WEBVTT 00:00:02.269 --> 00:00:05.730 There's some places in this world where the past 00:00:05.730 --> 00:00:09.130 don't stay buried, where the weight of sorrow 00:00:09.130 --> 00:00:12.130 and blood seeps so deep into the soil that the 00:00:12.130 --> 00:00:17.449 land itself remembers. Locust Grove, Oklahoma 00:00:17.449 --> 00:00:22.210 is one of them places. It started long before 00:00:22.210 --> 00:00:25.010 men with paper and laws came taken what weren't 00:00:25.010 --> 00:00:28.210 theirs, before the cries of the Cherokee were 00:00:28.210 --> 00:00:30.649 swallowed by the wind on the Trail of Tears. 00:00:31.309 --> 00:00:34.810 It started before the gunfire of war soaked the 00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:37.890 ground in the soldier's blood, leaving behind 00:00:37.890 --> 00:00:42.030 restless souls that never found peace. And yet, 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:45.350 despite all them warnings, despite the way the 00:00:45.350 --> 00:00:48.530 air never quite settled right, someone decided 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:51.390 to build a camp for children on that cursed land. 00:00:52.090 --> 00:00:56.030 A place of innocence, of laughter, of campfires 00:00:56.030 --> 00:01:00.200 and starlit nights. But the land don't care what 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:05.200 it was meant to be, and in 1977 it took back 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:09.560 what it was owed. Now, if you listen close, the 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.640 wind don't just rustle the leaves, it whispers 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.180 names that ain't been spoken in years. If you 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:19.519 walk too far into them woods, you might feel 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:23.780 a cold hand brush your arm, might see eyes glowing 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:26.359 from the brush that disappear when you blink. 00:01:26.890 --> 00:01:31.310 And Lord help you if you hear the laughing, because 00:01:31.310 --> 00:01:35.090 it never stays laughing for long. Camp Scott 00:01:35.090 --> 00:01:39.269 is gone, but something still lingers. And if 00:01:39.269 --> 00:01:42.250 you go looking for it, it just might come looking 00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:47.909 for you. Welcome to Kentucky Melodies America's 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:51.129 Scariest Stories, where we bring you ghostly 00:01:51.129 --> 00:01:55.030 legends, spooky haints, and bone -chilling tales. 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:58.500 from all over this great land. These stories 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:00.700 will have you looking over your shoulder all 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:04.540 night. So pull up a chair, dim them lights, and 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:09.840 let's dive into the eerie and unexplained. That 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.479 land they call Locust Grove, Oklahoma, been steeped 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.560 in sorrow long for any settler ever set foot 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:21.939 there. Weren't always that way though. Once it 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:25.150 was Cherokee land. a place where the people lived 00:02:25.150 --> 00:02:28.550 by the rivers, beneath the trees, listening to 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:32.069 the spirits that moved through the hills. But 00:02:32.069 --> 00:02:35.449 peace don't last when greed comes sniffing round, 00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:39.629 and sure enough, men with papers and guns came 00:02:39.629 --> 00:02:45.469 and tore it all away. Back in 1838, the U .S. 00:02:46.050 --> 00:02:48.330 government forced the Cherokee from their homes, 00:02:48.909 --> 00:02:51.550 drove them from the land of their kin and their 00:02:51.550 --> 00:02:55.389 ancestors, pushing them down a long, cruel road 00:02:55.389 --> 00:02:59.169 called the Trail of Tears. Twelve hundred miles 00:02:59.169 --> 00:03:02.409 of suffering with cold setting in their bones, 00:03:02.930 --> 00:03:06.409 bellies aching from hunger, feet raw from the 00:03:06.409 --> 00:03:11.310 journey. Thousands never made it. They fell where 00:03:11.310 --> 00:03:15.169 they walked, their bodies left to the wind, their 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:17.770 souls caught between a world that didn't want 00:03:17.770 --> 00:03:21.259 them and a world they couldn't reach. The old 00:03:21.259 --> 00:03:24.560 folks say the land itself soaked up that sorrow, 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:29.060 took in that blood and never let go of it. Weren't 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:32.900 just grief settling in the soil, something darker 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.879 took root. The elders whispered that when that 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:40.340 much pain