A real campfire story, Babytown Cemetery

One day after I bought my house, I went wandering out back. There is a school way behind me, across a large open field, and I strolled down the hill to have a "look see". There didn't seem to be much there, just a school and athletic fields. There is an empty building next to me that has that "aura" of creepy, it belongs to the school and apparently housed nuns when they taught at the school. The creepy feeling was accentuated when people who went in to store things, left the lights on. When you looked at the deserted building in the middle of the night, and the lights were on...well it made you want to turn it into a ghost story.

The place may have that creepy aura because it is deserted and a little run down, all the vibrant life energy has waned, and it is dark there at night (unless of course someone forgets and leaves the light on).  Then there is the other reason. Hidden behind a hill are several graves. Since the school was expanded, they are now easily visible from the street.  There is a sign that designates the cemetery area on the school property, and it is said that the cemetery is also on private property of a nearby home. There are only a handful of stones there now, and  the sign designates it as "The Babytown Cemetery". Even the name is creepy.

No one seems to know where that name came from, but the original name of the cemetery, is said to be The Newman Cemetery. It is located just outside the city limits , and is mostly populated by Civil War veterans. One of those interred there was a vet named Woodruff, who's family lived just across the street.

The cemetery was "discovered" in 1998 during a school modernization/expansion. I know a few folks who have lived in this area all their lives and they had never heard of it, nor the discovery of the graves. However, one bonfire night, a friend brought a guest, who told us about the graves and her Dad being part of the whole discovery and interment. After some research,I found that indeed it was true, and there is a little "cemetery" there now. It seems that some were left where they were as the caskets were disintegrating as they were being dug around.....yet word is that are no more bodies there. I am sure many were left right where they were, and the project moved to another area.

Depending on what your read, the bodies were moved a little, moved completely, or left where they were. There were a couple of news articles on it, but they are too old to access on my computer, I need to make a trip to the news archives, or perhaps the genealogical society , to get more information.

So it turns out that there was a cemetery behind my house at one time. There may or may not still be one there, depending on if they moved the bodies to another cemetery or left them out there. There are about 7 stones that are said to be simply "memorial markers" (in other words, no bodies).

It is a story that has no ending yet, and maybe I will someday get some time to check into it more deeply. However, a disturbed or forgotten cemetery is always an incentive for a good ghost story. Please comment if you know anything more about the Babytown Cemetery.

Happy Haunting!!!




Peshaui Wequashimese



(C)2011 Dr. R M Wolf. May not be used, copied or reproduced without prior written permission.