Zombie Road, Wildwood: The Truth Behind Missouri's Most Haunted Road

Zombie Road is the nickname of Lawler Ford Road, an old lane that winds for about two miles through steep, wooded hollows in Wildwood, in far west St. Louis County, down toward the Meramec River. Since 2010 it has been a paved walking and cycling path called the Rock Hollow Trail.

For more than half a century it has also been the most talked-about haunted road in Missouri, the setting of stories about an escaped asylum patient, a killer in a shack, murdered orphans and shadow people on the ridges. Most of those stories fall apart when you look at the records, but the place itself is real, dark and beautiful. This guide sets out the history, the legends and the rules, because the city enforces them.

The real history of Lawler Ford Road

The road most likely began as a path used by Native Americans and early settlers to reach a narrow crossing of the Meramec River. By the Civil War it was a well-used route between western St. Louis County and Jefferson County, and in the 19th century a ferry carried travelers across the river.

Industry followed. In 1868 the Glencoe Marble Company was quarrying limestone in the area and built a small railroad, and by the later 1800s a railroad line ran beside the river. Later still, trucks hauled gravel dredged from the Meramec up the dirt road. The gravel business closed in the 1970s, creeks washed out the low sections and the road became impassable for most cars.

By the 1950s the lonely lane had become a place where teenagers parked, and the stories began. Interest surged again after a 2007 direct-to-video documentary, Children of the Grave, which claimed to show shadow people following hikers along the ridges. A retired police captain remembered “kids going down Zombie Road by the hundreds.”

In 2010 the City of Wildwood and Great Rivers Greenway paved the old road as the 2.3-mile Rock Hollow Trail. Police, who patrol Wildwood under contract with St. Louis County, began enforcing the after-dark closure: the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported at least 83 trespassing tickets in 2011 alone, usually $300 plus court costs and marked “Zombie Road.”

The legends of Zombie Road, and what the records say

The man called Zombie

The best-known origin story says a man nicknamed Zombie escaped from a nearby mental hospital and vanished along Lawler Ford Road, leaving only bloody clothes. Historian Troy Taylor, who has written about the road in several books, found no record of any asylum near it.

The killer in the shack

Another version says a reclusive man lived in a shack in the woods and attacked couples parked on the lovers’ lane. No record of such attacks has been found; it reads like the classic lovers’ lane tale told across America.

The woman and the train

One story does have a basis. A judge’s widow, usually named as Della Hamilton McCullough, was struck and killed by a train near the road in 1876, and she is said to walk the trail. The death is recorded; the ghost is legend.

Orphans and shadow people

The darkest tales speak of an orphanage where children were abused and buried in the woods, and of hundreds of shadow figures watching from the ridges. Taylor found that the nearest orphanage was miles away, and the shadow people come from the 2007 documentary. A park ranger told the Post-Dispatch, “It’s all fake,” and a former president of the Wildwood Historical Society said she does not believe the woods are haunted. Others report Native Americans, Confederate soldiers, quarry workers and children; Taylor calls himself an optimistic skeptic and says he has found no evidence of the supernatural.

Where to look

• The ridgelines: where the shadow figures are said to watch hikers.
• The river end of the old road: near the Meramec, where the ferry and railroad once ran.
• The hollows: where fog settles and the canopy makes the trail dark even before sunset.

Visiting Zombie Road

The Rock Hollow Trail is a public paved path in Wildwood, open from dawn until 30 minutes after dusk according to the signs at the trailhead. After that it is closed, and Wildwood police patrol it, especially around Halloween. Signs warn of fines of up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail, and fines have risen since 2011. Please do not go after dark.

In daylight it is a lovely walk: a winding paved trail between steep ridges under a dense forest canopy, cooler and often foggier than the land above. Go in the late afternoon in autumn for the atmosphere, and be back at the trailhead before closing.

• Visiting A public paved trail; closed from 30 minutes after dusk until dawn
• Hours and season Dawn to 30 minutes after dusk
• Ghost hunting Not allowed after dark: trespassers are fined

Tips for your visit

• Walk it in late afternoon and turn back in good time; the canopy makes it dark early.
• Wear proper shoes: the trail is paved, but the hollows are steep.
• Do not leave the trail or go after dark; it is enforced.
• For an evening ghost experience, book the Lemp Mansion’s ghost tour in the city instead.

More haunted places nearby

• The Lemp Mansion: St. Louis’s most famous haunted house, with ghost tours
• Haunted hotels in St. Louis: where to stay the night
• Haunted places in Missouri: every haunted place in the state
• Haunted places in Missouri
• Haunted places in St. Louis

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• St. Louis Magazine: Is Zombie Road really haunted?
• FOX 2 via Yahoo: Beware of fines and phantoms on Wildwood's Zombie Road
• Officer.com (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): Officers are the scariest creatures on Zombie Road (2011)
• OnlyInYourState: The haunted Rock Hollow Trail
• Riverfront Times: Haunted places in St. Louis