This was an interesting investigation, and it was a blast to make.  We were contacted by a man named Warren Taff, who owns an incredibly historically rich piece of land in the Ozark Mountains north of Russellville, Arkansas.

Unfortunately, this is the one investigation from season one that you cant go check out for yourselves.  Even if you could, you would need a 4-wheel Drive truck, a couple of 4-wheelers and a guide.

We're talking Josh Gates-style business.

If you've never had the pleasure of walking the bottom of an Ozark Mountain "holler", your missing out.  Its kind of scary ya'll.  You've heard all the hillbilly stories.  Most are true.  You really get to see that when you get back in these valleys.

The story goes like this:

In the years just before the civil war, families across the nation were divided.  Some pro-north, some pro-south.  Nowhere was this more true that in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas.  It was a proud people...A rugged people, right on the dividing line.  Most of Arkansas was pro-south, and Missouri was pro-north with the border only miles away.

In this story, a family by the name Horner had owned this particular peice of land, and they too had been divided.  When the father and the sons had parted ways and went to join the North or the South, tensions got a little high in this little community in the holler'.

One day, the father and son had gotten time away from their duties, and were staying in the hills during the day because of the renegading "bushwackers" for the otherside were policing the area.  They came home to visit their wife and mother only at night.

One day however, the had gotten word that Mama was making fried chicken for dinner, and like any red-blooded man from the South, the temptation was too much.  They tried to sneak home in the daylight, but within a few moments of entering the house, the "bushwackers" showed up.  The father walked out into the potato patch to give himself up, and try to broker a peace. 

He was shot dead, right where he stood.

The son fled out the back door, but was overtaken by the "bushwackers"  within a mile.

He was beaten relentlessly, and shot in the...well...the groin.  He was then left for dead.

However, he was not dead, but was taken by his family to hide under a nearby bluff by a natural spring.

He passed away 8 days later.
Our investigation took us to the place both men perished.  It took us to where they had lived, and it took us to where they were buried.  Which just so happens to be a HUGE Native American indian mound on top of the highest nearby hill...and nobody knows when it was built.  The top became the cemetery for the near-by families after the two Horner men were buried at its peak.

We learned a lot about an awesome history, got to see the remains of a 150 year old culture, and most importantly...

...look for its lingering spirits.

This is easily one of my PERSONAL favorite episodes.

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Justin
OTF