Benjamin Hale Unravels an Ozark Mystery at Shiloh Museum in Springdale

In 2001, a six-year-old girl disappeared on a trail atop Cave Mountain and set off the largest search and rescue mission in Arkansas history. When she was found, the story she told about a mysterious figure in the woods started sounding less like a child’s imagination and more like an echo of something darker from the same wilderness decades before.

THE DEETS

📅 Wednesday, June 17, 2026
⏰ 6:00 PM– 7:30 PM
📍 Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, 118 W Johnson Ave, Springdale
💵 Free
🖥️ Pre-registration required for virtual attendance
🔗 More info and Registration

Where Faith Meets the Wilderness

Author Benjamin Hale draws from his own family history for Cave Mountain: A Disappearance and a Reckoning in the Ozarks. That 2001 disappearance was his cousin Haley — and her account of an imaginary friend in the woods started drawing parallels to a story from the same stretch of northern Arkansas involving a 1970s cult, brainwashing, and a teenage prophet with apocalyptic visions.

The book tracks two young girls separated by decades, both lost in the same Ozark wilderness, and sits at the uncomfortable intersection of faith, skepticism, and regional history you probably didn’t learn in school.

Who’s Behind the Book

Hale is the author of The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore and The Fat Artist and Other Stories. He’s a senior editor at Conjunctions and teaches at Bard College and Columbia University.

Come for the Story, Stay for the Conversation

This presentation is part of Shiloh Museum’s Not Strictly History series — events that tend to go places a standard history lecture won’t. You can attend in person at the museum or register to watch the livestream from home. Either way, admission is free.

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