499 Old Main Street, Miamisburg
September 18, 4-8pm
Beer Fest + Hot Diggity Dog Fest
The Greene
4452 Buckeye Lane, Beavercreek
September 20, 5-9pm
Vandalia Fall Festival
Vandalia Sports Complex
1111 Stonequarry Rd, Vandalia
October 11, 12-6pm
Caramel Apple Festival
Hobson Freedom Park
2910 Trebein Road, Fairborn
October 25, 12-7pm
Seven Daschunds
Dye himself was an avid dog lover and was surprised at this answer. He mentioned that he had a dog of his own, a greyhound. To this, the German replied that the dogs he was worried about were faster and said that they were dachshunds. Dye roared with laughter at this response, imagining the tiny dogs racing past his greyhound. Indignant, the German replied that he had killed a man in Germany and immediately took the first boat out of the country. The dead man’s seven dogs followed him onto the boat, and he hadn’t a moment’s peace since. In the distance, the men heard the faint sound of dogs barking. Dye was still laughing at the story. The German retorted that he would fool the dogs that night. The pack barked and snarled outside Dye’s home all night. In the morning, when Dye went to wake the old man, he was gone. It appeared he had climbed out of the second-story window. From there, he climbed into a tree, then presumably leapt onto a passing wagon heading out of town—all to elude the dogs tracking his scent. He was never seen again, but the dogs remained outside Dye’s house for six nights before giving up on their target.
Read this and other tales of Bizarre Beasts in Sar’s book Dayton Ghosts & Legends, available through Amazon and major book retailers. Autographed copies available directly from the author on SaraKaushal.com
August Events
Centennial Park
321 Union Boulevard, Englewood
August 9, 10:30-6
August 10, 11-5
Art on the Commons
Fraze Pavilion, Kettering
August 10, 11am to 5pm
Dayton Porch Fest at St. Anne’s Hill Historic District
1432 East 5th Street, Dayton
August 16, 12:15 to 6:45
Geeky Garage Sale
Englewood MetroPark
4361 National Road, Vandalia
August 16, 10-2
Taco & Nacho Fest
Austin Landing
10400 Innovation Drive, Miamisburg
August 23, 3-10pm
John Hinckley’s Visit to Dayton
Hinckley had been obsessed with the 1976 movie Taxi Driver, the premise of which was an assassination attempt. He was convinced he was in love with the leading actress, Jodie Foster.
Hinckley had been on a cross country campaign of his own, attempting to leave notes for and make contact with Foster. Her rejection of him sent him into a spiral. He needed to make a name for himself, he decided. After a while he determined the only way to get her attention was to shoot a president. Hearing about Carter’s election campaign, he traveled to Dayton to attend the next rally on October 2, 1980.
Hinckley stayed at the Sheraton Hotel at 21 S Jefferson Street and requested a room with a view of the Convention center where Carter would be speaking. He was given room 818 and paid a total fee of $35.52.
Fortunately for Carter and unfortunately for Hinckley, the crowd attracted was too large for Hinckley to be able to find a good point from which to shoot. Hinckley had left his weapons in his hotel room and was not in the mood to attempt to shoot after seeing the crowd.
After this event, Hinckley made several more attempts to shoot Carter and temporarily turned his sights to a leader of the American Nazi party. After many more failed attempts, he gave up and went home. During that time, he saw a psychiatrist, but did not mention his assassination attempts or his obsession with Jodie Foster.
When Carter lost the reelection campaign to Ronald Reagan, Hinckley turned his sights to President Reagan. He fired 6 shots and hit President Reagan and 3 of his attendants in front of the Washington Hilton before the Secret Service subdued him. President Reagan suffered a shot to the lung, missing his heart. During the chaos, he’d been shoved into the limo by a Secret Service agent and was unaware he’d been injured. He spent 12 days in the hospital before returning to the White House. Press Secretary James Brady was severely injured, suffering permanent brain damage after a shot to his head.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a mental health facility. He was ultimately released in 2018.
Local Author – Marcia Treadway
Marica may not appear as the type to have pursued ghost-hunting, yet there she was in Bellbrook, doing just that. Marcia’s instincts as a reporter led her to investigate phenomena that had no earthly explanations. Her skepticism soon became fascination and she couldn’t discount other people’s stories after witnessing a few bizarre happenings firsthand.
Marcia’s book, Transcending the Heart: When God Brought Me the Ghosts (soon to be renamed Seeker: From Skeptic to Believer) will captivate anyone who suspects there’s something beyond the universe other than what we can see or touch.
Dead and Gone
Immediately, the father sent a boy to fetch a doctor while the remaining family members carried Charles’s body into the bedroom and laid him on the bed. Efforts to resuscitate him failed and he was positioned and covered with a sheet until the doctor could arrive.
