The Legend of Murder Rock
Posted on April 2nd, 2011
The beautiful golf course named “Murder Rock” is built near a site that is steeped in mystery. As the legend goes, during the civil war there was an outlaw gang of renegades led by a murderous thug named Alf Bolin that committed several robberies and murders. Alf Bolin was as mean as they come, and he lived by no law other than his own. Alf and his gang would hideout along the old Springfield – Harrison road that passed through what is now the pastoral Branson Creek development. Their favorite spot was an area of limestone rocks where the gang could hide themselves, and then ambush the unsuspecting travelers. The gang robbed, raped, and murdered without mercy. Those travelers that they didn’t kill, were relieved of their money and best saddle horses. They alledgedly bushwacked a convoy that was smuggling silver bullion from the north to the Arkansas delta in order to support the Confederate war effort, and made off with an enormous sum. The gang supposedly buried the gold and silver that they stole in a hollow near a cave that is believed to be near the Old Mincy Store and Mill. Many have heard about the lost treasure, but no gold or silver has yet been found.
Alf Bolin met his demise when a Union soldier named Zachary Thomas posing as a sick Confederate soldier, beat Alf to death with a fire poker at the home of the Fosters. His head was placed on display in the town of Ozark so that the terrorized hill-folk would actually believe that Alf Bolin had been killed. When Alf died, so did the knowledge of the exact location of his loot. Some say Alf Bolin’s gang found the loot and carried it off, but most believe that it remains buried in a hollow around Murder Rock.
What causes this legend to persist? It could be the tale of a headless apparition wandering through the hollows of Murder Rock at night, or maybe it’s the ghostly whispers heard by hikers now and then, or maybe it’s just a “hidden treasure” tale for telling around campfires at night. No one knows for sure except Alf Bolin.
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| Phone: 1-800-768-3892 · Address: 1294 State Hwy 248 Branson, MO. 65616 |
