Boy Scout Lane
A Wisconsin road haunted by legends of lost Scouts.
Boy Scout Lane is an isolated, unpaved road in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, that has become the subject of multiple ghost stories and urban legends, most involving the fictional deaths of a troop of Boy Scouts. The area has drawn paranormal investigators and remains a popular destination for youths seeking a paranormal experience. The surrounding land is now privately owned and closed to the public.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Stevens Point, Wisconsin, United States
Facts from the source article.
Overview
Boy Scout Lane is located in the Town of Linwood, Portage County, Wisconsin, west of the Wisconsin River Golf Club on West River Drive (West), between Cemetery Road and Little Chicago Road. The unpaved road is about 2500 feet long. It received its name because the adjacent land was once owned by the Boy Scouts of America, who intended to build a Scout camp there; although the camp was never constructed and the land remains woodland, the name persisted.
Urban legend
Local urban legend holds that the road is named for a troop of Boy Scouts killed during a camping trip in the 1950s or 1960s. Variations of the story attribute the deaths to different causes: in some versions the murderer is the Scoutmaster or the bus driver; in others, a small group of Scouts accidentally drops a lantern, igniting a forest fire that kills the entire troop. Other versions describe a bus crash or bus fire, or the Scouts vanishing without explanation. In some accounts, two Scouts escape but become lost and die of starvation or exposure. Most variations claim the dead Scouts haunt the forest, with their footsteps heard in the undergrowth or their lights seen at night as they search for help. Visitors have reported a strong sense of foreboding or being watched, sounds of footsteps or breaking branches from multiple directions, red or white lights resembling swinging lanterns or flashlight beams, ghostly buses or figures, and childlike hand prints on cars.
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