Editor’s note: I was challenged by a good friend to write a “creepy story” involving the nationally recognized Kewpie doll created in the early 20th century by Rose O’Neill, whose Bonniebrook estate lies just a few miles north of Branson near Bear Creek. For the record, I actually find Kewpies to be rather endearing but…
PLATE 1. The Centaur Escapes. The Centaur Escapes displays an enraged centaur, half-man and half-horse — muscular back arched, fists clenched — against a troubled sky. From whom is he escaping? What cause is there of this angst? O’Neill, wisely, leaves that answer to the viewer — or, perhaps more personally, simply kept the answer…
PLATE 1. Winding roads among the rocks and cedars lead to the Bonniebrook Estate five miles north of present-day Branson, Missouri. The Roads to Bonniebrook by Joshua Heston On an early morning in January, 1947, the little Ozark cove and cedar break with a tiny stream leading down to Bear Creek was bleak and barren.…