A Visit to a Haunted Museum

On December 2, the four Arkansas travel writers met in the haunted basement of the McArthur Museum of Military History.  We meet from time to time to discuss story ideas, Web site updates and ongoing projects and events.  It was an eerie and surreal place to have a small intimate meeting.  The exposed stone walls appeared to be several feet deep.  There were museum displays around us and dress dummies and manikins in the corners of the room.  We were told that this was not the most haunted place in the museum but every time we heard a noise I think we all jumped.  I didn’t mind because it kept everyone alert and paying attention.  Maybe I’ll have all my meetings down there.

After we wrapped up our work, we took a brief tour of the museum.  First we visited the séance room.  Legend has it that there is an entrance to an escape tunnel from this room but according to Stephan McAteer, there is no tunnel.  From there, we visited the David Owen Dodd stained glass, took photos of the WWII jeep on the first floor and heard the story of how some paranormal experts believe the jeep to be a portal into another dimension.  Then on to my favorite exhibit- the Lee Grant exhibit.  If you get a chance, visit the MacArthur Museum of Military History.  The permanent exhibits are phenomenal but you can spend countless hours learning about the Civil War and perusing through this exhibit.