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America is full of places nicknamed spook colla, dark valleys
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and back roads, where lanterns bob without hands, where a
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headless ghost taps your car at midnight, and were a
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creature with horns guards a forgotten cemetery. Tonight we follow
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the map of fear itself and find out how much
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is legend what you were about to beat? You burne
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based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record. This is
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terrifying and true. I was driving down a highway in
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upstate New York the first time I saw the name
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spook Hollow actually written on a road sign, and since
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then I've always wanted to know what exactly is it.
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It's a name that marks places where daylight ends and
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folklore begins all over the United States. In Pennsylvania, a
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stranger never made it out alive. In New York, a
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guardian spirit lingered for centuries. In Missouri, a horned figure
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is said to stalk a lonely graveyard. And in my
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home of Ohio, a covered bridge keeps a terrible secret.
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Are these merely stories or something more? We're going to
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dive deep after this. There's something about a dark, lonely hollow.
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That practically begs for a ghost story. Across the United States,
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especially in older towns and rural regions, you'll find places
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nicknamed or sometimes legitimately named spook hollow. It might be
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a twisting back road, a wooded valley, or a quiet
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stream bed, but the name is always a warning and
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an invitation. It whispers ghosts rome. Here, the term spook
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itself means ghost, a word inherited from early Dutch settlers
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in America, so spook hollow literally means ghost hollow, a
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place where spirits are said to linger, and indeed, in
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local lore from New York to West Virginia, from Pennsylvania
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to Missouri and beyond, spook hollows are the stage for
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some of the most spooky tales in American folklore. How
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did this tradition start? It turns out that nearly every
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region has its own spook collo legend. In parts of
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the country, especially the Appellachians and old Dutch settled areas,
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the concept of a haunted hollow is practically a cultural institution.
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In Pennsylvania, for example, there are numerous hollows informally called
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spook hollow, and most share a similar origin story locals
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say the hollow is haunted by the ghost of a
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wayfaring stranger who met a grim fate there. Over the generations,
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these stories have been passed around and campfires and front porches,
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transforming ordinary ravines and backwoods into legendary haunts. Tonight, we'll
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explore the origins of the spook hollow tradition and journey
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through some of the most famous and chilling spook hollow
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legends around the country. From the ghost of a benevolent
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Native American in New York to the malevolent goat Man
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of Missouri from tragic Lover's quarrel in Pennsylvania to a
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headless specter in Ohio. Each tale offers a dose of
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campfire spookiness, rooted in local history or folklore, all of
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them fun and creepy, like a good ghost story should be.
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But we won't shy away from the truth behind the tales.
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After all, part of the magic of spook hollow where
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facts end and legend begins. So grab a flashlight and
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let's take a moonlit tour of America's spook hollows. But
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just remember, if you hear a twig snap or a
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whisper in the dark, it's probably nothing. Probably the first
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question seems obvious, Why do so many places end up
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dubbed spook hollow in the first place. The answer is
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twofold language and lore. As we mentioned, the word spook
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came into American English through early Dutch influence and caught
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on to describe anything spectral or eerie. Meanwhile, the word
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hollow or holler, an Appellationian dialect, simply means a small
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valley or low place between hills, often wooded, shadowy, and remote.
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In early American settlement days, hollows were the perfect setting
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for spooky happenings. They were isolated and dark at night,
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making them natural backdrops for ghost stories. By the nineteenth
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and twentieth centuries, it seems every region had a notorious
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hollow with a ghostly nickname. In fact, a mid twentieth
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century folklorest observed that many counties in Pennsylvania have a
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place locals called spook hollow. Even if that name doesn't
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always appear on official maps, the prevalence of the name
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hints at a widespread tradition. Whenever something uncanny or frightening
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allegedly happened in a hollow, folks would start calling it
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spook hollow. The name itself became a tradition, almost an
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American folk genre of its own. So what kind of
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legends gave rise to these names? Interestingly, there are some
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common themes that pop up in spook hollow lore across
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different states. One of the most enduring is the tale
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of the murdered pedlar or wandering traveler. Early America saw
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many iterant pedlars and tradesmen trekking lonely roads to sell
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their wares. Tragically, some of these travelers fell victim to
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highwaymen or unscrupulous locals. Whether true or not, stories sprang
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up about pedlars being robbed and killed on the road,
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their restless ghosts haunting the spot forever after. West Virginia,
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for instance, is unusually rich in murdered peddlar ghost tales.
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Practically every corner of the mountain state has a story
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of an unlucky salesman whose spirit lingers in vengeance, and
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many a spook hollow from Pennsylvania down through Appalachia has
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at its core the legend of a wayfarer done wrong.
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Another common thread is love and betrayal leading to violence
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and hauntings. Domestic tragedies in secluded cabins, jealous rage, revenge
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from beyond the grave. These dramatic elements also fuel spook
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hollow legends. The dark, hidden nature of a hollow makes
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it the perfect stage for a clandestine affair or a
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secret crime. When the secret comes out, bang, a gunshot
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might echo through the woods and a ghost story is born.
