Halloween spirits are behind the haunting of the Ozarks hollows
Where I live in the Ozarks, the end of October is a time where locals have learned that it is best to stay out of the hollows at night. Evil spirits are particular known to haunt the wooded hollows after midnight in late October and early November. Some of these spooky hollow stories became Ozark legends and they are told annually at the various Ozark Halloween haunting festivals.
Apparently people love going to these haunting events to feel scared as long as they believe that they are actually safe. I guess it can be like reading a scary novel, but beware, the haunting in the hollows during these Halloween festivals may seem just like play acting, but there probably is more in these Ozarks hollows than just meets the human eye.
I am not sure why the spirits of the Ozark hollows pick this time of the year to do most of their haunting. Maybe the first killing frost has something to do with it. Perhaps the smell of dying decaying vegetation invigorates the spirits of the dead and reminds them that it is time to come up for their annual All Souls Day reunion.
I also do not know why the spirits prefer the hollows rather than the ridges. Maybe the wind on the hills tear them apart or the late night frosts in the hollows makes it easier for the spirits to locate one another, but more likely, there are portals to the underworld among the many caves of the Ozark river bottoms.
Besides all the private haunting that people living in the Ozarks experience, just before Halloween there are several public state park sponsored haunting events. These state park run Halloween events are exceptionally well done. The Ozark state park haunting events are held in the river bottom hollows surrounded by deep woods, the parks have great scary story tellers, and the spooky atmosphere by candlelight always makes one think that something eerie could actually happen – maybe something could.
The story tellers and the realistic settings at these annual haunting events would do Washington Irving proud. In case you forgot, Washington Irving wrote the world-famous classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“. Irving wrote the first story that I read, that gave the spirits in the hollows of the world their undue justice.
We lived in a deep dark Ozark hollow for a few years, so there are things about the hollows that I know about first hand. Where we lived, the nearest neighbors were miles away and we were completely surrounded by conservation forests in the heart of the Ozarks in Shannon Country Missouri.
Shannon County is often said to be in the Twilight Zone. Trolls and unexplainable humanoid type creatures can still be seen even in the day time here. Some say it is because there is too much interbreeding in the county. Others blame the occult influence of the Scottish Rites for the demonic presence. But the real ghost hunters believe that there is a portal to the underworld among the thousands of caves in this very heavily wooded area of the Ozarks.
The hollows of Shannon Country is where few men dare travel alone at night unless they are locked in their cars. Lone people traveling in cars that break down in one of the countless river bottom hollows would rather spend the night in their car then attempt to walk out or even attempt to fix a flat. Those that do spend the night alone in a Shannon County Ozark hollow probably did not sleep much and they probably got some new gray hairs that night.
Like I said, we lived in a deep dark hollow and just look at my hair! I did not venture out much during late night hours but the few times that I did, soon cured me of doing anything that stupid again. I felt safe in the concrete house that we lived in (no kidding) but my wife still tells me about doors that closed themselves and the black snake that she found under the carpet.
The history of our hollow goes back many generations People died on that property even in more recent times. We met three prior owners of that property while we lived there, all confirmed the belief that the hollow was haunted.
One night not long after watching the low-budget Blair Witch Project horror film. I decided that I would teach my dogs a lesson. The dogs were always wandering off into the miles of deep woods that surrounded our property and I wanted to keep them near the house. So, I took a flashlight and slipped into the woods unseen by the dogs. Then I put the flashlight under my face like they did in that movie and came out of the woods roaring like a madman and running toward the dogs.
The six fearless dogs took one look at me and then took off in different directions. I chased them all around the property for what seemed like about 20 minutes. Before long I realized that I was scaring myself, so rather than totally freaking out, I went back in the house. So where did that evil presence come from that freaked me out? Maybe my acting disturbed the real haunter of that hollow? Whatever the case, scaring the dogs worked, after that night the dogs stayed out of the woods at night.
I think something else was going on that night than just my act, because the last time I got that freaked out was when I was camping alone near a ghost town in the Black Mountains that are Southwest of Golden Valley Arizona. That was a very freaky place and still is, but that is another ghost story.
People that came down to our Ozark hollow homestead sometimes freaked out for no reason. Maybe it was mainly the isolation. However, I remember one guy that attended a Bible Study that we were starting at the house, and after the first lesson he totally lost it. He verbally attacked the teaching (intro to the Revelation commentary by Chuck Missler) and then he grabbed his wife and departed the property in a big huff. I don’t think he was reacting against Missler’s doctrine because the guy had no Bible knowledge of his own, but I do have my own theories on why he flipped out.
