Woodland Cemetery

A 200-acre garden cemetery founded in 1841 and one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Orville and Wilbur Wright are buried here, along with poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and thousands of Civil War veterans.

The most beloved ghost of Woodland Cemetery is young Johnny Morehouse, who drowned in a canal in 1860 at just five years old. His faithful dog dove into the water trying to save him but was too late. According to legend, the grief-stricken dog refused to leave Johnny's grave, staying by his young master even after death. Both boy and dog are now seen playing together within the cemetery grounds, and visitors report hearing a dog bark at night near the grave, which features a touching statue of a boy sleeping with his dog. Civil War soldiers have been spotted among the headstones, forever marching in spectral formation. Early Dayton businessman Adam Schantz is another frequently reported spirit. The cemetery's long history and the intensity of grief experienced within its boundaries have made it a hotbed of ghostly activity.