Category Archives: Local History

Gem City’s Most Haunted Podcast

Posted on by
With most of the major holidays over, the season has started for the most avid of Halloween lovers. Why not put yourself in a spooky mood by listening to WDTN’s podcast titled Gem City’s Most Haunted.

Hosted by Trey Brown, Cameron Cooper, and Avery Lewis, this monthly podcast explores Dayton’s Dark History alongside local authors and paranormal investigators. The series investigates spooky sites, cryptids, and folklore from throughout Dayton. The podcast has included Patterson Homestead, the Dayton Art Institute, and Kettering’s Hills and Dales Tower, among others. You can listen to the full series by checking out Gem City’s Most Haunted WDTN playlist on YouTube. Don’t forget to check out the episode from April 17, 2026 featuring Sara Kaushal!

Huffman Prairie

Posted on by
Have you ever been to Huffman Prairie in Fairborn? After their first flight in Kitty Hawn, NC, the Wright brothers were in search of a flying field nearby. A banker from Dayton, Torrence Huffman, loaned his pasture to the Wright Brothers rent-free and this is where the Wright Brothers really developed their flying skills in 1904-1905.

Later in 1910, the Wright Brothers established the Wright Company and used Huffman Prairie as their testing ground and exhibition space, and ran their flying school there as well.

Sara is currently working on her 4th book!

Posted on by
This book, projected to be released in 2027, will cover unsolved cases from the Dayton area. What unsolved cases from around here interest you?

Here are a few of the mysteries the book will cover:

  • A bomb send to the groom just before his wedding. No suspect has ever been arrested.
  • A young woman visiting Dayton suddenly dies and is buried without a name. Who is she, and why did he traveling companion refuse to identify her?
  • A grandmother disappears from her apartment. There were no signs of foul play and she didn’t take her coat or purse before leaving. What happened to her? Where is she?
  • A nightclub singer and his wife are murdered in their home. Their young daughter escapes through a window. Who killed the couple?
  • A young girl disappears from Kettering in 1976. Police dismissed her as a runaway. Whatever happened to her?

Sara’s Ghost Tour & Courthouse Square

Posted on by
Last Saturday, Sara hosted several ghost tours of the downtown area as part of the Dayton Housing Tour! We had a great turnout and met a lot of great people. It was a blast discussing the ghost stories and hauntings in downtown, while exploring the history of the city.

Thanks to all who came out!

Sara’s tour included:
  • Court House Square (Old Jailhouse)
  • Dayton Daily News Building (4th and Ludlow)
  • Dayton’s First Cemetery (5th and Ludlow)
  • Spaghetti Warehouse
  • The Old Courthouse
If you have any suggestions for local tours, let us know!

Downtown Housing Tour 2026

Posted on by
The Downtown Housing Tour is back for 2026! The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 30.

Guests can get an inside look at downtown properties, and learn why a downtown address is so in demand!

Also, sign up for various Themed Walking Tours such as Sara’s Ghost Tour!
10 am – Walking Tour and Old Courthouse
11:15 – Old Courthouse only
12 noon – Walking tour and Old Courthouse

Sign up for Ghost Tour here!

Watch the Downtown Dayton Partnership page for sign up info and details on the other tours.

Local Author – J.E. Irvin

Posted on by
Writing under the name J.E. Irvin, Janet Irvin has written seven mystery/thriller novels. Her works have appeared in a variety of print and online journals, including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Flights, and Literary Mama. Her poetry has been published in Hawaii Pacific Review, Creosote, MockTurtleZine, and more.

Irvin’s novel The Dark End of the Rainbow won the Jeremiah Healey Mystery Fiction Contest. Her next book, The Rules of the Game was a finalist for the same award. Irvin is a member of Sisters in Crime, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, and Buckeye Crime Writers. She also serves on the Springboro City Park Board and is a member of the Springboro Area Historical Society.

Some of her published works include:

  • Hollowed Bone, published in the Sky Island Journal Issue # 25 in 2023
  • ALL THE ODDS ARE EVEN, published in the Nexus Literary Journal in Spring 2015
  • PAWNS, published in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in May 2011
  • THE FABRIC OF OUR FEARS, published in The Broken Plate in Spring 2010

A Canal Tragedy in 1897

Posted on by
In November of 1897, a Mrs. Seaman and her daughters, Katie and Mary, were driving across a bridge spanning the hydraulic canal north of Middletown when the horse suddenly became frightened.

Unfortunately, the horse fell into the canal, pulling with it the spring wagon containing the three women. They all plunged into the fifteen feet of water below, screaming and flailing. The commotion brought help to the scene but not in time for Mary and Katie. Mrs. Seaman was revived at the scene after a long period and taken to the hospital. She was not told of her daughters’ deaths until she recovered.

Source: Two Ohio Women Drowned, The New York Times, November 26, 1897

How a 19th Century Story Reached a Family Today

Posted on by
Sometimes, we are reminded that the stories we share here don’t just stay here on the blog.

When we started Dayton Unknown, our goal was simple: to uncover and share the forgotten, overlooked, and lesser known stories that shaped our city. Stories like Johnny Morehouse and the Morehouse Family.

Recently, we heard from a descendant of the Morehouse family.

Thank you for the respectful write up of the Morehouse family and the great article about Horace, who was my great grandfather. I never heard a reference to him when I was growing up, since my great grandmother, Kitty Gilbert, had remarried. She is buried between her second husband and my mother in Elmhurst, Illinois. She was an amazing seamstress and very nice woman. I have been to Dayton to visit the grave of my great great uncle, Johnny, and and humbled by the tokens of love left there. Thank you so much!

This email was a great reminder that history isn’t static. It lives through memories, through family legends, and sometimes, these pieces of history find their way back to the people it belongs to.

Just a Bite of Popcorn

Posted on by
In a tragic event, Norma Kathleen Fawley, daughter of Lee Fawley, the Branch Manager of the Kroger on East Main Street, died unexpectedly while eating popcorn with her mother.

The Fawleys were driving around town running errands when Mr. Fawley parked in front of the smokehouse on South Detroit Street. He left his wife and daughter in the car while he walked to complete a few more errands. Norma was eating popcorn and started choking, and her mother was alerted by her gasping for breath. Workers in the smokehouse heard Mrs. Fawley’s cries for help and they rushed out to try to help.

All attempts to dislodge the popcorn by swinging Norma around by the heels, turning her upside-down, and forceful blows on the back were unsuccessful. A man in the crowd carried the child half a block to a nearby doctor’s office, but by then it was too late. As the doctor prepared to perform a surgery to remove the piece, Norma took a few more gasps of air, then tragically died.

Source: Child Chokes to Death from Bit of Popcorn, Dayton Herald, April 3, 1925, Page 1