Lost Souls Cemetery was founded in 1973 by Thaddeus  Picklebottom.  It was the first cemetery in Sterling, Virginia and occupied an astounding 0.064 acres.  Mr. Picklebottom and his wife Petunia lived in the main house located on cemetery grounds.

Soon after its founding, Mr. Picklebottom obtained contracts with state and local governments to dispose of the unclaimed corpses of persons from prisons, sanitariums and other government operated institutions.  A victim of his own success, Mr. Picklebottom soon had too many bodies, but not enough graves.  Always the problem solver and entrepreneur, he secretly began selling the excess bodies to laboratories, carnivals and any person with a need for a corpse.   As the business continued to grow, Mr. Pickelbottom began burying multiple bodies in each grave.  The cemetery continued to grow and prosper.

In the early 1980’s the cemetery had a series of unfortunate events.  The cemetery had to pay substantial fines imposed by government bureaucrats because of the creative business practices utilized by Mr. Pickelbottom to deal with his corpse surplus.  The liberal media relentlessly lambasted the cemetery for its free market approach, and protesters effectively made Mr. Picklebottom and his wife shut-ins in their house on cemetery grounds.  

On October 31, 1988, police were called to the cemetery to investigate strange screams originating from the cemetery.  The police found bloody clothing and other signs of a struggle, but after an exhaustive search the police were unable to find the Picklebottoms.  The cemetery closed after the disappearance of the owners.

The Cemetery was reopened in 2007 by the  the Society for the Preservation of Historical Cemeteries of Northern Virginia.  The Society maintains the Cemetery and holds many outreach events in the local community, including opening the cemetery to trick-or-treaters every October 31st.