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We'll encounter an example of this in just a Moment,
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with a Pennsylvania tale of love, murder and eerie screams
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on the wind. It is important to note that while
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these legends are told in whispers to scare the local
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kids and sometimes nosy outsiders, they're usually folklore rather than fact.
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Sometimes there is a kernel of truth, a real historical
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incident that sparked the tale, but over the decades the
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story grows taller and spookier, more supernatural. We'll point out
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where the embellishments likely are, but we'll also let the
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tales work there spooky magic. After all, part of the
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fun of the spook hollow tradition is suspending disbelief, at
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least until the fire dies down. Now, let's shine our
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lantern light on a few spook hollows and the ghostly
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legends that made them famous. Many spook hollow stories hearken
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back to the early days of America, times of pioneers, pedlars,
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and peril on the frontier. Picture a weary traveling businessman
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trudging through a wooded hollow with his pack of goods
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as dusk begins to fall. He might stop at a
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lonely cabin to ask for a night's shelter and maybe
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a hot meal. Sometimes he was welcomed kindly, but sometimes
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greed or desperation led his hosts to murder the traveler
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for the money in his pack, burying his body in
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the hollow's soil, and if local legend is to be believed,
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his troubled spirit would then rise, unable to rest, haunting
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that hollow ever after. It's a narrative you'll hear in
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various forms from New England to the Deep South, but
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nowhere was it embraced more than an Appalachia. As one
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folklorist noted, West Virginia folklore is full of ghost stories
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involving murdered pedlars who were killed for their money. Change
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the state and the names, and you have similar tales
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in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Ohio. Often the haunting takes the
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form of strange lights seen bobbing along a hollow, said
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to be the pedlar's lantern, or the sound of footsteps
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and a knock on a door that never comes. In
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some stories, the pedlar's ghost is helpful warning others away
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from the dangerous hollow, but more often it's a mournful
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presence searching for justice or the return of a stolen fortune.
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One evocative example comes from spook Hollow Farm, a small
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hallow on an old farm in West Virginia. According to legend,
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back in pioneer days, a French traveling peddler came through
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the area and he never made it out. Locals say
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he was robbed and murdered, his body hidden away in
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the woods. Although it was later discovered who committed the crime.
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Depending on the story teller, frontier justice may have been served.
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The hollow never shook its eerie reputation. People began avoiding
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the place after dark, claiming the murdered frenchman's ghost still
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wandered there, perhaps looking for his stolen possessions or for
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a proper burial. Generations later, the name spook Hollow stuck,
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a grim reminder of the crime is their proof of
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this pedlar's murder. Not really. It lives on as an
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oral tale, but ask the old timers and they'll tell
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you to steer clear of that farm lane at night
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monsieur ghost making his nightly rounds. Pennsylvania has its share
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of pedlar ghosts as well. In fact, as noted earlier,
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many Pennsylvania counties have hollows known as Spook Hollow, and
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most tie back to a ghostly pedlar legend. One such
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tale comes from Clearfield County, PA, where the road to
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Spook Hollow is spoken in hushed tones. The legend there
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isn't just about a ghostly salesman, but adds a twist
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of diabolical intrigue. Local lore says a man who lived
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near the hollow sold his soul to the devil during
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the Revolutionary War, and after cheating death in battle thanks
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to this dark pact, he returned home only to meet
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a mysterious and evil fate in that very hollow. Some
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versions say he became a miscreant, terrorizing the area until
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the devil came to collect his due. The details vary,
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but what's consistent is that the hollow gained a reputation
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for uncanny happenings. Travelers horses would shy refuse to go
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down the road, Strange apparitions were reported, and eventually folks
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just avoided the area altogether. The name spook Hollow took
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hold because, as one account put it, even the bravest
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men quickened their pace when passing through, just in case. Today,
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it's hard to separate fact from fiction in Clearfield spook
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Hollow tale. There is no written record of a soul
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selling soldier, for instance, but the story's persistence shows how
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a bit of folklore can cast a long shadow over
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what appears to be a simple place. Not all Boullo
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ghosts are anonymous strangers, however, Some are very personal phantoms
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born of love, betrayal, and violence. A chilling example comes
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from a spook hollow near Newville, Pennsylvania. This one doesn't
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date back to colonial times, but to the early nineteen hundreds,
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and it has the juicy plot of a soap opera
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turned deadly. According to local legend, a man who lived
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in that hollow was carrying on an illicit affair, cheating
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on his wife in a secluded cabin in the woods.