The doctor walked into the home within twenty minutes of the collapse. He noticed that the door to the bedroom was closed and the entire family was sitting in the room outside it. When he noticed the arrival of the doctor, the father jumped up to open the bedroom door for him. The doctor walked into the bedroom with the grieving members of Charles’s family (mother, father, two sisters) close behind. He noticed the rigid outlines of the body under the sheet and a cloth over the face. Through the cloth, the doctor could see facial features and the profile of Charles’s face.
When the doctor approached and lifted the cloth from the corpse’s face, he was stunned to see nothing under the cloth. He quickly pulled the sheet away from the body and saw only empty space. Despite having seen the outline of a body through the cloth, there was nothing on the bed. Stunned, the family members and doctor simply looked from one another to the bed, speechless. It took a moment for the three ladies present to react, swooning onto the floor. While the doctor attended to the ladies, the father stood in a dumbfounded state, muttering incoherently and staring unseeing into the distance.
Once the ladies were brought back to consciousness, the doctor walked to the only window in the room and studied it. The window was locked from the inside and had clearly not been opened for a while. Since there was no body, no coroner’s inquest was held. An investigation into the disappearance was made but no answers have ever been found. Charles J. Reed was dead and gone
Read this and other tales of the weird in Dayton Ghosts & Legends, available through Amazon and major book retailers. Autographed copies available directly from the author on SaraKaushal.com
1911 Pearls of Wisdom
- A cold, wet May, a barn full of hay
- Rain before seven, clear before eleven
- Tea kettle suddenly sings means news
- Move in the light of the moon for luck
- Broad front teeth mean that one is generous
- If a baby does not fall out of bed, it will be a fool
- A group of bubbles on a cup of coffee signifies money
- If a child cries out during baptism, it is the devil going out of it
- At cards it is bad luck to play against the grain of the table.
- Water spilled on the doorstep means the coming of a stranger
- Whoever eats the last piece of bread on the plate will be an old maid
The Stranger
Unfortunately, the journey did not continue for the lovely woman. The man roused the innkeeper in the middle of the night and told him to fetch a doctor quickly, there was something wrong with his wife. Despite medical treatment, she died that night.
During this time period, it was not customary or required for guests to register or identify themselves to get a room for the night. Despite renting the room and receiving medical treatment, this woman’s identity was not revealed, nor was her husband’s. As the undertaker prepared for the funeral and presented the bill to the husband, he asked for their names. The traveler remarked, “I will pay you, but I will not tell my name.”
At every turn, he was asked again for her name, but again he declined to reveal their identities. Although they were certain he’d reveal her name for the tombstone, they were again denied. Instead, her tombstone was simply inscribed with:
A Stranger
Died Jan 4, 1851
Aged 24
Her kind and gentle spirit’s gone,
To a world of light above.
Adding to the mystery, flowers started appearing on her grave every Memorial Day. This tradition continued for years and was still occurring 81 years later in 1932 when Dayton Daily News reported on this story. The groundskeeper for Old Greencastle Cemetery, where she is buried, reported the flowers would mysteriously show up at the grave, but he never saw a person leaving them. A man with gray hair and long gray beard had been frequently spotted walking through the graveyard. Some speculated he was the husband, long since dead but making an appearance from beyond the grave to leave flowers. Could it have been the son leaving flowers on his mother’s grave? The question remains, who was this woman and why wouldn’t they identify her?
Local Author – Betsy Hughes
Betsy’s first book of sonnets, Breaking Weather was published by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies Press in 2014. Other published collections include Bird Notes, Forest Bathing, and The Lyric. Betsy’s book The Sixth Sense of Loss is dedicated to her husband of 56 years Jim Hughes, who died in 2020. This book includes sonnets and various other genres of formal poetry, including poems of grief.
Summer Events
- What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie? Art Show
Includes Hearse Cruise-In, Vendors, and Food
Secret Chamber of Oddities and Artwork
17 W Main Street, Fairborn
Friday June 13th, 3pm-5pm for the less energetic, 5pm-9pm, for those all in - Pickle Fest
Austin Landing
3700 Rigby Rd, Miamisburg
June 21st, 3pm-10pm - Greene County Strawberry Fest
Greene County Fairgrounds
120 Fairground Rd, Xenia
June 21st-22nd, 10am-5pm - The Great Dayton Food Truck Rally
104 Front Street, Dayton
July 11th, 5pm-9pm
July 12th, 11am-8pm - Columbus Book Festival
Columbus Metro Library
96 Grant Ave, Columbus
July 12th 10am-6pm
July 13th 10am-5pm - Gem City Comic Con
Marriott at UD
1414 South Patterson Blvd, Dayton 45409
July 19th & 20th 9am-4pm
Dayton Unknown 