Lewis and Clark State Park — Hotel in Williston

They say the wind off the lake at Lewis and Clark State Park can talk. Not whisper—talk. Full sentences, if you’re there alone long enough to listen.

Jimmy McCall heard it the first night he parked his camper down by the boat launch. He was a loner, the type that wandered in off Highway 36 with a face weathered like old leather and eyes that looked through people instead of at them. Said he just needed a place to fish. Said he liked the quiet.

But the quiet out there isn’t natural.

Locals talk about “the beast.” Never the same description twice. One old woman swore it had the legs of a man and the head of a deer, antlers covered in moss and blood. A fisherman claimed he saw it wade into the water, dragging the carcass of something too large to be a deer, too twisted to be a bear.

Jimmy wasn’t the kind to scare easy. But by the third night, he started hearing it too—the scratching at the edge of the treeline, the heavy breaths just out of sight. He told the park ranger a joke about Bigfoot and laughed, but his eyes didn’t. They were sunken, sleepless.

On the fifth night, his lantern went out around 2 a.m. The darkness at Lewis and Clark isn’t just dark—it’s consuming. You can feel it touch your skin. Jimmy stepped out of the camper, barefoot, drawn toward the lake like something was calling him. Maybe it was. Maybe it still is.

They found his camper the next morning. Door hanging open. Footprints in the mud leading down to the water, and then… nothing. Just a pair of ragged claw marks carved into the ground. And a whisper carried on the wind:

“It’s not the park that’s haunted. It’s what sleeps beneath.”

The ranger doesn’t talk much about it anymore. But sometimes, if you fish too close to sundown, you’ll see something move out there—just past the cattails. Watch long enough, and it might look back.

And if it does, don’t wave.

Run.

Because the beast at Lewis and Clark doesn’t like being seen. And it never leaves witnesses.

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You ever camp there? Just… keep your eyes on the lake after midnight. And if the wind starts...

We stayed at Lewis & Clark State Park for a week in August 2022. We enjoyed our stay here, with some caveats. If you have a big rig, I'd recommend that you book the sites in the Plover loop not the Pintail loop, as the pull through sites in the Pintail loop, while long enough for most big rigs are NOT designed for maneuvering big rigs in and out of those spots. They have planted trees and shrubs near the end of the islands between loops, rather than in the middle where they won't interfere with maneuvering. They also added plastic site markers which we had to remove to have any chance of getting into our site. There are also large wooden posts to protect the utilities that are closer to the gravel than they should be. We barely made it into our site, within 1 ft. of the posts on each side, and were only able to do so because there wasn't anyone in the site behind us so we were able to swing into it before turning. We also weren't able to stay on the road on turns in some areas, as their pavement isn't wide enough to accommodate for off-tracking. As I've told multiple parks, they need to take a semi truck with a 53' box and drive it through these sites and remove anything that gets in their way. Our RV is only a few feet shorter than that, and would provide some safety margin. As for other recommendations, there are a lot of rocks on the beach which could probably be cleaned up and the water connections are too far from some sites. If you need Internet here, be advised that AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are poor at best, and there is no public WiFi. We eeked by. Other than that, it's a great park and we had a good time. The rates are reasonable. The new dog park is great, but could use a bit more shade. Zach the ranger is extremely friendly and has a great customer-service...

Honestly the only thing keeping me from giving this place a 5 stars is the park rangers at night. I read all the reviews from several places and every site people was saying how they creap around at night trying to catch people doing things. So one night camping my family and I was conversing around the campfire not raising and trouble being quiet and respectful of the other campers and this one ranger sneaks up on our site and tells us we couldn't have a radio on after 10. We completely understand quiet time so mind you this was soo low just us around the fire could hear it if you stepped to the front or rear of our RV you could not hear the radio. The cracking of the fire was louder so honestly I am dissatisfied with how strict they are with this. People come to relax and enjoy family time and as long as people are respectful of other campers the rangers should not be this strict on the matter. But the sites are decent and the place is overall clean. But in the evening they have succeeded in making it feel like a prison or jail with...