Roseville's 1901 Garden Cemetery, Home to 'Smiling Jack' — the Mausoleum Legend That Sent Police Looking for Someone Who Wasn't There
803 W Larpenteur Ave, Roseville, MN 55113
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Open to the public during cemetery hours at no charge.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved interior roads, relatively flat; mausoleum is accessible by road
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1901 · National Register of Historic Places · Cass Gilbert Architecture · Active Historic Garden Cemetery
Roselawn Cemetery was established in 1901, with a chapel, office, and entrance gate on Larpenteur Avenue completed in 1904 to designs by architects Cass Gilbert and Thomas Holyoke. Gilbert, who would later design the Minnesota State Capitol and the Woolworth Building in New York, produced the cemetery's primary structures in a Romanesque Revival style using local materials.
The cemetery serves the communities of Ramsey County and the adjacent Twin Cities suburbs. As of recent counts, it holds over 27,000 interments ranging from ordinary residents to notable figures including comedian Mitch Hedberg, who died in 2005.
The Johnston family mausoleum, built to house Beatrice C. Johnston (1900–1958) and her husband Harrison Victor Johnson (1890–1973), became the site of the 'Smiling Jack' legend through the prominent stained-glass portrait of Beatrice visible at the rear of the structure. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Reference No. 100006008) through the Roselawn Chapel and Administration Building designation.
Sources
The legend began with a pattern of police calls: Roseville officers repeatedly responded to reports of someone trapped in a mausoleum after closing, found no one inside, and logged the calls. The story circulated through the department long enough that veterans would take new officers to the cemetery as a kind of informal initiation, pointing out the mausoleum and explaining the history of the fruitless responses.
The subject of the stained-glass window is Beatrice C. Johnston, who died in 1958 at age 57. Her portrait — smiling, set in the glass at the rear of the family mausoleum — earned the nickname 'Smiling Jack' from locals, apparently a reference to a stock character name rather than anything specific to Beatrice or her family. Some paranormal investigators who have visited the site report that communication attempts using audio equipment suggest Beatrice does not appreciate the nickname.
Multiple paranormal investigation groups have filmed at Roselawn and a number of teams have produced video purporting to document the legend. The CBS Minnesota and 103.7 The Loon have both covered the story, and the cemetery appears on regional haunted-places lists reliably.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A working active cemetery with over 27,000 interments. The Beatrice Johnston mausoleum, with its distinctive stained-glass portrait that generated the 'Smiling Jack' legend, is accessible by the interior road. The Cass Gilbert-designed chapel and administration building are also on the grounds.
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