AUGUSTA — Kip Davis is not only planning for the future of Woodruff County; he also delves into its past. Working as the city planner for Augusta, Davis is also vice president of the Woodruff County Historical Society.
He has compiled many stories about the county where he grew up in his book History’s Traveling Sideshow (Vol. I).
“I have always had a deep love for history, especially local legends, ghost stories or anything unusual,” he said. “When I was younger, I never really hung out with kids my own age. I was always drawn to the older people in my town or neighborhoods and would listen to them tell stories of events that happened. I would sit and listen to them all the time and memorize the stories they told.”
One of the stories Davis wrote was about the Rev. William M. Dehorn who was an African-American fortune teller around Woodruff County in the late 1800s and early 1900s. People claim that his grave is haunted.
“I have always felt uneasy when I have gone out to visit the grave of Dehorn,” Davis said. “I’ve always felt as though I was being watched and should show respect while I was there.”
He said he does have firsthand experiences with the stories in his books, especially that of the reverend.
“My friend and I decided to go on a ghost hunt once and had some unusual things happen during and after the visit,” Davis said. “I also deal with those from around the state and others who have heard of him and contact me for more information.”
Dehorn wasn’t a real reverend, Davis said, but had been given that title. He lived in a a small house in Patterson. His grave is in a wooded area separate from the rest of the cemetery.
“Nothing grows around his tombstone except several large cacti,” Davis said. “It is very sandy and the ground full of sinkholes. Many people have reported that the gravesite is haunted, and mysterious things happen to them when they visit. I have had my car battery go dead after a brief visit.”
Carved in Dehorn’s tombstone — just off Burkett’s Curve on Arkansas 145 in McCrory — is, “Here lies a man with special God Given Powers, who has healed and read the lives of thousands of people. He was a faithful servant of God till the end. Age 72.”
“He had solved many cases for the police, including the location of the body of a young boy who disappeared while swimming in the muddy Cache River,” Davis said. “Many people getting off the train in Patterson would ask the nearest person where they could find Dehorn’s home. … I have heard several stories of him over the years and how he could tell the future and heal the sick. I remember when I was a kid, an older lady I knew told me of a time she went and requested his services. She said it was late in the evening, and she was greeted at the door by a female and showed inside. Right away, he told her that she should get in her car and drive home as soon as possible. He told her she was going to have an accident but would come into some money. She should leave before it got dark.
“On the way home, the lady had a tire blow out on her car. She said as she put the last lug nut on the car tire, something caught her eye in the ditch. She walked over and picked up a $20 bill. Dehorn had been correct.”
Davis said there’s another story he wrote about a brick mausoleum in Augusta, where he has gotten an uneasy feeling, too.
“The hair stood up on my arms, and I got a feeling like when you see a snake,” he said. “I backed away from it and took a picture of the mausoleum. Later, when I developed the pictures, there was a green glowing light above the window where I had been standing. Most of the time I feel at peace or protected as I walk through these places.”
Recently putting his stories in book form, Davis said that once he decided to write a book, he was surprised at how quickly the book began to sell and get checked out through Amazon.com’s Kindle lending library.
“This prompted me to write a second volume, and I am also writing Volume 3,” he said.
Looking through cemeteries has always interested Davis, and he believes a cemetery tells a lot about the history of the people in the area.
“I always tell people, ‘If you read the stones and listen, the people will tell you their story,’” he said. “I do history walks yearly through the city of Augusta, always ending at the cemetery. I do a talk on funerary art, the meanings of the symbols and shapes of the stones, and also the local legends that surround those who are buried there. … I always get a kick out of the kids from the school groups. Some of them are very superstitious and will say, ‘Don’t step on that grave!’ or ‘Don’t point at that grave or that person will come back and haunt you in your dreams tonight.’”
Davis said he can’t say he’ll never go on another ghost hunt, but he doesn’t encourage ghost hunting.
“I have come to the conclusion that the dead should be left alone, and if we are going to seek anything from the other side, it should be God,” he said.
History’s Traveling Sideshow (Vol. I) can be purchased at Amazon.com.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.