History of Hallow's Eve

Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.

All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st. The Catholic church honored saints on this designated day.

Several urban legends and tall tales about Halloween have become a part of the public consciousness over the years.Urban legends, also known as superstitions, old wives tales, folklore, bizzare beliefs or taboo are tales that have been passed from person to person, town to town and told as true stories.

An urban legend, myth or tale more properly a "'contemporary legend'" is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them. Like all folklore, contemporary legends are not necessarily false, but they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time. according to Wikipedia encyclopedia.

Curiosity got the best of me and even though I do not believe this sort of stuff, I had to see what Northeast Arkansas had to offer as "ghostly sightings". I was surprised at what I discovered locally.

WHITE RIVER MONSTER

Near Newport, Arkansas

The forests, sparsely populated regions and the Ozark Hills of Arkansas have long made for many mysteries and the strange creatures of the state are no exception. There have been a number of anomalous creatures who have appeared throughout the state over the years.

The Fouke Monster of Fouke, Arkansas is certainly one of the strangest. This six-feet-tall, hairy, humanoid monster gained notoriety in the late 1960's when it harassed two families living outside this town in the southwest part of the state. The monster is reported to have smelled awful and made a habit of killing chickens and livestock and mauling a number of dogs. The story became so popular that a low-budget horror movie called The Legend of Boggy Creek was made about it in 1973.

The other most famous creature of Arkansas is the White River Monster, a mystery so widely accepted that it has it's own game preserve! From about 1915 to the 1970's, residents of the small town of Newport reported seeing a monster in the nearby river. The sightings were not constant but seemed to occur many at a time.

The monster was described as being sea-serpent-like and at least thirty feet long. Witnesses reported that it made a loud bellowing noise and had a spiny backbone. The reports varied the creature's size over the years and it was often encountered by fisherman and campers along the river. Two men reported in 1971 that they saw three-toed tracks along the muddy river banks and a place where the monster had crushed some of the vegetation.

The creature was even photographed that same year by Cloyce Warren of the White River Lumber Company.

In 1973 a resolution was passed in the Arkansas State Legislature creating the White River Monster Refuge along all of the White River that runs adjacent to the Jacksonport State Park. This resolution made it illegal to "molest, kill, trample, or harm the White River Monster while he is in the retreat."

Newport, Arkansas is located about ninety miles northeast of Little Rock on Highway 67. The White River Monster has been sighted along the river and from the Jacksonport State Park.

The Fouke Monster was seen near this town in southwest Arkansas at the junction of the Sulphur and Red Rivers. The sightings occurred between 1955 and 1975 along Boggy Creek. The film, based on the events, The Legend of Boggy Creek, is described as a low-budget docudrama about sightings of a horrifying swamp monster. It became a huge success and, believe it or not, inspired two sequels. It is supposed to be still available on videocassette, but I have not yet found a copy.

In Marion AR, the ghost of an adolescent girl was made out pacing from residence to residence in the early morning hours on a Marion residential road. When the onlooker showed up the ghost escaped. People declare that this ghost may well be a well-known former time local of Marion.

A person with a skeleton face in gloomy robes was observed looking terrifying in Avondale Park after midnight. The arrival of the watcher frightened the ghost who then vanished.

A wandering spirit is frequently noticed gazing irritably at the watcher in a sail boat on Marion Lake.

The spirit of a youthful Indian warrior may frequently be seen at night hovering over Lloyd Bottom. One of the locals decisively argues that this ghost is probably the struggling ghost of a resident who used to live in Marion.

On Highway 77, many people have reported a ghostly bare-footed figure walking down the middle of the highway wearing a flowered shirt. As you get closer, it will turn to face you and it has no face.

I found that Jonesboro AR had many "tales to tell".

In the Strand Theater - An apparition of a man has been seen by many people including play cast and personnel. He has been seen in the attic, the catwalk, the boiler room, the balcony as well as the projection room and has been affectionately named Charlie. He has appeared wearing different clothing at various sightings. According to one eyewitness account, he was sighted by a visitor who was making his way to the projection booth. As he rounded a corner in the balcony he came face to face with Charlie who was wearing a red shirt and casual pants. The visitor stopped within two feet of the apparition and made eye to eye contact. The visitor was not startled because he believed it to be a friend of his. Charlie vanished before his eyes. Another eyewitness reported that he had seen him sitting on a heating duct in the attic when he went upstairs to check on a faulty heating unit. There have been many other strange occurrences as well as poltergeist type activities at the Strand/Forum theater since its construction in 1927. One of these took place as workers were unloading the new grand piano. When the workers left the room momentarily to take a break the piano began playing a recognizable tune while still sealed within its packing crate. The piano was not a self-playing piano.

