History & local legend
Washburn Street Cemetery in Scranton is the setting of a vanishing black-dog story told by a former Hyde Park resident writing as Chellebelle. She posted her account to the Pennsylvania Paranormal Association’s forum on June 12, 2010, explaining that several of her Welsh relatives were buried there.
During a visit with her sister, the air grew thick and murky enough that her passenger locked the car doors. A large black dog suddenly jumped in front of the car. Thinking she had struck it, Chellebelle stopped and got out to check. There was no dog on the road.
Another tradition concerns the wooded rear of the cemetery. According to that story, people who disturb the quiet by raising their voices may hear someone among the trees telling them to hush. The voice and the sisters’ encounter are separate accounts, rather than episodes involving an identified person buried there.
Sources
- Chellebelle, personal account of the sisters’ visit, June 12, 2010, Pennsylvania Paranormal Association, post #4
- Pennsylvania Haunts & History, Poconos/I-80 East 3, Washburn Cemetery, the woods and the answer to a disturbance
- Lackawanna County PAGenWeb, location, cemetery history, and Welsh mining families
- Lackawanna Historical Society, burials and markers at Washburn Cemetery
- OpenStreetMap, the Washburn Street Cemetery boundaries
