Haunted? Why East Bay's Black Diamond Mines Are So Spooky To Some

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — It is consistently ranked among the spookiest places in California and came in fourth on Curbed SF’s recent list of the most haunted spots in the San Francisco Bay Area. With Halloween right around the corner and many looking for a good scare, we thought it would be a good time to explore why the East Bay's Black Diamond Mines area is said to have ghosts.

Once a thriving coal mining community in the late 1800s to early 1900s, the Black Diamond area includes what’s left of the towns of Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartsville, West Hartley and Judsonville. Memories of the people who once lived and worked there are also still around, as some were buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery.

While there are multiple ghost stories and other urban legends surrounding the former mining sites, some of which are now open to the public as part of the 6,000-acre Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch, the most prevalent is that of two white witches.

The White Witches of the Black Diamond Mines

The spirits of Sarah Norton and another woman named Mary are said to lurk, haunting those who encounter them.

Norton, who was buried in the cemetery, was a midwife to the townsfolk. According to a park brochure, she was a widow who married Noah Norton, for whom the town of Nortonville was named. But she suffered a tragic death when, as she was answering a call for service in the neighboring town of Clayton, she was thrown from a buggy and was instantly killed.

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According to one report by Live 105: “Sarah was not a religious woman and had told her kids that she did not want a funeral, but when she died the townspeople of Somersville wanted to give her one. On the day of the funeral a fierce storm struck up and caused them to delay it until the next day. That following day another storm came out of nowhere and the livestock started charging through town, at that point the townspeople stopped trying to give her a funeral and just brought her to Rosehill Cemetery. From that day her spirit has been seen around Somersville and the other locations where the mining towns use to be. She has reportedly been seen in the graveyard floating around the tombstones.”

Mary — we are not sure of her last name although several Marys were buried in the cemetery — “was a nanny in the 1870s when there was still coal mining in the mines. All of the children she cared for died of illnesses and she was accused of witchcraft after townspeople found evidence of her sorcery rituals. She was hanged for her crimes.Since then she has been seen guarding the mines & when people see her, she is hovering effortlessly & mysteriously in all white,” according to the Live 105 story.

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If the spirits of Sarah and Mary aren’t enough to spook you, there’s reportedly another scary spot not too far away. Sometimes referred to as the “Gates of Hell,” ghosts supposedly associated with a former insane asylum and later, a slaughterhouse, are said to haunt the area behind the blockaded Empire Mine Road in Antioch.

Locals, do you believe the hype? Let us know in the comments.

Image via "Voices In The Wind The Legend of Sarah Norton"/Marcus Flanary/YouTube