Don't Blink

Region has its own paranormal haunting grounds

The family-friendly Haunted Night on the Battlefield returns to Prairie Grove on Saturday, and guests can walk the trails after dark, see actors portray some of the people who were at the battle and enjoy stories by the bonfire.
The family-friendly Haunted Night on the Battlefield returns to Prairie Grove on Saturday, and guests can walk the trails after dark, see actors portray some of the people who were at the battle and enjoy stories by the bonfire.

Whether you're a true believer in the paranormal, have questions about what could lie just beyond our realm of perception, or are a complete skeptic of all things supernatural, it can still be fun to explore a place with a spooky past. And Arkansas has plenty of alleged hauntings and urban legends to keep you awake at night.

Most everyone in Northwest Arkansas knows the famous Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs and its many resident ghosts, but the haunted hotel isn't the only public place you can have a paranormal experience. Rick Marshall of Springdale founded Paranormal Ozarks Investigations 10 years ago and offers some recommendations for those looking for a slightly less manufactured scare this Halloween -- or any time of year.

FAQ

Haunted Night on the Battlefield

WHEN — 7-9 p.m. Saturday

WHERE — Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park

COST — $1-$2

INFO — 846-2990 or prairiegrove@arkans…

BONUS — Driving tours, walking tours and tours of historic buildings are available during park hours.

FYI

Haunted Mortuary

If you’re looking to combine the manufactured and the supernatural, Carpenter’s Mortuary Spook House in Gentry — presented in a real one-time mortuary — was recently certified haunted by Heartland Paranormal Research Organization of Springfield, Mo. mortuarystudios.com.

"We [at POI] approach things from a pretty heavy skeptical standpoint," Marshall prefaces. "We try to debunk first -- find real reasons why [something could be happening]. What's left that you can't debunk is what's interesting."

Marshall and his team have performed professional investigations across the South and the Midwest and have recorded evidence of hauntings from several public buildings and parks that you can also visit in Northwest Arkansas. The Prairie Grove Battlefield and the Pea Ridge National Military Park, the Clayton House in Fort Smith and War Eagle Mill in Rogers are among locations in the state where Marshall and his team noted activity.

"It's less common to see apparitions during the day, but [places] aren't only haunted at night," he says.

Marshall shares stories of his team's experience at War Eagle Mill -- in the middle of the day -- where disembodied voices and footsteps have been heard on the second and third floors, and items have a tendency to move or fall to the floor of their own accord. At the Clayton House, he says, staff and visitors have interacted with a ghost cat which has been known to jump onto your lap, then disappear.

"I look at it as there are two kinds of hauntings: intelligent or active, and residual," Marshall says. "An intelligent haunting is where the ghost is aware of the present time and is interacting with people in [the present]. A residual haunting is kind of like a recording or a replay. Those are usually associated with something traumatic."

It seems like perhaps some of the best places to witness a residual haunting would be at one of the battlefields where thousands died during battles of the Civil War. Today, Marshall says people have come upon a soldier crouching next to a tree or had the feeling of being followed.

"A lot of times, it will kind of be like, 'Is that a guy standing behind that tree?' And then you blink and they're gone," he says. "All kinds of things can happen [at both battlefield parks] even in the daylight. You might even consider walking the Prairie Grove trails on the day of the battle (Dec. 7) in the morning when the battle was actually happening."

The important thing to remember if you're out to have your own paranormal adventure is to be respectful of the property. Actual paranormal investigations require special permission from any of these sites, and since spirits don't come out exclusively at night, there's no reason to be trespassing. If you just can't resist the spook factor of visiting a real haunted place at night though, you're in luck for this weekend. The Prairie Grove park will again host a Haunted Night on the Battlefield on Saturday. Marshall and other paranormal investigators also attend the event to share information on their work.

"I'm a big believer that when you're in kind of a frightened state -- when it's dark -- that's kind of setting that environment so psychologically, you might be a little more open to seeing something," he says.

NAN What's Up on 10/28/2016

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