stains the earth, it wakes things that 00:03:40.340 --> 00:03:43.479 ought to stay sleeping. Spirits left restless, 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:46.860 something old and hungry feeding off the misery, 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:51.180 and from that day on, That land was never the 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:55.479 same. The land suffering didn't end with the 00:03:55.479 --> 00:03:58.780 Trail of Tears. Weren't long before more blood 00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:02.080 got spilled right there in the dirt. Back in 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:07.020 1862, war come knocking. Union and Confederate 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:09.819 soldiers clashed hard at the Battle of Locust 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:13.560 Grove. The sound of gunfire tore through them 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:17.139 woods, bullets hitting trees, men dropping for 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:20.129 they even knew what killed them. Weren't much 00:04:20.129 --> 00:04:23.750 of a fight. The Confederates got cut down fast. 00:04:24.029 --> 00:04:26.269 Some of them never even had the chance to raise 00:04:26.269 --> 00:04:30.329 their rifles. They died in the dirt. Their bodies 00:04:30.329 --> 00:04:33.990 left to rot. Their last cries swallowed by the 00:04:33.990 --> 00:04:37.730 wind. For years after, folks whispered about 00:04:37.730 --> 00:04:41.170 shadows moving through the trees. Figures standing 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:44.389 just out of sight. Their faces twisted up like 00:04:44.389 --> 00:04:47.939 they were still feeling the pain of dying. Some 00:04:47.939 --> 00:04:51.379 swore they heard moaning in the dark, voices 00:04:51.379 --> 00:04:54.300 drifting through the hills calling out for help 00:04:54.300 --> 00:04:58.339 that weren't never coming. Others, they stayed 00:04:58.339 --> 00:05:01.000 clear of that place altogether, wouldn't set 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.800 foot on that land after sundown saying the ground 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:07.459 weren't fit for the living no more. The Cherokee 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:10.300 who remained in them parts knew what it meant. 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:14.740 Too much death, too much suffering, too much 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:18.160 blood seeped into the earth. That kind of stain 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.600 don't wash out. That land was cursed now, cursed 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:26.779 beyond fixing. And yet, years later, somebody 00:05:26.779 --> 00:05:29.199 got it in their head to build something meant 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.860 for children on that very spot. A place for laughter, 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:37.920 for campfires, for childhood memories. But curses? 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:40.939 They don't much care what a place is supposed 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:46.720 to be. Back in 1928, someone figured they could 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.339 turn that cursed land into something good. So 00:05:50.339 --> 00:05:53.399 they built Camp Scott, a Girl Scout retreat, 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.800 a place where youngins could run free, learn 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:59.839 the ways of the woods, and make memories meant 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:04.040 to last a lifetime. For near fifty years, the 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.459 place flourished. Girls came from all over, laughing 00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:10.839 round campfires, learning to tie knots and read 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:13.879 the stars, never once knowing what lay beneath 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:17.819 their feet. But folks that had been round long 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:22.339 enough, they knew. The Cherokee elders still 00:06:22.339 --> 00:06:25.459 whispered their warnings, said that land weren't 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:28.379 never meant for the living, said it had already 00:06:28.379 --> 00:06:32.860 taken too much. And some campers, they felt it 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:36.279 too. Girls told stories of whispers riding the 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:39.259 wind at night, voices calling from the trees 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:41.720 that weren't nothing but shadows in the daylight. 