Before heading into the Missouri Ozarks for a story, someone familiar with the area gave me a warning I wasn’t expecting. They told me there was something unusual I needed to watch out for in the woods: Bald Knobbers.
I knew the name, but certainly not that version of it. The only Baldknobbers I knew were the famously silly country music and comedy entertainers associated with Branson. But the person who warned me described something much darker—secretive gatherings, strange regalia and people you supposedly didn’t want to encounter in remote areas.
I have found no credible evidence that an organized Bald Knobber group exists in Missouri today, but the person had previously given me surprisingly accurate information about secretive organizations. That was enough to send me down the rabbit hole…