Ghosts at the Mines: Sucker Flat

Ghosts at the Mines: Sucker Flat
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI’s Esoteric Detective
Halo Paranormal Investigations
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After my investigation of the very haunted town of Smartsville, I received an email from a Yuba County local named Dennis Beam. Dennis asked me to come back, because near the town of Smartsville is a former mining area called Sucker Flat. Sucker Flat like Smartsville is very haunted. From all of the mining that was done at Sucker Flat, there were many industrial accidents that lead to severe injuries and at times death. In the present day, there is no mining at Sucker Flat, but people still hear blasting noises late at night. Locals hear disembodied voices and at times screams and yelling. Nevada City Detrik K says he heard what sounded like a rockslide. Detrik looked around and saw no rockslide.

Sucker Flat is one of the first places where hydraulic mining was used during the California Gold Rush. The first large-scale primitive hydraulic mining in the area began at the Blue Point Mine in Sucker Flat, according to the Online Archive of California. Specifically, Sucker Flat is situated near the town of Smartsville in Yuba County. The area is significant for its role in the early development of hydraulic mining techniques during the Gold Rush. The historical marker for Sucker Flat is located on Natoma Way in Smartsville.

I went back to Smartsville and checked out Sucker Flat. One of my paranormal investigators Loki Blackwood captured an EVP of a man yelling. The EVP said: “Move out the way!!” Sucker Flat was a town and mining area in California that played a significant role in the state’s Gold Rush history. It is rumored that this was a stomping ground for the gentleman outlaw Charles E. Boles. You might know him as Black Bart. Sucker Flat was a Gold Rush era town and the site of the Blue Point and Blue Gravel Mines, which were among the richest hydraulic mines in California. Stories are told that some miners would steal from other miners, leading to a gunfight where one miner would pay the ultimate price, which is death.

Severe injuries occurred during the hydraulic mining. This type of mining used a technique that involved using high-pressure water cannons to wash away gravel and expose gold deposits. Primitive hydraulic mining methods were first used in Sucker Flat, but they later transitioned to more advanced techniques as technology improved. By 1877, the mines at Sucker Flat had reportedly produced $13 million in gold. With this much gold, there were desperados consumed by greed and would not hesitate in becoming a cutthroat thief. One of my investigators named Tara claimed that she saw a ghostly miner running through the grass. She did not capture this apparition on film. Loki said he felt the ground shake.

Sucker Flat did have some environmental issues. Hydraulic mining caused significant environmental destruction downstream by washing large amounts of rock and gravel into the river, disrupting farmland and damaging aquatic habitats. Sucker Flat came to an end with the Sawyer Decision. In 1884, the Sawyer Decision, influenced by concerns from downstream farmers, effectively banned hydraulic mining, bringing an end to the thriving industry in Sucker Flat. Today, the town of Sucker Flat has largely vanished, but the area’s history remains marked by its past as a major hydraulic mining site. The ghosts of this former mining town will be here forever. The residual energy will replay itself over and over again. Ghosts that never moved on will continue to haunt Sucker Flat. Perhaps a miner who died suddenly in a terrible accident and now as a ghost, he is trying to figure out how he died and why he died. Some ghosts seem like they don’t realize that they are dead and will ask the question: “Am I dead?” My last EVP before leaving this old mining town is “who dead?” It would seem the ghost is confused and is asking who is dead.

Additional Information:
A collection of stereographs from the Sucker Flat Mine, depicting images of the mining operations and the town in the early 1870s, is available for research.
The area has seen reclamation efforts and is now part of a system of protected lands with wetlands and natural habitats.
Visitors can hike a historic trail, the Miner’s Ditch, which once provided water for the region’s first hydraulic mine at Rose Bar. It has been reported that people sometimes hear disembodied heavy breathing and disembodied footsteps.