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For a while, he thought he'd kept it secret, but
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of course, secrets in a small community have a way
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of coming out. When his wife discovered the infidelity, her
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reaction was explosive. Literally, one fateful day, in a fit
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of rage and heartbreak, she took up a firearm, marched
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to that very cabin, and shot dead both her husband
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and his lover. The bloody deed might have ended the
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mortal love triangle, but it was just the beginning of
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the haunting. Ever since, locals swear that on certain nights,
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the hollow echoes with phantom screams, the lingering cries of
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the pair as they were murdered. Imagine walking that lonely
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road and hearing a distant, disembodied scream filtering through the trees.
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No wonder they call it spook Collow. Now did this
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double murder actually happen? There are no confirmed records of it,
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and details like names and dates have been lost to
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time or perhaps never existed. This tale may well be
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a morality story, concocted to discourage adulterous trysts. A ghostly
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I told you so from the beyond. But spend a
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night camping in those woods with the wind moaning like
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a woman crying, and you just might start believing the
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unhappy couple's spirits are still replaying their final moments. These
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Pioneer era and early twentieth century stories illustrate how spook
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hollow legends often reflect the fears and social values of
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their time. The murdered peddler tales speak to fears of
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violence on the lawless frontier and guilt over harming and
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innocent stranger. The cheating lover murder ghost speaks to marital
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betrayal and revenge. In all cases, the hollow becomes a
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kind of mortal theater where an unresolved crime or injustice
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keeps the supernatural world in play. It's spooky fun for
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us to recount now, but back in the day such
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tales also carried warnings don't rob people or you'll be cursed,
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don't cheat on your spouse or else. Of course, as
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listeners around a campfire where ghostly here for the chills,
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not necessarily the life lessons and chills you shall have
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because our next stop is a spook hollow story that's
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less tragedy and more other worldly. For that, we have
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to travel to a quiet New York village with a
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very famous phantom. Not all ghosts in the hollow are
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frightening or vengeful. In the village of Nyack, New York,
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there's a spook Hollow story that is as much local
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history as it is ghostly lore, and its specter is
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almost a sympathetic figure. This tale takes us back over
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three hundred years to the days when the Lenni Lenape
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people lived in the Lower Hudson Valley alongside the Dutch colonists.
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One member of the Lenape to Pan tribe was a
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man named Cambowen, who became something of a local legend himself.
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Camboen was known to the Dutch settlers in the Nyak
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area as a friendly and helpful soul, a bridge between cultures.
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He spoke fluent Dutch and often assisted the early Nayakers
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with hunting, fishing, and even diplomacy. In short, he was
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well regarded and trusted by both his own people and
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the newcomers. Then one winter, Cambowen disappeared. He stayed behind
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when most of his tribe moved away from the encroaching Dutch,
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so when he vanished, people took notice. For a while,
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no one knew what became of him, but odd signs
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in the woods suggested Cambowen might still be around in spirit.
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Villagers would stumble on moccasin footprints in the snow leading
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toward his old glen, or catch the whiff of wood
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smoke from his empty hut when no living person was there.
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These eerie occurrences went on for years. Eventually the settlers
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realized that, given the passage of time, Cambowen had to
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be long dead, so what was leaving those tracks and smoke.
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The conclusion Cambowen's ghost was lingering in his beloved glen
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by the brook. The area around that brook and glen
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earned the name spook Hollow because of all the reported
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Camboen related hauntings. Remember spook is Dutch for ghost, so
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it was the Dutch settlers themselves who likely started calling
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it that. For generations afterward, people in Nyac knew that
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a certain secluded woodsy hollow just north of the Old
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Mountain Road was haunted by the friendly Native American spirit,
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but as time passed, fewer remembered the full story behind
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the name. They just knew the hollow was spooky, perhaps
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not even realizing they were echoing the old Dutch term.
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Flash forward to the late nineteenth century during development of
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the area. Human bones were discovered in a ravine near
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the brook, the remains of a man in a hard
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to reach spot. Local historians like George H. Budkey believed
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these were likely Cambowen's bones. Finally unearthed after all that time,
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it seems Cambowen's mysterious disappearance was solved centuries too late.
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He had died alone out in his glen, and in hindsight,
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folks attributed the ghostly footprints and smoke to his spirit
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keeping watch over the land. Once his body was found,
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one might hope that Cambowen rested in peace. There's even
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an anecdote that some sympathetic locals the story suggests maybe
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the nuns at a nearby retreat performed a quiet ritual
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like burning sage to honor Camboen's spirit according to his
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people's customs. Niak spook Hollo stands out because it's a
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case where the ghost story and the name of the
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place have roots in real history. Camboen was very real,
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and his presence was significant enough that his disappearance inspired
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a lasting legend. The tone of the haunting is almost
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gentle sightings of a guardian spirit, rather than a frightening ghoul.
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Nyak even embraces its supernatural heritage. The village famously had
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a legally declared haunted house in the nineteen nineties, and
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it hosts Halloween festivals every year. The Camboan tale adds
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to that mystique. As one local writer put it, Niak
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has four hundred years of recorded history, with plenty of
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time for legends, yarns, and even legally verifiable oddities to accumulate.
