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Brown Springs Cemetery in Oklahoma caught my attention. This location looks so good – if you take proper precautions – it’s worth investigating
First, check the description and links on this Oklahoma history webpage: Brown Springs, Thackerville, Oklahoma.
Then, watch this “Panic Attack Videos” presentation, which includes language – audio and captions – that is not safe for the office. (Ignore the cheesy graphic in the video screenshot. It’s a good video.)
- The on-site portion of the video gives a hint of why this could be a powerful location for research.
- Then, it shows why you shouldn’t bother going there unless you have a large research team… including big guys with stakes (or at least baseball bats).
(As of Jan 2016, the following link will take you to that video’s location at YouTube, but you’ll need the channel owner’s permission to see it.)
https://youtu.be/jicCxgPihPs
This could be a highly dangerous location, due to the living, not the dead. And, I wouldn’t want to see threatening violence escalate. That could be a tragedy waiting to happen… again, because of the living, not the dead.
However, with enough bouncer-type team members – and some good maps of the area, so you know which dirt roads are dead ends – a site that is active at night should be worth investigating during somewhat safer daytime hours. (Here’s a link to one map with a general overview: http://www.oklahomahistory.net/brownspr/bsprmap.jpg )
Mostly, I like this video because the guys seem very normal and they don’t leap to paranormal explanations for what could be ordinary things.
Yes, the video could have been staged. (Their YouTube description says that they enjoy “pranks,” and some of their videos seem like fake, staged silliness.)
That’s not the point.
Fake or not, I liked the first video, because it shows one good reason never to ghost hunt by yourself. That kind of real-life scare can happen anywhere.
Okay, Brown Springs Cemetery is known for trouble, but that trouble started at some time in the past. You should never put yourself at risk by ghost hunting alone or unprepared. You do not want to be at a haunted site on the night when trouble begins at that location.
In the next video, “World’s scariest ghost hunt that never happened,” the guys explain that Brown Springs isn’t one of their “prank” locations. (Like the others, this video contains not-safe-for-the-office language.)
In the next video (linked below), you’ll see why you’ll want a good 4WD vehicle, leg covering (in case of snakes), and good hiking shoes.
Early in that video, one of the guys talks about hearing gunfire nearby, confirming the risks of visiting Brown Springs Cemetery, even in broad daylight. And then… they get lost. So, have GPS and a good hiking map and compass.
This is another video with not-safe-for-the-office language. You’ll be tempted to stop after the 10-minute mark since that’s when they leave the cemetery area.
However, if you’re planning a trip to the site, watch to the 12-minute mark. You’ll get some useful tips about road hazards in and out of the Brown Springs Cemetery location: Specifically, place logs in the deepest ruts in the road. (At the end of the video, they go to the nearby casino.)
Here’s the link to that video, but (as of Jan 2016) — like the first one I linked to — you’ll need the channel owner’s permission to view it:
https://youtu.be/4IS_uFJ3IYs
Additional Brown Springs references
- Panoramio – Photo of Brown Springs (photos, maps, comments worth noting)
- List of grave markers by Bill Hamm (OkCemeteries.net) at Brown Springs, aka Dripping Springs, aka Refuge Springs
- Strange State – Paranormal Mysteries: North Texas Man-Dog Account (crypto reference)
In A walk through the vineyards: Ishmael and his descendants, by Judy Vinyard Beebe, I found a reference to one person in the cemetery. Augustus “Gus” R. Vineyard, b. 1840, Mississippi (to Corder Vineyard and Debbie Bowen), d. ca. 1900, Gainesville, TX. Married Mary Phillips, b. 1842 in TN, d. 1880, Gainesville. At Ancestry.com, I found that they had five children including a daughter, Elizabeth Phillips Vineyard, b. 1870, death date unknown. (Other children:
- Mealer Phillips Vineyard
- John Wesley Vineyard
- William Phillips Vineyard
- Robert Lee VineyardThe fact that this one family leaps out of the records… that’s a paragenealogy line I’d follow.
- I’d also research the Love family members buried there since the cemetery is in the middle of nowhere, it’s neglected, and the county is Love County. That’s significant.
- And, in case Brown Springs is related to the Brown family – which seems likely – I’d start with the Love/Brown/Crockett Bible Records.
- I’m also seeing references to the Chickasaw Nation in connection with that cemetery. Will all of this lead back to the proverbial “Indian burial grounds” where hauntings are often reported?
Note: Browns Spring Cemetery – with an S – is a different location. It’s in Georgia.