History of the Historical Society of Dayton Valley’s Haunted Hayride

After we moved here in the early 1990s our family used to go every year to Virginia City for lots of events, including summer programs for the kids, fireworks, and their annual ghost walk. I loved the fact that the latter event included the cemetery—I love old cemeteries. After a few years it occurred to me, "Our history is even older than Virginia City's and we have the oldest cemetery in Nevada; why don't we have a ghost walk?" Our museum docent, Ruby McFarland, agreed, so in 2006 we started the ghost walk. 

Aiming toward a free event that could celebrate Halloween, history, and Nevada Day all at once, we held the first ghost walk —"The Ghostly Pioneers of Old Town Dayton Return"— at the cemetery. A narrated hayride from the museum through Old Town brought our guests up the hill. However, our wonderful cemetery is on the top of that hill and thus is a very windy and cold place. We almost froze narrator Laura Tennant, for one, and in spite of a warming fire pit neither the ghosts nor our guests were very warm! So the next year we moved the event, as a
walking tour, to Old Town. 

We enjoyed having ghostly pioneers present real Dayton stories in (warmer) Old Town for several years. However, in 2013, Laura saw the chance to emphasize how important Dayton was in the events leading up to statehood. So she combined the Ghostly Pioneers with a hayride to "pre-celebrate" the 150th anniversary of Nevada Statehood the next year. That hayride was so popular and drew so many guests that in 2014 we continued it...and the "Haunted Hayride" was born.

Each year the Historical Society of Dayton Valley has had hundreds of visitors, with as many as 700 packing into our hay wagons throughout the night. This year we have new ghosts, new stories, and continued fun. Our ghosts will keep it fun and family friendly while helping visitors learn some Dayton history on the way. It will be fun for “kids” of all ages!

Haunted Hayride 2025
Thursday, Oct. 30
5 p.m. - 8 p.m., free for all
Starting at the Dayton Museum