Rienzi Cemetery

Rienzi Cemetery in Fond du Lac is one the oldest cemeteries in Wisconsin, as well as one of the most haunted. Today it is the home to many notable figures from Wisconsin history, but it was founded by a family of spiritualists, and many believe spirits still roam among the gravestones.

Local lore suggests a gateway to Hell resides inside the old receiving vault, and the “Witches Circle” in the back of the cemetery is a mass grave for excommunicated nuns from nearby St. Mary’s Springs.

Rienzi Cemetery History

Rienzi Cemetery was once the home of the Tallmadge family – devout Spiritualists who believed they communicated with the dead there on that land.

Nathaniel P. Tallmadge bought the land and moved his family from New York in 1844 when he was appointed the third governor of the Wisconsin Territory. Tragedy soon struck the following year when Nathaniel’s oldest son William died unexpectedly at the age of 19. Nathaniel buried him in his favorite spot, the top of the hill overlooking the property that he had named Rienzi Hill (after noted 14th-century Roman leader Cola di Rienzo) and picked as his final resting place just two weeks earlier.

The entire Tallmadge family can now be found buried atop the hill, their gravestones engraved with the words “Born into Spirit-Life.” They donated their property to Fond du Lac county for use a cemetery in 1853.