3 Haunted Tales About This Mysterious Kansas Sinkhole Will Give You Chills
By Clarisa|Published June 23, 2019
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Clarisa
Author
Born and raised Kansan, Clarisa has lived in both tiny towns and cities during their time here in the Sunflower State. As a busy mother of one crazy kid, two cats, and two geckos, they write whenever there is spare time.
You may have heard of a similarly named place deep in the desert, but this one is hiding out in a Prairie Preserve in rural Kansas. Even better, there are some legends and haunted tales about this spot that make it a bit more interesting than your average nature attraction. Come check out for yourself the stories and mysteries surrounding this Kansas sinkhole.
Welcome to Big Basin Prairie Preserve, a great place in rural Kansas where you can get your fill of beautiful scenery. However, something here isn't really as it seems.
The preserve covers 1818 acres (almost three square miles) in the Red Hills, and it consists of two sinkhole-created basins, one large and one small. Today, we venture over to Little Basin for these haunting tales of a sinkhole known as St. Jacob's Well.
St. Jacob's Well is a beautiful place where many animals are known to stop and drink, and the water never dries up completely, according to legend. There are a few stories surrounding it, if you believe in those sorts of things.
Our first story is quite old, and it tells of the allegedly bottomless sinkhole filled with drowned bodies somewhere in its depths, all people who tried to reach the bottom of this seemingly endless body of water. In general, the spirits of those whose lives were lost are said to be heard on windless nights.
Our second tale tells of the first person ever drowned in this well, a traveling cowboy and his horse. The story goes that the cowboy, thinking the sinkhole to be just a deep puddle, decided to have his horse cross it in the 1890s, only to plunge into the depths and meet their fate. It is said that during pitch black nights, you can hear the chilling screams of both horse and Cowboy, and see their spirits rise from inside the water.
Our third tale tells of sightless fish, who swim just out of the view of any who may want to see them, feeding on the bodies of any animal or man drowned in its depths. It's a little more farfetched than these others, but much less scary.
The reality is that it's currently about 30 yards wide and about 18 feet deep, but fed water through a natural spring. We don't think it's been this shallow forever due to geographical shifts, but the area is still beautiful, and if you'd like to venture to the well, be our guest.
Have you ever visited Jacob’s Well before, and if you did, was anything amiss? Most of us don’t believe in ghosts or spirits, but one thing that’s haunting is the beauty at this Kansas park. You’ll be dreaming about it for months.
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