Six Oklahoma Locales to Help You Get in the Halloween Spirit

I think Halloween might literally be in my bones. After all, I grew up on the opposite corner of a section line from one of Oklahoma’s most notorious haunted spots, Dead Woman’s Crossing in Weatherford.

I’ve written about it before—in fact, it was the first story I ever wrote for Oklahoma Today—but for the uninitiated: Dead Woman’s Crossing is a bridge northeast of Weatherford that crosses Big Deer Creek. In 1905, Katie deWitt James was murdered here by a woman of the night who called herself Mrs. Ham. Mrs. Ham dropped Katie’s infant child off at a nearby house before riding at a fast clip back toward town.

The problem with the story is that, by all accounts, Mrs. Ham had no reason to murder Katie. They’d only met on the train the day before, and Mrs. Ham had offered Katie a ride to her next destination. Katie had recently left her husband, but there was no evidence ever linking him to the crime. And when Mrs. Ham was questioned by police in Shawnee later, she ingested poison and died willingly, taking the mystery of the crime with her. It's a podcast waiting to happen.

It’s said that, during the night at Dead Woman’s Crossing, Katie still can be heard calling for her lost infant.

I’ve known this story all my life—it literally occurred a mile from the house where I grew up, and I spent my childhood driving over that bridge, shooting Coke cans underneath it, picking sand plums off the bushes growing by the sides of country roads nearby. And despite having spent some late-night time down at Dead Woman’s, I’ve never heard or seen anything strange, though my friends and I did capture some spooky photos there in 2011:

We didn't find a spirit at Dead Woman's Crossing, so we painted one with a flashlight. Photo by Nathan Gunter

Oklahoma’s full of spooky spots like this. And if you want to have something of a unique Halloween experience in a place that’s legitimately spooky, here are some other places you might want to visit:

Photo by Greg Elwell

The Ouachita National Forest
If you’ve read Oklahoma Today at all, you’ve read about the southeastern Oklahoma resort town of Hochatown. And if you’ve had the good fortune to visit—it’s the home of Beavers Bend State Park and so very many great restaurants, shops, and outdoor adventures—you know that Bigfoot is the local celebrity. And though there are many statues depicting the cryptid’s silhouette all over town, it’s easy, driving or hiking through these forested reaches, to imagine they conceal a being so far unknown to science. And though, statistically speaking, you probably won’t encounter a Sasquatch in Hochatown, you’re still bound to have a great time—especially this time of year as the leaves are turning. There's even a Bigfoot festival every year in the town of Honobia!

A room at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City. No ghost spotted. Photo by Nathan Gunter

The Skirvin Hilton Hotel
This is quite possibly Oklahoma’s most famous haunted site, mostly because of all the times NBA players have blamed the Skirvin’s ghost for keeping them up all night and causing them to play badly. While they’re crying over here, I’ll tell you that the supposed spirit is a former chambermaid named Effie, who lived and died during the hotel’s original heyday. The story goes that she was carrying on an affair with the hotel’s owner, Big Bill Skirvin, and she jumped to her death with his love child. I’ve spent many a night at the Skirvin and never had a problem, but I suffer from terminal skepticism. But even if you don’t encounter the ghost here, you’re guaranteed to have a great night’s sleep, excellent drinks at the Red Piano Bar, and an unforgettable meal at the hotel’s new restaurant, Perle Mesta—the newest concept from James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Black.

The Stone Lion Inn in Guthrie. Photo by Lori Duckworth

Stone Lion Inn
The Skirvin doesn’t really super advertise its hauntedness—not like the Stone Lion Inn in Guthrie does. Like so many of the wonderful things to see and do in Guthrie, this house dates from the Victorian Era and once was a mortuary. It’s known for its live murder-mystery dinners (also an excellent Halloween season activity). But it’s also a comfortable, cozy spot to reserve a room for the night, and those who’ve stayed here have reported waking up to a child patting their face gently. There have been apparitions, slamming doors, moving objects, and more, and whether you believe in spooks or not, there’s nothing like a jump scare from a falling object in a house supposedly inhabited by the dead.

Ghost Mounds
Visible from Interstate 40 near Hydro, this is another Oklahoma ghost tale that has been with me my whole life. I grew up hearing various legends and spooky rumors about these mesas not far from my home, but I never got the full story until adulthood. According to this story by KFOR, Native legends in the area tell of a girl who went to the top looking for her lover and accidentally fell to her death. The mounds are on private property and not open to the public, but Art Peters at the Hinton Historical Museum knows a great deal (and that museum is wonderful), and the mesas are a spooky sight no matter what time of year you behold them.

The Spook Light
Oklahoma’s border with Missouri may be small, but it’s just where you need to aim yourself if you want to see the Spook Light. For nearly 150 years, travelers on a remote stretch of Ottawa County backroad have reported seeing a flickering, moving light at night. Every explanation from UFOs to ghost trains to the soul of a lost Ottawa woman have been proffered to explain this mysterious sighting, but the truth has yet to reveal itself. To try to find it for yourself, take E 50 Road north out of Peoria until the road turns from north-south to east-west. Park, walk, wait, be afraid, and bam: Pure Halloween fun. Or, y’know. Everlasting terror. Whichevs.

Written By

Nathan Gunter

A sixth-generation Oklahoman, Weatherford native, and Westmoore High School graduate, Nathan Gunter is the magazine's editor-in-chief. When he's not editor-in-chiefing, Nate enjoys live music, running, working out, gaming, cooking, and random road trips with no particular destination in mind. He holds degrees from Wake Forest University and the University of Oklahoma. He learned how to perform poetry from Maya Angelou; how to appreciate Italian art from Terisio Pignatti; comedy writing from Doug Marlette; how to make coconut cream pie from his great-grandma; and how not to approach farm dogs from trial and error. A seminary dropout, he lives just off Route 66 in Oklahoma City.