This guy had lived in his own Shannon County hollow for many years. I think he may have carried along a couple of residents that he did not know he had, and the Bible study set them off. Or maybe the residents of our hollow were still having a feud with the residents of his hollow. Some Shannon County residents are like the original Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. There have been ongoing feuds between the different Scotch/Irish clans almost since their arrival in the Ozarks.
A month or so later, this real McCoy drove down to my place drunk on homemade wine and apologized for his behavior. Guess he needed the alcohol to get the nerve. He said he did not know what came over him that night because I had never done anything bad toward him. Then because he drove past where he should have stopped, his car got stuck in the mud. That was the last time he came down to my property and he stopped showing up at the local church. A neighbor told me that this man was considering joining the local Mormons.
After a few years of living in the hollow we had to move, so I put the place up for sale and tried to sell it myself. I remember one couple particularly because they flew in from another state just to see the property and the property seemed to be everything that they were looking for. I was showing the grounds and everything was going great, but all of a sudden, right out of the blue, the guy tells his wife that they have to leave RIGHT NOW. That is all he would tell her or us and he emphasized the “RIGHT NOW” loud enough to make it very clear that they were leaving RIGHT NOW.
Several days later his wife called and apologized for him. She said she loved the place but some dread came over him like he was about to die there. She said she really loved the place but she would never be able to get her husband to live there.
Then there was a woman who put a contract on the place but three days from closing, she felt that her own broker was putting too much pressure on her to close so she backed out. I figure her spirits vetoed the sale because they felt she could not get along with the local residents.
One thing I did notice is that all these people gave me no indication that they were Christians, so they were totally exposed to whatever was roaming the hollow. I actually loved the place but the biting bugs were really bad in that damp hollow. So, when we moved I said no more hollows.
There were other experiences but I think I said enough. We now live on top of a ridge in the Ozarks but we have to drive through a seasonal river bed hollow a mile down the road to get to a reasonable sized town. We are not in Shannon County anymore but we are about a mile from it, as the crow flies. The river bed canyon hollow we drive through is very scenic in the daytime but at night, it would not be a place where you would want to walk through alone. At night it fits just about every description of what you might imagine that Ichabod Crane experienced.
I remember one night about a year ago, two girls got their car stuck in the mud down there while trying to turn around because the creek was up and they could not cross it. This happened after midnight and they walked up to our place which was about a mile up the road on top of the ridge. They can see the lights in the distance from down there and they walked up the road toward them. I am sure they were whistling in the dark all the way since the road on both sides is lined with deep woods. I have seen a five foot rattlesnake on that road. They were fortunate, the spirits of the hollows seem to prefer loners, at least I have not heard anything to think otherwise. So, travel in groups around Halloween when going through those hollows and you should be safe.
Yeah, the hollow, a mile down our road quite often looks just like this picture at night but I am not about to go down there alone and wait to see if any headless horseman shows up. However, if you want to travel through a Ozark hollow alone at night like some Ichabod Crane, you probably will soon have your own stories to tell about the haunting of the hollows. Or maybe not!
Happy Halloween
Don Koenig founded www.thepropheticyears.com website in 1999 after almost thirty years of independent study on the Bible and learning from many astute teachers within Christendom. Don created his website to write about Bible prophecy, biblical discernment and his Christian worldviews. Don wrote a free Revelation commentary ebook in 2004 named "The Revelation of Jesus Christ Through The Ages". The World and Church and Bible Prophecy section of this website was started in 2007. 
…”Then I put the flashlight under my face like they did in that movie and came out of the woods roaring like a madman and running toward the dogs”
I would pay to see this….lol This was the scariest part of the story.
Don, what do you make of ghosts? Do you believe in them or do you think they are demonic entities trying to trick the living?
Don,
Thank you for your Halloween story. I really enjoy your writing!
Nathan,
I believe there are demonic spirits that have their own agenda. After all Jesus and others did cast them out.
On the other hand, what we classically call ghosts could be temporally seeing into the dominion of bound spirits or still unknown energy forces. They don’t seem to have an overt antichrist agenda. A change in brain waves through autosuggestion, fear, or even drugs could bring a temporary glimpse into that dimension.
I think our natural brain is like a radio receiver so there may be frequencies that some experience that others do not. It is like getting a song from your eyeglasses or skips on shortwave that you can only receive when all conditions are just right.
However, no one really knows. I try to keep an opened mind. I think all this can be explained if we had the facts.
Then there are the claimed alien contacts, I think that is an ongoing Satanic deception.
Anyway, I do not claim to have any inside knowledge or claim to be an expert about any of this.
The Facts in this story are almost all true but the evil spirits suggestion is more subjective and offered in the spirit of entertainment for the Halloween season. Also check out the related links on the bottom of the post for prior Halloween entertainment.
