Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainRural Middle-Tennessee Cemetery and the Witches' Grave Legend
Eagleville / Rockvale, TN
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public-cemetery access during daylight hours. Respect the grounds and markers.
Access
Limited Access
Rural cemetery on uneven ground, dirt access road, grass walking
Equipment
Photos OK
Rutherford County Rural Cemetery
Dyer Cemetery is a small rural family cemetery in Rutherford County, Tennessee, located between the small communities of Eagleville and Rockvale in middle Tennessee. It serves primarily as the burial ground for the Dyer family and adjacent local families, with markers dating back into the 1800s.
The folklore attached to the cemetery — that three women accused of witchcraft were hanged from a large cedar tree on the grounds in the 1800s and buried beneath the tree — does not appear in Tennessee court records, county-historical-society publications, or academic-history sources reachable through general web search. We treat the witch-trial framing as community folklore rather than documented history. The cedar tree at the cemetery's main gate is real and remains a focal point of the site's local visual identity. Three broken, unidentifiable headstones are reported beneath the tree in some accounts; we did not find independent documentation tying them to the legend.
Sources
The Dyer Cemetery legend centers on a cedar tree at the cemetery's main gate. Local tradition holds that three women accused of witchcraft were hanged from the tree in the 1800s and that three small, broken headstones beneath it mark their graves. The story has powered the cemetery's regional reputation for decades, frequently listed among Tennessee's most-told haunted cemetery sites.
Reported phenomena include sensations of being scratched on the face and arms by something feeling like broom straw while under the gate cedar, voices and faint lights elsewhere in the cemetery, and red ball-form lights described as appearing among the cedars and traveling up the trunks before going out. Younger members of the Dyer family have reported full-body apparitions in the rear sections of the cemetery. Activity is reportedly more frequent in spring and fall.
A 2017 reporting investigation by Middle Tennessee State University's student newspaper, Sidelines, visited the cemetery and concluded that the actual experience was considerably tamer than the folklore reputation, with no significant activity observed during the visit. We pass this on as the most-grounded available counter-account. The cemetery has also been a recurring site of vandalism over the years, which is the more pressing concern for the family and the property than any reported paranormal activity.
Media Appearances
View the small rural cemetery from the road during daylight hours. Dyer Cemetery sits between Eagleville and Rockvale in Rutherford County, Tennessee. The site has been the subject of repeated trespass and vandalism; respect the property and stay on the road if no posted access is available.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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