Old State House Museum

Built between 1833 and 1842, the Old State House served as Arkansas's first state capitol until a new capitol opened in 1912; it later did duty as a Civil War barracks and a medical school before its restoration as a museum, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997. Its best-documented ghost story is real history: in 1837, Speaker of the House John Wilson stabbed a fellow legislator to death on the House floor during a debate, and was controversially acquitted on a ruling of "excusable homicide" — a verdict that reportedly haunted Wilson himself for the rest of his life. Staff and visitors today report his apparition in a period frock coat, along with cold spots, a hand felt on the shoulder, and voices and footsteps in the chambers after the building has closed for the night.