Unraveling Secrets: Benjamin Hale on the Mysterious Disappearance That Haunts the Ozarks
The tale grows darker, particularly because the 1978 story is darker, more bizarre, featuring a cult, a murder, apocalyptic visions from a 17-year-old ‘prophet,’ and brainwashing.
Cave Mountain falls under what I would call ‘literary Southern crime,’ and explores nature, religion versus skepticism, good versus evil, and place as character, including isolation.
Please join me in conversation with Benjamin Hale.
Leslie Lindsay: Ben, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me about Cave Mountain, which is not just an ‘interesting case’ for you, but personal, too. You mention your cousin Haley was the first baby you recall holding. She was born when you were eleven years old, which would have put you at about the same age as the 17-year-old prophet (in the 1978 story) when Haley went missing in 2001. This must have greatly affected you, her disappearance. Can you talk a little about what that felt like for you, as a teenager?
