbed in a sustained period of vandalism described by Interment.net as making Portland 'the desecration capitol of the world.' When descendants later opened family vaults — including the Longfellow tomb — multiple vaults were found empty, with the remains never fully accounted for.
Against that background, paranormal aggregators including HauntedHouses.com describe shadowy figures moving among the broken tomb doors, disembodied voices near the lower terrace, and the recurring report from family members who came to relocate ancestors only to find empty graves. The WJBQ feature and other regional press treat the haunting reputation as a consequence of the desecrations rather than a separate folkloric tradition.
The cemetery should be approached as a site of preservation history rather than a thrill destination. We do not romanticize the 1988-89 events; they are the documented violation of thousands of Portland families' burials, and the restoration work continues. Visitors who come for the paranormal reputation should know they are walking on ground that the City of Portland and the Stewards of the Western Cemetery have spent more than two decades trying to make whole.
Media Appearances
Daytime self-guided walk through Portland's second-oldest municipal cemetery. The grounds contain the parents of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and bear visible scars from the 1988-89 grave desecrations now documented in city records and journalism.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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