Ghost Stories and Gummies

Noyesburg Cemetery has been called the Witches Graveyard for decades but the deeper I dug into its history, the weirder the story got. Witches, underground knocking, creepy rituals, a possibly haunted log, and one pretty big problem... this might not even be the right fucking cemetery.
So grab your gummies because we're digging into the real history, decades of witchy folklore, paranormal stories, and one hell of a rabbit hole.
Where the fuck did the Witches Graveyard legend actually come from?
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/media/2018Spring.pdf 
 
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2396676/noyesburg-cemetery 
 
https://yubasutterhaunted.blogspot.com/2013/02/noyesburg-cemetery.html 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_dM5FEbSs4 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5AaVLg7Reo 
 
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LDYJ-LM8/gladys-may-wilbur-1885-1891 
 
https://anakerie.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-memorial-weekend-project.html 
 
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MDA18990319.2.35&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- 
 
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU19220127.1.6& 
 
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~casutter/cemetery/noyesbur.htm 
 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Noyesburg-Witch-Cemetery/421045407989081 
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/travel/escapes/16adventurer.html 
 
https://thedeviationdiaries.blogspot.com/2017/02/noyesburg-cemetery-sutter-buttes-is-not.html 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/media/2006Apr.pdf 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/media/1990Jan.pdf 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/media/2016Jan.pdf 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/media/2020Winter.pdf 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/cemeteries 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/cemeteries/cemetery/noyesburg-cemetery 
 
https://billiongraves.com/cemetery/Sutter-Cemetery/121629 
 
https://kncifm.com/we-tried-to-show-tyler-rich-a-photo-of-a-ghost-but-guess-what-happened 
 
https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/23452/files/SButtesClassificationNaming3-8-05.pdf 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/bulletins/ 
 
https://www.suttercountymuseum.org/resources/media/bulletin-index-updated-03-24-2023.pdf 

What would your final meal be?
It's one of those questions people joke about... until you realize there are real people who have actually had to answer it.
This week we're diving into the strange, unsettling, and surprisingly emotional world of death row's last meals and final statements. We talk about where the tradition came from, the bizarre requests that actually made it onto the tray, the requests that were denied, and the final words that have haunted people long after the execution was over.
Some inmates joked. Some prayed. Some apologized. Others showed absolutely no remorse. And a few left behind statements that still spark debates decades later.
We'll also get into the psychology behind the ritual, why some states stopped honoring extravagant last meal requests, and the weird little facts that most people never hear about when it comes to executions.
So grab your gummies, get comfy, and let's get weird
 
https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_executed_offenders.html 
 
https://corrections.az.gov/death-row/last-meals-request 
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15040658 
 
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/gregory-babcock/the-craziest-last-meal-requests 
 
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/death-row-inmates-last-meals-what-to-know-about-the-history-behind-our-strange-fascination-of-these-requests 
 
https://www.texastribune.org/2011/09/22/whitmire-tdcj-end-last-meal-feast-executions/ 
 
https://www.corrections1.com/capital-punishment/articles/the-last-meal-part-of-death-row-lore-Vr5jjUV89TBjzJ7Z/ 
 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-penalty-us-oklahomas-last-100420345.html 
 
https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-inmate-executed-killing-2-jailers-has-last-meal-bacon-cheeseburgers-fries-chocolate-shake 
 
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2012/oct/15/texas-abolishes-last-meals-for-death-row-prisoners-reduces-weekend-meals/ 
 
https://www.executedtoday.com/2008/01/17/1977-gary-gilmore/ 
 
https://www.corrections1.com/capital-punishment/articles/the-last-meal-part-of-death-row-lore-Vr5jjUV89TBjzJ7Z/ 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayEKEWoBg8w 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BT9X6qAPjI 
 
https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/aba-connects-death-row-inmate-to-pro-bono-attorneys-who-help-free-him 
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bite-marks-jimmie-chris-duncan-death-row-louisiana-video-free-rcna588710 
 
https://innocenceproject.org/news/jimmie-chris-duncan-is-released-after-27-years-on-louisianas-death-row/ 
 
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/louisiana-supreme-court-affirms-lower-courts-vacatur-and-factual-innocence-finding-for-former-death-sentenced-man-jimmie-duncan 
https://nypost.com/2026/07/02/us-news/inside-idahos-new-1-2m-execution-chamber-where-8-inmates-await-death-by-firing-squad/ 
 
CNN — Florida executions: State plans to put 2 men to death in one day
 
CBS News — Florida carries out first double execution in 60 years
 
Washington Times — Florida ramps up executions of longest-serving death-row prisoners
 
USA Today — Women on death row: Christa Pike, Tennessee
 
U.S. News — Is there such a thing as being too old to execute?
 
