The quiet town of Lititz in northern Lancaster County began as a meticulously ordered Moravian settlement in 1749. Founded on land gifted by George Klein, it quickly grew into a self-contained, faith-centered community. Every detail of life—down to where one could live, work, and worship—was carefully regulated by church authorities. Even in death, equality reigned.
Here, all members were laid to rest in God’s Acre, the Moravian cemetery, where every stone lay flat, identical in size and style, a testament to the belief that all souls were equal before God.
But between death and burial, the Moravians had another tradition.
Along Church Avenue, just beside the Lititz Moravian Church, stands a modest limestone structure with shuttered windows and an arched ceiling: the Leichen Kappelchen, or “Corpse House.” Built in 1786, it was both practical and reverent, serving as a temporary resting place for members of the congregation before burial, as Moravians do not place the deceased in the sanctuary.
In Pennsylvania’s cold winters, frozen ground could delay burials for weeks. Moravian custom also required that burials be postponed for at least three days—partly for religious observance, and partly to guard against the very real fear of premature burial. Even George Washington insisted his body remain unburied for three days to avoid the risk. Inside, funeral biers for both adults and children stood ready, and small windows near the ceiling could be opened for ventilation purposes. In keeping with Moravian tradition, even in death, men and women were kept apart, with “Brothers’ Side” and “Sisters’ Side” divisions echoing the arrangements in the church sanctuary and God’s Acre.
The Corpse House saw regular use until 1935, after which viewings moved to the nearby Eschbach Parlor. However, if you are a member of the church, you can request to be placed there, as several have chosen to do in recent decades.
But not all of Lititz’s burial lore is confined to the Corpse House. In 1771—15 years before the building’s construction—God’s Acre was the site of an unsettling incident that gave rise to one of Lititz’s eeriest tales.
Gravedigger Claus Collyn was burying a man named Thomas Utley when, partway through filling in the grave, he heard three distinct knocks from below. Alarmed, he summoned several brethren. Fearing the talk that would erupt if they ignored the sound, the men unearthed the coffin, lifted the lid, and carefully inspected Utley. He was still dead.
They lowered the coffin again and resumed filling the grave…until the knocking came a second time. In an era when the fear of a premature burial was widespread, such sounds chilled the blood.
Ultimately, the men concluded the sound came from the green lumber used in the coffin’s construction as it creaked under the weight of the heavy, wet earth. But superstition dies hard. Some believed Utley’s spirit might linger in the cemetery around his grave number 24.
One industrious gravedigger of Lititz had a rather practical—if somewhat unsettling—system for keeping ahead of his work. Each day, he checked in with the local physician for updates on those in critical condition so he could prepare their final resting places in advance. This was efficient, but not universally appreciated. Dr. Horne recalled one memorable case involving Mrs. Philip Conn, who lived in a house with a clear view of God’s Acre from her bedroom window. Gravely ill, she looked out one day to see town watchman and occasional gravedigger Joe Sturgis digging a plot—hers, as it turned out. Offended by the presumption, she reportedly declared she would not die out of sheer spite…and, true to her word, she survived another two years.
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1887 View of Lititz and Warwick, Lancaster County, Pa. PosterPrice range: $29.99 through $34.99
In the 18th and 19th centuries, cemeteries were not just places of mourning. They were targets for “resurrectionists,” grave robbers who supplied cadavers to medical schools. Part of Joe’s duties as town watchman were guarding God’s Acre and the Corpse House. He would patrol the grounds at night and make frequent checks inside the Corpse House to deter body snatchers.
It was thankless work, done in foggy stillness, with only the wind in the trees and the shadows between the gravestones for company. Whether Sturgis kept his rounds thorough or hurried them along is unknown, but in a town where whispers carried quickly, his name still surfaces in tales of uneasy vigils.
The Corpse House still stands today, unchanged in outward appearance for almost two and a half centuries. Here are the GPS coordinates: 40.155556, -76.302722. It can be viewed year-round from the outside, with occasional openings for special events. Beyond it lies God’s Acre. If you find yourself in the old Moravian cemetery, from the entrance count eleven rows and six stones to the right. In this spot, you will find Thomas Utley’s grave. Be sure to pause a moment to listen for any knocking.
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