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Spooky stories are woven into the fabric of the community
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to day. Spook Hollow Road in Upper Nyak runs through
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that very glen by a stream, and though modern homes
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line parts of it, if you walk there on a
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quiet evening, you might still feel a Sylvan solitude that
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sets it apart. It's the kind of peace that Camboen
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apparently loved, and perhaps the reason his spirit chose to linger.
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Next time you find yourself in Niak, take a moment
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near the brook, Listen to the leaves rustle and the
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water flow, and maybe whisper a kindness to Camboen, the
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man and ghost who gave Spook Hollow its name. Not
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all ghost stories are meant to scare. Some like this
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remind us of the people who came before us, and
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the marks, scene and unseen they leave behind. Of course,
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not every spook hollow ghost is so benevolent. For a
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much more menacing hollow dweller, we must venture to the Midwest,
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where a legendary goat man and his witchy mother are
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said to lurk in the shadows of an ozark hollow.
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Deep in the forests of Phelps County, Missouri, between the
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towns of Rallagh and Saint James lies a winding county
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lane formerly known as Pine Hollow Road, but ask locals
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and they know it by a far eerier name, spoo
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Collo Road. This remote stretch leads to an old graveyard,
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the Pine Hill Cemetery, and has a reputation that would
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make any ghost hunter giddy. For decades, maybe even as
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far back as the late eighteen hundreds, people have whispered
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about a monster haunting spoo Collo. They call him the
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goat Man, and his legend is the stuff of Ozark nightmares.
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Imagine driving down a lonely Missouri road at night, dense
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woods pressing in on both sides. The only light is
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from your headlights cutting through the darkness, you pass an old,
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overgrown cemetery where the tombstones peek out from tangled weeds.
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That is Pine Hill Cemetery. Locals will warn you don't
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get out of the car, for it's said that a
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half human, half goat creature stalks these woods and the graveyard.
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According to legend, the goat man is the offspring of
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a practitioner of dark witchcraft, born to a local witch
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who worshiped Satan himself. The creature has the body of
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a hulking man, but with grotesque goat like features, horns
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curling from his head, and hoofs that leave giant, cloven
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footprints bigger than a bear's tracks in the mud. Both
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the witch the Mother and the goat Man the Sun
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are rumored to be buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, which
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perhaps is why their spirits or undead forms guard the
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place so fiercely. Those who venture in to spook Hollow
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at night report all manner of terrifying phenomena. One common
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claim is encountering phantom vehicles. You'll see headlights or hear
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an engine revving, as if a car or truck is
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suddenly barreling down the narrow road. Toward you, but then
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it vanishes without a trace. Some actually think this particular
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scare might be the work of a very human local
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man who takes pleasure in scaring trespassers and nosy thrill seekers. Indeed,
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there is talk of a dangerous resident who will chase
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you off and could be behind those ghost cars. In
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other words, in spook collo, the living can be just
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as scary as the dead. Electronics notoriously malfunction in the hollow,
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as countless visitors have attested, flashlights die and the cameras
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refuse to work when you need the most. It's as
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if the goat man carries an aura that snuffs out light,
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or maybe, as skeptics would say, the sheer fear makes
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people fumble with their gear. Photographs taken out there often
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come out inexplicably blank or distorted, adding to the lore
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that the goat man doesn't like to be photographed. If
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you're brave or foolish enough to wander off the road
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toward an old abandoned school bus rusting in the woods,
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you might see something truly unnerving. Many have reported seeing
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red glowing eyes peering from the buses hollowed interior. Some
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rationalize it as just tail lights or reflectors catching your
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very flashlight beam, or maybe a couple of raccoons eyes
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catching a shine. But in the moment, when you see
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those two crimson points light up in the dark, it
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feels exactly like the stare of a demon. Legend holds
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that a vagrant once lived and perhaps died in that
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derelict bus, and that the evil spirit of the goat
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Man sometimes hangs out there watching intruders. So when twin
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red eyes blink from the shadows, is it a ghost,
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a monster, or just an optical illusion? Hard to say
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when your heart is pounding through your chest. Of course,
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the centerpiece of the legend is the goat Man himself.
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People have claimed not only to find those oversized hoof
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prints around the cemetery, but even to glimpse a towering,
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shaggy figure with horns lurking among the trees. Hunters in
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these woods sometimes speak of hearing bizarre, bleeding roars that
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don't sound like any known animal. And then there are
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the truly harrowing stories those who disrespect the hollow or
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the graveyard, something like rowdy teenagers knocking over headstones or
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thrill seekers mocking the goat Man aloud supposedly leave with
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mysterious burns or scratch marks on their bodies. This feeds
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the notion that the goat Man, or whatever entity inhabits
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Spook Hollow actively attacks those it deems to be trespassers
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or vandals. It's the kind of tale that insures local
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kids dare each other to test it, and also ensures
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they run screaming at the first sound of a snapped twig.
