A small pioneer cemetery isolated among cornfields near Plato, Minnesota, known for a regional legend in which a lone boy's grave and a cluster of trees seem to change in number when counted after midnight.
Yale Avenue at County Road 34, Plato, MN 55370
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public rural cemetery, free to visit during daylight. Respect posted hours and surrounding private farmland.
Access
Limited Access
Flat grass cemetery bordered by gravel road and cornfields; uneven ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1870 · Pioneer-era rural cemetery in Carver County · Burials of early settler families and several children · Featured in regional surveys of haunted Minnesota cemeteries (CBS News Minnesota)
Ferguson's Cemetery is one of the small rural burial grounds that dot Carver County in south-central Minnesota, located in farm country near the community of Plato and the city of Norwood Young America. It stands at the intersection of Yale Avenue and County Road 34, well away from any town, surrounded on all sides by cultivated fields.
The cemetery is modest in size and bounded by an iron gate at its front, with tall pine trees framing the grounds. A small dirt field road runs along its west side. Among the burials are graves of pioneer families who settled the area, including the graves of several children between roughly eight and twelve years of age.
One grave in particular sits apart from the rest, alone in the southwest corner of the cemetery. Near the center of the grounds stands a distinctive cluster of trees that appear to grow from a single base. These two features, the isolated child's grave and the central cluster of trees, are the focal points of the cemetery's well-known regional legend. The cemetery remains an active rural burial ground and a frequently cited entry in surveys of haunted Minnesota cemeteries, including coverage by CBS News Minnesota.
Sources
The cemetery's central legend concerns the cluster of trees growing from a single base near its center. As recounted by CBS News Minnesota and multiple Minnesota cemetery surveys, the tradition holds that if you count those trees sometime after midnight, then walk to the lone grave in the southwest corner and return, the number of trees will have changed, most often counting to thirteen, but sometimes as few as six (CBS News Minnesota; HubPages "Haunted Cemeteries of Minnesota").
The isolated grave is said to belong to a young boy, though accounts note that several children are buried here and his exact identity is unknown. Visitors describe a ghostly boy who seems to watch over the grounds, a feeling of being observed or unwelcome, and occasional reports of phantom dogs near the boy's grave as cars back away. Other reported phenomena include orbs and the sound of a dog barking with no animal present (Minnesota Haunted Houses).
Because the boy's identity cannot be confirmed and the lore is folkloric rather than tied to a documented historical event, HauntBound presents these accounts as a regional legend. The setting, a tiny isolated cemetery surrounded by dark cornfields, is itself a large part of the location's reputation.
Notable Entities
A quiet rural graveyard ringed by tall pines and an iron gate, surrounded by cornfields. The lone boy's grave sits apart in the southwest corner, near the cluster of trees at the heart of the local counting legend.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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