The Dark and Creepy knowledge of Arkansas

Natural Steps/Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park

A unique geological formation along the banks of the Arkansas River, Natural Steps is a small town with an unsettling history of buildings, structures and people disappearing. Days after a local couple's wedding atop the Natural Steps, the groom perished from a sudden and mysterious illness. Overwhelmed with grief, the widow disappeared after the funeral – many believe by committing suicide by jumping off the Natural Steps.

Residents and visitors alike have since reported seeing a woman in white strolling within the town. During the Civil War, Confederate forces are believed to have sunk their own gunboat containing vast sums of gold, in order to keep Union troops at bay. Three Confederate soldiers died during the explosion, and their graves can be found in the town's cemetery.

Legend has it on moonlit nights, the ghosts of the three soldiers march in a single-file line to the Arkansas River to uncover their hidden treasure.

Known to some as the "Stonehenge of Arkansas," the mounds and earthen embankments present at Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park are remnants of the Plum Bayou culture. Formerly known as Toltec Mounds, the remains are not from the Mexican Toltec or Aztec tribes as the name previously suggested. The Plum Bayou people built 18 mounds to serve as a ceremonial, religious, governmental and social complex with at least one serving as a burial mound. Archeological digs at the site have uncovered items that cannot be traced to other Native American cultures, and also have suggested that the Plum Bayou people simply disappeared – with no trace of where they went or why they left.

Visitors to the present-day park have claimed to see lights, orbs, and even ghostly apparitions of ancient people. At night, footsteps have been heard around the existing mound site.