Ghosts of the Ozarks

The story takes place in post-Civil War Arkansas, around 1866. A young Black doctor, James "Doc" McCune (Hobson), is mysteriously summoned by his uncle, Matthew McCune (Morris), to Norfork, a remote fortress town in the Ozark Mountains which appears to be a biracial utopian paradise. The nephew is to become the new town physician. However, the wooden-walled town is filled with secrets and ominous forebodings, and "Doc" McCune becomes suspicious about the true nature of the colony. His uncle Matthew appears to be in charge of the population, but the basis of his leadership is not readily apparent. Matthew instructs his nephew that everyone in the town, regardless of their job, knows their "purpose," and the uncle dissuades "Doc" from being too curious.

The forest outside Norfork's walls is populated by menacing, supernatural presences (the "ghosts"), who attack townspeople who venture outside the citadel at night; before the attacks take place, the forest is enveloped in a creeping red mist. When "Doc" McCune tracks down the previous town doctor, a woman named Annie (Perry), who lives in a house in the forest with her mute brother, William (Rowan), and asks for help in setting up his medical clinic, she is friendly but uncooperative, which heightens the young doctor's suspicions about the town. She also assures the doctor that she and her brother do not fear the "ghosts."