An early settlement named Crows Bluff on the west bank of the St. Johns River was formed by Ellison H. Crow and his family which resided there. All them settlements like St. Francis, Hawkinsville, Crows Bluff were in the general vicinity of each other and eventually became ghost towns due to the great freeze and other growing towns in the air. Such as Ponceannah had a settlement which eventually died out and became consumed by Paisley. Back in June 2004 we investigated the Crows Bluff area for our first time which has some small communities and housing being developed along with quite a few miles of just woods and trails.

Crow and Rev. Louis Ballard were said to have started the Ponceannah Cemetery. Both men had grown up around the sawmill of Robert L. Kirkland eventually Crow and Kirkland formed a partnership in Ponceannah near the cemetery. 

Crow donated the land in 1860 to be used as a cemetery which was called The Crow Burial Grounds. Newman Brantley was the first adult buried here in 1861 however there is rumor that a child was buried here in 1860 but there are no records to prove this fact. The fact is though that the cemetery did start in the mid 1800s and had many significant burials over time. The cemetery had its name changed to Ponceannah in 1891 after trustees chartered the land.

At the time the cemetery sat on a trail there was no road running through here since the whole area was full of small settlements. In 1918 the cemetery association exchanged some tracts of land with the Crow family so that the main trail would become a road which today cuts through Paisley, Altoona, Forest Hills, and many other small towns in Central Florida. 

In 1923 a gazebo like Shelter was built with funding raised by Jessie Perkins to construct this Hexagonal shelter within the cemetery almost dead center. They used the shelter as a chapel, meeting place, rest area for workers who would clean up the cemetery. I can imagine it was also used for funerals as there were real uneasy feelings here and near the shelter is a well which is sealed shut. The well was dug in the mid-1950s by Maceo and Ruth Kirkland. The reason it still was left standing is that it was a tribute to the there years of community service.  There is alot of energy here perhaps because it serves as a focal point in the cemetery.

Perhaps the biggest reason I wanted to investigate this cemetery was that the graves of Walt Disney's maternal grandparents were buried here, Charles and Henrietta Call.  Charles was buried in 1890 in Maple Grove cemetery which is not to far from Kismet another once upon a time ghost town which had once a big hotel and 300 settlers. Twenty years later his widow, Henrietta Call passed away and there daughter Jessie Call Perkins had Charles exhumed and buried besides her mother in Ponceannah Cemetery. The grave they are buried in is a real standout you cannot miss it. I knew there was some significance to the gravesite but did not have all the facts till I did more research here. We also heard a strange dog near the Call stone it had to be no more then a hundred feet away. So now I know the reason because I spent alot of time trying to look for the name Disney on various stones when all along the name was Call that I should have been looking for. 

The cemetery seems to have many early settlers buried here from settlements like the Lightwood Camp, Bayview Settlement, and Ponceannah Settlement. The Ponceannah settlement started during the 1850s and those descendents lived in the original homes surrounding the cemetery all the way till the 1930s. The original homes no longer stand and much woods consume the area now. Just to name a few names  here are settlers like William Stokes, J.J. McEwan who lived near this cemetery and the settlement.

There is also the Fuller family that is buried here which moved from Saskatchewana in 1920 and settled outside of Paisley. Upon there arrival there daughter Thelma passed away and they buried her in Ponceannah cemetery. The fuller family built a general store with gas pumps and a house in the back. Niles Fuller then named the town Fullerville and ran a general store till 1946. Today the fullers are buried here just as many of the founders of various towns are. 

Also the Hethcox's are buried here and to learn more about them visit our Paisley Library section to find out about there accomplishments in town of Paisley which was very close to the Ponceannah settlement.  There was also rumors that near the cemetery was a church that existed during the 1880s which was started by Rev. Louis Ballard. Perhaps many of the funerals took place here and then the settlers were buried here.

Another well know name James Marion Owens and Rosena Chapman lived with there children in the ghost town of the once thriving St. Francis again an area we investigated in June of 2003. One of the first children born here was a child by the name of Rosena E. Owens named after her mother. The child only lived to be three years old and was also buried at Ponceannah Cemetery. 

Also as far as we can tell John R. Glenn a confederate soldier is buried here. However in another section with rod iron around it there appears to be two more civil war soldiers. So imagine the history alone to these men's burials.

Then we have the tragic story of a brother who drowned in Lake Akron and a brother who purchased a stone in 1967 for his grave. It is just quite sad to hear about such deaths but its part of what you see up on your journeys when dealing with the deceased and such historical cemeteries.

So as you can see there is alot of history to this area I mean the cemetery is the only last remaining remnant of the Ponceannah settlement and each grave is a symbol of all the settlements which once thrived in the Ocala National Forest. We have drove past these settlements but nothing is remaining just woods and foliage no foundations even. 