URP Behavioral Health — Is attraction to crime a mental disorder?  
 
Innocence Project — Cameron Todd Willingham
 
EJI — Texas Executed Innocent Man (Willingham)
 
Marshall Project — Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?
 
Guardian — The Wrong Carlos (DeLuna)
 
Columbia Law — DeLuna investigation
 
CBS News — Claude Jones DNA doubt
 
DPIC — Claude Jones DNA tests
 
Innocence Project — Troy Davis executed
 
NYT — Troy Davis executed
 
AP via Britannica — First nitrogen execution (Kenneth Smith, 2024)
 
NCR — Supreme Court stops Jeffery Lee nitrogen execution (2026)
 
Alabama Political Reporter — State seeks lethal injection for Lee
 
NitrogenExecutions.org — full record
 
Guardian — Romell Broom dies
 
DPIC — Romell Broom dies of COVID-19
Prison Legal News — Alabama botched lethal injections
 
NPR — A Prisoner Sentenced to Two Deaths (Willie Francis)
 
Justia — Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947)
 
Executed Today — Wenseslao Moguel, "El Fusilado," survives the firing squad
 
SCOTUSblog — Hamm v. Smith
 
DPIC — Tony Carruthers review
 
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/26/us/condemned-man-s-mask-bursts-into-flame-during-exec
ution.html 
 
TDCJ — Executed Offenders + Last Statements
 
Britannica — How Did Aileen Wuornos Die
 
https://www.aetv.com/articles/rickey-ray-rector-killer-who-lobotomized-himself 
 
A&E — Timothy McVeigh's Final Days
 
UPI — Bundy refused final breakfast (1989)
 
LADbible — Victor Feguer single olive
 
Grunge — Why Victor Feguer requested a single olive
 
NYT — Texas Death Row Kitchen Cooks Its Last 'Last Meal'
 
Sky News — Death Row: Texas Scraps Last Meal Requests
 
NPR — Texas Turns Down Cook's Offer Of Free 'Last Meals'
 

This week, we’re covering the 1990 murder of Marilynn DePue, the manhunt for Dennis DePue, and the eerie real-life case often linked to the opening of Jeepers Creepers.
From Coldwater, Michigan to an abandoned schoolhouse, a bloody sheet, an Unsolved Mysteries broadcast, a fake identity in Texas, and a final police chase in Mississippi, this case is one of those stories where the truth is already disturbing enough without needing the movie version.
Content warning: domestic violence, murder, gun violence, suicide, and children present during a violent incident.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2023/10/16/did-1990-michigan-murder-inspire-jeepers-creepers-film/ 
 
https://www.truecrimeedition.com/post/dennis-depue#google_vignette 
 
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1991/03/22/man-wanted-for-murder-dies-in-police-shootout/ 
 
https://www.10minutemurder.com/blog/from-unsolved-mysteries-to-hollywood-the-jeepers-creepers-murder-case/ 
 
https://www.cbr.com/jeepers-creepers-true-story/ 
 
https://ihorror.com/the-real-life-killer-that-inspired-jeepers-creepers/ 
 
https://wickedhorror.com/features/dennis-depue-the-real-life-killer-that-inspired-jeepers-creepers/ 
 
https://newspaperarchive.com/kalispell-daily-inter-lake-mar-21-1991-p-7https://www.newspapers.com/image/207001852/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/366386852/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/207017891/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/207063440/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/206446741/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/204120605/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/204930243/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/204935404/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/182054936/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/100223190/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/635576740/ 
 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/642557316/ 
 
https://newspaperarchive.com/mount-carmel-daily-republican-register-mar-22-1991-p-6/ 
 
https://newspaperarchive.com/grapevine-sun-mar-24-1991-p-1/ 
/
 
https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5TAY8_unsolved-mysteriesdennis-depue-jeepers-creepers 
 
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1115481/ 
 
https://99wfmk.com/jeepers-creepers-revisited/ 
 
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dennis_DePue 
 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119870618/marilynn-lee-depue 
 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117374567/dennis_henry-depue 
 
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Depue-97 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUhEVrevy0o 
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/comments/yz1z4v/dennis_depue_the_real_jeepers_creepers/ 
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/comments/yz1z4v/dennis_depue_the_real_jeepers_creepers/ 
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/4p9bfj/jeepers_creepers_inspired_by_a_true_story/ 
 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924047/ 
 
https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/unsolved-mysteries-with-dennis-farina/6220811651348767112/seasons/2/episodes/episode-3-episode-3/1b3082fb-9e28-3ae4-97a1-9896d4a7cd2e 
 

