Pioneers Rest Cemetery - Bandli Graveyard

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Local legends abound about this cemetery known as Pioneers Rest Cemetery or Bandli Graveyard (after the family who maintains it). One says that a man killed his wife and four children and then hanged himself in his barn, next to the graveyard. Another claims that a Satanic cult used the barn for religious rituals. And a third story tells of two boys were playing tag here after dark when hand reached out of a grave and grabbed one boy’s ankle. He died of fright. The other boy’s body was found outside the graveyard. Some witnesses have reported apparitions, including that of a young girl sitting in a tree.

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Geographic Information

Address:
17 1/4 Ave
North of Canton, WI
United States

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GPS:
45.45519510286003, -91.6479002235792
County:
Barron County, Wisconsin
Nearest Towns:
Rice Lake, WI (5.6 mi.)
Cameron, WI (5.7 mi.)
Chetek, WI (9.7 mi.)
Barron, WI (10.4 mi.)
Weyerhaeuser, WI (11.8 mi.)
Haugen, WI (12.3 mi.)
Birchwood, WI (15.3 mi.)
Dallas, WI (15.8 mi.)
New Auburn, WI (17.9 mi.)
Bruce, WI (18.2 mi.)

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Comments (14)

  1. that place was to funny,we did experience a few thing’s late at night,we went at midnight…I could have sworn something touched my cheek,all of us took off running out of the cemetery,then a few minutes later the grave in the back was glowing a little light on it,we were done…

  2. i live right next to the grave yard and i know its haunted. i was walking my dog past it and he started whinning and yipping like he was in pain. he layed there for about five minutes and i tried to drag him away and once i did he was fine.

    • Derek Avery-Patz  |  

      Do you know of anyone I could talk to or even you of what stories are going around the area of why it may be haunted?

  3. kelsey handrahan  |  

    My cousin and her friend who lives near this area asked for me to go with them and drive through. Im not a believer AT ALL. So i thought it would be funny to scare them. So we drove over the bridge faster than 30 my car lights would not come back on, then the alligator clip that was Jerry rigged to the battery came off…and that has never EVER happend so i made mu cousin get out and put. it back on. It was around 1am. We stopped to walk to the grave yard and up super high in a tree was a white blurry shape of a young child with long hair, i had it o ran back to my car and couldn’t get in, the car wasnt locked after a couple minutes of pulling it opened. I will never not believe in ANYTHING again. This was about 7 years afo…my brother had a visit there as well…very creepy!!!

  4. This from about two years ago. We first heard about the urban legends then went to go to the cemetery durning the day so it wouldn’t be to frightening.
    Durning the day doesn’t seem so bad. We took pictures, look around at the gravestones, didn’t notice anything.
    Later when looking through all the pictures we took, we found this.
    I’ve never experienced any type of paranormal phenomena before. This picture still gives me goosebumps to this day.

  5. Edited comment

    The first thing I noticed was the white face behind the flag and that was before I read Shane’s reply. What an awesome picture. I have respect for the dead. My way of believing these spirits are still present there is… just leave them alone. They are in a state of rest until the day they are raised for judgment. Please pray for their souls.

    J.S.

    • Charles J Patz  |  

      I use to drive by every day back and forth from work to home between 1991-1995. I always would get the creeps driving by, but I never knew there was a cemetery there until 2008 when I saw the story about grave robbers digging up the Locke baby that was buried in 1925. I do not believe in God, ghosts or demons, but there is something definitely not good about that area. I have driven by there many times since 2008 and still get the creeps. I Know there are some power lines in the area and maybe some underground gas lines, could they be emitting infrasounds. I get the same sensation when I drive by the alleged haunted East Emmanual Lutheran Church in Amery, where there are also many power lines and underground gas lines

  6. I have never been here, but I do know a few people that have. They have all had something happen to them while they were here. One time they saw a black mist coming towards them, a bright light that was growing from the woods follow them, they had one even follow them home. They are still very frightened to this day of that cemetery and refuse to go back.

  7. my sisters and i like to ghost hunt and have all the fun equipment. we went there one day because we heard of all the stories but didnt believe them. we got nothing on the evp or photos but when we were leaving i had the video camera rolling and as we were driving over the bridge i swung my ” camera back into the car and as it passed the side mirror on my drivers door it clearly shows a “man standing behind our car but there was no one there when we drove over it. i still have the video somewhere around here.

  8. Charles J Patz  |  

    I use to drive by every day back and forth from work to home between 1991-1995. I always would get the creeps driving by, but I never knew there was a cemetery there until 2008 when I saw the story about grave robbers digging up the Locke baby that was buried in 1925. I do not believe in God, ghosts or demons, but there is something definitely not good about that area. I have driven by there many times since 2008 and still get the creeps. I Know there are some power lines in the area and maybe some underground gas lines, could they be emitting infrasounds. I get the same sensation when I drive by the alleged haunted East Emmanual Lutheran Church in Amery, where there are also many power lines and underground gas lines

  9. I went here many years ago with my friends, So we get to the cemetery and park my friends we’re telling me about how scary this place was and I didn’t believe them telling me all about the urban legends and what they experienced in the past. We park our car and we’re walking around looking at the tombs and all of a sudden we see head light coming and we go to run and hide thinking it was the police I went to look and the car just disappears I saw it go over the bride and it was gone. After that we were pretty freaked out b ur thought we were seeing things and I hear a little girl laughing and then I hear an Instrument being played, after that about 20 or so crows go flying out of on tree and we see a couple deer in the woods looking at us then start running as fast as they could away we ran to the car saw orbs all over the cemetery fly over the bridge when your lights went out and I swear on everything felt like hands smacking the car. When we got home we saw a bunch of hand prints on the car all over and we thought it might have been one of our friends who did it when we weren’t looking and the prints didn’t match any of hours. It was super scary. I wish I still had pictures of this. Everytime we went there something freaky happened in even one time we went over the bridge and it staled.

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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.