The people of Southwest Missouri know all too well how destructive tornadoes can be, and the remains of Melva are a testament to that. The Jolly Mill has survived all these years and is now on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The small village was mentioned marginally during the Civil War and was said to have been the scene of some war-related battles. One story describes a rival editor of the Neosho Times newspaper stopping at Jollification, and local well-wishers shared their accounts of a Newton County attorney who indulged in distilled spirits, bar fights and called his buddies to “Jollification.”Įventually parts of Jollification were burned. The Isbell family and possibly the family’s enslaved people built a distillery.Ĭensus and real estate records show that a wide variety of people lived in and around Jollification. Jollification was founded about 18 miles east of Neosho, about 40 acres of land purchased from the Isbell family, according to Roots Web and Digging History. This also applies to the ghost towns of southwest Missouri. One thing is for sure, no matter the legend, many have their own version of the story to tell. The Four State area has all sorts of local lore about Spooklight, Hoffman’s Mansion, Devil’s Promenade Bridge, and the Ozarks Blue Man.

Even more so when the beginning of such mysteries can be dated over a century ago. MISSOURI (KSNF) - A common problem regarding local legends, lore, and tales is the lack of solid evidence for their existence and much hearsay about the origins of the stories.

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