At Craighead Lake - The story is that one night a few teenagers where out at the lake drinking and one of them went out into the water at a non swimming area and he drowned. They say that if you go out there and look out across you can see a young man trying to stay above the water and can hear him screaming for help. Also, people have reported that a young man will come up and start talking to them and then all of sudden they turn away and turn back and he is gone.

In the Forum Theatre - Rumor has it that it is haunted by a spirit named Charlie. During the most recent summer musical, they're were various sightings of the mischievous ghost. Some of them include- A techie was cleaning up the dressing rooms when she heard a young man laughing gleefully as if playing a game, upon further inspection she found that there was no one in the theatre, let alone down stairs with her. One of the lead actors was running lines in the upper level when a mans voice began echoing her, at first she thought it was one of the other actors, but all of the male actors at that rehearsal were onstage at that time. Before a performance, a few people involved in the production went to the theatre to set up; they decided they needed to turn on the lights from the lighting booth so they headed upstairs to it. About half way up, the lights suddenly came on. The techies ran up to find nobody up there. They shrugged it off and headed downstairs. But as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the lights went off again. A bit frightened, they went back upstairs, still no one there. This went on a couple more times before the techies shut the system down and turned it on themselves.

Keller's Chapel - There have been strange sounds heard of babies crying as a result of the 9 Keller babies dying and they buried there. Perfect circles of rings of fire have been sited. Wooden crosses with animal skeletons have been found there. If you turn your car off at the gates of the chapel it will not start for a few hours. Strange things have been spotted moving around the cemetery and strangest sounds coming from inside the chapel itself.

Jonesboro - Nettleton High School Gym/ Band room - Under the bleachers is where the band keeps their instruments. Don't think that they just sit there; there is a room where all of the instruments are stored. One day, three friends were putting their instruments up. It was too early in the morning for anyone to be out in the gym, it was supposed to be locked and the janitor had finished cleaning. When they put up the instruments they heard a blood-curdling scream. They ran from the band room to the gym. It was locked; nothing could get in, unless it was something hard to explain. They ran back to the band room, at first, the trio was skeptical because it was the day before the band Halloween party and they thought that it was a prank. They went back to their instruments. Then again they heard the screaming. Except it was yelling for someone or something to quit. The three ran from the band room, leaving the instruments behind. From that day you can still hear the yelling if you are quite early in the morning standing in the Nettleton High Band Room. - One night after a band party, a group of band members decided to go run around in the gym. This was pretty late and almost everyone was gone home. The group split up and decided to go up to the cheerleading room. There they found that the room was extremely cold and for some odd reason they couldn't find the light switch. After leaving the cheerleading room they ran down the stairs where they heard screams. Now these weren't any ordinary screams, they were the kind of screams that you would only hear if someone was being stabbed or hurt. There was no explanation for the screams because at the time the group had all reunited. The whole group then ran down the stairs to find leaves falling from the ceiling of the gym, as if it was a tree. One of the girls in the group saw the shadow of what looked like a football player. They all thought that this was a joke until they heard a door slam and then saw another door swinging.

The Bono bridge tale is if you look down the railroad tracks underneath it, the train supposedly looks like it will hit you before it goes under the bridge.

Paragould had this to offer: at Collins Theater - While rehearsing on stage several cast members have reportedly seen an old couple sitting in the balcony observing. To their astonishment the specters would eventually disappear. Many people are of the opinion that they were the former owners of the theatre who were apparently curious of the goings on in the establishment. The old Collins theatre was built in 1928, a year later than its sister theatre, the Strand, in Jonesboro.

Primrose Lane?- if you drive down to the end of the rode where the pavement turns into dirt, drive down the path a little bit, turn of your lights and if u sit there for a little while you will see a figure of a man and his dog. the man is carrying a rifle. It is said that a man was hunting out there and he shot himself. If you walk through the woods some people have said that the mans dog will come up to you and then vanishes in front of your eyes.

Even closer to home is Tyronza - East Poinsett County Elementary - Reports of hearing footsteps behind you. Toilets flush on their own. Its said to be true that when the Tyronza Elem. School burned down in the 1950's that the kids that burned inside still haunt the halls.

I myself will be spending my Halloween watching "scary or spooky" movies at home after of course I take my niece to the "Hallow-HIM" party. However you decide to spend your Halloween, please be safe and be careful. Also remember to have adult supervision when trick-or-treating and go to only people you know. Have a very spooky Happy Halloween!