About This Location
A sprawling Victorian-era cemetery overlooking the Ohio River in Parkersburg, established in the 19th century. The cemetery contains elaborate monuments, including the famed Weeping Lady statue that guards the Jackson family plot.
The Ghost Story
Riverview Cemetery in Parkersburg is one of the most beautiful and historic burying grounds in West Virginia, and it is also one of the most supernaturally active. Also known in earlier days as the Cook Graveyard, it began as a family plot and gradually evolved into public use, accumulating the remains of two West Virginia governors, Jacob B. Jackson and William E. Stevenson, along with a congressman, eight Parkersburg mayors, four county court clerks, three Wood County sheriffs, six county court justices, and many of the earliest pioneers who settled the Ohio River valley. The living history of Parkersburg is written in the headstones of Riverview, and the dead, it seems, are determined to be read.
The cemetery's most famous supernatural resident is the Weeping Lady, a solemn figure who stands guard over the Jackson family plot. She is a statue that, according to local legend, moves under the cover of moonless nights, gliding silently through the mist among the graves as though searching for something -- or someone. The tradition holds that if you approach the Weeping Lady with a heart untainted by malice and offer a humble gift -- a locket, a flower, a whispered secret -- she may grant a single wish. Visitors have been leaving offerings at the statue for generations, and the base of the monument is often surrounded by small tokens left by the hopeful and the desperate.
Lily Irene Jackson's grave is another epicenter of paranormal activity, and the phenomena around it are more measurable than most. The brightest ghost orbs and unexplained lights in the cemetery appear around her headstone. Cameras malfunction in her vicinity with a consistency that investigators describe as remarkable -- batteries drain, autofocus fails, and images come out overexposed or fogged. Candles placed on her gravestone have been observed lighting themselves, and visitors walking past her plot report feeling their hair and clothing tugged and rearranged by unseen hands.
The broader cemetery produces its own category of phenomena. Strange orbs and luminous mists appear in photographs taken throughout the grounds, even in images taken by visitors who were not attempting to capture anything supernatural. Mysterious voices and footsteps are heard among the graves at hours when the cemetery is otherwise deserted. Most disturbing are the reports of black dogs with glowing red eyes that roam the graves -- a motif that appears in paranormal literature across cultures and is often interpreted as a guardian of the dead or an omen of death itself.
A man in a black coat has been seen visiting the graves of sea captain George Deming and his young son, standing quietly at the headstones as though paying respects. Witnesses who observe the figure and look away for even a moment find that he has vanished when they look back. His visits seem to follow no pattern and occur at various times of day, suggesting a spirit who comes and goes on his own schedule.
Statues in the cemetery have been reported leaving their pedestals to pace the graveyard in what witnesses describe as 'eternal agony' -- figures caught between stone and spirit, unable to rest. Whether these accounts are literal observations or the product of moonlight, shadow, and an overactive imagination amplified by the cemetery's reputation is a question each visitor must answer for themselves.
Riverview Cemetery remains an active burial ground and a cherished Parkersburg landmark. The Haunted Parkersburg ghost tours include the cemetery on their route, and the Greater Parkersburg CVB acknowledges the cemetery's paranormal reputation as part of the city's haunted heritage. The dead of Riverview Cemetery include governors and pioneers, captains and children, and whatever walks among them at night keeps faithful company with the most distinguished residents Parkersburg has ever produced.
