There are conflicting stories as to how this story might come to an end. I imagine the Avilla Death Tree looks about like this. This legend began driving off many of the remaining townspeople after the war ended. Many deaths have been blamed on him over the years. His ghost torso searches the town and surrounding woods for his head and for Yankees to kill. As a result of removing the skull from the rest of the body, the ghost of Rotten Johnny Reb was created. This eerie symbol of warning did not go as planned though. To ward off future fighters the skull was taken hung from a tree. Rotten Johnny Reb’s spirit is said to haunt not only the town but also the infamous “Death Tree.” As the legend goes, during the war the body of a dead Confederate Bushwacker was found. They had one purpose and that was to destroy the enemies’ spirit in any way possible. Civil war bushwhackers were some of the original guerrilla warfare fighters. It involves the spirit of The Avilla Phantom Bushwhacker or, as some call it, Rotten Johnny Reb. Missouri was a highly contested border state with both Union and Confederate soldiers. Let’s keep the discussion going with 6 more towns that have seen better days.To know that we have to go back to the A Civil-War. Through them we can keep the history of our state alive so these towns and their rich histories don’t disappear forever. If you search the internet, there isn’t a lot of information about a lot of these towns, which makes these posts special. In a previous post, we discussed the ghost towns of Arlington, Far West, Garber, Jollification, and Avilla.

Some of these towns become residential only. Sometimes the term can refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods which are still populated, but that have lost significant population in years past. Floods, government policy repercussions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or pollution and nuclear disasters can all be to blame. It can be caused by changes or failures in economic activity it once supported, or due to natural or human-caused disasters.

Posted in Missouri Abandoned, Attractions, Creepy Januby Stephanie Butler Here Are 6 More Ghost Towns In Missouri That Are Nothing Like They Used To BeĪccording to Wikipedia, a ghost town is “an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one which contains substantial visible remains.” There are many reasons a town becomes a ghost town.

Ghost town in missouri