By Tim Binnall
What started as a search for spirits at a long-neglected Arkansas cemetery has turned into a commendable cause for a group of paranormal researchers who have set out to restore the site. According to a local media report, the effort came about after Brent Long, Jessie Wooten, and Chad Brewer of Natural State Supernatural ventured out to the Whitley Cemetery in the community of Lonoke. "I was like, hey, this would be a really interesting place to investigate because it has a lot of history," Long recalled, lamenting that he was soon sickened to discover that the site had fallen into considerable disrepair.
Of the 122 mostly 19th-century graves at the location, only around 40 of them remain visible due to a significant amount of vegetation that has overrun the area. Additionally, the lack of upkeep over the years has led to several headstones being damaged or impossible to read due to accumulated dirt. "I felt a lot of sadness, knowing that people let it grow like this and forget about the people that are buried out there," Wooten recalled, "they were humans, they were alive just like we are today."
Echoing his teammate's thoughts, Long mused, "these people were alive 100, 200 years ago. They deserve the same respect as a freshly buried person. They don’t deserve all this overgrowth and to be forgotten." With that in mind, the group has temporarily traded in their ghost hunting gear for landscaping equipment with the goal of breathing new life into the location. Alas, as one might imagine, the project has proven to be a rather daunting task for the group, as the sheer amount of overgrown vegetation and downed trees has posed quite a problem.
"Weed eaters just ain't gonna get it by themselves," Wooten explained, "we’re gonna need a lot of big equipment." To that end, the group has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the project and is also calling on any interested parties in the area to contact them on social media if they would like to help support the effort. "If we had the people we need, and the equipment we need, we could get this done in 3 or 4 days," Long said, "but at this rate it’s going to take months."