Windyville, Missouri June 2011
Investigators: Trish and Dave
Weather: Sunny and 85
Trish and I have visited the Lake of the Ozarks on numerous occasions, but our most recent trip found us looking for nearby locations that claimed to be haunted. In my research I ran across this article from Lake News Online (Oct. 29, 2010) about the small hamlet of Windyville:
"Perhaps the most notoriously haunted site is the old town of Windyville, west of Lebanon on Route 32. Ghosts and Haunts in Missouri, a St. Louis organization, relates that Windyville is said to have some sort of haunting in every deserted building. It is located at the three junctions of Hwy K (North-South), Hwy WW (West), and CR 00-126 (East). There are believed to be five haunted areas in/around Windyville: Peppers Cemetery, Lone Rock Cemetery, the bridge on WW, the Windyville Store, and the old cannon factory. Visitors say it is a creepy little town that seems to have been lost in time."
Needless to say this caught our attention and we decided to make a day-trip hoping to find all five locations mentioned in the article. With the help of the article and an old out-of-print map, (no cellular service), we managed to find our quest; Windyville, all four or five buildings of it. Just so you're aware, the location isn't Highway WW, but actually MM.
Determined to visit the cemeteries first, we found Peppers Cemetery located just less than a mile northeast of the town, conveniently off Peppers Road. A couple weeks prior to our visit, a new pavilion was built to honor the Civil War surgeon James Pepper. It is a beautiful little location where many of the Peppers have found their final resting place. Both Trish and I took numerous photos and did a short EVP session.
Leaving this spot we made our way back through Windyville and headed west on Highway MM (not WW) across the allegedly haunted bridge and finally to Lone Rock Cemetery. It was certainly another well-kept, beautiful cemetery even though some of the graves dated back into the 1800's. Once again we took photographs and made some recordings.
On our way back to Windyville, Trish dropped me off at the "Haunted" bridge. Soon after, I heard some noises by the creek. It turned out to be a deer and not anything paranormal. Not even a Sasquatch!
The highlight of our trip was our stop at the General Store, located at Windyville's major intersection (a four way stop) in the middle of town. According to a number of accounts I had read, this store was long deserted but to our great surprise it was actually open for business. We had a great visit with the store owners, a couple middle aged women, one of which actually lived in the building! They were full of information about the area, the history of the town, and the building itself, information I had never found on any website. The one owner of the General Store had no paranormal activity to report, although she actually thought she had some when she first moved in. She had a sign suddenly fall off the wall and heard loud noises, etc. It turned out to be a couple very large black snakes that were living there! (Give me the ghosts anytime).
The other owner of the store however did have some interesting stories as she just happens to live next door to the Lone Rock Cemetery. She described her fans turning on by themselves, strange noises, and things being moved in her house.
At one point they directed our attention to the Old Cannery, (which I suspect was the previously misidentified "old cannon factory"). It was located just off the main road but nary impossible to see because of the thick trees and grasses that had swallowed the building. I gutted out my fear of snakes and poison ivy, and made my way back to the Old Factory. I heeded their warning to stay away from the goat that was described as "somewhat temperamental".
Based on our experiences, the people of Windyville were extremely nice and hospitable. Unfortunately, this small community has had issues with irresponsible people coming to town: http://from-the-shadows.blogspot.com/2007/05/windyville-and-internet-curse.html.
After our return, I discovered that for some reason I had lost all my digital recordings. Do I chalk it up to the paranormal or merely ineptitude? Whatever the case, at least all my pictures came out, (Link to photos). It also gives me an excuse to return to this quaint little township lost in time. Only next time around, I will be more wary of the "Stories" that others might share.