Fayetteville is a town that has seen its fair share of tragedy. In 1862 it was home to the Prairie Grove Battlefield. This was an encounter that led to over 2,500 soldiers dying in one day. The ground was stained red with blood from the conflict.
On Tilly Willy Bridge a woman and her family died in a car accident and southeast of Drake Field Airport in Arkansas stands a mountain that has been named by locals as Ghost Mountain.
It has inherited this name due to unfortunate events in the 1930s.
At the top of the mountain was an old log house. The man of the family used to like to drink alcohol regularly, not stopping until he was inebriated. On one occasion, after a night of heavy drinking, the man-made his way home hoping to fall into the marital bed and sleep off the effects until morning.
Unfortunately, things did not go to plan and when he got home he found that his child was sick. His wife was doing her best to calm the child but the incessant crying was unstoppable. Tossing and turning in his bed, the man became angrier and angrier, fuelled by the amount of alcohol that he had partaken.
It is said that he jumped out of bed with speed, leaving his wife disorientated about what was happening as he snatched the baby from her. His wife following behind and begging for him to calm down the man stumbled outside and towards the well. As soon as he reached it he threw his baby in without any thoughts other than getting some sleep.
The wife, seeing such a scene became hysterical and grabbed the rope that would help her to reach her child. The man however was having none of this and took his axe to the rope. Leaving both to die together at the bottom.
Whether it was the disbelief and shame at what he had done or the fear of being caught, the man left town the next day and was not seen again.
The mountains, which provide over a million acres of wildlife, were inhabited by Native American’s when the explorers arrived. These searchers for the unknown and unseen would spend months with the communities to understand their way of being. For the Natives of the mountains in Arkansas, this meant verbal storytelling and rituals.
Authors who have researched and written about many ghostly places took an interest in this legend and decided to make their own inquiries. Varying paranormal events have been found to occur throughout the Ozark Mountains. Framed by the community, the tales that they recall are based on symbols and superstitions that guide the community’s way of life. To date, there has been no reason for the researchers to question the events on Ghost Mountain.
The Haunting of Ghost Mountain
There have been several reports that the well remains to be the home of the mother and child after death, still trapped at the bottom of the shaft, with no way out.
Local groups say that when you walk past the well on a night that has a full moon, the screams of the mother and her child can be heard, along with a chilling feeling that they need to protect someone.