The earliest marked grave in Six Mile Cemetery belongs to Charles Oscar Turner, the 5-month-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Munn Turner. He died in December 1883. The most recent grave, according to a list at sixmile.org, belongs to Kenneth Hunt, who was born May 27, 1944, and died April 27, 2016. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman
About 8 miles west of Llano, Texas, ghost hunters will find a two-for-one haunted habitat.
First is Six Mile School, where, according to urban legend, those who wrote their names three times on the (now-gone) chalkboard died within a week. Next to the schoolhouse is Six Mile Cemetery, where recent visitors have reported seeing a light hovering above the graves and then dropping to the ground.
The Six Mile Light is usually spotted in the fall, according to one Llano native, who snapped a photo of it while camping with his 8-year-old son in November 2024.
“The Six Mile Light is a big bright orb of light that descends from the sky and lands in the cemetery and floats toward Six Mile Creek,” said Ray Theiss, who grew up in Kingsland in Llano County. “We were sitting around a campfire when we saw a big light in the sky and it starts to decend right over where the cemetery is. Everything matched the legend and the historical documentation.”
Theiss, who now lives with his family in the Texas Gulf town of Palacios, collects stories of local ghostly folklore. According to his research, the Six Mile Light was first reported by Llano merchant Benjamin Milam Hughes in the late 1850s. Hughes believed it to be a brush fire. A few days later, he asked the rancher who owned the land about it. There was no fire, the rancher answered.
“From that moment on, the strange orb has gained a prominence of its own,” Theiss wrote in a Facebook post. “Generations of Llano residents have talked about seeing the same weird light. … It remains illuminated for several minutes, drifting wistfully on the only road leading to the old graveyard. Some legends relate that the orb has trailed many who were brave enough to risk encountering it.”
Theiss and his son were camping and hunting on private property in the Six Mile area when they saw the orb hanging in the sky and then dropping to the ground, out of sight.
Side by side, Six Mile Cemetery and Six Mile School have more than haunted tales in common. Both also have official Texas historical markers, though neither mentions terrifying connections to the afterlife.
The single-room schoolhouse was built in 1884 and closed in 1945. A story passed down for generations tells of a madman, or teacher, who killed several students in the school. Since that time, the blackboard became haunted. It was eventually taken down and burned, according to Theiss.
“The legend was so widespread that the foundation in charge of the schoolhouse removed the chalkboard in 2013 to prevent trespassing and vandalism,” he said. “Still, there are hundreds of locals in Llano who have done ghost hunts out there and claim to have experienced something.”
A recent visit to the school (during the day!) revealed a circle of old school desks in the center of the room along with crude scrawlings of letters and a five-pointed star on the back wall where the blackboard once hung. This visitor thought it was possibly a makeshift Ouija board, a common parlor game that conveyed messages from the dead.
To get to either location, visitors can take Texas 71 to Ranch Road 2323 in Llano County. Follow 2323 for about 8 miles to Six Mile Access Road, where you will see the well-marked entrance to the cemetery.
To get to the school, hike across the cemetery (beware of sticker burrs). The gate and schoolhouse are open.
While the school’s historical marker is located on the property, the one for the cemetery is a short distance down the ranch road on the opposite side of the entrance. Learn more about Six Mile Cemetery and the schoolhouse at sixmile.org.
