History

The area at the end of Wall St is known locally as Happy Hollow.  The earliest burial ground in Fort Scott was located next to this area at the junction of Wall St and Lowman. It was called the Presbyterian burying ground and was in use until 1862, after which some bodies were removed to the National and Evergreen cemeteries, but the rest still lay buried there. (The photo is only representative, the cemetery no longer exists)

In his ‘Memoirs’, C. W. Goodlander of Fort Scott recalls a “little incident” that occurred at the old burial ground: “A little man who had a shooting gallery in an unfinished building on the corner of National Avenue and First Street, died suddenly in 1859. We put him in the coffin in the clothes in which he died, and took him out for burial. When we got there, they hadn’t got the grave deep enough and we had to wait. Just as we had finished digging the grave and put the coffin in, a party came and said “Search George’s pockets and see if he has any money”. The secret of this was that the parties George lived with had taken the money they knew he had. The parties denied it and said if he had any money it was in his pocket and would be buried with him, so we took the coffin out of the grave, opened it and searched his pockets and found no money and put poor George back and covered him up, and his bones, if any are left, are now moldering under some of the houses in that neighborhood.”

He also relates that: “The body of an old Indian interpreter lies under the rear of the plot where Page’s house stands, as George Goodlander when he fenced that lot, found this grave on the lot, and he removed the board that contained the Indian’s epitaph, and no one knew after that where the native American’s last resting place was. I judge this is not the only Indian grave over which the progress of civilization caused buildings to be erected.”

Reported Activity

The residents of several houses in Happy Hollow have reported paranormal activity. One owner stated that while watching TV one night she saw movement off to her right and when she looked saw a tall black figure of a man dressed in 1860’s attire. Another time while standing on the landing of the stairs, she turned and bumped into this same apparition and said it felt “solid”. It then it disappeared. She also reported hearing footsteps in the living room moving towards the kitchen and when she turned to see who it was, caught sight of a man’s reflection in the mirror.

The owner also reported that several times over a 12 month period, she would wake up in the middle of the night with a burning sensation on different parts of her body and when she looked found scratch marks. Once, while cleaning a small side table in the living room she discovered scratch marks on it matching those found on her body.  She has also felt hands on her shoulders on several occasions, and another time noticed her cat staring at the kitchen ceiling making hissing noises with it’s ears laid back. It then bolted out of the room.

Investigation

Date: April, 2009

Investigated by: Wichita Paranormal Research Society

The investigation was considered inconclusive as no evidence was recorded.