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How long has this goat man been scaring Phelps County
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at least since the mid twentieth century, if not earlier.
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Some reports suggest that even soldiers stationed at nearby Fort
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Leonard Wood heard stories of a goat like monster in
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the woods, and a few claimed to have seen inexplicable
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things when driving through Spook Road late at night. One
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imaginative and likely tongue in cheek twist from a more
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modern retelling posited that perhaps the goat man was the
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result of some secret military experiment like gene splicing a
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goat and a human, But that sounds like a classic
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00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:31.719
tall tale to spice up a ghost story. More likely,
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the goat man legend grew organically out of older Ozark
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folklore about witchcraft and protective spirits. Every region has its
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monster in the woods, and for this part of Missouri,
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goat Man became the superstar. Skeptics point out that Pine
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Hill Cemetery was a popular hangout for local teens and
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college kids over the years. What better place to test
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00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:10.119
one's courage. So many of the phenomena can be explained
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00:38:10.199 --> 00:38:17.559
by pranks and overactive imaginations. The phantom cars could be
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a cranky neighbor in a pickup flicking on the high
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beams to scare people off, and the failing flashlights well
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perhaps cheap batteries. The red eyes in the bus could
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just be reflectors or animals, and those scratches could be
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from brambles in the dark rather than demonic clause. But
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when you're out in spook hollow, skepticism is hard to maintain.
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The place just feels charged with an uncanny energy. As
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one paranormal sight described, visitors consiststantly report feelings of being
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00:39:02.599 --> 00:39:09.639
watched and overwhelming unease near that old bus. It's as
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00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:15.679
if something unseen is trailing your every step. Could it
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00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:19.719
be the goat Man himself or the ghost of his
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00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:27.239
wicked witch mother guarding their domain. No one can say
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00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:31.519
for sure, and those who might have gotten a too
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00:39:31.679 --> 00:39:37.400
close look aren't eager to stick around for a second encounter.
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The goat Man of spook Collo is a prime example
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of how a local legend can snowball into a full
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00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:53.079
fledged tradition. It blends ghost story, monster tale, and cautionary
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00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:59.280
fable don't mess with graves kids into one enduring piece
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of folklore. True or not, it has put that little
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Missouri Hollow on the paranormal map. If you're ever driving
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Route sixty six through Phelps County and get the itch
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00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:20.719
for adventure, you can detour to spook Hollow Road, But
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00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:27.679
consider yourself warned. You may get more than a fun scare.
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In goat Man's territory. The line between playing along with
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the legend and becoming part of it can get mighty thin.
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After that harrowing journey, let's head to our final stop,
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A spook Hollow tale of tragedy and terror from my
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home state. This one combines two classic ghost motifs, a
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deadly car accident and a headless ghost looking for what
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it lost. On a quiet country back road near the
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tiny village of Oregonia, Ohio. There's an old covered bridge
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that locals avoid when they can, especially around midnight. The
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00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:35.440
reason this bridge, which spans a creek in a sharp
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00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:40.800
bend of the road, is the centerpiece of spook Hollow
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Bridge legend. It's a tale with all the makings of
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a classic campfire story, reckless teenagers, a horrific accident, and
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00:41:52.920 --> 00:42:00.719
a ghost that lingers seeking its missing piece. Let's set scene.
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Shall we Oregonia is a very small town in southwestern Ohio,
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00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:13.320
surrounded by rural farmland and woods. Not much ever, really
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00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:20.679
happens in Oregonia, except for that one tragic night many
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years ago when a car full of high school students
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00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:29.199
was out joy riding. As the story goes, a group
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of teams were speeding down the winding road one night,
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perhaps pumped full of youthful bravado and maybe a bit
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of booze, when they approached the ninety degree turn leading
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00:42:43.559 --> 00:42:48.639
on to the old covered bridge, over confident they thought
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they could handle it at high speed. They were wrong.
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The car failed to make the sharp turn, plunging off
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00:42:58.920 --> 00:43:04.880
the road and into the creek below. The wreck was disastrous.
440
00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:09.559
According to the legend, Several of the teens were killed
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in the crash, one girl suffered an especially gruesome fate.
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She was decapitated during the accident. In the chaotic aftermath,
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rescuers purportedly never found the girl's severed head, at least
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00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:33.679
not immediately. In some retellings, it was never found at all,
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which could be an embellishment to add mystery. More likely
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it was found later, or that detail is pure fiction.
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Public record of the crash is scant, suggesting the lore
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00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:57.280
has overtaken the fact, But this grisly detail is crucial
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to the ghost story that followed. Not long after the tragedy,
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people who visited the bridge at night began to report
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strange experiences. The most common story is that if you
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park your car on Spook Hollow Bridge at midnight and
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00:44:17.360 --> 00:44:24.920
turn off your lights, something incredible and terrifying will happen.