Late-night Marketplace scrolling was a mistake.
This week on Ghost Stories & Gummies, I’m diving into some of the creepiest, weirdest, and most uncomfortable real encounters tied to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.
From terrifying meetups and bizarre sellers to “absolutely the fuck not” situations that sound like the beginning of a horror movie…
So grab your gummies, lock your doors, and maybe stop responding to listings that say “pickup behind abandoned warehouse.”
🖤 Submit Your Stories to Dear Darkness
Have a paranormal experience, glitch story, creepy encounter, stalker situation, mimic story, haunted object experience, or complete WTF moment?
Send it to Dear Darkness:
Email ghoststoriesandgummies@gmail.com
DM me on Instagram/TikTok
or submit anonymously through the form in my bio/link hub
Your story could be featured in a future episode.
🎧 Listen to Ghost Stories & Gummies
Available on:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
Amazon Music
Podbean

This week on Ghost Stories and Gummies, we’re getting into one of the wildest cult stories I’ve covered yet: the so‑called Doomsday Cat Cult. We’ll talk about pastor Sheryl Ruthven, her cat rescue Eva’s Eden, and how, according to former members and reporting, a small Washington church turned into a high‑control doomsday group where cats were believed to be divine beings carrying 144,000 souls through the apocalypse.  From blood‑tinged rituals and “Divine Magdalene” claims to a cross‑country “Exodus,” family estrangements, and the Investigation Discovery episode that blew the story up, this one is part true crime, part “what the hell did I just hear.”  Content warning: cult dynamics, spiritual and psychological abuse, possible animal neglect, and mentions of violence
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/coverstory/apocalypse-meow-how-a-cult-that-believes-cats-are-divine-beings-ended-up-in-tennessee/article_78fc2367-5596-5a7a-ad8e-edae8c83a594.html 
 
https://www.cultnews101.com/2016/09/apocalypse-meow-how-cult-that-believes.html 
 
https://www.realclearreligion.org/2016/09/09/apocalypse_meow_a_cat_cult_in_tennessee_273944.html 
 
https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/9/8/why-bob-smietanas-apocalypse-meow-story-on-an-end-times-cat-cult-really-is-the-cats-meow 
 
https://catsofcapetown.com/2025/03/04/the-curious-case-of-the-doomsday-cat-cult-a-shocking-saga-of-family-faith-and-felines/ 
 
https://whatcom-news.com/evas-eden-cat-rescue-makes-news-in-tennessee_50126/ 
 
https://www.facebook.com/IsThereACultInColumbiaTN/ 
 
https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/shows/who-sheryl-ruthven-do-details-the-curious-case-of-subject-explored 
 

Some hauntings don’t react to you.
They don’t acknowledge you, they don’t change, and they don’t seem aware that you’re even there.
They just… keep happening.
Same place. Same movement. Same sequence over and over again.
In this episode, we’re breaking down the Stone Tape Theory the idea that environments themselves can somehow “record” emotional or traumatic events and replay them later as what people describe as residual hauntings.
We get into where this theory comes from, why materials like quartz are always brought into the conversation, and the scientific reasons it doesn’t actually hold up. But even with that, people are still reporting the same kinds of experiences in the same types of places.
So if it’s not a ghost… what are people actually experiencing?
Because some places don’t feel neutral and that’s the part that sticks.
Have you experienced something like this?
 Send it in: 
ghoststoriesandgummies@gmail.com

We’re back with Dear Darkness Society Part 2.
After going down a Reddit rabbit hole during Episode 30, I found way more stories than I was expecting… and there was no way I was leaving some of these out.
So this episode is a continuation, more real experiences, more “that’s not right” moments, and more stories from people who were kind enough to share what they’ve gone through and let me bring it here.
Some of these are unsettling.
Some are just straight-up weird.
And some will have you sitting there like… that's a no for me dawg.
A huge thank you to everyone who shared their stories and trusted me with them, I really do appreciate it.
If you’ve ever experienced something you can’t explain, something that didn’t sit right, or something you still think about… you’re not alone.
The diary is always open. 🖤

There’s a specific kind of unsettling that happens when your TV does something it’s not supposed to do.
Not buffering. Not lagging.
Just… wrong.
In this episode, I'm getting into real cases where broadcasts were interrupted, hijacked, or taken over sometimes for seconds, sometimes longer and left people genuinely confused about what they were seeing.
From the 1987 Max Headroom incident, to the Southern Television interruption in the UK, to real emergency alert hacks that exposed how vulnerable these systems actually are… this one gets weird fast.
We’re talking:
how broadcast signal intrusions actually happen
why these systems aren’t as untouchable as we think
real cases that were never fully explained
and why your brain reacts so quickly when something feels “off”
Some of these are strange.
Some are unsettling.
Some are just… no. I don’t like that.
Because it’s not just what people saw it’s the fact that something was able to interrupt a system that’s supposed to be controlled… and no one could stop it.
 
