Folktales & Songs

Arkansas Traveler
A tune, a dialogue, and a painting from the mid-nineteenth century, the Arkansas Traveler became a catch-all p...
Ella Barham (Murder of)
The 1912 murder of eighteen-year-old Ella Barham in Boone County was one of the most gruesome events to occur ...
Crossett Light
Outside of Crossett (Ashley County), where the old railroad tracks once lay, an unexplained light has become a...
John William (Bill) Dark (1835?–1863)
John William (Bill) Dark was a bushwhacker in north-central Arkansas during the Civil War. From June 1862 to J...
"Aunt Caroline" Dye (1843?–1918)
aka: Caroline Tracy Dye
Caroline Tracy Dye, better known as “Aunt Caroline,” was a high...
Eureka Springs Baby
aka: Eureka Baby
aka: Petrified Indian Baby
The 1880 discovery of a fossilized human child in Eureka Springs (C...
Fouke Monster
Fouke (Miller County) is a small town in southwest Arkansas that attracted attention in the early 1970s when a...
Ghost Legends
Arkansas is rife with legends of ghosts and haunted places. Some of these legends, such as those surrounding t...
Gowrow
The gowrow, one of several fabulous monsters reported in Arkansas popular lore, may owe its origins more to jo...
Gurdon Light
The Gurdon Light is a mysterious floating light above the railroad tracks near Gurdon (Clark County), which wa...
Heber Springs Water Panther
The Heber Springs Water Panther is a creature described as a cross between a Sasquatch (or “bigfoot”) and ...
Hell's Half Acre
Hell’s Half Acre is a talus hillside (a slope formed by an accumulation of broken rocks) located on Indian M...
Joe Hilderbrand (1935–1998)
As a fugitive from Arkansas justice in the 1960s, Joe Hilderbrand gained notoriety and even a measure of natio...
Lake Conway Monster
aka: Skunk Ape
The Lake Conway Monster was a creature reputed to haunt the waters ...
Lost Louisiana Mine
The Lost Louisiana Mine is an American legend about buried Spanish treasure that has been sought since the Vic...
Old Mike (?–1911)
Old Mike is the name given to a traveling salesman who died in 1911 in Prescott (Nevada County). The people of...
Legend of Petit Jean
The Legend of Petit Jean is a romantic Arkansas tale that purports to explain the origin of the name of Petit ...
Richard Rhodes (Hanging of)
Few people survive a hanging, but Dr. Richard Rhodes—a plantation owner in Dallas County, living just south ...
The Rock Island Line
“The Rock Island Line” is a world-famous song—recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, and...
Snawfus
In the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri, the Snawfus is a mythological creature of regional folklore. Described...
Andrew Springer (Lynching of)
Andrew Springer, a white man, was lynched in Powhatan (Lawrence County) on May 21, 1887. His is the only lynch...
The State of Arkansaw
The ballad, or narrative folksong, usually titled “The State of Arkansaw” has been a principal exhibit in ...
Sidney Wallace (1851–1874)
Sidney Wallace was a legendary part of the state’s folklore during Arkansas’s Reconstruction. Some portray...
White River Monster
The White River monster is one of Arkansas’s premier mysteries. Since 1915, along the White River near Newpo...