00:06:42.470 --> 00:06:45.389 Some swore their belongings got moved in the 00:06:45.389 --> 00:06:48.930 dead of night, though no one had been near. Others 00:06:48.930 --> 00:06:52.689 woke to the feeling of something watching, something 00:06:52.689 --> 00:06:56.730 just beyond the lantern light. But kids got wild 00:06:56.730 --> 00:06:59.689 imaginations and grown folks don't like to dwell 00:06:59.689 --> 00:07:03.470 on things they can't explain. So they ignored 00:07:03.470 --> 00:07:07.029 the warnings, laughed off the whispers, kept 00:07:07.029 --> 00:07:09.730 the campfires burning, hoping light was enough 00:07:09.730 --> 00:07:15.120 to keep the dark at bay. Then came 1977, and 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:18.279 the land, the spirits, the curse, the suffering 00:07:18.279 --> 00:07:21.939 buried deep in that soil took what it was owed. 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:27.819 Three innocent souls, gone. And Camp Scott, it 00:07:27.819 --> 00:07:34.519 never opened its gates again. June 13th, 1977 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:37.519 should have been a night of campfire stories, 00:07:37.939 --> 00:07:40.439 sticky s'mores, and sleeping under the stars. 00:07:40.910 --> 00:07:45.350 for Lori Lee Farmer, eight, Doris Denise Milner, 00:07:45.829 --> 00:07:50.509 ten, and Michelle Heather Gus, nine. It was their 00:07:50.509 --> 00:07:53.990 first night at Camp Scott, full of nerves, excitement, 00:07:54.649 --> 00:07:57.329 and the kind of wonder only childhood holds. 00:07:58.250 --> 00:08:01.329 They were placed in tent number eight, sitting 00:08:01.329 --> 00:08:03.829 just a little too far from the others, tucked 00:08:03.829 --> 00:08:07.449 away at the edge of the camp. Alone enough that 00:08:07.449 --> 00:08:10.379 when the darkness crept in, There weren't many 00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:14.459 ears to hear what came next. But trouble had 00:08:14.459 --> 00:08:17.920 been brewing long before that night. A counselor's 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.439 cabin was ransacked. Her belongings tossed like 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:25.459 someone, or something, had been looking for something. 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.899 A note was found, scrawled and strange, warning 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:33.100 that three girls would die that summer. Just 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:37.860 a cruel joke, they said, just a prank. Some of 00:08:37.860 --> 00:08:40.919 the counselors heard strange noises in the night, 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:45.059 low, guttural growls from the woods. But when 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:47.519 they shined their flashlights toward the trees, 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.919 the only thing staring back was the empty dark. 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:55.600 Then came the night, and the woods fell too quiet. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:59.940 Some of the girls said they heard moaning, soft 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:03.919 and eerie, drifting through the trees. Others 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:07.789 claimed they saw a single beam of light. A flashlight 00:09:07.789 --> 00:09:10.870 moving through the woods, disappearing between 00:09:10.870 --> 00:09:13.450 the trees like something was lurking just beyond 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:17.970 their sight. But no one dared step outside. And 00:09:17.970 --> 00:09:20.690 by the time the first rays of sun pushed through 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:24.669 the trees, the horror had already happened. Tent 00:09:24.669 --> 00:09:28.090 number eight was empty. Their bodies were found 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:31.509 along a trail leading to the showers. Three young 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:35.190 lives stolen in the dead of night. in a place 00:09:35.190 --> 00:09:37.669 that had already seen too much blood spilled 00:09:37.669 --> 00:09:42.269 into its soil. Panic gripped the camp. Parents 00:09:42.269 --> 00:09:45.169 came rushing in, pulling their daughters from 00:09:45.169 --> 00:09:48.009 the cabins, from the fields, from the nightmare 00:09:48.009 --> 00:09:52.549 that had settled over Camp Scott. And after that, 00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:57.269 the gates shut for good. The laughter, the songs, 00:09:57.710 --> 00:10:02.490 the firelight, it all faded into silence. Camp 00:10:02.490 --> 00:10:06.789 Scott was no more, but the land remained, and 00:10:06.789 --> 00:10:09.809 folks say it never forgot what happened there. 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:15.129 The law turned its eye on Gene Leroy Hart, a 00:10:15.129 --> 00:10:18.230 Cherokee man with a past tangled in violence 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:22.529 and escape. He'd been on the run for years, hiding 00:10:22.529 --> 00:10:25.789 deep in the hills, living off the land like a 00:10:25.789 --> 00:10:29.190 ghost. When they finally caught him a year later, 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:33.559 folks thought justice might be served. But in 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:36.860 the end, the jury let him walk, saying there 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:39.379 weren't enough proof to pin the crime on him. