The Gurdon Light is an atmospheric ghost light located near railroad tracks in a wooded area of Gurdon, Arkansas. It is the subject of local folklore and has been featured in local media and on Unsolved Mysteries and Mysteries at the Museum . The tracks are no longer in use, and the rails at least partially removed/covered, but it remains one of the most popular Halloween attractions in the area. [1] [2] [3] The light has been described as blue, green, white or orange and appearing to have a "bobbing" movement. [4]
According to folklore, the light is the swinging lantern of a ghost brakeman accidentally beheaded by a passing train, searching for his disembodied head. Another variation of the legend holds that the light is a lantern carried by the ghost of a worker killed in a fight with another railroad employee on the tracks.[ citation needed ] According to skeptical writer Brian Dunning, very similar folklore exists for a number of such "ghost lights", and it's not likely "headless brakemen" could be such a common occurrence. [5]
The light has been proposed to be the reflection of passing cars on Interstate 30, however believers contend there have been reports of the lights since the 1930s, while the interstate was not built until the late 1950s. [1] [2] [3]
Gurdon is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,212 at the 2010 census.
In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp, or ignis fatuus, is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes.
U.S. Route 67 is a major north–south U.S. highway which extends for 1,560 miles (2,511 km) in the Central United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the United States-Mexico border in Presidio, Texas, where it continues south as Mexican Federal Highway 16 upon crossing the Rio Grande. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 52 in Sabula, Iowa. US 67 crosses the Mississippi River twice along its routing. The first crossing is at West Alton, Missouri, where US 67 uses the Clark Bridge to reach Alton, Illinois. About 240 miles (390 km) to the north, US 67 crosses the river again at the Rock Island Centennial Bridge between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa. Additionally, the route crosses the Missouri River via the Lewis Bridge a few miles southwest of the Clark Bridge.
Borley Rectory was a house located in Borley, Essex, famous for being described as "the most haunted house in England" by psychic researcher Harry Price. Built in 1862 to house the rector of the parish of Borley and his family, the house was badly damaged by fire in 1939 and demolished in 1944.
The Marfa lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights, are a light phenomenon regularly observed near Marfa, Texas, in the United States. Onlookers have attributed them to a number of paranormal phenomena, including ghosts, UFOs, and flying dinosaurs, among other things. They are most often seen from a viewing area nearby, which the community has publicized to encourage tourism. Most lights are attributable to atmospherically distorted versions of headlights on the nearby Route 67. One group of university students observed that when they parked a car on the route and flashed its headlights, this was visible at the viewing area and appeared to be a Marfa light. Scientists have observed the lights over the period 2000 to 2008, and speculated that rare reports of erratically behaving lights could be caused by natural methane reserves through a mechanism similar to that of will-o'-the-wisps; and piezoelectric charge created by the igneous rock under Mitchell Flat.
Naga fireballs, also known as bung fai phaya nak or "Mekong lights" and formerly "ghost lights", are a phenomenon said to be seen annually on the Mekong River. Glowing balls are alleged to naturally rise from the water high into the air. The balls are said to be reddish and to range in size from smaller sparkles up to the size of basketballs. They quickly rise up to a couple of hundred metres before disappearing. The number of fireballs reported varies between tens and thousands per night. The phenomenon is locally attributed to phaya nak, a giant serpent (Nāga) said to live in the Mekong.
The Hessdalen lights are unidentified lights which have been observed in a 12-kilometre-long (7.5 mi) stretch of the Hessdalen valley in rural central Norway periodically since at least the 1930s.
The Min Min light is a light phenomenon that has often been reported in outback Australia.
Thomas Lyon-Bowes was the first child of Thomas Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis, and his wife Charlotte Lyon-Bowes née Grimstead, great-grandparents of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who became queen consort in 1936. Although Thomas is recorded in Robert Douglas' Peerage of Scotland as "born and died, October 21, 1821," rumours began to circulate during the late 19th century that the child had been born deformed, and had therefore been brought up in seclusion hidden away in Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland, giving rise to the soubriquet of the Monster of Glamis, or the Horror of Glamis.
The Cash–Landrum Incident was an unidentified flying object sighting in the United States in 1980, which witnesses claimed was responsible for causing health and property damage. Uncharacteristically for such UFO reports, this resulted in civil court proceedings, though the case ended in a dismissal.
The Brown Mountain lights are purported ghost lights near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. The earliest published references to strange lights there are from around 1910, at about the same time electric lighting was becoming widespread in the area. In 1922, a USGS scientist, George R. Mansfield, used a map and an alidade telescope to prove that the lights that were being seen were trains, car headlights, and brush fires, which ended widespread public concern.
The St. Louis Light, St. Louis Ghost Light, or St. Louis Ghost Train is a supposed paranormal phenomenon seen near St. Louis, Saskatchewan, Canada. It has been described by witnesses as a huge beam of white light, reminiscent of a locomotive headlamp.
The Spooklight is an atmospheric ghost light on the border between southwestern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma, a few miles west of the small town of Hornet, Missouri. It is caused by the misidentification of distant car headlights.
In Arkansas folklore, the Fouke Monster, also known as the Boggy Creek Monster and the Swamp Stalker, is purported to be an ape-like creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, that was allegedly sighted in the rural town of Fouke, Arkansas during the early 1970s. The creature was alleged to have attacked a local family. It has since become a part of Arkansas folklore. Stories of the creature influenced the 1972 docudrama horror film The Legend of Boggy Creek, which became the 11th highest-grossing film of 1972 and is today considered to be a cult classic.
The Maco Light was a supposedly anomalous light, or "ghost light", occasionally seen between the late 19th century and 1977 along a section of railroad track near the unincorporated community of Maco Station in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Said to resemble the glow from a railroad lantern, the light was associated with a folk tale describing a fatal accident, which may have inspired tales of a similar type around the country.
In ghostlore, a ghost train is a phantom vehicle in the form of a locomotive or train. The ghost train differs from other traditional forms of haunting in that rather than being a static location where ghosts are claimed to be present, "the apparition is the entire train".
The Paulding Light is a light that appears in a valley outside Paulding, Michigan. Reports of the light have appeared since the 1960s, with popular folklore providing such explanations as ghosts, geologic activity, or swamp gas.
The 1984 Hudson Valley UFO Sightings, also called "The Westchester Boomerang", were UFO sightings that stretched throughout 1983–1984 in New York and Western Connecticut. Pilots flew Cessna 152s in tight formation with bright lights that could change colors. State police reported that the pilots expressed amusement at the confusion caused by their hoax. Subsequent news stories, books, and other publicity helped make the sightings significant in local history and ufology lore.
A similar phenomenon in Arkansas called the Gurdon Light is said to be the swinging lantern of a brakeman accidentally beheaded by a passing train. Not surprisingly, the exact same explanation is put forth for the Big Thicket Ghost Light in Bragg, Texas. These ghost lights can't all be headless brakemen, so it's conceivable that the folk explanation is not true in every case.