Welcome back!
After taking a little mental health break, I think I am ready to jump back into this blog. I enjoy creating this collection of messed up stories, but they do take some time to research, especially if I visit the locations. In other words, I needed to take some time to explore some overdue hobbies, and I think that has made quarantine a little easier for me. With that being said, I hope you all are doing well, and let's jump right into this little story.
This is the unexpectedly short story of Castlewood State Park in Ballwin, Missouri. I use to hang out at this park all the time back in high school, and it was just the place and is quite popular today. Unfortunately, they shut it down on April 2 because of COVID-19, but I was able to revisit it and get some pictures beforehand.
The park is 1,818 acres and sits alongside the Meramec River near St. Louis, Missouri. Established in 1974, it was once a resort, and Lincoln Beach was a popular swimming hole. With that being said, the Meramec is quite dangerous, and several people have died at this location. The majority of those drowned, only July 9, 2006, five children lost their lives fighting the undertow of the river.
Since it was a resort at one point, ruins of the buildings can still be seen today. There are staircases to nowhere, and random debris littering the forest. The resort has a clubhouse, dance halls, a general store, an ice cream parlor, liquor store, barbershop, and various inns connected to it. The liquor store, the Lone Wolf, served booze during the Prohibition and was noted as a "classy joint."
I was unable to find their exact location, but if you know then, please leave a comment.
Castlewood State Park connects to other parks in the area, and I think this attributes to their ghost stories getting mixed up. One of the other parks that Castlewood backs into is the Al-Foster trial in Bluff View Park, the home to the Zombie Road.
Castlewood is known to receive visits from the "Zombie Killer" as well. If you want more information on him, check out the post of Zombie Road.
Other than that, I wasn't able to find too much about this place, which was disappointing. When I was in high school, I remember there were a bunch of stories surrounding this place. For example, people would say that if you hung out there at night, you could see ghost children running through the forest. They would say that there was once an orphanage around there, and it burned down. Once again, just a story with no proof. I'm starting to think that the ghost children could be the five children who drowned in 2006, but who knows. Other than that, people would say that they would see apparitions and glowing lights. I haven't seen anything for myself there, but who knows, one day I could.
Anyway, that is all I have for you today, and I hope you enjoyed this little story.
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Until next time.
-Tye
Always Cite Those Sources:
Brown, Evan Nicole. “The Hidden History of a Missouri State Park.” Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 6 Feb. 2020, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/castlewood-state-park-missouri-vacation-destination.
“Castlewood State Park.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlewood_State_Park.
Farzan, Shahla. “Curious Louis Answers: Does Castlewood State Park Have A Hidden History?” St. Louis Public Radio, news.stlpublicradio.org/post/curious-louis-answers-does-castlewood-state-park-have-hidden-history#stream/0.
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