The Albino Farm: How an Urban Legend Terrorized a Missouri Family
Urban legends can be fun for those that tell the tales. But, what about when those stories begin affecting real families? Based on my research, that's exactly what happened to the Missouri family who were at the center of the Albino Farm near Springfield, Missouri.
Haunted Salem documents part of the Albino Farm legend. As the site mentions, the name Albino Farm "originally came from a caretaker said to be hired by the 3 spinster Sheedy sisters. It was said that they hired an Albino caretaker that would roam the property shooting his shotgun at local trespassers."
Depending on who's telling the story, you'll hear of experiments on Albinos that would happen on the property. As you might imagine, that kind of tale attracts many to want to investigate. A few years ago, KSMU shared the story of a book that documented the legends impact on a real family. The author told the story of how the Sheedy family had to spend a fortune on security for the farm after many would attempt to come on the property to do drugs and sometimes worse. The book is fiction, but it's based on a very sad truth.
Now, the real location of the Sheedy Farm is nothing but rubble. Deserted and abandoned by a family that fled the legend.
The KSMU story says that the original Sheedy mansion and barn burnt down in 1980. They say it's possible that it was arson and someone burnt it down.
The Albino Farm is one of the greatest legends I've seen that has no basis in truth that quite literally decimated a real Missouri family. Just the telling of fake tales quite literally burnt a family's legacy to the ground.