Noyesburg Cemetery, Sutter Buttes is NOT a "Witches Cemetery"

The purpose of this entry is to lay to rest any rumors of Noyes(burg) Cemetery in the Sutter Buttes, being considered as "Witches Cemetery". Noyes or now known as Noyesburg Cemetery, is a family cemetery of the Noyes family. It is now maintained by the Sutter Cemetery District. "The Noyesburg Cemetery is on the west side of the Sutter Buttes off West Butte Road. The site of a small early settlement called Noyesburg on land donated by pioneer and town founder Allen S. Noyes. The cemetery is occasionally used today. "

While we understand that this may seem like a silly claim, this irregardless was a legend we were asked to look into and to get answers for. So that we will do.

The Stories/Paranormal Claims/Legends

The Legend- Noyesburg cemetery has a witch (or witches) who were hanged and buried within the cemetery. 

So Witches Cemetery has taken on a life of it's own in our area. Everyone has heard of it. It's even got a Facebook page, although very inactive.

The following entries may include grammatical and spelling errors, as written by the individual.

There is a message board on Topix about "Witches Cemetery", which you can check out here, but here is some of the comments-

"One story I heard was that you could contact the witch if you drove your vehicle counter clockwise around the graveyard three times and said something specific. Forgotten what is was, was so many years ago. This was when you could still drive around it. I actually think that one of the mason symbols on a headstone started this whole thing. Someone not realizing what the symbol was and started this tale of the witch." -(They do say that Noyesburg isn't the correct cemetery, but that this is part of the legend.)

"I heard a mother and daughter accused of witchcraft were hung in the tree at noyesburg cemetery, I went there not too long ago at night and heard what sounded kind of like a girl trying not to laugh in the orchard as we were walking out, I felt like I was being watched on the walk and when I reached the cemetery I felt relief, it was strange."


A blog called http://yubasutterhaunted.blogspot.com/ also has a small blurb about it with some photos:

"Noyesburg Cemetery
Noyesburg Cemetery is located in the Sutter Buttes off West Butte Road. Local history states that a woman and her daughter were hung from a tree there accused of being witches. This has given the site a nickname of "the Witches Graveyard". There have been numerous accounts of paranormal events occurring here throughout the years."

Another blog, http://anakerie.blogspot.com also received a bit of attention when she spoke about the "Witches Graveyard" in one of her entries. It brought up some discussion among the "anon's"-

"Dont know why today i thought about my trip to that cemetary but thought it was interesting that people are actually still talking about it, Anerkie the pics are of the so called "witches graveyard" albeit only legend has one witch that was hung by the very tree in the cemetary. The noyesburg or pugh cemetary is close by for the other annony person. But heres the thing my adventure there as a kid in the middle of the night was very scary at the time strange sounds, buddies car not wanting to start upon trying to run the hell outta there. No im not making this up. The main thing i recall is a small stick like cross on a grave that has since been destroyed or removed, but i do remeber that distinctly. so Anerkie the legend is true i believe. Anyways a very interesting place for you paranormal cemetary folks out there. bye Matthew"

Another by a Carrie Segoviano of Yuba city ca. wrote on www.hauntedhovel.com-

"There is a very early cemetery there called Noyesburg cemetery. It was said to have buried witches there for their practices."


In another message board called www.halloweenforum.com, another blurb comes up from a "LittleBlueBMW" from San Jose...his entry was long but Ill give you the pertinent info that is in reference to the legend...you can read the rest of his entry on a paranormal claim here-

""This was in '96 while my wife and I were first dating. We went to a place known as Witch's Graveyard in the area. It's the cemetery to a town from the 1800s that doesn't exist anymore, near the Sutter Buttes. You'll see odd things there like a 2'x2' marble marker cut clean in half with no chipping around either cut location or rubble around the base and the top sitting neatly next to the base. You'll also find entire family plots where everyone was buried on the same day. Legend says that certain unmarked plots were suspected witches.

After claiming to have seen a figure watching them, long story short-

"That's also when the knocking started. This is one of the things this graveyard is infamous for. There are knockings that come from underground, only at night, and in different random locations that are both far away and close by. My wife and I saw a big log, that had obviously fallen from a tree in the orchard, leaning against the fence a ways down. That thing started glowing from the inside and all four of us saw it. Then, it started changing location. Ok, I know this sounds stupid but, I was dead sober and we had the "this is stupid" discussion right there at the time. So, we counted fence posts right then. I said, it moved again and we counted. Every time we thought it moved, it had."

So....you get the point. This place freaks alot of people out.

Our Research

The Facts- Research we've conducted, the claims of a witch being buried here or hanged here, are unfounded. There is nothing to prove that witches were ever hanged here, nor that they are buried here.

We spoke to many others, including the Sutter Cemetery district, who correct this rumor and say that it isn't Noyesburg that is the cemetery but a smaller plot, Pugh Family Cemetery, which sits atop the Sutter Buttes and is only accessible through tours. 

At any rate, here is some of the history we found on Noyesburg Cemetery-  Allen Noyes was one of the first settlers on the west side of the Buttes. The town of Noyesburg had its start when he opened a blacksmith shop and donated land for the school and a cemetery.

According to the CaGenWeb wesbite:

"The Noyesburg Cemetery is on the west side of the Sutter Buttes off West Butte Road. The earliest tombstone is that of Annie E. Gilpatric, dated December 1868. This list of burials in the Noyesburg Cemetery was surveyed, transcribed and contributed by Susan Thompson. Photo courtesy of Susan Thompson. Current through June 4, 1999."

The oldest grave here is -

Stevenson, Baby

1860

1860

14

Unnamed baby of R. K. & Nancy Stevenson was first to be buried in the Noyesburg Cemetery about 1860. Grave not marked.

While it seems that there are a few unmarked graves here, everyone is accounted for. Something as monumental as a hanging or a noted "witch", it seems that it would be accounted for in such a small, well documented cemetery. Not to mention, The Salem witch trials, which were committed under British rule, occurred in May 1693. At this time, "America" as we know it, did not exist. The American Revolution didn't occur until 1775-1783.  After 1750, it was very rare for an accused witch to undergo a judicial process and be threatened with execution, but there was still a danger from popular justice and lynch mobs in other countries. In American, these actions were unheard of. To have been lynched in a grave yard would have been considered a public lynching, which would have been an illegal action

SO, what can we say about the people buried there?

Well I managed to find a bulletin from Sutter County Historical Society Bulletin Volume XXXI

January 1990. 

The following was written by a Noyes descendant, Analena Stohlman Sears. (The Stohlman's, who also have a family cemetery south of this site, are also buried within the cemetery)