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:45.019 In 1979, Hart dropped dead in prison on unrelated 00:10:45.019 --> 00:10:48.240 charges, and with him went the truth of what 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:51.740 really happened that night. Or at least, the 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:55.440 truth that could be proved. See, plenty of folks 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:59.470 never believed Hart acted alone. Some say there 00:10:59.470 --> 00:11:02.389 was someone else out there that night, maybe 00:11:02.389 --> 00:11:06.309 more than one. Others, others whisper that it 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:08.929 weren't just men in them woods, that something 00:11:08.929 --> 00:11:12.149 older, something darker had a hand in what happened 00:11:12.149 --> 00:11:16.509 at Camp Scott. Whatever the case, that land never 00:11:16.509 --> 00:11:20.450 took to life again. Camp Scott rotted where it 00:11:20.450 --> 00:11:24.289 stood, cabins swallowed up by vines, the forest 00:11:24.289 --> 00:11:27.029 creeping in like it was taking back what belonged 00:11:27.029 --> 00:11:32.779 to it. Nobody rebuilt. Nobody dared. And yet, 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.799 people still go out there. The curious, the foolish, 00:11:37.299 --> 00:11:40.580 the ones who don't know better. And some of them? 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.120 They come back shaken, whispering about shadowy 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:47.220 figures moving through the trees, about disembodied 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:50.700 voices calling out names that ain't theirs. A 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:53.940 few even claim to hear low, guttural growls in 00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:56.919 the dark. just like the counselors did all them 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:00.799 years ago. Whatever haunts them woods, it ain't 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.580 sleeping, and it sure as hell ain't leaving. 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:07.919 Even after they locked the gates and let the 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.620 forest take back what was hers, Camp Scott ain't 00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:15.279 never been forgotten. Folks still go out there, 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.860 the foolhardy and the curious, the ones who ain't 00:12:18.860 --> 00:12:21.679 never heard the warnings proper or just don't 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:26.350 care. Some come for a thrill. Some come to see 00:12:26.350 --> 00:12:29.830 if the stories are true. But plenty leave pale 00:12:29.830 --> 00:12:33.090 -faced and shaken, refusing to ever speak of 00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:36.789 what they saw. They say, if you stand still in 00:12:36.789 --> 00:12:39.850 the dead of night, if the wind dies and the woods 00:12:39.850 --> 00:12:43.750 go quiet, you might hear it, the high, sweet 00:12:43.750 --> 00:12:47.250 sound of little girls laughing. But don't go 00:12:47.250 --> 00:12:51.409 smiling just yet. That laughter... It don't stay 00:12:51.409 --> 00:12:55.169 laughter for long. It stretches, twists, turns 00:12:55.169 --> 00:12:58.490 into something shrill and broken. A sound that 00:12:58.490 --> 00:13:02.450 don't belong in this world. Ain't just sounds, 00:13:02.690 --> 00:13:07.710 neither. The woods got watchers. Tall, dark things 00:13:07.710 --> 00:13:10.629 that slip between the trees, moving just out 00:13:10.629 --> 00:13:14.210 of sight. Their eyes hollow and wrong, fixed 00:13:14.210 --> 00:13:17.269 on anyone fool enough to walk them cursed grounds. 00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:21.429 Then there's the ones who've felt it the cold 00:13:21.429 --> 00:13:24.330 touch of fingers that ain't there Brushing up 00:13:24.330 --> 00:13:28.470 their arms pulling at their sleeves Some say 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:30.950 they freeze up like they've been dropped in a 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:35.590 lake in January Can't move can't breathe can't 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:38.750 do nothing, but wait for it to pass and them 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:42.990 eyes them burning red hot eyes More than one 00:13:42.990 --> 00:13:45.509 poor soul's caught a glimpse of them, glowing 00:13:45.509 --> 00:13:48.210 in the underbrush, watching without blinking, 00:13:48.470 --> 00:13:52.690 without moving, until you get too close. Then, 00:13:53.029 --> 00:13:56.909 gone. Like they was never there at all. And Lord 00:13:56.909 --> 00:14:00.210 help you if you hear the growling. Ain't no wolf, 00:14:00.629 --> 00:14:03.830 ain't no bobcat, ain't nothing that walks natural 00:14:03.830 --> 00:14:08.429 on this earth. It's low, guttural, hungry. The 00:14:08.429 --> 00:14:11.669 same sound them counselors heard back in 77. 