The Legend
If you visit Emo’s Grave, circle the Moritz Columbarium three times while chanting “Emo, Emo, Emo,” then look inside. You will see the red glowing eyes of Emo staring back at you.
Emo’s Grave is one of the local legends people ask me about most. It is a columbarium in the Jewish section of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, visible from 4th Street just east of 990 East. The name Emo appears nowhere on it. The tomb belonged to Jacob Moritz.
Jacob Moritz
Jacob Moritz was born in Ingenheim, Germany, in February 1849. He immigrated to the United States at 16, arriving in September 1865. He spent his first few years in New York City at the F.M. Schaefer Brewing Co., then moved to St. Louis to work for Anheuser-Busch.
He went to Helena, Montana, to try mining. Whether he failed at it or simply missed brewing is unclear. In 1871 he moved to Salt Lake City and opened the Little Montana Brewery, and within a few years it was doing well enough that he built a much larger, state-of-the-art plant at 10th East and 5th South. He renamed the business the Salt Lake City Brewing Co. Part of the original brewery still stands and now houses the Anniversary Inn.
Over his 39 years in Salt Lake City, Moritz built his brewery into one of the largest outside Milwaukee. His beer sold across Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, and into parts of California, and at the height of his success he owned more than 36 saloons. In 1889 he married Lahela Louisson, from Hawaii, who joined him in Salt Lake City. Both were active in the local Jewish community: he served as president of Temple B’nai Israel, and she led the Hebrew Ladies’ Relief Society. He was also involved in Utah politics as a member of the Liberal Party.
Despite making his fortune from alcohol and backing Liberal Party politics, Moritz was well liked in Utah, including among Mormons. In October 1909 he obtained a passport, and soon after he and Lahela left for Europe. He had been in poor health for months, and they hoped rest and mineral springs would help. They reached Germany by June 1910. Moritz died there of lung and stomach cancer at 61, with his wife and siblings around him.
The Beginning of the Emo’s Grave Legend
A newspaper report on his death stated that Lahela had him cremated, intending to inter his remains in the Jewish section of the Salt Lake City Cemetery. She returned to the United States from Europe on July 23rd. Jacob’s remains followed, shipped “in bond,” and arrived on the 25th. Sometime after July 31 she placed them in the columbarium, though I found no record of a funeral or any ceremony. The rumors about Emo’s Grave started soon after.
No one knows who started the rumors or where the name Emo came from. Not long after Jacob’s death, Lahela remarried and moved to California with her new husband. At some point his family retrieved his remains from the columbarium, and their final resting place is unknown. I suspect they went to California and that he was buried with Lahela when she died in 1959. If that is right, the tomb the legend is built around has been empty for most of the time people have been circling it.
11 comments
I think the name “emo” may of come from his middle initial “E” and first two intials of his last name “MO”
When I used to go there in the 70’s before the vase was broken, the way you got scared was you walked up to it and lit a stick match (had to be a stick match and not a lighter) and you would see a face in there. There was no chanting “emo” at all, that must have come later. Because the vase was curved it reflected your own face with a 3-D effect! I remember taking people up there and scaring the you know what out of them. Good times!
It’s a pretty silly legend with no true story basis to it. Someone did scratch the name EMO into it but I hate legends with 0 factual base to them. Give me a real “true” ghost story any day 😉
Wonderful! Thank you for that bit of history. I remeber our fun childhood was to drive up to that cemetery and tell made up ghost stories on our way up. Fun times.
All I know me and daughter drove down the little path in front of the his grave my car window is power and it stop working the cell phone we used stop working to it’s some erry shit
I remember going to demos grave as a teenager, there was some head stone with his name on it, if u looked at when the moon was full u could see his face. I remember going memory grove, gravity hill would ur car. Then there was a witch at memory grove if u would turn off ur car and honk ur horn a witch would come out. Lastly, the thing that really scared the crap out of me was the devil worshiping house behind the capital, I know it sounds crazy but I remember seeing it. Me and my friends only 1 time and that was enough for me.
[…] SLC Cemetery also has its share of “Spooky Stuff” such as EMO’S GRAVE (allegedly visiting Emo’s grave and saying “Emo” over and over again […]
We were born and raised one block from the cemetery and always were wary of the rumors but never tested our courage. We also were told that the cemetery had a night watchman who would shoot a shotgun filled with rock salt at anyone caught in the cemetery at night. We didn’t bother finding out if that were also true.
Hahaha it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if that was true! Ouch!