Huntsville, Texas locals refer to the road that leads to a small 1800s graveyard as “Demon Road.” Supposedly, some people report seeing hovering red lights traveling down the road. Others report that have been pushed and shoved by invisible hands on their way to the cemetery.

At the end of this road lies Martha Chapel Cemetery. Doing a google search returns all sorts of ghost stories about this little grave yard. People report seeing full body apparitions, some of which like to follow you home.

In 1985, the people of Huntsville became convinced that a nefarious coven of devil worshipers were calling up demons at the cemetery. Apparently the County Sheriff even went to the local high school and warned the kids to stay away from the road for their own safety. Hence the name, “Demon Road”.

I didn’t see any demons or ghosts and there’s no invisible hitchhiker helping me to write this. While I didn’t find any phantoms, I did find a spot just outside the cemetery gates where someone had built a large fire. I also found lots of tire tracks and beer cans. Personally, I think this is a place where young people from a small town come to scare each other and to prove themselves by vandalizing the cemetery. So, my guess is that the most frightening thing one might encounter at night is a bored teenager with a cooler full of beer.

Here are two different “ghost hunter” videos investigating the area.

1.) The better of the two. They basically stand around until they find a snake. The spookiest thing they find is that road dust stuck to their truck. Seriously. Click here.

2.) This “investigation” is a joke and is only funny because the ghost hunter is serious. He uses what he calls a “Ghost Box” to talk to ghosts. If you don’t pull a facepalm when you see what this ghost box actually is, you get a point. Click here.

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The area was originally called “Robinson’s Settlement” and was located seven miles southwest of Huntsville in south central Walker County. It became a stronghold for Methodist activity in Southeast Texas in the early 1830s. The site is on a dirt road midway between Farm roads 1374 and 1791. By 1839 a campground, church (possibly the first church in Walker county; they shared their church building with other denominations) and school were established when land was given by William and Elizabeth Robinson (who are both buried in Martha’s Chapel Cemetery) to the Rev. Littleton Fowler, Superintendent of Methodism in the Republic of Texas. Early clergy who visited and served there included Isaac Strickland, Jesse Hord, Joseph P. Sneed, and Bishop Thomas A. Morris. The Fourth Texas Methodist Conference met on the land that is now Martha’s Chapel Cemetery in 1843, with Bishop James O. Andrew presiding. Sometime after the conference the local congregation adopted the name Trinity Church. The church and the area became known as Martha’s Chapel in 1854 after Martha Palmer, wife of a church trustee, died and was buried behind the church building. In 1855 John C. Black added twenty acres to the original Robinson Settlement, and a new building was erected near the old church. The original log church structure was then moved and turned into a barn. During the Civil War attendance at Trinity Church declined, and Rev. James G. Johnson (1812-1887) constructed a smaller building in 1863 that was known for a while as Johnson’s Chapel. When he died, Johnson bequeathed funds to complete the construction of the third and last place of worship at the cemetery site. It was dedicated on October 18, 1887, by Bishop W.W. Duncan. The congregation disbanded in the 1930s and ended a century of Methodism in the area.

The surrounding rural neighborhood maintained a school, though the bell rang only sporadically in the early years. In 1896 the Martha’s Chapel school employed two teachers, Miss Ona Randolph and Miss Mary Sterne (who is buried in Martha’s Chapel Cemetery). The schoolhouse remained as late as 1936 but was closed soon thereafter. By 1990 only the cemetery remained at the site.

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On my way there, I ran across a couple of interesting abandoned buildings:

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