Boy Scout Lane is an isolated road located in
Stevens Point, Wisconsin. A number of ghost stories and urban legends have become associated with the road, including the fictional deaths of a troop of
Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
. The area has been the subject of several
paranormal investigations, and has been a 'haunt' for youths hoping to experience a paranormal event. The land surrounding Boy Scout Lane is now privately owned and is off limits to the general public.
Overview
Boy Scout Lane is in the
Town of Linwood,
Portage County,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. It is located west of the Wisconsin River Golf Club, on West River Drive (West), and is situated between Cemetery Road and Little Chicago Road. It is unpaved and about long.
The road was named Boy Scout Lane because the land that it is located near was once owned by the
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
, who planned to use the land to build a Scout camp.
Although the camp was never constructed and the land remains woodland, the name was still used.
Urban legend
According to a local
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
, the road is named for a troop of Boy Scouts who were killed while on a camping trip in the 1950s or 1960's. In some variations the murderer is the troop's Scoutmaster. In others it is their bus driver.
In other versions of the legend, a small group of Scouts leave their camp during the night and accidentally drop their lantern, resulting in a forest fire that kills the entire troop.
[
Other variations of the story exist including one in which the Scouts are killed after their bus crashes or accidentally catches fire. There is also a version in which the Scouts vanish without explanation and are never found. In some versions of the legend, two Boy Scouts escaped the fate of the rest of the troop and tried to find help, only to become lost in the woods where they die of starvation and/or exposure. In most variations of the legend it is said that the dead Scouts haunt the forest where they died and can be heard hiking through the undergrowth, or their lights can be seen at night as they seek help or their fellow Scouts.][
Stories circulated in "haunted travel guides"][ include visitors reporting a strong sense of foreboding or "being watched", the sound of footsteps or breaking branches coming from multiple directions, red or white lights sometimes described as resembling swinging lanterns or flashlight beams, ghostly buses or figures, and "childlike hand prints" on cars stopped in or driven through the area.
]
See also
* Scouting in Wisconsin
Wisconsin has a long history with the Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations from the 1910s to the present day, both programs have independently served thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
Early history (1 ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Boy Scout Lane Urban Legend
American folklore
Central Region (Boy Scouts of America)
Reportedly haunted locations in Wisconsin
Tourist attractions in Portage County, Wisconsin
Roads in Wisconsin