Folktales & Songs

View Media (21)
Print of white man violinist on horse dancing partner women children dogs outside cabin door sign "whisky"
Arkansas Traveler
A tune, a dialogue, and a painting from the mid-nineteenth century, the Arkansas Traveler became a catch-all p...
Two young white women in white dresses standing against building with wooden siding
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...
Old white man standing holding his hat in his left hand with vegetation behind him
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...
Old African-American woman standing in dress outside building with wood siding
"Aunt Caroline" Dye (1843?–1918)
aka: Caroline Tracy Dye
Caroline Tracy Dye, better known as “Aunt Caroline,” was a high...
Portrait white man with mustache in suit
Eureka Springs Baby
aka: Eureka Baby
aka: Petrified Indian Baby
The 1880 discovery of a fossilized human child in Eureka Springs (C...
Fur covered creature standing in river with trees and sunset in the background
Fouke Monster
Fouke (Miller County) is a small town in southwestern Arkansas that attracted attention in the early 1970s whe...
Three-story ornate white house with red round towers and columns with an iron fence
Ghost Legends
Arkansas is rife with legends of ghosts and haunted places. Some of these legends, such as those surrounding t...
"The Green Gowrow Killed in Searcy County" creature cartoon in newspaper
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 ...
White man woman and girl standing in rock crater on post card
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 at sunset
Lake Conway Monster
aka: Skunk Ape
The Lake Conway Monster was a creature reputed to haunt the waters ...
Green and white signed stock certificate
Lost Louisiana Mine
The Lost Louisiana Mine is an American legend about buried Spanish treasure that has been sought since the Vic...
"Mike" gravestone with older gravestone in front of it
Old Mike (?–1911)
Old Mike is the name given to a traveling salesman who died in 1911 in Prescott (Nevada County). The people of...
Plaque about a grave and a grave inside a fence
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 ...
man with hat glasses scarf and coat smiling and standing by a car
The Rock Island Line
“The Rock Island Line” is a world-famous song—recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, and...
White stag standing in river with waterfall and mountains behind it
Snawfus
In the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri, the Snawfus is a mythological creature of regional folklore. Described...
"Judge Lynch" newspaper clipping
Andrew Springer (Lynching of)
Andrew Springer, a white man, was lynched in Powhatan (Lawrence County) on May 21, 1887. His is the only lynch...
Weathered "Abernathy" gravestone with Masonic symbol and engraving in cemetery
The State of Arkansaw
The ballad, or narrative folksong, usually titled “The State of Arkansaw” has been a principal exhibit in ...
Thin tree trunk bent from the bottom toward the left amongst other straight trees in woodland area
Trail Trees
aka: Thong Trees
aka: Signal Trees
So-called trail trees, also known as “thong trees” or “signal...
"Sid Wallace. The Johnson County desperado attempt to break jail" newspaper clipping
Sidney Wallace (1851–1874)
Sidney Wallace was a legendary part of the state’s folklore during Arkansas’s Reconstruction. Some portray...
River with trees on opposite shore and rocky shoreline in foreground
White River Monster
The White River monster is one of Arkansas’s premier mysteries. Since 1915, along the White River near Newpo...