Haunted Arkansas: The Allen House in Monticello
Located in Monticello, in Arkansas’ Lower Delta, is the Allen House. It’s a beautiful home with a creepy past…and some say…a haunted present. I’ll give you the facts and let you decide if it’s one of the most haunted houses in America. Full disclosure…I don’t enjoy being scared like many people. But those of you that enjoying being terrified, you need to make plans to visit Monticello in October.
The story centers around the Allen family, especially the daughter Ladell. On Christmas 1948, it’s said Ladell consumed cyanide, dying eight days later. The room where Ladell died was sealed off by her mother and was not opened again for nearly four decades. When it was opened, the then owners found cyanide bottle on a closet shelf. Current owners, Mark and Rebecca Spencer, would find 90 letters pertaining to a secret relationship that lead Ladell to consume the poison, along with a bottle of rum.
A few years after the remaining family passed away, the Allen House was divided into apartments. Not long afterwards, the stories of paranormal activity begin, many people claiming to see a woman standing in the window of what would have been Ladell’s closed-off bedroom.
So, is the Allen House haunted? You can decide that yourself later this month when the house is opened to the public without reservation on October 30 and 31 beginning at 6 p.m.
There’s also the Nightmare Maze, open Saturdays in October as well as Oct. 30 and 31. You can check out the maze’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thenightmaremaze. In the reviews, someone said that a group of 10 visited the maze…but only four were able to successfully make it through. And…if you don’t finish it, because you’re a scaredy cat, they make you take your photo in front of a sign that says,” I was too scared to finish the Nightmare Maze.” Without a doubt, I’d be taking a photo in front of that sign.
Check out the Allen House website at allenhousemonticello.com. And to learn more about historic haunted houses in Arkansas, check out this video from our sister agency, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.
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