by Tom Ogden
Over the next two decades, diesel and natural gas supplanted the demand for coal, and the mines were closed in 1950. With no work, everyone moved. The entire town was sold off for salvage, as was the mining equipment. Today, other than a few empty buildings, very little exists where Dawson once stood, and the cemetery with its 350 graves is the only part of the former town that can be visited by the public. White iron crosses mark the graves of those who died in the mines. In 1991, thanks to the effort of two brothers, Dale and Lloyd Christian, the abandoned graveyard was brought to the attention of the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Division and the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs. Dawson Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places the following year. Because the site is so remote, few people know that the burial ground is haunted. On dark nights, unexplainable shimmering lights dot the cemetery. It’s believed the flickering is coming from spectral carbide lanterns mounted on the helmets of phantom workers who died in the mines.
NEW YORK
Albany Rural Cemetery
Albany
Albany Rural Cemetery was established on October 7, 1844, to relieve the overcrowding at church cemeteries in the state capital. The immense graveyard covers 467 acres and has seen thirty-eight thousand or more burials. Perhaps the cemetery’s most famous “lodger” is President Chester A. Arthur. There are at least eight ghosts haunting this historic burial ground. One is believed to be Mrs. Mary Douglas Scott, who died in the graveyard after drinking arsenic. Another cemetery suicide is Mrs. Anna T. Osterhoudt. Inconsolable after her husband’s death, she shot herself while standing over his grave. The identity of the other spirits is unknown. One is a melancholy elderly woman with gray hair whose body was discovered in a nearby lake. Another is a hitchhiking ghost—a young female spectre in a prom dress who tries to catch rides both in the burial ground and out on the street. Then there’s an ethereal couple wearing outdated clothes that walks along the cemetery roadways. The last two phantoms come from the animal world. The first is a large black dog. The other is a phantom horse that died after hitting its head on a tall monument while galloping through the cemetery.
Moravian Cemetery
Staten Island
Owned by the Moravian Church of Staten Island, the Moravian Cemetery opened in 1740 and encompasses 113 acres. It is the oldest and largest active burial ground on the island. In the 1800s Cornelius Vanderbilt gave the church eight and a half acres for a private, family section of the graveyard. (His son later donated another four acres.) The three-story Vanderbilt mausoleum, constructed between 1885 and 1886, is a copy of a Romanesque church in Arles, France. It’s the final resting place for Cornelius Vanderbilt and seven relatives. The tomb is gated and not open to the public, but folks have seen an unearthly light in the shape of a woman outside the crypt. It’s said to be a female spirit who was killed when she tried to force open the gate and it fell over on top of her. The Vanderbilts really don’t want visitors: Cornelius himself is said to occasionally materialize to chase away sightseers. And there’s a curious phenomenon that occurs when people try to take photos of the mausoleum. Individuals posing in front of it sometimes don’t show up in the picture, or strangers appear in the shot.
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
New York
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery is in the East Village in Lower Manhattan. It’s located on land that once belonged to Peter Stuyvesant, the seventeenth-century director governor of New Amsterdam. St. Mark’s itself stands on the site of the Stuyvesant family chapel, and the director governor was interred under the sanctuary in 1672. When St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery was built in 1799, Stuyvesant’s remains were reinterred in a vault along an outer wall; a memorial plaque marks the spot. Although a few visitors to St. Mark’s churchyard have seen Stuyvesant’s ghost, replete in period attire, more often people simply hear a series of quiet taps followed by shuffled footsteps when he’s around. They attribute the disembodied sounds to Peter Stuyvesant’s cane and wooden leg. The same noises have been heard inside the chapel, and Stuyvesant’s spirit has been spotted strolling Second Avenue as well.
Trinity Church Cemetery
New York
Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s Founding Fathers and the first secretary of the treasury, famously died as the result of a duel with Aaron Burr on July 11, 1804. Fatally wounded, Hamilton was taken to the home of his friend, William Baynard Jr., at what was then 27 Jane Street in Greenwich Village. After considerable suffering, Hamilton passed away the following afternoon and was buried in Trinity Churchyard. Hamilton’s ghost haunted the house where he died until it was torn down in 1963. His spirit now appears by his tomb at the church. And he’s not alone! The spectre of Lt. Augustus C. Ludlow, who was second-in-command of the frigate Chesapeake during the War of 1812, also wanders the burial ground. So, too, does a phantom whose tombstone is marked “Adam Allyn Comedian.” Allyn was an actor with the American Company, the first professional theater troupe in North America.
NORTH CAROLINA
Oakdale Cemetery
Wilmington
In 1852 several Wilmington community leaders obtained sixty-five acres to establish a new burial ground outside the city limits. They called it Oakdale Cemetery. Its first interment was six-year-old Annie DeRosset. Her apparition—or at least that of a little girl thought to be Annie—now wanders the cemetery grounds.