Some think even mentioning Halloween is wrong, but I think it has become part of our culture even like commercializing Christmas. I do not think that Christians are subject to dead spirits so this stuff really should not affect them. I personally like Steve King and Dean Koonz horror novels. For me these novels are a short trip into a fantasy reality that gets into many mind expanding side trips other than evil spirits. NO. I am not endorsing them for others. But, some of the same people that would condemn this would play all kinds of weird video games.
Hi Don,
Loved your story, and I know a little of what you speak. We have a cabin down deep in a Missouri holler on a large piece of land, which itself lies within the very much larger Mark Twain National Forest. We’re hunkered along a creek where the fog likes to sink and settle in on crisp October dawns. Where shifting pre-dawn shadows just might be the local spirit or two, but most likely are a couple deer, or a lone bear. It can be a spooky place if you allow your imagination to get the better of you. I’ve only seen one rattlesnake, but copperheads and black racers abound, so you best step carefully. Gotta admit I’ve never seen a ghost down in our holler, or anywhere else for that matter. And I’ve never really felt spooked, but maybe that’s because our cabin is in Ozark County, not Shannon County? Next time we’re down there I’ll pay more attention. By the way, when we need to go to town, the drive takes over two creeks that become impassable when it rains. The metropolis where we get our groceries is ten miles away and populated by 250 mostly friendly souls!
I agree with you on preferring the ridge tops. If I ever do it again, that’s where I’ll go.
Don, I agree with you and I tend to keep an opened mind also. I personally don’t see anything wrong with halloween, I have a three year old son and my wife and I just took him trick or treating last night. I too think its just part of our culture, a time where children can dress up as super heroes (our son was captain America), ghosts or of course goblins. Lol. The children get to have some make believe fun with there parents and best of all get free candy. As far as horror novels, I have just starting reading my first one authored by Dean Koonz titled “What the night knows”. Thanks for the festive, entertaining post.
Nathan,
I don’t want anyone to be misled. There is a dark side to Halloween but stopping the cultural aspects in this country is no more likely to happen than fireworks on Independence day or Santa Claus on Christmas. Actually, Halloween was darker when I was a kid because parents or adults did not accompany the kids and there were no organize events. We actually did the tricks part and that got more trickier as we got older.
Slightly off topic, but not that far off… Watching the storm tracker models, looks like I’ll be taking a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy come TUE/WED, for which is being dugged “Frankenstorm”; Well, back to “micro survival mode” for a few days – just in time for Halloween.
Hi Craig,
Stay safe, get your survival stuff ready. You may be without power for days.
Don, I to believe there is a dark side to halloween. I’m sure there are satanists who use this time to do whatever there delusional minds do. As a kid I always enjoyed halloween, I guess because my parents always had harmless fun activities for us. I guess those good memories I had I want passed down to my son. We like decorating with pumpkins and my son enjoys the halloween cartoons. I did not find you misleading I agree with you. But I think as long as its done in a harmless fashion it can be innocent entertainment. I can only imagine the tricks you pulled. Lol
same here craig, i live in north jersey and it seems its gonna hit dead on.
btw it looks like no kids are gonna be trick or treatin this Halloween for the northeast ,they gonna be inside with no power. i also never knew that ozarks, Missouri had those kind of scary woods.
Hi Don and others,
An interesting story, and great for halloween.. There is indeed interesting brain research with regards to spiritual matters. They have located a specific region that “lights up” on brain imaging tests when one prays, that does not light up when the person meditates. Researchers are finding some fascinating things. Along with that, I work with drug using teenagers who have reported some very eery things from there experiences with various mood altering chemicals. Some of what they see are just gibberish generated by an altered brain under the influence of a toxin. However, some of the stories are very similar and consistent with seeing into spiritual dimensions. I do believe that the brain has the capacity for accessing spiritual dimension. Some are more “sensitive” to these spiritual dimensions, while others are not. The brain region that I cited does not light up for everyone. Some are more open than others, and we do not know why. Historically, hallucinogenic drugs were used for vision quests and such.
Pretty fascinating stuff that is way above my “pay grade”. I’m a low level professional dabbler when it comes to understanding the deeper brain stuff. But the new research that is going in is very fascinating.
Thought I would add my .02 cents…
And to those on the East Coast, a prayer will be said… Keep your head down…
Rod in Oregon
Appreciate everyones prayers too; stuck in the middle of Manhattan. All public transportation shut down. They have evacuated some of the beach fronts and lower areas. My flight was cancelled from Newark; the airlines phone line is a hour wait.
Thanks Don, after your Holloween story, I think I might prefer Hurricane Sandy.
(I just want to go back home to Missouri)
About this Hallows Eve upcoming night…
I do hope we, as Christ believing people, will take the opportunity tonight to preach The Gospel or maybe give out Bible tracts as opposed to celebrating this pagan event.
