Paranormal Hotspot – Hidden Hollow

Paranormal activity is usually a taboo subject and is looked at with skepticism. Even if you don’t necessarily believe in things paranormal, you can’t deny the accounts of people who have experienced it. What they are seeing could be put up for debate, but the fact they did see something should be taken into account. Hidden Hollow, Joe’s Dugout, and Unity Pass is an area where people see things they can’t explain. Some of those sightings include unidentified creatures and human forms acting weird or vanishing. Here are a couple of the tales from that area that I have been told, as well as some historic ones that I have dug up while doing research on the area. I am not trying to convince you that these tales or incidents are true, I am just sharing what I have been told by others and sharing their stories. You as the reader will have to make up your own mind on what actually happened. Lets go back to the days of the old west, when the Pony Express was still in operation. I have done articles about Joe’s Dugout in the past (Joe’s Dugout – Eagle Mountain Pony Express Stop). I recently dug up another story that I would like to share. In my previous article I mentioned Orin Porter Rockwell, a gunslinger, bodyguard, and deputy territorial marshal that thought that the area around Joe’s Dugout was haunted. Rockwell had a hired hand by the name of Abraham Gudmundsen. Abraham would keep an eye on Rockwell’s property which included his horses that were kept in Skull Valley, Utah. Austin Gudmundsen, son of Abraham, in his diary discussed this account as told by his father. This account is found in the book “Stories from the Life of Porter Rockwell,” by John W. Rockwell & Jerry Borrowman.

“On another occasion, Porter’s young employee Gudmundsen was asked to ride with Porter from Lehi to what is now Fairfield and Cedar Fort. About halfway there a fellow named Joe Dorton had a little dugout in the hill from which he carried on trade with the soldiers at Camp Floyd. Dusk was approaching when Porter went up to the door of the dugout to inquire of Joe about an outlaw he was tracking. The sought-after outlaw himself came to the door of the dugout when Porter knocked. As Gudmundsen would later tell his family and record, the next thing he saw was Porter backing away from the door with his hands in the air while the outlaw pulled the trigger on his pistol. Gudmundsen testified that in the dark he saw a tongue of flame leap out of the barrel of the gun and said it looked as if the flames of the pistol were going right through Porter’s chest and out his back. But incredibly Porter was completely unharmed. When the man’s gun was empty, he threw it on the ground and ran up the hill behind the house. Porter came over to the wagon, took out his rifle, and shot and killed the robber. He went over to the body and threw it down a dry well.”

That well would be the same well that is now marked off by a fence and a plaque just north of Hidden Hollow Elementary.

That story leads me into a modern day mystery about that well. An Eagle Mountain resident, we will call her Barbara, gives this account as told by her daughter.

“A couple of years ago, in the evening, wasn’t super dark yet… that a man was walking, she said he walked towards the dugout (before the fence was there) and went down in the hole. She watched and watched and watched for a long time and he never came back out. She said he was wearing a regular jacket and a hat with flaps. She called my dad at work and told him about it, and when he got home from work he walked over and never saw anyone there.”

Barbara said that the man was carrying a sack or something simular. Another incident is told by David, another Eagle Mountain resident. This story does not necessarily have anything to do with the well at Joe’s Dugout, but it did happen in the area of Hidden Hollow in close proximity of the well.

David gives the following account, “it was 2:30 in the morning, I was heading to work and when I got by Hidden Hollow Elementary all of a sudden I see this black shape heading north from the hill where people park to go mountain biking. It almost looked like a shadow. I could tell it was not a deer. It was moving very fast looking like it was running on four legs but as soon as it got to Pony Express it raised up onto two legs and feet moving quickly. When it got up on two legs it didn’t slow or break stride, just stood up and ran.” David continues, “It was like it made a transformation from an animal shape into almost human shape. When I got to the area I tried to see if I could make anything out, but did not see anything.” He talked about being reluctant to share his story, “I kept quiet because I thought I couldn’t have seen what I just did but I know I saw something.”

Another resident had the same type of incident a few years previously. This is what he recorded that his sister experienced, and shared it on a paranormal website. The following story was shared on darkenssprevails.org.

“It was a sort of cloudy, and cold night, the moon was out, and it gave off a little light, but she could still see. I wasn’t with her that night, I was safe at home watching a movie. When she was near the town park, a silhouette of something was near her. Upon closer inspection, she could see that it wasn’t human. One one of the streetlights, she saw that the shadow was one that looks like a whole bunch of different animals at once. May I remind you, she was not under the influence or hallucinating. So, this is all real. She calmly started walking away as it came a little closer. My sister than turned around and started speed walking back to the house. Taking a few looks then, she could see that it never made any advances toward her after she had started speeding up. When she got home, she looked rather shaken up, shaky, and pale. My other sister asked her what was wrong and she explained the whole incident. Even though I was around nine and gullible at the time, I still believe her to this day. Especially from the look on her, her look told me that whatever she saw was definitely there, and definitely real.”

The account does not give details on exactly where in Eagle Mountain this event happened, but one could guess it was in the same area. Have you seen anything paranormal in that area, if so, let us know by either commenting below, or contacting us. You can also find more stories of paranormal activity around Eagle Mountain by joining the Eagle Mountain Paranormal group on Facebook. As growth continues in the area, and as more people drive over unity pass through Hidden Hollow, I am sure we will hear more stories.