Another female phantom in Oakdale belongs to a young woman named Nancy Martin. In 1857 her father, a sea captain, took her on a voyage to the Caribbean. Nancy soon became deathly ill, and by the time they could reach shore, the woman had passed. Captain Martin didn’t want to bury her on foreign soil, so he made the grim decision to pack Nancy’s remains in a barrel filled with rum (which would act as a preservative), seal it shut, and store it in the hold. Once back in Wilmington, the bereft captain buried his daughter, with the barrel as her casket. Her spirit has returned, but it always stays close to her grave. Martin also took his son, John, on the voyage. Before the ship could make it back to North Carolina, it encountered a storm. The young man was swept overboard, lost at sea. His apparition has not turned up at the graveyard.
There are more than four hundred Confederate war dead buried in Oakdale Cemetery, and several of their ghosts now roam the burial ground. The graveyard also contains the remains of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, a Confederate spy. Known as “Rebel Rose,” she drowned while trying to escape from a ship that had been run aground during a Union blockade. She had been in England to raise money for the Confederate cause and was returning with two thousand dollars in gold. She supposedly always carried it on her person, either sewn into her clothing or hanging around her neck in a purse. Her body was recovered, but there’s no report as to what happened to the gold. Some say her restless ghost walks the graveyard trying to find it.
One more ghost haunts Oakdale Cemetery: a phantom dog. It’s believed to be Boss, a canine who in 1880 rushed into a burning building to save his master, riverboat captain William A. Ellerbrook. Unable to free his master from beneath a fallen timber, the faithful dog stayed by the man’s side. They perished together in the flames. Boss was placed in the captain’s casket and buried with him, and a likeness of the dog was engraved on Ellerbrook’s tombstone with the words “FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.” Boss’s spirit now sits at the captain’s grave, watching over it for eternity.
NORTH DAKOTA
Cass County Cemetery #2
Fargo
Cass County Cemetery #2 is one of three graveyards that were located inside of what is today Trollwood Park. An identifying marker for the former burial ground can be found beneath a weeping willow tree. All the graves from the old cemeteries were supposed to have been moved ages ago, but every so often a bone pops out, proving that there are still unmarked graves on the property. Cass County Cemetery #2 was established in 1895, primarily as the final resting place for the poor and elderly and for long-term residents of the Cass County Hospital and Farm. Modern-day vis
itors to Troll-wood Park have seen multiple apparitions as well as a swaying lantern at the former site of Cemetery #2, and they’ve occasionally heard disembodied voices calling their names. One ghost is a woman who materializes when there’s music playing. She wears a dark blue dress from the nineteenth century. She’s frequently seen dancing underneath the willow where the cemetery marker is situated.
Riverside Cemetery
Fargo
This large graveyard with approximately fifteen thousand interments is bordered on the south by the Red River. The hauntings occur at one particular mausoleum and involve what are known in ghost circles as EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena. No apparition is seen or heard, but if a tape recorder is set on top of the tomb, the distinct sound of someone or something knocking from inside the vault can be heard when the audiotape is played back.
OHIO
Marion Cemetery
Marion
Marion Cemetery was established in 1857. It has grown to encompass 150 acres and is spread across both sides of Vernon Heights Boulevard. The graveyard is of interest to ghost hunters for one particular monument: the Merchant Ball. This five-foot-tall structure is located in the older, north side of the cemetery and was erected in 1896. It marks the burial plot for the family of Charles B. Merchant, a wealthy industrialist. The memorial consists of a wide, tiered, white pedestal topped by a massive, gray granite sphere. The pillar and orb are encircled by eleven basketball-size stone globes placed at ground level.
In July 1905 maintenance workers discovered that the 5,200-pound, highly polished ball had somehow rotated several inches, exposing the unfinished circle where the sphere had rested against the base. The men righted it, but very soon the ball moved again. And even though stone must have scraped against stone, there were no scratch or scuff marks. Another attempt was made to reset the ball, and another, but each time the unpolished spot would soon peek out again. Finally it was decided to let the sphere do whatever it wanted to do. Today the rough mark is fully exposed, and the ball continues to rotate about two inches a year.
There have been numerous attempts to explain the phenomenon scientifically, but those who believe in paranormal activity know the truth: The spirit of someone in the Merchant family—maybe Charles himself—is doing it. The only question is “Why?”
The monument is not on the National Register of Historic Places, but, perhaps even better, it’s listed with Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
Dayton
Founded in 1841, Woodland Cemetery is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States. Now comprising two hundred acres, the site has more than three thousand trees, many of them over a century old. The playful spirit of a young girl has been seen in the burial ground for many years, skipping down the walkways, sitting on the grass, or floating above the graves. The spectre is easily recognizable because the phantom manifests during the day. She’s blond and always has a blue sweater tied around her waist. She also wears Nike sneakers, so presumably she passed away sometime after the footwear was introduced in 1964. There’s also said to be a glowing tombstone in the cemetery at night.