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You sit there in the dark, heart pounding, daring your
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body to flash the headlights three times to summon any spirits.
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There's an expectant silence, and then bang, something hits your car.
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Hard panicked, you might think you've been struck by another vehicle,
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but there's nothing. When you look. Some swear it sounds
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00:44:57.719 --> 00:45:01.800
like a rock thumping the trunk or a fist pounding
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00:45:01.880 --> 00:45:06.920
on the side panel. Others say it's lighter, more like
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00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:13.679
a pebble, or more creepily, like the sound of a
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severed head rolling onto your hood. Yes you heard that right.
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Local lore holds that the ghost of the decapitated girl
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haunts the bridge, desperately searching for her lost head. If
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you're on the bridge at the witching hour, she might
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mistake your car for the one that killed her, or
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perhaps she's trying to simply get your attention. The thud
468
00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:48.679
on the car is said to be the impact of
469
00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:53.400
her ghostly head hitting the vehicle, re enacting the moment
470
00:45:54.039 --> 00:45:58.840
it flew off in the crash. Some who have undergone
471
00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:01.880
the ritual claim to have seen in the rear view
472
00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:08.000
mirror a fleeting reflection the figure of a girl, headless,
473
00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:12.519
standing by the side of the road or wandering the
474
00:46:12.599 --> 00:46:18.519
bridge before vanishing into the night. It's the kind of
475
00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:24.360
story that college students at nearby universities love to test.
476
00:46:24.639 --> 00:46:28.719
A midnight ride out to spook Hollow Bridge to see
477
00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:35.000
if the legend is true. Many emerge with spooky anecdotes,
478
00:46:35.559 --> 00:46:39.880
helped DeLong no doubt by the power of suggestion and
479
00:46:39.960 --> 00:46:45.519
the creepiness of a covered bridge at midnight. Even those
480
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:50.440
who experience nothing out of the ordinary often scare themselves
481
00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:55.199
silly in the process. Every little scrape of a tree
482
00:46:55.239 --> 00:46:58.840
branch on the roof or PLoP of a frog in
483
00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:05.039
the creek can send the imagination into overdrive. And if
484
00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:10.480
an acorn falls on the hood, well, that's definitely a
485
00:47:10.480 --> 00:47:16.719
ghostly head. Right. To be totally fair, there might have
486
00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:22.079
been a real accident that inspired this tale. Rural roads
487
00:47:22.159 --> 00:47:27.760
are notoriously dangerous for teen drivers, and Ohio folklore is
488
00:47:27.840 --> 00:47:32.599
full of so called cry baby bridges and gravity hill
489
00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:39.639
legends that involve phantom pushes or thumps on cars, usually
490
00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:45.000
tied to some kind of tragedy. The spook Collo Bridge
491
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:50.280
story is basically a headless variation on those themes. It
492
00:47:50.360 --> 00:47:53.719
plays on both the guilt one might feel for a
493
00:47:53.760 --> 00:48:00.199
life cut short and the innate horror of decapitation, one
494
00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:05.719
of the ultimate taboos and fears. It also resonates with
495
00:48:05.960 --> 00:48:11.320
Washington Irving's classic the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, where the
496
00:48:11.360 --> 00:48:17.079
headless horseman throws a severed head at Ichabod Crane. Here,
497
00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:22.599
our poor ghostly girl hurls her own head or what's
498
00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:26.079
left of it at your car, as if to say,
499
00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:33.199
help me find it. Now. Have people truly seen a
500
00:48:33.239 --> 00:48:38.440
headless apparition there? It's hard to pin down a credible
501
00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:43.880
eye witness. Most accounts are friend of a friend's stories,
502
00:48:44.760 --> 00:48:51.760
but intriguingly, some older locals recall that spot had a
503
00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:59.159
reputation for being haunted even before the modern legend took shape.
