Three Purportedly Haunted Places You Can Visit in Northwest Arkansas

Three Purportedly Haunted Places You Can Visit in Northwest Arkansas

It’s October again, and in addition to cooler weather, spooky old movies on TV, and great nights in the stands at a hometown football game, that means it’s almost time for Halloween! The night of spooks, witches and specters always gets us in the… spirit (heh-heh-heh) here at McLarty Daniel Chevrolet of Springdale, encouraging us to recall some of the spooky tales of Northwest Arkansas we heard around the campfire as kids or on the internet as ghost-curious adults. Seen below, check out four purportedly haunted places you can visit right here in Northwest Arkansas. And if you need a great new or used vehicle to get you there, you’ll get only treats and no tricks from your friends in the car business here at McLarty Daniel Chevrolet! Have a safe and happy Halloween!

The Basin Park Hotel

12 Spring Street, Eureka Springs

When it comes to a town that definitely looks like a place where spooks, specters and all manner of ghosties would hang out, Eureka Springs definitely fits the bill. Of the many spooky stories to be had in Eureka, the big hotels there have caught more than their share of ghostly tales, and that includes the Basin Park Hotel, located right in the thumping heart of town on Spring Street. Built in 1905, the Basin Park’s reputation as a haunted locale often plays second-fiddle to that of its sister hotel up the hill, the Crescent Hotel. But there’s plenty of lore surrounding the Basin Park as well, including regular sightings of the hotel’s resident ghost, Duncan, who appears as a man in a dapper brown suit and old-fashioned derby hat. Another spirit that is purportedly glimpsed at the Basin Park is that of a young bride in a flowing white wedding gown, who is sometimes seen at the Basin Park’s top-floor ballroom. Visitors sometimes also report other ghostly apparitions,
including a spectral African Lion(!) roaming the halls, and the sound of ringing slot machines echoing from the hotel’s distant and nefarious past as an illegal casino.

Clayton House

514 N. 6th Street, Fort Smith

One of Fort Smith’s most opulent Victorian homes and a jewel of the city’s Belle Grove Historic District, the Clayton House was originally constructed in the early 1880s as a residence for the family of prominent local resident William Henry Harrison Clayton, who served as chief prosecutor in the court of Fort Smith’s famous “Hanging Judge,” Isaac Parker. Whether it’s due to the lingering presence of the Clayton family or some of the upset spirits of those outlaws Clayton helped send to Judge Parker’s busy gallows is unclear, but visitors to the Clayton House have reported all manner of paranormal experiences over the years, including hearing the sounds of stomping boots and slamming doors from the second floor when no (living) person was upstairs. William Clayton’s personal study is also apparently a hotbed of ghostly activity according to witnesses, who have reported sightings of a gray-haired older woman in a brown Victorian dress. Now fully restored to the way it appeared
when Clayton and his family lived there, the house is operated through the Fort Smith Heritage Foundation and is available for rental.

Pea Ridge National Military Park

15930 E Hwy 62, Garfield

From Gettysburg to Vicksburg, Civil War Battlefields have long been seen as paranormal hotspots, which is probably understandable given the amount of suffering and death that happened there. While it wasn’t the biggest battle fought in the Civil War, the Battle of Pea Ridge may have been one of its most consequential. Fought on March 7-8, 1862, the battle saw over 23,000 soldiers clash in the hilly pastureland of Northwest Arkansas in a conflict which historians agree was a turning point on the war’s Western front. Today, the 4,300-acre battlefield is considered one of the most intact in the nation, and – if numerous witnesses are to be believed – that includes some of the 3,400 combatants who lost their lives there and possibly still linger there over a century after the muskets and cannons were stilled. Over the years, visitors have reported the sound of cannon fire and musket volleys in the night, along with the distant shouting of vast numbers of spectral soldiers.

Have these three ghostly places got you in the Halloween spirit? We hope so! Whether you believe in Things That Go Bump in the Night or not, you’ve got to admit that these stories are a whole lot of fun. And if your vehicle is going bump, squeak, rattle, wheeze or clunk as you go down the highway, stop in at McLarty Daniel Chevrolet for a service appointment. While you’re here, check out our great selection of new and used vehicles, or you can shop us online at our website right now.