LURAY STORIES

Luray Snake

The legend of the Luray Snake has been around since the early 20th century. Reports of strange animals around Luray's hills that bordered Wolf Creek was nothing new. The Snake was first reported by a family that farmed near the Lura post office. They spotted a huge snake moving the corn as it fled through their field. Later the Girl Scouts put together a book about the Luray Snake and made a huge Snake costume. Recently a new snake costume has been made and has been in the Luray Friendship Day parade.

The first newstory of the Luray Snake was in the Russell and Luray newspapers in the early 1920's. Horses were said of fright when the Snake was near. Cars said to just stop running. A postal cancellation was issued in 1936 of the Snake.

The most common explanation for the Snake was that two brothers were tired of friend's boasting. One night at the bar after the friend left, they bragged that they had put a large tube across the road their friend crosses to go home. Suddenly he came into the bar screaming that he had run over the Luray Snake. The two brothers never said a word to him but broke out into gales of laughter. Later they went to get the abandoned car and the tires had been eaten off.

KKK in Luray

During the 1920's the Klan resurfaced again by sending out men from a regional headquarters in Kansas City. As they moved across Kansas, they often held assemblies in churches or schools to try to recruit new members. In the Natoma paper, there was a report of a speech given in a church in Natoma and the writer mentioned that many signed up for more information.

The stories of the KKK being in Luray came to light when someone mentioned there used to be Luray KKK seal in the Merl Markley building. The stories of the Klan activities in the Luray area were that they wanted the banker, a Catholic, out of town. One night when he came home to his apartment in the house that he later bought, a cross was burning in the yard. Other stories are that men dressed up in sheets to go out and scare farmers whenever they heard them mistreating their wives. In Russell County, there were also women members that belonged to the association called Women of the Klu Klux Klan.

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Contact Charma Craven mailto:ccraven@gorhamtel.com