Ghost Hunting at Bull Shoal’s Caverns

    A recent occurrence and history of unexplained activity at Bull Shoals Caverns and 1890’s Mountain Village has prompted current caretakers Steven and Ginger Oates to contact the Central Arkansas Society for Paranormal Research (CASPR) to determine if the source of the events could be paranormal in nature.

     A team of volunteers with CASPR recently conducted a two-day investigation at the village, using video cameras with super night shot, digital voice recorders, digital cameras and other equipment to capture unexplained activity considered ‘ghostly’ or supernatural. Cameras were set up inside some of the structures where activity had been most predominant.

     According to Karen Shillings, Director and Founder of the organization, evidence was recorded that indicated there is activity at the site, including “voices, orbs, mists, and shadowy shapes.”

     In the blacksmith and coffin shop, one of the researchers standing inside an upright coffin was grabbed around the wrist, said Shillings.

     Inside the church, Shillings said she had an EMF, or Electromagnetic Field Detector go off when swiped over one of the pews near the center of the room. There is no source of electricity within the room.

     “We haven’t seen any ‘full figure’ forms,” she said, something that was always sought during an investigation.

     Seven researchers combed the grounds the first night and four the second. Shillings said she doesn’t like to get too many because it “disrupts the energy of what’s here.”

     CASPR was started by Shillings ten years ago and now has twelve members. One of their main goals according to their website is to assist those who are experiencing problems with ghostly activity, whether in a home or business. Investigations have been conducted in places such as the Old State House Museum and the USS Razorback Submarine in Little Rock , Hot Springs High School , and the Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Booneville.  Their services are free.

     Members, said Shillings, are made up of people who themselves have had paranormal experiences and could be deemed ‘extra sensitive’ to the phenomena. Each has a personal area of expertise and interest.

     Researcher Debbie Saylor said that they are all also spiritually minded and have prayer sessions before they go into sites, and “cleansing prayers,” before they leave.

     “We don’t want to take anything home with us,” said one of the researchers.

     For Saylor, voices are the most interesting aspect of ‘ghost hunting.’ Saylor’s recordings include a section from the Boonville Tuberculosis Sanatorium where two researchers are talking, one asking the other, “were you scared,” and the other replying, “only when I heard the scream.” In the background, what sounds like another voice comes over the recorder with the words, “It was me.”

     Another recording was taken from a home in Mayflower built atop a site where the previous home was destroyed by fire. The fire, according to Saylor, had been set by one of the occupants who murdered his mother. The recording picks up the word “go” in the background as researchers are talking. 

     The Bull Shoal’s Caverns and 1890’s Mountain Village has been a source of it's own strange activity for years, says Steven Oates.

     “It would tie you up for at least an hour and a half to tell you all the ghost stories.”

     The Oates family of Tampa , Florida purchased the property in 2006 with plans to restore the structures and obtain volunteer assistance to provide living history tours of the village. Siblings Ginger and Steven have been the primary overseers of the property and have had their own ration of odd events occur since taking over.

      Oates said that once while sweeping water out of the back of the cave prior to the arrival of a school group, he heard a voice call out, “what are you doing?” He made a hasty retreat from the cavern, exiting without fanfare so as not to alarm the students.

     Another time, brother David Oates said he was using the pressure washer and out of the corner of his eye he saw what appeared to be the figure of a fully outfitted Union Soldier. The Oates said they’d heard stories from the previous owner about sightings of Civil War soldiers representing both the Union and Confederacy.

    The event that prompted a call to CASPR, however, occurred when the Oates were in the Jordan house one evening. They went there to check on shutters that had mysteriously closed sometime during the day that the siblings said were always left open.

     Approaching the shutters, all three heard a child’s laughter coming from behind. No one else was in the building and they determined the sound came from inside the room, not outside.

     The Oates’ siblings were aware of one relatively recent tragedy that occurred in the 1800’s when the New Madrid Earthquake caused a section of the cave to collapse, killing the occupants of the cave. Carbon dating inside the cave indicates occupancy back to 330 B.C.

     Steven Oates, who leads tours inside the caverns, says he’s never felt threatened in any way, but the “creep factor,” gets to you.

     “Sometimes you feel like something’s on your back the whole way out,” said Ginger Oates.