I thought trick or treats these days was an American custom and costume dress up for little kids. I do not think most of these kids or the adults accompanying them are conjuring up spirits. How about you? Are you going door to door tonight handing out gospel tracks in your Obama costume?
Don,
I regard these pagan satanic holidays as anything but innocent fun for the kids, I’d bet that Satan himself has a good laugh as he further misleads people into believing that Hallows Eve is innocent fun…especially for self proclaimed Christians.
From my understanding, the history and celebration of Halloween is clearly demonic.
I do agree, Halloween is a tradition in the U.S. and probably abroad also.
And no, if I were to dress up, I’d dress up as Don Koenig, white beard and all : )
~David
I see you’re in disguise, is that evil? Perhaps you will trick and treat tonight after all.
This trick and treating is innocent fun for the innocent. I have seen trick and treat replacements put on by churches that change nothing except they have it all on their grounds. So what is the real point?
The history of all seasonal holidays are satanic, we live in a satanic world system. Christians Christianized some pagan holidays like Christmas and Easter and they are working on Halloween but are getting lost in materialism, as the church goes into apostasy. There is a Christian holiday called All Saints Day on the 1st of November, so see if you can move the trick and treat to that day if that will make you fell better.
Worry more about Satan appearing as an angel of light then some forked devil. That is the really dangerous deception.
You’re not suggesting that these innocent kids or those going to costume parties are celebrating what people in the occult do on Halloween and many other times of the year, Are you? I have yet to see one of these kids join the Skull and Cross Bones Society or other occult clubs, but Christians have no problem voting for Presidents that join these demonic groups. Consider the Mormons whose founder got a message from something disguised as an angel of light.
Don,
There are also those who believe that not wearing a suit to church, or women having their hair to long, etc, are in league with Satan.. And this is a so called “Christian” church. It’s the responsibility of adults to let kids have a safe time, and let it just be fun. Are we supposed to be looking for evil under every bush? I agree with your statement “Worry more about Satan appearing as an angel of light then some forked devil”. I have enjoyed Halloween with my son over the years, and as of yet, we have not sacrificed to baal, or killed any cats… Although I probably ate to many “whoppers”…. Just my opinion…
Rod in Oregon
Don,
Halloween can be viewed as having pagan roots as well as being viewed as having Christian roots as well, guess its which ever way a person views it. It’s a family tradition that I am passing down to my son. We see it as a time to celebrate the changing of seasons. For children to harmlessly play dress up, bob for apples, pumpkin carving etc. As a Christian family all of this is done in innocent form. Although I am sure there are satanists, spiritualist’s, etc. that also use this time to make animal sacrifice’s, use of Ouija boards and seances to conjure up evil spirits. I find our activities to be totally benign. Happy Halloween to you and yours!
Rod,
I think Christians lose credibility when they major in the minors. There were over fifty million kids sacrificed in the name of birth control in this nation and the approval of homosexual practice has led to the death of millions by disease and some Christians are more worried about the evils of kids dressing up and trick and treating.
Don & Rod,
Where I live in AZ, Wiccan magic is regarded as innocent…it’s fun entertainment and interesting according to them…and since it isn’t aimed at hurting anyone, it’s regarded as “white” magic.
I disagree with this thinking also.
~David
I don’t get the point. Nobody is suggesting that anyone practice Wiccan or white magic.
In Arizona you also have Mormons and Masons that actually practice the occult this Halloween and every other day of the year and Christians are not on a soapbox about the Mormon magic underwear or secret occult rituals that these groups actually practice. In fact, many Christians are promoting these people.
The Southern Baptist Convention position sees nothing wrong with people joining the Masons and many Christians leaders are even saying that Mormons are Christians. But, have kids dress up in costumes to go trick or treating or tell eerie stories on Halloween and Katy-bar-the-door. The legalistic have found the easy target that they are looking for to make themselves sound so opposed to any appearance of evil while they do nothing about the real evil before them everyday. I have already mentioned just a few of hundreds or thousands.
Don,
Very true.. It is very pharisaical.. It goes back to the Holy Spirit.. If the Holy Spirit convicts you, don’t do it.. But if you expect others to abide by your convictions, they would be practicing legalism if they did or didn’t do something because someone else “told them”. This is why the vast majority of the “church” has lost credibility. They have become more interested in control, than in the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisaical mindset does not allow for the leading of the Holy Spirit, but rather, focuses on rules and control. We have become quite skilled at “picking and choosing” evils, much as the religious rulers of Jesus’ day.
Rod in Oregon
Don….. holloween season is the devils playground. These kind of tales or cultural happenings should never cause fear or concern for true believers. “Greater is He that is in you that is in the world”.
Dave on Long Island