Every place has its dark side, and Arkansas is no different. Arkansas has more than just a dark side, though—it also has a long history of oral tradition. We pass stories along. We whisper them to each other. We hold flashlights under our chins and repeat them around campfires or in bedrooms. We’ve got stories about monsters, hitchhiking ghosts, and cemeteries where the flags wave without a breeze. We also have true stories, stories we can find in the news, that are just as horrifying. Here are the ten things that make Arkansas the most terrifying state in the U.S.:
- State Highway 365
Wikimedia/Jeff Holder Home to numerous stories about vanishing hitchhikers, State Highway 365 is the spookiest road in Arkansas.
- Ronald Gene Simmons
Flickr/Johan Larsson In the span of a week in 1987, Ronald Gene Simmons of Russellville killed sixteen people. He decided to kill all the members of his family, and succeeded. Afterward, he laid them all out in the house and spent the evening drinking beer and watching TV.
- Arkansas Rehabilitation Center (Hot Springs)
Flickr/Rennett Stowe It was originally called the Army-Navy hospital and for awhile it served as a hospital for the criminally insane. There were once so many bodies that they lined them up in the halls of one floor. The elevator doesn’t stop on that floor anymore. Plus it just looks spooky, doesn’t it?
- Fouke Monster
Flickr/Toho Scope Blamed for both the destruction of livestock and the 1971 attack on a family, the Fouke or Boggy Creek Monster is sometimes called the Southern Sasquatch.
- The Crescent Hotel (Eureka Springs)
Flickr/Debra The Crescent Hotel refers to itself as the most haunted hotel in America, and with the sheer volume of ghost stories there, it’s not hard to see why.
- Dover Lights
Flickr/Moe Moosa Said to be the ghosts of Spanish conquistadors looking for gold or coal miners mourning the mine collapse that killed them, lights appear near a dirt road north of Dover. Reports of the lights date back to the time before electricity.
- Fredonia Cemetery
Flickr/Jimmy Emerson, DVM When there is no wind, a ghostly breeze blows the flags on the graves of Fredonia Cemetery. People tend to feel uneasy there, and hear voices murmuring among the graves.
- Peppersauce Ghost Town
Flickr/Jimmy Emerson, DVM Located within the city limits of Calico Rock and dubbed the East Calico Historic District, this little ghost town is as cool as it is creepy.
- White River Creature
Wikipedia/Linda Tanner He’s called “Whitey” and he was first spotted in the White River near Newport. It’s said he’s the size of a boxcar with skin like an elephant.
- Nature
Flickr/Doug Wertman Let’s face it: you could fall off a mountain or bluff, drown in a flash flood, be bitten by a snake or spider, anger a bee hive . . . there are all kinds of reasons to be terrified of Arkansas nature.
But is the risk worth the reward?
Yes. Yes it is.
Flickr/Armyman
What do you think makes Arkansas the most terrifying state? Do you have any creepy ghost stories to tell?
Wikimedia/Jeff Holder
Home to numerous stories about vanishing hitchhikers, State Highway 365 is the spookiest road in Arkansas.
Flickr/Johan Larsson
In the span of a week in 1987, Ronald Gene Simmons of Russellville killed sixteen people. He decided to kill all the members of his family, and succeeded. Afterward, he laid them all out in the house and spent the evening drinking beer and watching TV.
Flickr/Rennett Stowe
It was originally called the Army-Navy hospital and for awhile it served as a hospital for the criminally insane. There were once so many bodies that they lined them up in the halls of one floor. The elevator doesn’t stop on that floor anymore. Plus it just looks spooky, doesn’t it?
Flickr/Toho Scope
Blamed for both the destruction of livestock and the 1971 attack on a family, the Fouke or Boggy Creek Monster is sometimes called the Southern Sasquatch.
Flickr/Debra
The Crescent Hotel refers to itself as the most haunted hotel in America, and with the sheer volume of ghost stories there, it’s not hard to see why.
Flickr/Moe Moosa
Said to be the ghosts of Spanish conquistadors looking for gold or coal miners mourning the mine collapse that killed them, lights appear near a dirt road north of Dover. Reports of the lights date back to the time before electricity.
Flickr/Jimmy Emerson, DVM
When there is no wind, a ghostly breeze blows the flags on the graves of Fredonia Cemetery. People tend to feel uneasy there, and hear voices murmuring among the graves.
Located within the city limits of Calico Rock and dubbed the East Calico Historic District, this little ghost town is as cool as it is creepy.
Wikipedia/Linda Tanner
He’s called “Whitey” and he was first spotted in the White River near Newport. It’s said he’s the size of a boxcar with skin like an elephant.
Flickr/Doug Wertman
Let’s face it: you could fall off a mountain or bluff, drown in a flash flood, be bitten by a snake or spider, anger a bee hive . . . there are all kinds of reasons to be terrified of Arkansas nature.
Flickr/Armyman
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