Categories: TRAVEL

Haunted Places in Little Rock, Arkansas

When it comes to super natural ghostly activity, you either believe in ghosts and fear them, believe in them and find that in searching for proof that they really do exist, and that it is exhilarating, or you are a non-believer that shrugs it off as the house settling or that your eyes are just playing tricks on you. Whether you believe in their existence or not, they never fail to keep us intrigued as we watch programs with experts that search for them or you hear about various hauntings through legend, and from people that feel that they have had an encounter through some type of sighting or sign.

Much of this comes from the desire to communicate with loved ones who have passed on and of course the mystery of death itself. We have a fear of the unknown, and death fits into that perimeter, so we tend to look for ways to explain what happens after we have left this world. Many people believe that your soul enters heaven after death, while others believe that we hang around in limbo if we have met an untimely or unexpected death.

A vast amount of people who have experienced an encounter with a ghostly apparition refuse to admit it simply because they do not want to be ridiculed, and rightfully so, as the skeptics still outweigh the believers. Perhaps after reading the documented hauntings that I have written about, you will have a different outlook on the world of ghostly activity and all that is involved in proving that it truly does exist.

Mount Holly Cemetery
Little Rock, Arkansas

This is the place where you can walk with the dead as they never seem to rest, in fact it has been reported that this is the grand daddy of all for anyone wanting proof that paranormal activity really does exist. Established in 1873, this is the resting place of the 17-year old Confederate spy, David O. Dodd. Also buried in the famous cemetery are 10 former Arkansas governors, 6 United States senators, 14 Arkansas Supreme Court justices and 21 mayors of the city.

Another famous ghost that lives in the cemetery is that of the famous Cherokee woman, Elizabeth ‘Quatie’ Ross who was the wife of Chief John Ross. Quatie was known as a noble hearted woman who died in 1839 by giving her only blanket to a sick child. She had traveled thinly clad through blinding sleet and snow, and developed pneumonia, suffering a miserable death. Her husband buried her at the city cemetery and marked her grave with a sandstone monument that would later get lost under the cemeteries receiving house. Other legends tell a different story, one that has Quatie being buried on the bank of the river, and then being moved to a marked grave at the request of some prominent men of Little Rock who recognized the importance of Chief John Ross and his family. Quatie has been seen by believers and skeptics, and one can only assume that this restless ghostly spirit is searching for her own grave or that she is still in search of the family that left her behind as they finished their journey on “The Trail of Tears”.

Ghost hunters and other paranormal experts get their fill at Mount Holly as the activity is endless. The grand statues and tombstones that come from prominent families appear to have a life of their own as they have been seen moving, both by the human eye and captured on film. Ghostly images of period soldiers are a relatively normal sight as locals and visitors have had the privilege of being in their company more often then not. So if you’re walking through this cemetery on a crisp autumn night, don’t be so sure that the chill that you begin feeling is the brisk fall air. A complete candlelit tour and chilling stories about the residents of Mount Holly Cemetery are given each year in October by tour guides.

The Empress of Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas

If walking with ghostly spirits sounds mind boggling, then what about sleeping with them? Well that is exactly what will happen if you decide to spend an evening or two at the Empress. The owners, Bob and Sharon Blair purchased the grand hotel despite the growing rumors that ghosts lived in the attic where illegal poker games were once held in the 1890’s. The hotel was completed in 1888, and it is described in the National Register of Historic Places as the best example of ornate Victorian Architecture in Arkansas and the most important existing example of Gothic Queen Anne style regionally. The luxurious antique furnishings in the bed & breakfast hotel are exquisite, and the double staircase is lit by rainbow hues from the 64 square foot skylight above.

Not long after the new owners moved in they began to sense that they were not the only residents living in the hotel. In fact Bob watched a ghost methodically walk down the stairs, clad in a homburg hat. They also began to hear noises coming from the attic that could not be ignored as they eventually planned for guests to enjoy a full function bed & breakfast. They quickly hired a team of Ghostbusters to see what was really going on with their new purchase. What they got was confirmation that their hotel was indeed haunted with many restless spirits walking the entire premises of the Empress. They were assured by the team that these were friendly ghosts and that many guests might even be intrigued by their presence. Today the Empress fetches anywhere from $155.00 to $285.00 per night as visitors enjoy the themed rooms. There is the Ernest Hemingway Suite and the Majestic Suite which offers the 1930’s Hollywood elegance of Clark Gable style furnishings.

The Burden of Proof

Scientists, archeologists, and other crucial players go into a team of experienced Ghostbusters, as does high tech equipment designed to pick up temperature drops, orbs and movement. The EMF detection meter is used to seek out disruptions in the natural magnetic field. It is up to the team to decide which of these things are truly supernatural and which are bogus. A motion sensor is also a valuable tool as it detects temperature changes not caused by fans, heaters, or other objects that could cause a phony reading. The popular Geiger counter measures Alpha, Beta, Gamma and X-ray radiation along with fluctuation in radiation which will point to a disturbance in spirit energy.

Eye witness accounts play an important role in detecting ghosts as well. The team feeds off of this information so that they have an idea of where they should be targeting in at. Still motion photography is beneficial in ghostly evidence after the film has been screened for any and all reasoning as to why something has shown itself in the picture. The best film for this type of evidence is the Kodak Gold 400 speed, this will eliminate grainy images. Some of more experienced ghost hunters use infrared film, which gets the best results, but it isn’t cheap. Proof that ghosts do exist does not always come easily, and many skeptics will say that it was the lighting or that it was set up to look haunted. It is up to each individual person to decide for themselves whether they live in a haunted house, have slept in a haunted hotel, visited a haunted cemetery or if the building and ground are just settling.