09/16/2018
Every year as we’re preparing for the haunted house, we joke that the place is really haunted. We see and hear a lot of unexplained stuff down there. So this year I decided to do a little digging and see if I could uncover the source of these odd disturbances. What I found was shocking:
The first white settlers fought with the Chickasaw and dealt them a heavy blow. Chief Minko prayed to Inki Abu, the One Above All, for divine aid. The white man continued to violently encroach upon Chickasaw land, and Minko grew impatient. Against the wishes of his advisors, he decided to appeal to the Christian God. Still the white man came. Thinking his own god has abandoned him and that the white man’s god would not be swayed, Minko sought help from the enemy of the Christian God—Old Scratch! The Devil was all too willing to make a deal, but he required that Minko sacrifice his daughter in a bizarre ritual. Human sacrifice was alien and abhorrent to the Chickasaw, but Minko did as the Devil commanded. The Chickasaw were able to hold the white man at bay for several years, but Minko’s advisors and closest friends learned of his evil dealings and turned against him, killing him on the eve of an important battle. The Chickasaw, already weakened by constant war with the Choctaw, were easily defeated. Minko’s successors decided to cooperate with the white man to ensure their survival. Their participation in the slave trade and knowledge of the region’s natural resources kept them safe for awhile, but eventually the white man deemed them useless. The white settlers paid the Chickasaws a meager sum for their land and had them relocated to Oklahoma. Many died along the way.
The most interesting part of all this? The spot where Minko sacrificed his daughter—the same place where now sits the Lodge at Wall Doxey State Park! Add some Civil War ghosts and a murder at one of the cabins on the park, and we’ve got the perfect recipe for a spectacular haunt.
