When El Dorado, Arkansas was settled frontier justice prevailed just as it did in many early towns across our country. During the 1840s citizens in the South Arkansas wilderness, who lived in the small settlements, handed out justice as they saw fit. One of the most persistant stories concerns the old gallows that originally set across from the Rialto Music Hall in downtown El Dorado, Arkansas. Tales abound concerning frontier justice, and many men were executed simply beause there was no jail available. One story frequently told concerns a man, when he was walking to the gallows, trying to escape. According to the story one of the men in the crowd shot him in the back with a load of birdshot. He wasn’t killed but he was bleeding from multiple wounds. The sheriff had him dipped in a horse watering trough and then hanged him. According to eyewitnesses he protested and claimed to be inocent until the rope was put around his neck.
The water trough was bloody and was drained. However, when it was filled it turned red again and could never be cleaned up. Finally, they cut a hole in the bottom and drained it. However, there are stains in the bottom that are there to this day. Are the para-normal occurances that have been docuemented around the area from the ghosts of the gallows?