Tag Archives: Dayton Unknown

Angry Ghosts

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On a calm winter night in 1892, Edward Wallace was sitting with his wife and their five children in a room in their small log house near the railroad tracks in Waynesville. The night was peaceful and relaxing as they busied themselves with their own tasks. The quiet was interrupted when a ghost suddenly appeared before them. At once, the spirit blew out their lights and demanded they leave the house and never return.

Confused, the family members protested this idea. When they did, the ghost grabbed the nearest child, the oldest, Cora. He quickly shoved her facedown onto the nearby table and started beating her. In shock, the family members could only watch in horror, glued to their seats. They recognized the ghost as that of Joe Lynch, who was murdered in 1878 in Waynesville by James Buckner. Before they had time to wonder why he showed up or react to his actions, another ghost appeared and rescued Cora.
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Come See Us at Sanctuary Dayton!

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We will be in the Oregon District tonight as part of the celebration of Sanctuary Dayton Second Anniversary Celebration. Sara will be selling her books and Bethany will be there with Basil & Poppy Designs selling shirts, stickers, and more.

Come see us!

Upcoming Author Events for Sara

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Sara has a lot of author events for her three books coming up in the next few months. Come out and see her!

  • Bellbrook Historical Society
    September 15, 7pm
    72 West Franklin Street, Bellbrook, OH 45305

  • Sanctuary Dayton 2nd Anniversary Celebration
    September 19, 6-10 pm
    Oregon District

  • Star City Booksellers Book Club
    September 23, 7pm
    55 South Main Street, Miamisburg, OH 45342

  • Huber Haunts
    October 5, 11am-6pm
    Rose Music Center Parking Lot
    6800 Executive Boulevard, Huber Heights, Ohio 45424

  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends Talk
    October 7, 11:45am
    Earl Heck Community Center
    201 Main Street, Englewood, Ohio 45322

  • Murder & Mayhem in Dayton and the Miami Valley Talk
    October 9, 12pm
    Vandalia Senior Center
    21 South Tionda Street, Vandalia, Ohio 45377

  • Behind Urban Legends
    October 11, 6pm
    Dayton Metro Library, E.C. Doren Branch
    701 Troy Street, Dayton, Ohio 45404

  • Fairborn Halloween Festival
    October 17, 4pm-11pm
    October 18, 11am-11pm
    October 19, 12pm-6pm
    12 North Central Avenue, Fairborn, Ohio 45324

  • Halloween Happy Hour in Courthouse Square
    October 23, 4:30pm-6:30pm
    Courthouse Square
    23 North Main Street, Dayton, OH 45402

  • Paranormal Meeting
    October 25, 2pm
    Tipp City Public Library
    11 East Main Street, Tipp City, Ohio 45371

  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends Talk
    October 28, 6pm
    Charles I. Lathrem Senior Center
    2900 Glengarry Drive, Kettering, Ohio 45420

  • Dayton Ghosts & LegendsTalk
    October 30, 6pm
    Dayton Metro Library, Vandalia Branch
    330 South Dixie Drive, Vandalia, Ohio 45377

Fall 2025 Events

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Downtown Miamisburg Chocolate Walk
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

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Dave Dye of Yellow Springs didn’t hesitate when an old German man appeared at his door asking for food. The man didn’t give his name but seemed so exhausted that Dye didn’t think twice before inviting him in for the night. The two shared a meal and beers while telling stories and talking all evening. The man told Dye he had come all the way from Germany that day. He was getting more agitated as the night advanced. Finally, he asked Dye if he had good locks on his door. Dye asked him if he was afraid of robbers. “No,” the German replied, “dogs.”

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

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Englewood Art Festival
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

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During Jimmy Carter’s 1980 re-election campaign, he came to Dayton as part of a campaign swing through the Midwest. This rally, which took place on Oct 2, 1980, attracted 1400 to the Dayton Convention and Exhibition center. Among the 1400 attending was John Hinckley Jr.

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

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Marcia Treadway is a retired journalist and a grandmother who lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, Bob. Marcia has written hundreds of articles for a national newspaper and worked in communication for a local school district for over ten years. She used scientific methods in her transnormal research to provide insight into the natural and supernatural world.

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

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It was a typical morning at the Reed family home in August 1891 when the oldest son, twenty-five-year-old Charles J. Reed, walked into the house. The family house in Xenia was not very large, containing two bedrooms, the dining room / kitchen area, and one sitting room. The family was gathered around the table eating breakfast when Charles entered. He had walked just a few steps past the table when he suddenly collapsed. He fell to the floor in a heap and never woke up.

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

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An article from the Dayton Herald dated June 1911 titled “Current Credulities” shared pearls of wisdom common at the time. Here they are:

  • 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