From the Quapaw tribe who first inhabited the land to the first French settlement in the early 1700s, Little Rock's history predates the founding of America. Yet the people and events that shaped this historic legacy refuse to disappear into the pages of history books, and voices from the past still echo on Little Rock's streets. Join author and tour guide Linda Howell as she recounts history that is as fascinating as it is frightening. From the harrowing tale of how Curran Hall came to be haunted to the story behind the spirits that linger in historic Mount Holly Cemetery and much more, this collection covers the breadth of Little Rock's chilling history.
Arkansas is known as "The Natural State" because of lush green forests and waterways teeming with wildlife. But as the sun goes down and the creatures of the night emerge, Arkansas becomes "The Supernatural State." As a result of having deposits of quartz, bauxite, iron ores, and magnetite, a rare form of naturally magnetized iron, Arkansas is a natural paranormal lens focusing on spirit activity. Join investigators in a search for the truth behind Arkansas' most infamous paranormal mysteries. Meet the angry Mena Poltergeist, who runs people out of their homes, and the ghostly Sheriff of Nevada County, who roams the halls of the Old Washington Jail Bed and Breakfast. Learn about the fierce Gowrow Monster of the Ozarks that feeds on livestock and young children and the legendary Fouke Monster, known to attack people without warning. Read accounts of alien abductions, UFOs, and more. Unexplainable mysteries and terrifying hauntings await you in Arkansas. Sweet screams...
In 1837 Representative Joseph J. Anthony stabs the speaker of the house to death during a debate about wolf pelts. In 1899 Hot Springs police shoot it out with the county sheriffs over control of illegal gambling. In 1974 President Richard Nixon resigns in part due to the outspokenness of Pine Bluff native Martha Mitchell. In this special print project of the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, legendary cartoonist Ron Wolfe brings these and many other stories to life. Accompanied by selected entries from the encyclopedia, Wolfe’s cartoons highlight the oddities and absurdities of our state’s history. Seriously, you couldn’t make up this stuff.
An unsentimental vision of the west, new and old, comes to life in a gritty new collection of stories by the author of Snow, Ashes In Ghosts of Wyoming, Alyson Hagy explores the hardscrabble lives and terrain of America's least-populous state. Beyond the tourist destinations of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone lies a less familiar and wilder frontier defined by the tension wrought by abundance and scarcity. A young runaway with a big secret slips across the state border and steals a collie pup from the Meeker County fairgrounds. A chorus of trainmen details a day spent laying rail across the Wyoming Territory, while contemporary voices describe life in the oil and gas fields near Gillette. A traveling preacher is caught up in a deadly skirmish between cattle rustlers and ranchers on his way from Rawlins to the Indian reservation on the Popo Agie River. Locals and activists clash when a tourist makes an archaeological discovery near Hoodoo Mountain. With spirited, lyrical prose, Hagy expertly weaves together Wyoming's colorful pioneer and speculator history with the notoften- heard voices of petroleum workers, thrill-seeking rock climbers, and those left behind by the latest boom and bust.
In 1929, in a remote county of the Arkansas Ozarks, the gruesome murder of harmonica-playing drifter Connie Franklin and the brutal rape of his teenaged fiancée captured the attention of a nation on the cusp of the Great Depression. National press from coast to coast ran stories of the sensational exploits of night-riding moonshiners, powerful "Barons of the Hills," and a world of feudal oppression in the isolation of the rugged Ozarks. The ensuing arrest of five local men for both crimes and the confusion and superstition surrounding the trial and conviction gave Stone County a dubious and short-lived notoriety. Closely examining how the story and its regional setting were interpreted by the media, Brooks Blevins recounts the gripping events of the murder investigation and trial, where a man claiming to be the murder victim--the "Ghost" of the Ozarks--appeared to testify. Local conditions in Stone County, which had no electricity and only one long-distance telephone line, frustrated the dozen or more reporters who found their way to the rural Ozarks, and the developments following the arrests often prompted reporters' caricatures of the region: accusations of imposture and insanity, revelations of hidden pasts and assumed names, and threats of widespread violence. Locating the past squarely within the major currents of American history, Ghost of the Ozarks: Murder and Memory in the Upland South paints a convincing backdrop to a story that, more than 80 years later, remains riddled with mystery.
Step into southern legend and lore and discover the supernatural spirits that rock the capital city of Arkansas. From the Quapaw tribe who first inhabited the land to the first French settlement in the early 1700s, Little Rock’s history predates the founding of America. Yet the people and events that shaped this historic legacy refuse to disappear into the pages of history books, and voices from the past still echo on Little Rock’s streets. Join author and tour guide Linda L. Howell as she recounts history as fascinating as it is frightening. From the harrowing tale of how Curran Hall came to be haunted to the story behind the spirits that linger in historic Mount Holly Cemetery and much more, this collection covers the breadth of Little Rock’s chilling history. Includes photos! “The book provides pictures, stories and eyewitness accounts of reported ‘hauntings’ in Little Rock . . . A fun and educational read.” —The Empress of Little Rock
When Mark Spencer and his family moved into the beautiful old Allen House in Monticello, Arkansas, they were aware of its notorious reputation for being haunted. According to local lore, the troubled spirit of society belle Ladell Allen, who had mysteriously committed suicide in the master bedroom in 1948, still roamed the grand historic mansion. Yet, Mark remained skeptical—until he and his family began encountering faceless phantoms, a doppelganger spirit, and other paranormal phenomena. Ensuing ghost investigations offered convincing evidence that six spirits, including Ladell, inhabited their home. But the most shocking event occurred the day Mark followed a strange urge to explore the attic and found, crammed under a floorboard, secret love letters that touchingly depict Ladell Allen's forbidden, heart-searing romance—and shed light on her tragic end. This haunting true ghost story includes several photographs of the Allen House.
Like a good scare with your music? Get your Rock & Roll shriek on with... Rock & Roll GHOST STORIES Vol. I In this first-ever anthology dedicated to musicians and ghosts, discover personal accounts of hauntings experienced by bands around the world. From phantom backup singers to studio menaces, vivid apparitions to uninvited, overnight guests, the tragic ghost of Frankie Valli's daughter to a seemingly spiteful Elvis, a human-flinging spirit to comforting visits from deceased parents, this volume is packed with both uplifting and horrifying accounts.
A terrifying tour of cemeteries where ghosts of Civil War soldiers, criminals, and others wander the grounds . . . includes photos! From the neatly tended urban necropolis to the long-forgotten family plot at the end of a winding gravel road, these “quiet cities” of the Ozarks have the power to send chills up and down the spine of the most hardened skeptic. Be it the restless Civil War soldiers of Greenbrier, the mass murderer who stalks Peace Church, or the red eyes that persecute visitors to Robinson, tales of ghostly activity abound in every burial ground carved out of the ancient Ozark hills. Follow Dave Harkins as he explores the fascinating history and unsettling lore clinging to these haunted graveyards.
