Trifter

Whether you’re looking for something new to do this Halloween or simply a fan of paranormal sites, visitors to Arkansas will find plenty of spooky sites worth investigating. Many of the state’s unique landmarks and famous tourist attractions boast ghost stories and sightings of the paranormal.

The King Opera House in Van Buren, Arkansas is more than just a elegant historic theater. The stunning interior is home to a ghostly legend that visitors and performers claim to have seen throughout the years. According to legend, a young actor from the theater planned to elope with his sweetheart but was intercepted and assaulted by her father, resulting in his death. Today his ghost is supposedly still present in the theater, dressed in old-fashioned Victorian attire. Several members of the theatrical community claim to have seen this apparition or felt its presence while alone in the theater.

Booneville, Arkansas is home to a haunted site with a solemn past. The city’s former tuberculosis sanatorium, hosts a yearly Halloween fundraisers that capitalizes on the haunted reputation of the site. Paranormal investigators claim to have found evidence of ghosts, including electronic voice phenomena. Some locals also claim to have heard strange things while spending time in the building.

The Little Rock Arsenal remains one of Arkansas’s most haunted sites to date. Once home to a barracks, armory, and military quarters, the site history dates back to the early 1800’s and includes a harrowing Civil War history regarding the brutal Union execution of a young man. Many visitors to the remaining structure on site, the Tower Building, claim to have heard music and voices with no explanation for their presence, while others have seen strange shadows and apparitions. The popular reputation of its haunted encounters has prompted a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater offered by Little Rock Tours, an evening of entertainment in the Tower Building itself.

The elegant tourist attraction the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs is also brimming with paranormal stories and strange encounters. Legends regarding the red-haired stonemason “Michael” who supposedly died during work on the premises are the foundation for a series of poltergeist-like events at the hotel, including flickering lights, running water, and hallucinatory sights. Other strange encounters include ghostly figures spotted in the lobby, electronic voice recordings which include unexplained voices, and the figure of a white nurse supposedly connected to the cancer hospital which once existed within the building.

Whether you seek a piece of Arkansas’s haunted past or simply a step back in history, these sites and others promise a good time no matter what your beliefs on the paranormal.