Riverside Cemetery

The tombstone of Kate Blood at Riverside Cemetery in Appleton appears to bleed on full moon nights, but Kate was no murderer. She was a 23-year-old Lawrence University graduate who died of tuberculosis in 1874, and the axe-murder legend was invented by local teenagers in the 1980s.

Her name was Kate Marcia "Kitty" Blood Miller, and she didn't kill anyone. The legend says she murdered her husband and three children with an axe, that she practiced witchcraft, and that her tombstone bleeds on full moon nights. In reality, Kate Blood attended Lawrence University in Appleton, married George Miller (who published the Appleton Post), and died of tuberculosis at 23 on December 29, 1874. She'd traveled to Lawrence, Kansas, hoping the warmer climate would help her lungs. Instead, her body came home by train.

The rumors about Kate Blood can be traced to the 1980s, when her grave at Riverside Cemetery sat close to the old entrance on Owaissa Street. The location made it visible. The surname made it irresistible. Local teenagers built the murder story from nothing, and it stuck. A few Appleton residents have since made it their mission to correct the record, but the legend has outlived every fact-checking effort.

The tombstone itself feeds the story. Visitors who touch the stone report that it feels warmer than the markers around it. On certain nights, reddish streaks appear that look like dripping blood. The likely explanation is mineral deposits and algae growth, which produce iron oxide stains under specific humidity and moonlight conditions. The stone is old, weathered, and sits in a section of the cemetery that collects moisture. But "iron oxide stains from algae" doesn't make for much of a campfire story.

Beyond the Kate Blood grave, Riverside Cemetery has its own separate folklore. Visitors have described glowing orbs moving between the headstones at night. A handful have reported large, dark dogs roaming the grounds, spectral hounds that some visitors describe as hellhounds. The cemetery covers several acres along the Fox River in Appleton, with sections dating to the mid-1800s.

George Miller, Kate's husband, remarried after her death and lived another 42 years. His second wife is buried in the same family plot. Kate's daughter was two years old when her mother died. These are the facts that the axe-murder legend erases: a young mother, a grieving family, a child who grew up without her.

The address is 714 North Owaissa Street, and Kate's grave is in a more secluded section of the grounds now. Visitors still leave flowers and small objects at the stone, though whether they're honoring the real woman or feeding the legend is hard to say. Milwaukee musician Trapper Schoepp wrote a song about Kate Blood in 2024, drawing on the corrected history rather than the myth. It might be the first time her actual story got as much attention as the fiction.