Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainAnn Judge, known as Gypsy Queen Cleo, died in childbirth in 1905 while her troupe passed through Marion; her grave draws visitors who leave coins to avoid the curse of removal.
895 E Mark St, Marion, OH 43302
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public cemetery open during daylight hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat cemetery grounds with paved lanes; the grave is in the non-Catholic section.
Equipment
Photos OK
Grave of Ann Judge (Gypsy Queen Cleo), died in childbirth March 20, 1905 · Non-Catholic section of St. Mary's Cemetery, Marion, Ohio · Active folk tradition of coin and trinket offerings at the grave
Ann Judge traveled with a Romani troupe through central Ohio in the early twentieth century. On March 20, 1905, she died in childbirth while the group was camped in or near Marion, Ohio. Because she was not Catholic, she was interred in the non-Catholic section of St. Mary's Cemetery rather than in the main confessional ground.
The circumstances of her death — a young woman far from any fixed home, dying during an itinerant journey — gave her grave an unusual character in the local memory. Marion residents began calling her Gypsy Queen Cleo, a title that does not appear to correspond to any documented title or position within her troupe. Over the following decades the grave accumulated a folk tradition: visitors leave coins, flowers, and small tokens at the marker as tribute, and local lore holds that anyone who removes an offering courts misfortune.
The grave remains identifiable in the cemetery and continues to receive offerings. The specific stone and its location have been documented by Ohio paranormal researchers and local Marion County historians, though the broader documentation of Ann Judge's life before her death in Marion is thin. The record of her burial date and location appears in local accounts that date the death to March 20, 1905.
Sources
According to accounts collected by Haunted Hocking and the Ohio Exploration Society, the legend of Gypsy Queen Cleo has two overlapping threads. The first is the grave-tribute tradition: visitors leave coins, rings, and small objects at the marker, and local belief holds that removing any offering brings misfortune to the taker. The tradition is persistent enough that the grave routinely accumulates offerings and is considered among Marion's best-known paranormal landmarks.
The second thread involves reported hauntings of the cemetery itself and of houses near the cemetery boundary. Residents and visitors have described seeing a woman's apparition in the older sections of the ground, and some Marion residents in adjacent neighborhoods have attributed unexplained activity in their homes to Cleo's proximity. The Ohio Exploration Society notes the site as part of Marion County's documented paranormal tradition without endorsing supernatural causation.
The legend does not specify whether the apparition is menacing or simply present. It belongs to the broad category of traveler-grave folklore common in the Midwest, where unusual burials of itinerant people attract local narrative about restless spirits and the obligations of passersby.
Notable Entities
Walk the non-Catholic section of St. Mary's Cemetery to find the grave of Ann Judge, known locally as Gypsy Queen Cleo. Local tradition holds that coins and trinkets left at the grave honor her memory and ward off the rumored curse on those who remove offerings. The grave is marked and accessible during daylight hours.
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