Self, Arkansas

Self is an unincorporated community in Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is the location of (or is the nearest community to) Cottonwood School#45, which is located at Cottonwood and Dubuque Roads and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]

The community was named after John Self, a first settler.[2]

Urban Legend

Self is Home to the Urban legend of the Gow-Row. The legend is as follows:

”Near the village is the Devil's Hole Cave, a strange and unexplored cavern. One day, an indeterminate number of years ago, the owner of the land where the cave is located decided to check out the place. He climbed down a rope about 200 feet to a ledge where the shaft narrows to a point that can only be crawled through. He suddenly heard a vicious hissing from the darkness, perhaps like a large lizard would do, and he made a hasty retreat. Some time later, he and some men from town dropped a flatiron tied to a rope to the same place in the cave. They heard a hissing sound and the rope was pulled hard. When they pulled it back up, they found the flatiron had been badly bent and scored with scratches and teeth marks. They next tried a stone and the rope was pulled taut again. They pulled it back up and the stone was gone. No one wanted to dare and climb down to see what was in the cave. Occasionally, local stories apparently come from the cave, but the "gow-row" as the natives supposedly call it, seems to prefer staying down in the darkness. The story dates back to around 1900 and many believe the monster may be some sort of giant lizard.”

The legend of the Gow-Row has been specific to Boone County, Arkansas, with most reports of the cave being near or within Self's borders.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. Moyer, Armond; Moyer, Winifred (1958). The origins of unusual place-names. Keystone Pub. Associates. p. 118.