504
00:48:59.320 --> 00:49:02.679
It could be that the bridge or the area itself
505
00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:07.920
was eerie to begin with. Many covered bridges are as
506
00:49:07.960 --> 00:49:13.559
they creak and echo and evoke a bygone era. The
507
00:49:13.599 --> 00:49:18.280
added tragedy just gave a concrete narrative to a free
508
00:49:18.320 --> 00:49:24.760
floating spookiness. True or not, the spook Hollow Bridge haunting
509
00:49:25.320 --> 00:49:29.920
has become part of local tradition. During the Halloween season,
510
00:49:30.480 --> 00:49:34.360
it's not uncommon to find a gaggle of cars parked
511
00:49:34.400 --> 00:49:39.239
near the bridge around midnight, their occupants working up the51200:49:39.360 --> 00:49:45.079
nerve to kill the headlights and summon the ghost. Usually51300:49:45.679 --> 00:49:49.079
all they get is the thrill of fear and a51400:49:49.079 --> 00:49:54.920
lot of laughter afterward at how jumpy they became. But51500:49:55.039 --> 00:50:01.320
every so often someone comes back convinced, convinced that the51600:50:01.440 --> 00:50:06.440
legend gave them a scare. They'll never forget a sudden51700:50:06.559 --> 00:50:10.960
thump for which they cannot account, a misty form on51800:50:11.039 --> 00:50:15.559
the bridge that might have been just fog, or might51900:50:15.599 --> 00:50:20.519
have been wearing a prom dress with no head above52000:50:20.639 --> 00:50:31.960
the neck. As with all these spook hollow stories, belief52100:50:32.239 --> 00:50:35.800
is in the eye of the beholder. If you want52200:50:35.840 --> 00:50:40.599
a fright, you'll probably find one. If you go looking52300:50:40.679 --> 00:50:47.239
to debunk, you'll find perfectly logical explanations for any noise52400:50:47.559 --> 00:50:53.519
or shadow. But on a dark night on that lonely52500:50:53.719 --> 00:50:58.840
Ohio road, with the wooden beams of the old bridge52600:50:58.960 --> 00:51:03.519
looming ahead, and the knowledge of what happened there in52700:51:03.599 --> 00:51:08.719
the back of your mind, logic can quickly give way52800:51:10.000 --> 00:51:15.880
to goosebumps. The headless girl of spook Hollow Bridge has52900:51:16.079 --> 00:51:23.039
entered Ohio's pantheon of ghostly lore, ensuring that her story,53000:51:23.960 --> 00:51:30.519
real or imagined, lives on each time someone retells it53100:51:31.320 --> 00:51:38.000
by firelight or tests it on a dare. As we53200:51:38.119 --> 00:51:43.320
emerge from these tales of spook hollows across America, a53300:51:43.400 --> 00:51:48.519
pattern comes into focus. Each story is unique to its place,53400:51:49.360 --> 00:51:55.079
shaped by local history, geography, and culture, yet they all53500:51:55.159 --> 00:52:01.440
share that deliciously creepy spirit of the case Vamphire ghost story.53600:52:02.719 --> 00:52:06.760
These hollows are more than just dips in the landscape,53700:52:07.519 --> 00:52:11.800
their vessels for our collective love of a good scare53800:52:12.480 --> 00:52:19.639
and a good story. Generation after generation, the legends adapt53900:52:19.800 --> 00:52:26.199
and persist. A peddler's ghost from eighteen hundred's Appalachia can54000:52:26.280 --> 00:52:29.639
inspire the theme of a haunted hay ride. In the54100:52:29.679 --> 00:52:35.000
two thousands, a tragic road accident in Ohio becomes a54200:52:35.119 --> 00:52:40.239
rite of passage dare for local teens. A Native American's54300:52:40.320 --> 00:52:46.280
memory is kept alive through a village's haunted lore. It's54400:52:46.400 --> 00:52:51.000
no surprise, then, that the idea of spook hollow has54500:52:51.039 --> 00:52:56.000
also made its way into modern Halloween entertainment. The most54600:52:56.039 --> 00:53:01.840
notable example is an Illinois Spook Hallo in Marquette Heights, Illinois,54700:53:02.360 --> 00:53:07.320
an annual haunted attraction that proudly bills itself as the54800:53:07.440 --> 00:53:13.400
longest running outdoor haunted house in the state. Every October54900:53:13.480 --> 00:53:18.639
since nineteen seventy nine, volunteers transform a patch of woods,55000:53:19.119 --> 00:53:23.840
fittingly a hollow in the landscape into a trilogy of55100:53:24.079 --> 00:53:29.199
terror with elaborate sets and scare actors. The very name55200:53:29.480 --> 00:53:34.760
spook show was chosen because it evokes that classic American55300:53:34.920 --> 00:53:40.679
Halloween Vibe Something Spooky in the Hollow behind the ballpark.55400:53:41.440 --> 00:53:47.239
A community tradition of fun frights, the event draws over55500:53:47.519 --> 00:53:52.119
ten thousand people each year, proving that what started as55600:53:52.159 --> 00:53:56.519
an old fashioned local spook trail can evolve into a55700:53:56.599 --> 00:54:03.559
major production without losing its homegrown charm. But you don't55800:54:03.639 --> 00:54:08.360
