Carbon County's Wooded Burial Ground
South Lehigh Gorge Drive (between RD#2 and Buck Mountain), Weatherly, PA 18255
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public cemetery during daylight hours.
Access
Limited Access
Wooded, rolling cemetery on a back road; uneven ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1875 · 19th Century Cemetery · Carbon County History · Former Catholic Cemetery Site
The cemetery known locally as Weatherly Cemetery is officially the Weatherly Union Cemetery, situated on a curving stretch of South Lehigh Gorge Drive between RD#2 and Buck Mountain in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. The grounds occupy the former site of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Cemetery, which served the area until 1875. Following the closure of the Catholic congregation, the cemetery transitioned to community use under the Weatherly Union Cemetery Association, located at 2593 South Lehigh Gorge Drive.
Find a Grave documentation lists 6,834 memorials at the cemetery, with 88 percent photographed and 81 percent GPS-coordinate located. Burial dates span the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The road approach to the cemetery is heavily wooded and follows a series of tight curves; the cemetery sits relatively isolated from the village of Weatherly proper. The Borough of Weatherly contains two cemeteries; Weatherly Union is the older.
Sources
Pennsylvania regional folklore attaches several modest reports to Weatherly Union Cemetery. Local accounts describe sightings of a white horse running through the wooded surroundings, a phantom car observed driving past the cemetery, and a tradition of vehicle mechanical issues after vehicles leave the cemetery road. The Wilkes Hauntings and Paranormal local-investigation page collects these reports.
The Shadowlands narrative escalates this folklore substantially with claims of devil worship and cannibalism conducted on the cemetery grounds at dusk. No newspaper coverage, court record, or Carbon County historical society documentation supports these claims, and they are best regarded as anonymous community-submitted lore rather than as historical fact. Similarly, the Shadowlands account of a substitute teacher capturing paranormal photography that a psychic ordered burned cannot be evaluated without named participants and is here treated as folklore.
The cemetery's reputation among regional ghost-hunting enthusiasts may benefit from the road's wooded, curving approach and its position outside the village proper; these atmospheric conditions support unease without supporting the more dramatic Shadowlands claims.
Notable Entities
Visit the wooded Weatherly Union Cemetery, sometimes referred to as Weatherly Cemetery, on a curving rural road between Weatherly and Buck Mountain. The cemetery sits on the former site of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Cemetery, used as such until 1875, and contains burials dating back roughly two centuries.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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