My Oklahoma Experiences

I was a resident of Pryor, Oklahoma for 32 years until I recently moved to Miami, Oklahoma. I have some experiences to share as far as several of the places you list are concerned.

1. Side Pockets in Pryor. I know the guy that owns the pool hall. When you walk in, you definitely get a chill that runs down your back. I’ve seen a shadowy figure standing in corners. Also, if you go into his storage room, you can sometimes see the figure but ALWAYS feel as though you are being watched. The owner said that the shadowy figure resembles a man in a long coat.

2. Crybaby bridge. As a kid, we used to frequent this place looking for ghosts. There has always been the stories of the baby crying, but there is (fact) also a cemetery that can only be accessed by that road that went over Crybaby Bridge called Alberty’s Cemetary, (there is also a a road that is owned by GRDA and locked always that can be used to access it). The cemetery has been vandalized severely and the rumor about 15 years ago that was going around was that devil worshippers held their rituals down there. My friend and I would always venture to the bridge during the day because, frankly, we are both girls and both chicken. But one night, we decided to go down there to check things out. Now, every single time we would go down there during the day, our vehicle, which ran smoothly, would always start to spit and sputter until we would leave. The one night we went down there to see the bridge… we started getting a really weird feeling, then all of a sudden the lights on her truck went out (and no, she didn’t turn them off, I checked). We were scared to death, so we turned around and as soon as we started heading out of there, her lights came back on. Her mechanic checked out her lights and there wasn’t any electrical problems or anything (and she never did have any more problems). Needless to say, we still don’t go down there during the day. They tore the bridge down several years ago so there was no access to the cemetery unless you luck into knowing someone who works for GRDA and happens to have a key. BUT, this past Memorial Day, GRDA allowed access to the cemetery for families of the deceased to visit. We don’t have any family there, but we just had to see the cemetery that was infamous for supposed occult rituals. We got to the cemetery, which is tucked back in the woods and terribly overgrown (except for a part that had been cleaned up by family members) and immediately got a weird feeling. Upon walking around, we were saddened to see so much vandalism and damage, but we were startled to find a grave and that obviously been dug up. The hole was still there as well as the headstone. It was pretty freaky.

3. Quapaw, Oklahoma - Spooklight Road. Well, as luck would have it, I went to college in Miami (about 10 minutes away) and now live in Miami. In college we would frequent the road to look for the light. Many times we never would see anything. (Legend says if it is too noisy or too many people it would not come out, this proved true). But one night about 7 of us were out there and it appeared. It looked to be about a half mile away and appeared at first as one big white light. The light moved around from left to right, up and down for about 3 or 4 seconds before it glowed a bright yellow and split into two lights. These two lights would glow white and yellow and move around each other. Then they went back together to form one light that glowed bright white and yellow several times before fading away. This whole event lasted about 3 minutes. It still comes out but the road is now patrolled by county sheriffs.

4. Ripley - Ghost Hollow. My dad’s family grew up and has a spot down on the Cimarron River just about 2 miles from Ghost Hollow. We still have the original homeplace with a little cabin on it that the family goes down to many times throughout the year to fish, hunt, etc. So I grew up knowing all the legends and lore of Ghost Hollow. My grandfather tells the tale of the outlaws that robbed a neighboring town and fled into the hills of the holler and the vigilantes that came and captured and/or killed them. He said that for a long time the “kissing trees” (thusly named because there were two trees that grew wrapped around each other, entwined I guess is a better word) stood and that was where the outlaws were hung. He said ever since that happened, the outlaws haunted that area. Another part of the legend was that every seven years, someone would die in the holler. Now, I’m sure that that particular part of the story was for the sake of the children’s ghost story around the fire at night, but one year we went down to the holler and I’ll be danged if there wasn’t a “makeshift memorial” for a girl that had died down there. (It is still there, but the cross has been vandalized a little) and off of the road a bit is a headstone of some man that died many years ago. I go down to the holler every time I go to the “farm”. Over the years, the trees rotted and died and the kids that partied in the holler had no respect and spray painted them and eventually burned them. Only parts of the trunks still stand. When you go into the holler, you get that creepy feeling that we all get on occasion and twice I have seen some shadowy figure standing in the trees seemingly watching us. One time me and 2 of my friends were down in the holler by the trees and I was telling them all the stories my grandfather had told me. When I got to the part about the outlaws haunting the holler, the wind suddenly came from every direction (mind you this is a holler with thick trees and hills surrounding it), so much so that it blew my long hair straight up in the air. That was enough for my friend to get scared and want the heck out of there, lol. But to this day, even though it is populated with many homes, you can still drive down the road that takes you by what used to be the “kissing” aka hanging trees.

5. There is a place on the Delaware/Mayes county line by the town called Rose that is the first Cherokee Courthouse in Indian Territory. It is Saline Courthouse and is very haunted. (The Pryor Daily Times once wrote an article about the courthouse and the reporter documented hearing footsteps upstairs while interviewing the caretaker. The story is available via microfiche at the county library). There is a huge amount of history involving the courthouse on this site: http://www.salinecourthouse.org . I used to go to the courthouse back in high school and had a something happen every time. The court house had a caretaker, but it was always easy to know if they were there or not by a vehicle in the driveway or the lack of a vehicle. So when there was no vehicle we would park our truck by the headstones by the road and run to the courthouse. More than once we would see lights on upstairs (no electricity in the house) and see shadowy figures all over the property. One night we were able to get into the courthouse and as is usual in places like this it was terribly vandalized. There were four of us and one flashlight (smart, huh?). Two of us, Jeff and Lori decided to stay downstairs and so me and my boyfriend ventured upstairs with the flashlight. We looked around upstairs and didn’t see anything unusual. When we went back downstairs one of our friends said something along the lines of “ha ha, very funny trying to scare us, we saw you guys standing over there” and pointed to one corner of a large downstairs room. We told them that we were upstairs and there is only one staircase in the courthouse. We shined our light over in the corner and verified our story. There was no way for us to be two places at once. They got terrified and said that they saw two people over in that corner and thought we were trying to scare them. Our two friends wasted no time getting out of the courthouse, so my boyfriend and I followed. We had all made it out of the courthouse when my boyfriend decided he wanted to check out the jail. Lori mentioned that she felt like she was being watched and all of a sudden, coyotes started howling all around us. Jeff and looked over into the tree line and saw 3 whitish figures. Lori and I started running for the truck as were quickly passed by Jeff running at top speed. He jumped in my truck and had it started and was getting ready to pull out by the time Lori and I made it. My boyfriend, totally unaware of what we had seen was still nosing around the jail. We called for him to hurry up. I have been back since, but only driving by.. I still see the lights on inside upstairs.
I know these stories are long, and I know you wont’ put them all up on the website, but I wanted to let you know my stories of the Oklahoma places.
Thanks!!

By: uthinkyouknowme@yahoo.com