https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_signal_intrusion
https://rewindtv.com/2021/11/22/wgn-max-headroom-signal-intrusion/ 
https://www.pbs.org/video/max-headroom-attack-yffnrt/ 
https://www.pbs.org/video/30-years-later-max-headroom-incident-remains-mystery-ugz9gm/ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIop2MsmMTQ&t=7s 
https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/vrillon-the-broadcast-that-hijacked-britains-imagination/ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmXsvyOpPJk 
https://transdiffusion.org/2023/08/21/southern-interference/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Television_broadcast_interruption 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/vrillon-hacking-alien-voice-seventies-extra-terrestrial-hoax-unexplained-mysteries-a8069926.html 
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/katv-broadcast-interruption-of-1959 
https://www.tarrdaniel.com/documents/Ufology/intergalactic_message.html 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Midnight_broadcast_signal_intrusion 
https://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment/tv/when-captain-midnight-hacked-hbo 
https://freakylogo.fandom.com/wiki/HBO_Captain_Midnight 
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/captain-midnight-hbo/ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtdwD0qqApQ 
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/arts/hbo-piracy-incident-stuns-other-satellite-users.html 
https://www.networkworld.com/article/950900/man-who-hijacked-hbo-s-satellite-signal-30-years-ago-would-face-far-different-fate-today.html 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEkWNCK6Hu4 
https://www.keranews.org/2013-02-12/zombie-alert-also-aired-in-michigan-hacking-traced-to-overseas-source 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/feb/12/zombie-apocalypse-newsflash-tv-video 
https://www.govtech.com/security/hackers-broadcast-zombie-emergency-alert-on-tv.html 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-15/zombie-apocalypse-hoax-exposes-flaws-in-system/4520554 
https://current.org/2013/02/zombie-emergency-broadcast-hoax-on-pubtv-station-blamed-on-overseas-hacker 
https://www.ksl.com/article/24061333/hackers-send-zombie-emergency-alert-through-ksl-station-others 
https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ghostwatch-behind-the-curtains-2012-online 
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-41740176
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/oct/26/how-we-made-bbc-mockumentary-ghostwatch 
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/why-i-love-ghostwatch 
https://www.curiousarchive.com/ghostwatch-bbc-controversial-broadcast/ 
https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20dreams%20are%20monsters/2022/10/28/ghostwatch/
https://npg.si.edu/blog/orson-welles-and-70th-anniversary-war-worlds 
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/welles-broadcasts-war-worlds 
https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2016/10/lcm-page-from-the-past-war-of-the-worlds/ 
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-30/welles-scares-nation 
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/ 
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/misguided/202506/why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories 
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-savvy-psychologist/202007/why-we-believe-in-conspiracy-theories 
https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/how-to-apply 
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13130 
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachand ments/DA-99-1099A2.pdf 
https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/public_and_broadcasting_0.pdf 

In this Dear Darkness Society episode, I made the mistake of going on Reddit to see if anyone has experienced the same kind of creepy, unexplainable moments we talk about on here... and yeah, some of you are going THROUGH it.
 
I'm sharing real stories from people who were kind enough (and brave enough) to let me bring their experiences here. Some are unsettling, so are straight up weird and sine will have you sitting there like... that a no for me dawg.
 
Huge thank you to everyone who shared their stories and trusted me with them, I genuinely appreciate it.
 
If you've ever had a moment that didn't make sense, didn't sit right or still sticks with you... you're in the right place.
 
The diary is always open 

What happens when the internet starts reinterpreting childhood cartoons through a much darker lens?
In this episode I explore some of the most infamous cartoon conspiracy theories from the Rugrats imagination theory to the mysterious Squidward creepypasta and look at the psychology behind why people create them in the first place.
 
https://abc7.com/spongebob-kwarantined-crab-inappropriate-episodes-removed/10462487/
https://www.wired.com/1997/10/in-his-way-john-k-will-challenge-the-world/
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945-present/crossroads.htm
https://www.atomicarchive.com/media/photographs/testing/us/crossroads.html 
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/operation-crossroads/ 
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/35/
https://nyupress.org/9780814742815/convergence-culture/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/spongebob-squarepants-mid-life-crustacean-episode-removed-from-paramount/1100-6489459/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC80580/ 
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/
https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-05360-0
https://www.history.com/articles/nuclear-bomb-tests-bikini-atoll-facts 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads
https://time.com/4446927/rugrats-chuckie-mom-nickelodeon/ 
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/rugrats-never-happened-theory 
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/creepypasta 
https://www.washington.edu/news/2004/12/06/two-thirds-of-school-age-children-have-an-imaginary-companion-by-age-7/  
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/ 
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050308101309.htm