Haunted Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond: The Vampire, the Iron Dog and the History

Hollywood Cemetery spreads over 135 acres of hills and ravines in Richmond’s Oregon Hill neighborhood, looking down on the rapids of the James River. It was laid out in the rural garden style of the 1840s and dedicated in 1849, and it is one of only three places in the United States that hold the remains of two presidents. It is still an active, privately run cemetery, open every day to walk or drive.

It is also home to Richmond’s most famous legend. The Richmond Vampire, a story that begins with a real railroad disaster in 1925 and ends at a tomb on the cemetery hillside, has made Hollywood a stop on every ghost tour in the city. Add a cast-iron dog said to growl after dark and the sheer number of Civil War dead, and it is easy to see why. This guide separates what happened from what is told.

History of Hollywood Cemetery

Hollywood was established in 1847, at a time when American cities were building garden cemeteries outside their crowded churchyards. The founders hired John Notman, the landscape architect of Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, who designed winding drives that follow the hills and ravines above the river. He also suggested the name, for the holly trees that grew on the land. Oliver P. Baldwin gave the dedication address in 1849.

The cemetery’s national standing came quickly. In 1858 the remains of President James Monroe, who had died in New York in 1831, were brought here and placed in a Gothic Revival cast-iron tomb on what is now Presidents Circle. People have called it the birdcage ever since, and it was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971. President John Tyler, who lived at Sherwood Forest in Charles City County, was buried nearby in 1862, and Congress dedicated a monument to him in 1915.

The Civil War changed Hollywood more than anything. More than 11,000 Confederate soldiers are buried here, along with 25 Confederate officers including J.E.B. Stuart, Fitzhugh Lee and George Pickett. The 90-foot granite pyramid designed by Charles H. Dimmock and completed in 1869 stands over the soldiers’ section. The first Confederate Memorial Day was held here on May 31, 1866, with more than 20,000 people. Jefferson Davis, who died in 1889, was moved here from New Orleans in 1893, and a bronze statue stands by his grave.

In 2020 the cemetery’s board banned the display of Confederate flags on the grounds. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and remains a working cemetery run by the Hollywood Cemetery Company, which offers self-guided, virtual and group tours.

The legends of Hollywood Cemetery

What is documented, and what is legend

Hollywood does not promote any ghost stories, and none of the legends below is documented. What is real is the setting: thousands of war dead, the graves of children like Florence Rees, and a railroad tunnel collapse in 1925 that killed working men. The legends grew around those facts.

The Richmond Vampire

On October 2, 1925, the Church Hill Tunnel, a railroad tunnel under Jefferson Park, collapsed onto a work train. Engineer Thomas Mason was killed, fireman Benjamin Mosby was badly burned and died hours later, and two laborers were never found. The locomotive is still inside the sealed tunnel.

The legend that grew from it says that witnesses at the tunnel mouth saw a well-dressed figure crouched over the injured Mosby, who fled with a grin and blood-stained teeth while the crowd shouted “vampire.” They chased him across the city to Hollywood Cemetery, where he slipped into the hillside mausoleum of William Wortham Pool and vanished. Beth Houlihan of Haunts of Richmond told VPM in 2021 that visitors should go and see the tomb, but that the story is “just an urban legend.”

The iron dog

Near the Confederate section stands a cast-iron Newfoundland dog watching over the grave of Florence Rees, who died in 1862 at the age of three. Local legend says the dog was saved from being melted down for bullets during the war, and visitors say it growls or barks at night and turns its head. Investigator Robert Bess told Style Weekly he doubts the statue moves at all.

Figures among the graves

Bess also said old spirits walk the grounds, and visitors describe figures moving among the monuments at dusk and the feeling of being watched in the soldiers’ section beneath the pyramid. The cemetery closes at 5 PM most of the year, so these are late-afternoon stories, not midnight ones.

Where to look

• The W.W. Pool mausoleum: the small hillside tomb at the heart of the vampire legend.
• The iron dog: the cast-iron Newfoundland at Florence Rees’s grave, a favorite of visitors.
• The Confederate pyramid: the 90-foot granite monument above the soldiers’ section.
• Presidents Circle: James Monroe’s birdcage tomb and John Tyler’s monument above the river.
• The river overlook: the best view in the cemetery, over the James River rapids.

Visiting Hollywood Cemetery

Hollywood is open to the public every day from 8 AM to 5 PM, and to 6 PM during daylight saving time. You can drive the narrow lanes or walk, and the office is open on weekdays, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The cemetery offers self-guided and group tours; ask the office or check its website for current walking tours. It is an active cemetery, so be respectful of funerals and families.

There is no ghost hunting here, and the gates close well before dark, so plan a late-afternoon visit. Richmond’s ghost walk companies tell the vampire story on their tours, and the oddities shop Rest in Pieces sits just outside the gates on South Laurel Street.

For a real night of investigating, Haunted Rooms runs after-dark ghost hunts at Berkeley Plantation on the James River, about 35 minutes away, and at Belle Grove in King George.

• Visiting Open daily to walk or drive
• Hours and season 8 AM to 5 PM (to 6 PM in daylight saving time)
• Ghost hunting An active cemetery: no ghost hunting, and it closes at dusk

Tips for your visit

• Ask at the office for directions to the Pool tomb and the iron dog, which are easy to miss.
• Come in the last two hours before closing for long shadows over the river.
• Wear good shoes: the lanes are steep in places.
• Leave the Monroe tomb and Presidents Circle to last for the view at sunset.
• Combine it with the Poe Museum and St. John’s Church for a full day of haunted Richmond.

More haunted places nearby

• The Poe Museum: Richmond’s oldest house and its two ghostly children
• The Byrd Theatre: the movie palace where Mr. Coulter still watches from the balcony
• The Jefferson Hotel: Richmond’s grand hotel and its lady in the pale gown
• Berkeley Plantation ghost hunt: our own after-dark ghost hunts down Route 5
• Haunted places in Virginia
• Haunted places in Richmond

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)
• Hollywood Cemetery (official site)
• VPM: Paranormal investigators tell the tales of Virginia's ghosts (2021)
• Wikipedia: Church Hill Tunnel
• Style Weekly: The 13 most haunted places in Richmond (2011)
• Axios Richmond: Virginia's most haunted places (2024)
• Visit Richmond: Mysterious and spooky Richmond region