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Belvidere, KS —
For some, the Halloween season is a time for harvest, costumed trick-or-treaters, family dinners and romps through the pumpkin patch. Hot apple cider and the perfect slice of pecan pie can compliment the changing of the seasons and ease the transition into winter. Whether you’re driving through the foothills, planting your spring bulbs or stocking up on bags of chocolate at Haviland Hardware, there is no better place for family and friends to enjoy these wonderful things than right here, in Kiowa County.
But for the rest of you, who might see Halloween as the perfect time to reconnect with all that is spooky, creepy and frightful, look no further than your own backyard.
From its earliest days until today, Kiowa County and its residents have created a long winding history filled with supernatural, unexplained and ghastly events. Some have come and gone in the blink of the eye, leaving only one single photograph to tell the tale. Others have left weathered and dilapidated ruins that will eventually erase all reminders of the horrific and unthinkable tragedies that occurred around them while others forever remain monuments to unexplained events of long ago.
THE DEVIL'S CORRAL
Tucked into the harsh barren hillside of the Belvidere prairie is an ancient rock face and historic basin known to locals as “The Devil’s Corral”.
Hiking from the dirt road down into the rattlesnake and hornet infested gully, the corral feels as unpredictable and as mysterious as its past.
A popular party hangout for high school kids for the past 50 years, the corral and its huge effacing rock wall is covered in “graffiti” scratched into the soft rock facade. But look past the love letters crudely scratched into the rock and you’ll find ancient carvings depicting the stars and sky and strangely cut ridges and slash marks. One of the petroglyphs depicts a human figure raising their hands to the sky surrounded by stars.
It is thought that Native Americans may have used the rock walls and enclosed corral as a ceremonial site for rituals. A number of the carvings were registered as National Historic sites in 1982, although the address is listed as “restricted.”
The corral easily makes it onto the list with an eight on the heebie-jeebies scale, not just because of the strange petroglyphs, but also because entering the corral is spooky in its own right. Bushes rustle, the wind screams through the trees and overhanging shrubs and roots turn the dried riverbed into night, even in the bright noon sun. I wouldn’t want to be there after sunset.
For some, the Halloween season is a time for harvest, costumed trick-or-treaters, family dinners and romps through the pumpkin patch. Hot apple cider and the perfect slice of pecan pie can compliment the changing of the seasons and ease the transition into winter. Whether you’re driving through the foothills, planting your spring bulbs or stocking up on bags of chocolate at Haviland Hardware, there is no better place for family and friends to enjoy these wonderful things than right here, in Kiowa County.
But for the rest of you, who might see Halloween as the perfect time to reconnect with all that is spooky, creepy and frightful, look no further than your own backyard.
From its earliest days until today, Kiowa County and its residents have created a long winding history filled with supernatural, unexplained and ghastly events. Some have come and gone in the blink of the eye, leaving only one single photograph to tell the tale. Others have left weathered and dilapidated ruins that will eventually erase all reminders of the horrific and unthinkable tragedies that occurred around them while others forever remain monuments to unexplained events of long ago.
THE DEVIL'S CORRAL
Tucked into the harsh barren hillside of the Belvidere prairie is an ancient rock face and historic basin known to locals as “The Devil’s Corral”.
Hiking from the dirt road down into the rattlesnake and hornet infested gully, the corral feels as unpredictable and as mysterious as its past.
A popular party hangout for high school kids for the past 50 years, the corral and its huge effacing rock wall is covered in “graffiti” scratched into the soft rock facade. But look past the love letters crudely scratched into the rock and you’ll find ancient carvings depicting the stars and sky and strangely cut ridges and slash marks. One of the petroglyphs depicts a human figure raising their hands to the sky surrounded by stars.
It is thought that Native Americans may have used the rock walls and enclosed corral as a ceremonial site for rituals. A number of the carvings were registered as National Historic sites in 1982, although the address is listed as “restricted.”
The corral easily makes it onto the list with an eight on the heebie-jeebies scale, not just because of the strange petroglyphs, but also because entering the corral is spooky in its own right. Bushes rustle, the wind screams through the trees and overhanging shrubs and roots turn the dried riverbed into night, even in the bright noon sun. I wouldn’t want to be there after sunset.
