Atlas Obscura, "Mysterious Witch Bonney"

The earliest dated account of the legend found so far; includes directions to the lot.

Statements this record supports

C-050 — The Bonney family monument stands on Bonney Avenue in Lowell Cemetery (77 Knapp Avenue, Lowell): a bronze figure of a draped woman with arms raised within a granite architectural surround. The rear panel is inscribed with four names: Arthur Perkins Bonney (1828–1896), Emma Augusta Call (1828–1892, 'wife of Arthur Perkins Bonney'), Charles Sumner Lilley (1851–1921) and Clara Bonney (1855–1894, 'wife of Charles Sumner Lilley'). Pollard Memorial Library identifies the sculptor as Frank Edwin Elwell, the title as 'New Life' and the architect of the surround as Frank Bacon; Lowell Cemetery's own monument page calls the figure 'Victoria' and prints Clara's dates as 1845–1884.
C-051 — A local legend calls the monument 'the Witch Bonney' and holds that the bronze figure's drapery slips lower each October, that her spirit roams on Halloween, and that the nearby Ayer lion stands guard; visitors leave coins and other offerings. Modern accounts (Atlas Obscura 2009; Forgotten New England 2020; Pollard 2023) record the legend's circulation; none establishes its origin or date. The 'Salem witch' element is impossible: the family lived in the nineteenth century and the cemetery was dedicated in 1841.