OH my goodness! This post has been months in the making, i’m pretty giddy to be finishing it up! I sure do love crossing things off my To-Do list. As soon as we moved to Oklahoma we heard about the Parallel Forest and after looking it up I couldn’t wait to go explore. This post contains pictures from THREE trips to the Forest because we couldn’t find the ‘alter’ and I was determined to get the full experience.
A little about the Parallel Forrest to get us started: It is located just outside of Medicine Park in the Wichita Mountains only about 20 minutes from central Lawton. A quick read will tell you that the Forest was originally built by the federal government as an experiment to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl. HOWEVER, the true story is that the “Cedar Planting” was planted under the direction of superintendent Frank Rush in 1912. There were over 20,000 red cedars planted exactly 6 feet apart in every direction over 16 acres to provide wood for future park projects. The trees were planted in a manner that would encourage them to grow up, instead of out….creating tall timber with few lower branches – which it did. The tales have grown and grown with stories of people feeling spirits, seeing ghosts and even hearing screams and voices while wandering about the Forest.
So of course, the curious person I am decided it would be fun to explore. I’m a tad bit obsessed with ‘Ghost Towns’. So when I was reading up about all the ghost stories and heard of the ‘alter’ I knew we had to find it. This darn alter is hidden and we couldn’t stinking find it for freaking ever! We searched high and low and ended up finding it on our THIRD trip. You can read more about the ‘alter’ (which is actually an Arrastra ) but because it added up the perfect ghost story I was all-in.
So, while some consider it a tranquil place of greenery and peace, others see the uniformity as a birthing place to hauntings, urban legends and satanic rituals.
I’m personally on the side of absolute tranquility – but it sure does make for a fun story!
Would you visit?
Leave a Reply