have to visit a commercial haunt to experience spook Hollow.55900:54:09.079 --> 00:54:12.559
You can find the real deal on many a map56000:54:13.199 --> 00:54:17.639
if you know where to look. By some counts, dozens56100:54:17.719 --> 00:54:21.840
of US states have at least one locale with the56200:54:21.920 --> 00:54:27.320
nickname spook Hollow or spooky Hollow. They might not all56300:54:27.440 --> 00:54:31.519
have well known ghost stories attached, and we skip those56400:54:31.639 --> 00:54:35.519
without any juicy lore, but the frequency of the name56500:54:35.679 --> 00:54:41.360
tells you how ingrained the idea is. America's early settlers56600:54:41.719 --> 00:54:45.559
and their descendants saw plenty of reasons to label a56700:54:45.639 --> 00:54:51.960
place haunted. Maybe a tragedy occurred there, or maybe the56800:54:52.039 --> 00:54:59.360
landscape itself gnarled trees, misty swamp, strange echoes gave people56900:54:59.519 --> 00:55:06.119
the he Bejeebi's. Once a spooky reputation takes hold, it57000:55:06.280 --> 00:55:12.719
tends to stick. After all, humans love a mystery, and57100:55:12.840 --> 00:55:16.920
what's more mysterious than a patch of dark woods where57200:55:17.039 --> 00:55:22.880
something might be lurking. If you find yourself traveling and57300:55:23.000 --> 00:55:28.079
you spot a road sign for spook Hollow Road or57400:55:28.920 --> 00:55:33.880
here a local refer to the old Spooky Hollow, don't57500:55:34.000 --> 00:55:40.000
just shrug it off. Consider asking about it, maybe in daylight.57600:55:40.280 --> 00:55:44.000
To be safe, you might be treated to a local57700:55:44.119 --> 00:55:49.079
legend that isn't in any guide book or podcast, a57800:55:49.199 --> 00:55:54.920
piece of living folklore. Just remember to be respectful if57900:55:54.960 --> 00:55:59.440
you go looking for the ghost. These places deserve caution,58000:56:00.400 --> 00:56:04.960
not just because of alleged spirits, but because they're often58100:56:05.039 --> 00:56:10.719
on private land or can be physically dangerous. Unstable bridges,58200:56:10.880 --> 00:56:15.559
wild animals, real life curmudgeons with shotguns, any number of58300:56:15.679 --> 00:56:20.519
dangers await in the end. Whether or not you believe58400:56:20.639 --> 00:56:25.400
in ghosts, spookalo will continue to be an American tradition58500:56:26.199 --> 00:56:30.559
as long as we love a good scare, and, judging58600:56:30.639 --> 00:56:35.079
by the thriving haunted house industry, the endless horror films58700:56:35.119 --> 00:56:39.920
about Backwood's terror, and the way we still delight in58800:56:40.000 --> 00:56:46.440
telling ghost stories myself included, that's not changing anytime soon.58900:56:47.679 --> 00:56:51.199
So on the next crisp autumn night, if you want59000:56:51.199 --> 00:56:57.280
a thrill, gather some friends, dim the lights, or better yet,59100:56:57.559 --> 00:57:02.280
step into the woods and spin one of these yarns.59200:57:03.199 --> 00:57:06.719
Tell them about the ghostly pedlar, or the goat man59300:57:07.199 --> 00:57:11.639
or the headless girl. Feel that shiver as the wind59400:57:11.800 --> 00:57:17.440
blows and the leave skidter. You'll be carrying on a59500:57:17.480 --> 00:57:22.559
grand tradition and keeping the spirit of spook Hollo alive59600:57:23.440 --> 00:57:29.719
for future generations of wide eyed listeners. Terrifying and True59700:57:29.760 --> 00:57:33.840
is narrated by Enrique Kuto. It's executive produced by Robfields59800:57:33.920 --> 00:57:37.599
and bobble Topia dot com and produced by Dan Wilder,59900:57:37.719 --> 00:57:40.679
with original theme music by Ray Mattis. If you have60000:57:40.760 --> 00:57:43.800
a story you think we should cover on Terrifying and True,60100:57:43.960 --> 00:57:47.840
send us an email at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com,60200:57:47.880 --> 00:57:49.400
and if you want to support us for as little60300:57:49.400 --> 00:57:51.800
as one dollar a month, go to Weekly Spooky dot60400:57:51.840 --> 00:57:54.679
com slash Join. Your support for as little as one60500:57:54.719 --> 00:57:57.400
dollar a month keeps the show going. And speaking of60600:57:57.440 --> 00:57:59.119
I want to say an extra special thank you to60700:57:59.159 --> 00:58:02.280
our Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay a little bit60800:58:02.280 --> 00:58:04.039
more to hear their name at the end of the show,60900:58:04.159 --> 00:58:08.000
and they are Johnny Nicks, Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller,61000:58:08.079 --> 00:58:12.239
Mike Escuey, Jenny Green, Amber Hansford, Karen we Met, Jack61100:58:12.320 --> 00:58:14.800
Ker and Craig Cohen. Thank you all so much, and61200:58:14.880 --> 00:58:17.440
thank you for listening. We'll see you all right here61300:58:17.559 --> 00:58:20.920
next time. On Terrifying and True
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