Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA Dunmore cemetery chartered in 1870 that holds roughly 350 Civil War veterans, reputed one of the most haunted graveyards in the Scranton area.
1830 Jefferson Ave, Dunmore, PA 18509
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit during cemetery hours. There is no admission; respect the grounds as an active burial place.
Access
Limited Access
Hillside cemetery with paved drives and uneven, sloping ground between sections.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1870 · Chartered in April 1870 as a primary burial ground for the Scranton/Dunmore area · Holds roughly 350 Civil War veterans, mostly Union with a few Confederates, plus later war dead · Burial place of many of Scranton's early businessmen and founders
Forest Hill Cemetery sits on a hillside in Dunmore, just east of Scranton in Lackawanna County. It was chartered in April 1870, during the anthracite boom that built the region, and became a primary burial ground for the growing city and its surrounding towns.
The cemetery's Civil War section is its best-known feature. Local histories and the Lackawanna County visitors bureau record roughly 350 Civil War veterans buried here, the great majority of them Union soldiers, along with a small number of Confederates and veterans of later wars including Vietnam. Among the cemetery's other graves are some of Scranton's earliest businessmen and founders, making Forest Hill a record of the area's 19th-century rise.
The cemetery is documented by the Lackawanna County visitors bureau, WNEP, Happenings Magazine, and a local history book by Margo and Marnie Azzarelli. It is managed by the Scranton Forest Hill Cemetery Association and remains an active burial ground; the Lackawanna Historical Society and other groups hold seasonal history walks and scavenger hunts among the older sections. It is presented here as a historic cemetery to be visited with the respect any active burial place is owed.
Sources
Forest Hill Cemetery's reputation rests on its age and its Civil War dead. The Lackawanna County visitors bureau lists it among the most haunted graveyards in the area and includes it on the Lackawanna Haunted Trail, and regional coverage describes ghostly figures reported among the tombstones.
Paranormal groups that have investigated the older sections report the standard catalog for a cemetery of this vintage: shadow figures moving between stones, and audio recordings in which voices or knocks seem to answer questions on command. These accounts come from investigators and seasonal tourism coverage rather than independent verification, and they are offered here as the cemetery's lore.
What anchors the site is real history, not a single famous specter: a hillside full of 19th-century graves, hundreds of them belonging to Civil War soldiers. The Lackawanna Historical Society uses that history for daytime walks and scavenger hunts, and visitors are asked to treat Forest Hill as the working cemetery and resting place of veterans that it is.
Notable Entities
Walk or drive through Forest Hill Cemetery, chartered in 1870 and the resting place of roughly 350 Civil War veterans, including a few Confederate soldiers. The cemetery is listed on the Lackawanna Haunted Trail and hosts seasonal history walks. Visit respectfully during daylight hours.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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