I have a friend I work with that has spent sometime at night during this cemetery. She said there are alot of ghost stories associated this this place and because of it she will no longer visit here. She also has family buried here so she will not visit here for paranormal purposes but she is the one who told me about this place over the last few months so lets just say I was taken with great interest. 

Further below you will an article which just recently happened at the cemetery here which to me really upsets me because it gives Ghostbusters like us a bad name especially when we visit cemeteries. Its strange enough that the three women who were grave robbing Ponceannah and Umatilla were the same ones we visited in one night maybe on a psychic level I felt that they deserved perhaps some positive attention. Remind me not to recruit these women for our investigative team. Remember that although the families of the deceased have feelings so do the dead so respect them. 
© By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight

Women Accused Of Stealing Items From Local Gravesites

POSTED: 5:10 pm EST January 5, 2004

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- Three women are accused of stealing from graves. Police say they took sentimental items left at local gravesites that were placed there by grieving family and friends. The grave robbers targeted at least two cemeteries in Lake County, one in Paisley, another in Umatilla.
Cops told some families that the women were selling the decorations. Their neighbors say they were putting them up around their apartment building.

One thing that is clear is the thefts caused families enormous pain.  "My sister loved the chimes, just to listen to it," says Chester Palacios. It was a comfort for him to see his sister's gravesite well decorated. "She loved sunflowers, so that was a memory of what she used to love," he says.
He lost her a year and a half ago. She was just 27 and died due to complications from surgery. "For the first year, I came out every day," he says.

But, on a recent visit to the Ponceannah Cemetery in Paisley, he discovered her grave was stripped bare. He soon learned the decorations were stolen. About the same time, Umatilla Police took a report of decorations stolen from a cemetery there. Their investigation took them to an apartment building. According to reports, it was covered with dozens of wind chimes, flowers, and angel statues. Three tenants, Angela Jarrett, Diana Bass and Robin Honaker  told cops they picked up the items at yard sales. But they couldn't show any receipts. Neighbors say the women claimed they found the decorations in dumpsters at the cemeteries. Cops arrested all three.

Chester was able to get back some of his sister's decorations, but cops couldn't find all of those carefully chosen items. Two of the women have bonded out of jail; another is still behind bars. All three are charged with felonies.

Copyright 2004 by wftv.com. All rights reserved.

Subject: Ponceannah
Date: 1/10/2007 6:52:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From: Anonymous
To:LordOfThyNight@aol.com

I was directed to your website by accident.
I was interested because I have some family in Ponceannah.
Some of the graves you highlighted are part of my family and I have some great background
on some of them. I can understand the person talking to Ariel and mumbling. My uncle is one of the
graves you had an arrow at and he had a problem with his speech. I was told many stories of how he was made fun of as a child and as an adult. He was hit by a drunk driver when he was young and that left him with brain damage. I was even told a story of how he threw a cat in that well when he was a child. He was not a mean person and that story disturbed me but I guess it was a childhood prank.
Years ago the well was not sealed up. I remember looking down and seeing my reflection.  Spooky
I can tell you!!! My grandparents are buried there in a double grave. They were killed on 42 on their way to Miami. My grandmother's sister was killed with them. My uncle Maurice was the only one left alive of that accident. I know there have been a lot of deaths on that road. It is as if the road plucks people off of it. I have had several strange things happen there and agree it is full of energy.
I do not seek out these things but without trying I get vibes or feelings if you will. I am from Miami and only came here a few times as a child but as a young woman I decided to move to Deland and now my uncle, aunt, two cousins and my mother are there joining the rest of the Brantley's.
My two cousins were also in auto accidents. Noonan Brantley was hit over the head with a brick at a political meeting and killed-- Yes I think they have the spelling wrong. I provided the little girl Blanche with a head stone. I found her funeral card in a old book and it haunted me till I could provide that for her.
She was a beautiful little girl. I did not have much money myself but felt I needed to do it for her.
When my Grandparents were killed my mother was only 18 and my uncle was maybe 16 I am sure there was unfinished business for them.  Not long ago I went out there and the person that went out there asked me to feel the stones and see if I got any vibes. I went to my whole family and the only place I felt anything was at my uncles grave. You had an arrow pointing to his grave.
I also felt something close to his grave at my grandmother next to my uncles but I could not tell if it was her or my grandfather. I do not try to cultivate my sense or ability to get the vibes but I do feel it was strange how your site popped up for me to see when I was not looking for anything like it.  Thought you might like to hear about some of the stories behind the stones.
Also I now know what happened to the items I had left at my Mother's grave.
You know what I say about people like that. "What goes around comes around"
Thanks PPC