00:14:11.950 --> 00:14:15.009 and the sound they laughed off until the laughing 00:14:15.009 --> 00:14:18.330 stopped for good. Some folks say it's the girls 00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:21.789 trapped in their final moments doomed to relive 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:25.169 that night over and over again trying to find 00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:28.750 a way out that ain't never coming. Others reckon 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:31.929 it goes deeper than that. That whatever cursed 00:14:31.929 --> 00:14:36.370 that land long before 1977 is still there, still 00:14:36.370 --> 00:14:40.210 watching, still waiting. And if you step foot 00:14:40.210 --> 00:14:43.960 on that soil It just might be waiting for you. 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:48.580 Maybe it was the trail of tears that first soaked 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:52.320 that soil in sorrow, leaving behind a wound that 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:56.120 never healed. Maybe it was the battle of Locust 00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:59.320 Grove, spilling more blood into ground that had 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:03.000 already had its fill, calling up restless spirits 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.980 that still roam the hills. Or maybe, just maybe, 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:11.309 something else was always there. hiding in the 00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:14.389 trees, waiting for something innocent to take. 00:15:15.009 --> 00:15:20.629 And in 1977, it did. One thing's for certain, 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:25.730 that land never forgot. And those who set foot 00:15:25.730 --> 00:15:30.009 upon it, they never leave unchanged. Even now, 00:15:30.149 --> 00:15:33.169 if you listen close, the wind don't just whistle 00:15:33.169 --> 00:15:36.970 through them trees, it whispers, calling out 00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:39.960 names that ain't been spoken in years. crying 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:43.019 for something lost, and if you go looking for 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:46.340 the spirits of Camp Scott, you might just find 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:51.740 them, or worse, they might just find you. Now, 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:55.840 I have to ask, was it just a terrible crime or 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:59.740 was there something older, darker at play? Do 00:15:59.740 --> 00:16:02.679 you believe the land itself had a curse on it, 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:06.200 built on all that sorrow and bloodshed? And what 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:08.950 about the hauntings? Do you think the spirits 00:16:08.950 --> 00:16:12.110 of them girls are still trapped there, reliving 00:16:12.110 --> 00:16:16.110 that night over and over again? Or is there something 00:16:16.110 --> 00:16:19.210 else lurking in them woods, waiting for the next 00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:22.750 soul to wander too close? We want to hear your 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:26.149 thoughts, your theories, and your own ghost stories. 00:16:27.009 --> 00:16:29.570 Would you ever dare to step foot on that land? 00:16:30.210 --> 00:16:33.009 Drop your comments below. And if you've ever 00:16:33.009 --> 00:16:35.490 been somewhere that felt like it remembered something 00:16:35.490 --> 00:16:40.299 awful, Tell us about it. We're listening. And 00:16:40.299 --> 00:16:44.320 who knows? Maybe they are, too. That's all for 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.039 this tale, but don't you worry. There's always 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.919 more haunting stories waiting in the dark. We're 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:54.259 glad y 'all stopped by Kentucky Melody, where 00:16:54.259 --> 00:16:57.100 the past ain't never quite buried in the shadows 00:16:57.100 --> 00:17:01.379 got stories to tell. If you liked this one, be 00:17:01.379 --> 00:17:05.420 sure to like, subscribe, and stick around. We 00:17:05.420 --> 00:17:08.779 got plenty more Appalachian haints, ghostly goings 00:17:08.779 --> 00:17:12.680 on, and eerie legends still to come. And remember, 00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:15.799 next time you hear the wind whispering through 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.940 the trees, next time the woods go a little too 00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:22.720 quiet, next time something don't feel quite right, 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:27.059 maybe, just maybe, you ain't alone. We'll see 00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:30.180 y 'all next time, if them spirits don't find 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:30.859 you first.