A typical packed house. Making enough noise to wake the dead?
A tragic event, years of folklore and legend, and the swirling winds at Highmark Stadium—this is how it all began. On October 30, 2022, when you head into the stadium to watch the Buffalo Bills take on the Green Bay Packers, stop a moment outside Gate 7 to pay your respects to an infant that may have helped shape our current sports culture along with the notorious winds that whip through the stadium you are about to enter. For outside that Gate lies a family cemetery most have forgotten or did not know exist. The thunder of the crowd when Josh Allen fires a perfect strike to Stephon Diggs does not disturb the rest of the twenty or more individuals that lie close by.
The sign is simple and does not give much to go on. Beyond the fenced-in area of graves one can read that this is the Sheldon Family Cemetery. Besides the family and other early European settlers, it is also stated on the historical marker that an early Erie Native American village was located on the site of the stadium. That’s right, here, where our beloved Bills take the field most Sundays in the fall and winter, are the remains of a cemetery and a village!
The cemetery inside of the chain link fence
In reviewing the historical record, a few things add interest and intrigue to the story. In 1832, Joseph Sheldon lost his infant son, John, only few weeks after this birth. One can imagine the grief-stricken Sheldon walking nearby through a field and finding a small clearing near an apple orchard and a creek. Thinking of perhaps this beautiful place to repose his son’s remains, he requested and received permission from the landowner, Solomon Curtis, to bury his dead son in that area. The record tells us that part of the stipulation was that Curtis himself requested he also be buried in the area when his time came. This plot of land in time received the bodies of Joseph, his wife Tryphena, their children, and other relatives, and thus became the Sheldon Family Cemetery.
But how was the stadium built next to the cemetery? And why, perhaps, is a better question. Loyal reader stay with me as the plot only thickens.
A Buffalo News article from September 17, 1989, quotes the late Orchard Park Town Historian, John Printy, stating “there are about a dozen marked graves and an unknown number of others. The last body was interred in the 1940’s. For years prior to the building of the stadium, it (the cemetery) was almost unheard of… It was overgrown and generally neglected.” The article also mentions that when the stadium was built, the burial ground was indeed neglected but not disturbed.
However, a detailed article about the cemetery titled “The Buffalo Bills’ Ghostly Gridiron” by Leo Roth that appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on October 30, 2015, several very interesting tidbits about the cemetery and the facing of the stadium are discussed:
“It is reputed that the original stadium plans would’ve put the cemetery plot on the 50-yard line and architects wanted the bodies relocated. But thanks to the efforts by Sheldon family descendants and community history buffs- with some assistance from then Bills owner Ralph Wilson- the cemetery was spared. However, the new configuration turned the stadiums footprint, putting the open ends facing east-west instead of north-south, allowing for brutal winds to swoop in from Lake Erie.”
Pause now and think about your own experiences in the stadium on those blustery cold days. Recall the swirling winds that make it a nightmare for opposing team and Buffalo kickers. Think of the game versus the New England Patriots in 2021 or the game where it snowed in massive lake effect quantities versus the Colts in 2017. Countless other games I am sure come to your own mind, and now remember that one little boy named John and his untimely death may have caused all of that.
However, the cemetery and its facing may not have been the Bills only issue with the site. Recall the last line of the plaque which reads, “An early Erie Indian village was also located on the site of the stadium.” Think now if you will of all the horror stories and terrifying movies you have read or seen throughout your lifetime. Think of Stephen King’s epic work Pet Sematary and the Poltergeist film franchise, and one thing doth ring true in those tales: Do not build on sacred Native American burial grounds!
Apparently, the Bills and Erie County never got that memo.
As recently as earlier this year when the Bills were on their quest for the Super Bowl and before the ill-fated “13 seconds” that like other terrible words in Buffalo Bills’ lore such as “Wide Right” and “Music City Miracle” ring in our ears, local tv station WGRZ wanted to find out more about the truth to these stories and perhaps do something to help the Bills on that elusive quest. On January 15, 2022, the station published an article about the “Stadium Curse” with an interview with Leo Roth about his aforementioned article. Roth details this piece of information in that interview, “Very credible resources had pinpointed that area from Abbott Road, Southwestern Boulevard, and Big Tree. That area they said was the site of a Wenro (Wenrohronon) Indian village and burial site.”
Thanks to Valerie, the Bills demolished the Patriots in that game 47-17 and have not lost at home since that ceremony. Is the curse lifted?
Enter Valerie Hill, who upon learning of the lore and legend wanted to do her part to take care of any bad spirits and maybe, just maybe, help us get that Super Bowl title. As quoted in the WGRZ article Valerie states, “As an indigenous woman and a member of Bills mafia, I felt it was my duty to come out here and do what I could to help our guys bring home a Super Bowl. Before the Bills home playoff game against the Patriots, she held a traditional indigenous ceremony. She burned tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, and cedar traditional medicines meant to banish bad spirits. The little bit of smoke will attract the spirits. We’ll offer our intentions and wishes, and we’ll give it back to the earth.” Thanks to Valerie, the Bills demolished the Patriots in that game 47-17 and have not lost at home since that ceremony. Is the curse lifted?
In researching history, one finds the most obscure, interesting, and coincidental items. Coincidental, yes but an interesting tidbit. In reading the obituary for Tryphenia Rockwood (most likely the daughter of Joseph and Tryphena Sheldon) I came across this item that made me smile in a bit of irony. “She is survived by her husband, sons [who included] Allen of Buffalo. . .and daughters [who included] Mrs. Maria Bills of Orchard Park.”
Finally, a last tribute to the late historian John Printy, for it was through his efforts that the cemetery was preserved and protected. Where before the cemetery had a small wrought iron fence around some graves, now through his efforts and that of the Orchard Park Historical Society it is a well-maintained tranquil place (except for some Sundays) and protected by a large chain link fence.
The plaque erected by the Orchard Park Historical Society
Somewhere I wonder if Joseph Printy and Joseph Sheldon are smiling down looking at the small quaint cemetery that is the final resting place of an early Western New York family and whispering in our ears “Go Bills.” Or is it just the wind on the day before Halloween whistling off the lake?
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