Day 5: Kentucky->Clarksville, AR

Time for a little sight-seeing and history: a stop in Park City, KY at the site of Bell's Tavern. It was constructed by slave labor, but was never completed due to the onset of the Civil War. It was a stage stop for lines that brought visitors to Mammoth Cave when first promoted. Famed in U.S. and Europe for elite patrons, cuisine and magic peach and honey brandy for "Joy before the journey's end," until it burned 1860. Civil War doomed completion of a new tavern begun by grandson, Wm. F. Bell, and his stepfather, George M. Proctor. It is said that there was a curse put on some men at the tavern and the legend goes something like this: two men were arguing over which side would win the Civil War... North or South. They were drunk as usual and both men started quite a fuss in the Ol' Tavern.Later that night, one of the men came back with a couple of his friends and decided to burn down Bell's Tavern. Little did these men know that in the kitchen, an elderly woman was cleaning up for the night. The local townsfolk said that the elderly woman was a witch, but the men did not believe in the local folklore. They decided to kill the elderly woman and leave her to burn with the building. One of the men snuck into the kitchen and hit the elderly woman on top of her head. He used the blunt-end of his gun to do this. So, while the place was burning, the men saw the old woman trying her best to get up and escape the raging inferno. She was not dead yet! The old woman saw the men and yelled out a curse from her blood-stained lips... "Three men... Three wells Down, down you will fall Into the mouth of Hell!" While the elderly woman was cursing and burning, one of the men pulled out his gun and shot her dead. The three men watched the blames burn high into the night. One of the men felt the ground shift underneath his feet, but paid little attention to this. For he, like his friends, was interested in watching the place burn down to the ground. Suddenly, a huge deep hole opened up and swallowed one of the men. The other two saw what was taking place and started to run in different directions away from the Tavern. They tried to get away, but to no avail.Another hole swallowed the second man and finally the third man went down. Just like the old woman said in her curse The three wells are still there. Some of the locals say, if you listen close... you can still hear the men yelling, screaming for their lives... forever screaming in Hell!