PRAIRIE GROVE (KFSM)-On Dec. 7, 1862, a bloodbath between the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi and the Union Army of the Frontier resulted in nearly 2,700 deaths. The Battle of Prairie Grove marked the last major Civil War engagement in Northwest Arkansas.
Arkansas Paranormal Investigations, a group based out of Benton County set up their ghost hunting gear at the battlefield.
“The morning after the Battle of Prairie Grove, there were 200-300 bodies when the sun came up just around the house alone,” Jeffery Young, API member said.
“On our previous investigations, we have caught quite a bit of activity here,” Alan Silva, API founder said.
This is the fourth time API has investigated the historic landmark.
“I’ve gotten a couple of really good EVPs in this park, down in the area on the road that goes through where you dip down and come up to the Borden House,” Carol Martindale, API member said.
Members define EVPs as Electronic Voice Phenomenon.
“You ask a question, and you actually get a response back that you can hear on the recorders, and so we actually got some feedback,” Silva said.
The team set up seven cameras, an upright microphone and a motion detector inside the Borden Home. The house once stood in between intense battle during the war.
“There’s been reported lots of activity in this house,” Young said. “There’s been a little girl seen looking out the windows. We have a doll here on the porch, and the last time we were here, it got moved.”
He said there have even been lights that have come on upstairs in the Borden House, but employees say there’s no power in the house. They keep it empty and locked up.
“We’re really looking for movement from this doll that we put on the front porch,” Martindale said. “When we were here last time, I think it was in May, I have still photos of the doll in one position, and an hour and a half later, the doll’s in another position.”
While they didn’t capture any paranormal activity on the cameras inside the home API told 5NEWS, after we left the doll on the doorstep moved.
“The doll actually took a slouched position, it didn’t fall over, it actually moved from where it was,” Silva said.
Young said he had an interesting encounter outside after he got separated from the team.
“I just said something like, if anybody’s here that fought here, could you please come up and let me take your picture, and I actually heard a disembodied voice, and it told me to ‘go away,’” he said.
So whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, “If you truly have a paranormal experience, nobody will be able to talk you out of what you’ve seen or heard.”
API was established in 2004, and they do all their investigations for free. For pictures of other investigations the group’s done, click here.