OKLAHOMA
Arapaho Cemetery
Arapaho
In 1972 a man named George Smith was buried in Arapaho Cemetery, just outside town. His only daughter, Robina, had died in 1936 at the age of nineteen when her car collided with a truck on Highway 183. Smith, a devout Christian, lived in sorrow, regretting that Robina had not accepted the Lord before her death. Soon after Smith’s own interment, visitors to the Arapaho Cemetery began to hear a voice coming from his grave, always calling out the same lament: “Oh, no! Oh, my God! Robina has not been saved!” In another telling of the tale, Smith’s disembodied voice came from the vicinity of his daughter’s grave instead. Regardless, Smith isn’t heard as often today, but his cry still calls out from time to time.
Beef Creek Apache Cemetery
Fort Sill
After his capture in 1894, the Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo was imprisoned at Fort Sill. He was buried in the garrison’s Beef Creek Apache Cemetery, commonly known as Apache Cemetery, in 1909, but some say his spirit is restless. No one’s ever seen his ghost, but visitors to Geronimo’s grave often report that they sense his presence.
OREGON
Historic Columbian Cemetery
Portland
Dating to 1857, the Historic Columbian Cemetery is now situated within a looped overpass of Interstate 5. The six-acre site contains five thousand to six thousand interments. The graveyard is sometimes referred to locally as Love Cemetery because it’s the final resting place of Capt. Lewis Love, one of Portland’s first millionaires. Columbian Cemetery received its official designation as a Historic Oregon cemetery in 2005. There are a multitude of ghosts strolling the grounds. The most notable is John Mock, who once owned much of the land in the University Park section of town. He died in 1916 at the age of seventy-eight. His phantom always seems to be inspecting the graveyard. Another spirit seen drifting about is an elderly female who’s acquired the name Lydia. Some believe her to be the revenant of a Lydia Mallet, who was eighty when she died in 1915. Several spectral children have also been seen running and playing throughout the cemetery.
Rock Point Pioneer Cemetery
Gold Hill
In the 1840s a local resident deeded about twenty-six and a half acres to the Rock Point district of Gold Hill for use as a cemetery. Although the community of Rock Point is no longer there, the graveyard still exists. In 1900 a section of the burial ground was sold to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). The remainder was designated the Pioneer Cemetery. Collectively there are about a thousand interments on the two properties. There only seems to be one apparition in the Rock Point Pioneer Cemetery—an unidentified hooded figure that’s seen carrying a lantern. If anyone gets too near, the figure vanishes. But there’s other paranormal activity in the graveyard as well. Visitors hear creepy sounds and see mysterious lights, including unearthly flames that seem to engulf a few of the crypts. As is common with ghost phenomena, the otherworldly fire disappears if the mausoleums are approached. Also, a creepy green fog sometimes descends on the graveyard. There have been reports that it breaks the windows of any car that tries to pass through it.
The Pioneer Cemetery is located near a “gravity house” roadside attraction known as the Oregon Vortex. According to legend, Native Americans referred to the hilly region on which it stands as “Forbidden Ground.” Even early settlers supposedly complained of feeling inexplicable energy fields. There were scientific investigations of the Oregon Vortex in 1914 and 1994, but neither of them was conclusive. If the auras are real, could they be causing the anomalies seen in the nearby Rock Point Pioneer Cemetery?
PENNSYLVANIA
Fairview Cemetery
Boyertown
On January 13, 1908, at least 350 people, perhaps as many as 435, were crammed into the Rhoads Opera House, a small auditorium on the second floor of a bank building, when a fire broke out. With just two narrow doors in the back of the house, only about half of them made it out of the room. Many who did escape were overcome by smoke before they got down the stairs. In all, 171 people were killed. Until the shell of the building was razed, townsfolk were convinced they could hear the echo of horrified screams and shrieks of pain coming from the burnt-out ruins. To this day, people walking by the site sometimes claim they hear the ghostly noises.
All the dead were identified. Most of them received individual interments at Fairview Cemetery. Twenty-five of the bodies were so badly burned, however, that they were buried in a mass grave, along with any stray body parts that had separated from the corpses. It didn’t take long before visitors to the burial ground began to hear moans and cries coming from the graves of the Opera House victims. The spectral sounds are still heard occasionally in the cemetery, over a century after the disaster.
Restland Memorial Park
Monroeville
&n
bsp; Restland Memorial Park is also known as Restland-Lincoln Memorial Park. The southwestern Pennsylvania cemetery has had more than three thousand interments, but many of the souls aren’t resting in peace. Several Revolutionary War–era soldiers have been spotted in the cemetery, and the spectre of Monroeville’s first Vietnam War casualty stands by his grave, rifle in hand. The phantom that’s mentioned most often, though, has been dubbed “Walkin’ Rosie.” She’s been variously described as a girl or a young woman, so paranormal researchers are unsure whether they’re dealing with one or two ghosts. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but one investigator has heard the disembodied sound of children singing “Ring around the Rosie” in the graveyard. There also seems to be an apparition of another little girl, who likes to meet other youngsters. Always dressed in farm clothing from the mid-1800s, the unidentified spirit comes out from behind a tree when children are present. She’ll wave or call out to them, often shouting, “Hello.” Unexpected clouds of mist and glowing orbs have been reported, and a few ghost hunters have captured EVPs as well.