Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainMinnesota's 'Witches Graveyard' — Legend Versus the Historical Record
Jackson, MN 56143
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free. Rural cemetery accessible by foot; accessible from Hwy 14 between Jackson and Petersburg.
Access
Limited Access
Rural, uneven ground; inaccessible by car. Requires a short walk across open land.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1877 · Rural Pioneer Cemetery · Minnesota Folklore · Historical Vandalism Incident
Loon Lake Cemetery sits on the southeast shore of Loon Lake in Middletown Township, Jackson County. The cemetery was established in 1877 and used through the early 20th century, with the last known interment recorded in 1926.
Decades of vandalism and theft reduced most of the headstones to rubble or removed them entirely. By the time the legend of the 'witches graveyard' had spread regionally, the cemetery's physical condition was already deteriorating. Restoration efforts in 2018–2019, documented by local historical volunteers, partially reversed the damage.
Mary Jane Terwillegar died in March 1880 at age 17. Historical records show she died of diphtheria — a common and lethal respiratory disease — while working as a domestic servant in Cherokee, Iowa. Her remains were returned to Loon Lake, where her parents were buried. Her death was ordinary and well-documented. The Jackson County Historical Society has confirmed this account.
The legend that Terwillegar was a witch beheaded by townspeople appears to have been promoted by a local mill operator named James S. Peters and later enthusiastically embellished by a businessman who converted a nearby church building and, by his own admission quoted in regional journalism, 'liked the story, so I kinda helped it along a little bit.'
Sources
The legend grew in specific layers, each one deposited by different people with different incentives.
The foundational claim: three witches were violently executed in Jackson County in the 19th century and buried separately from the Christian community, their graves at Loon Lake marking the site of their condemnation. Variations say they were beheaded. Others say they were hanged. All versions agree that their graves carry a curse: anyone who walks on top of them will die within three days.
Mary Jane Terwillegar's grave became the focal point because of the phrasing on her stone — which visitors interpreted as an epitaph with threatening undertones — and because her early death at 17 fed speculation about unnatural causes.
The Megadeth connection is genuine. David Ellefson, born in Jackson, Minnesota, is the band's founding bassist. Megadeth's 1988 recording references a young witch buried alive by her father at Loon Lake. Whether Ellefson drew on the local legend or helped amplify it through the album is unclear, but the association supercharged the cemetery's reputation nationally.
Visitors over several decades have reported unexplained gusts of wind, sudden cold, and orbs in photographs. Whether these accounts reflect the ordinary conditions of a remote rural cemetery — where sound travels oddly, temperature varies sharply near the lake, and camera artifacts are common at night — or something more anomalous has not been investigated by any formal study.
The Jackson County Historical Society's position is direct: the witch story is fictional. Mary Jane Terwillegar died of diphtheria, alone, in Iowa.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A rural cemetery established in 1877 accessible on foot from Hwy 14. Most headstones were stolen or destroyed in decades of vandalism; restoration work in 2018–2019 partially remedied the damage. The cemetery is the center of one of Minnesota's most elaborately debunked haunting legends.
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