The Spooklight

Last updated

The Spooklight (also called the Hornet Spooklight, Hollis Light and Joplin Spook Light) 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. 36°56′38.18″N94°38′34.80″W / 36.9439389°N 94.6430000°W / 36.9439389; -94.6430000

Contents

Origin and history

Excerpt from a screenshot of USGS National Map Viewer, showing the alignment of E 50 and Route 66 Spooklight map.png
Excerpt from a screenshot of USGS National Map Viewer, showing the alignment of E 50 and Route 66

An east to west stretch of Route 66, south of Quapaw, Oklahoma, is in alignment with a farm road called E 50, colloquially known as "Spooklight Road", about ten miles (16 km) east of it, on the other side of Spring River. Due to this alignment, headlights of cars driving east on Route 66 are unexpectedly visible in the distance from higher elevation points along E 50; this is the cause of the Spooklight. [1] The first to recognize this in print was AB MacDonald in a January 1936 issue of the Kansas City Star. [2] This has been demonstrated repeatedly by experiments in which fireworks, spot lights, and flashing car headlights along Route 66 have been seen by observers posted on Spooklight Road. [1] Some instances of these staged experiments were in 1946 by Thomas Sheard, in 1955 by a group from Kansas City, by Robert Gannon in 1965, [1] [3] and by Allen Rice and his "Boomers" sleuths in 2015. [4] [5]

As with most other supposed ghost lights, storytellers have created mythologies about the Spooklight to purport that it existed before cars [6] [1] but none of these claims can be verified by any printed sources. [1] Thorough research by journalist Paul W. Johns found that there are no records of any mention of the Spooklight in print until after 1926, which is the year that that section of Route 66 was designated. [1]

In the 1960s, there was a Spooklight museum at the eastern end of E 50. In the Popular Mechanics article, Gannon called it a "tourist trap that doesn't quite make it". It had a three-inch (76 mm) telescope that allowed people to view the light for 25 cents, but the owners had set it up indoors to look through a half inch hole in the wall, which stopped down the aperture so much it couldn't resolve anything. According to the proprietor, this was done to protect it from the rain. Gannon brought with him a comparable telescope, and said that, although the naked eye perceived one light, his telescope plainly split the Spooklight into car headlights that always came in pairs. [3]

Belief in the supposed mystery of the Spooklight has for generations been promoted by local businesses and chambers of commerce who embrace it as an opportunity for tourism revenue. [1] In 1969, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce ran a press release in many newspapers that included the false statement, "Scientists, however, using various technical devices, have not been successful in determining a theory as to the origin of the light." [7] The Joplin Chamber of Commerce published a visitor guidebook, The Tri-State Spook Light, in 1955, and the Neosho Chamber of Commerce published its own tourist booklet in 1963. [8] In the 1950s, the Missouri Division of the U.S. Brewers Foundation ran newspaper ads promoting the Spooklight, suggesting that they thought it would lead to increased beer sales to tourists. [8]

Mythology

Numerous legends exist explaining the origin of the Spooklight:

In the online lore about the Spooklight, it's often repeated that someone, possibly named Foster Young, published some kind of manuscript entitled The Ozark Spook Light sometime in the 1880s; this is asserted as a rebuttal to the distant headlight explanation, but no evidence has been produced that either the document or the claimed author ever existed. [1] [7]

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 66</span> Former US Highway between Chicago and Santa Monica

U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa County, Oklahoma</span> County in Oklahoma, United States

Ottawa County is a county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,285. Its county seat is Miami. The county was named for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma. It is also the location of the federally recognized Modoc Nation and the Quapaw Nation, which is based in Quapaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton County, Missouri</span> County in Missouri, United States

Newton County is a county located in the southwest portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,648. Its county seat is Neosho. The county was organized in 1838 and is named in honor of John Newton, a hero who fought in the Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Missouri</span>

Scouting in Missouri has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshfield, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Marshfield is a city in Missouri and the county seat of Webster County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,633. As of the 2020 census, Marshfield had a population of 7,458. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri, metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commerce, Oklahoma</span> City in Oklahoma, United States

Commerce is a city in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,473 at the 2010 census, down 6.5 percent from the figure of 2,645 in 2000, and lower than the 2,555 residents it had in 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogersville, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Rogersville is a city in Greene and Webster counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population is 3,897 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. Rogersville was formerly known as the "Raccoon Capital of the World". In 2006, 417 Magazine ranked Rogersville as the eighth-best place to live in Southwest Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joplin, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jasper and Newton Counties – even though it is not the county seat of either county. With a population of 51,762 as of the 2020 census, Joplin is the 12th most-populous city in the state. The city covers an area of 35.69 square miles (92.41 km2) on the outer edge of the Ozark Mountains. Joplin is the main hub of the three-county Joplin-Miami, Missouri-Oklahoma Metro area, which is home to 210,077 people; this makes the city the fifth largest metropolitan area in Missouri. In May 2011, a violent EF5 tornado killed more than 150 people and destroyed one-third of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ozarks</span> Highland region in central-southern United States

The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portion of northern Arkansas and most of the southern half of Missouri, extending from Interstate 40 in central Arkansas to Interstate 70 in central Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legend tripping</span> Visits to sites associated with urban legends

Legend tripping is a practice in which a usually furtive nocturnal pilgrimage is made to a site which is alleged to have been the scene of some tragic, horrific, and possibly supernatural event or haunting. The practice mostly involves the visiting of sites endemic to locations identified in local urban legends, and can serve as a rite of passage. Legend tripping has been documented most thoroughly to date in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marfa lights</span> Atmospheric light phenomenon in Texas

The Marfa lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights, are regularly observed near Marfa, Texas, in the United States. They are most often seen from a viewing area nearby, which the community has publicized to encourage tourism. While some wishful onlookers attribute them to paranormal causes including ghosts, UFOs, and flying dinosaurs, they are actually attributable to atmospherically distorted versions of terrestrial-based lights including the headlights of automobiles 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 observing the lights over the period 2000 to 2008 speculated that rare reports of erratically behaving lights were attributable to 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Min Min light</span> Light phenomenon in outback Australia

The Min Min light is a light phenomenon that has often been reported in outback Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown Mountain lights</span> Purported ghost lights near Brown Mountain, North Carolina

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 66 in Missouri</span> Section of U.S. Highway in Missouri, United States

U.S. Route 66 is a former east–west United States Numbered Highway, running from Santa Monica, California to Chicago, Illinois. In Missouri, the highway ran from downtown St. Louis at the Mississippi River to the Kansas state line west of Joplin. The highway was originally Route 14 from St. Louis to Joplin and Route 1F from Joplin to Kansas. It underwent two major realignments and several lesser realignments in the cities of St. Louis, Springfield, and Joplin. Current highways covering several miles of the former highway include Route 100, Route 366, Route 266, Route 96, and Route 66. Interstate 44 (I-44) approximates much of US 66 between St. Louis and Springfield.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulding Light</span> Light that appears in a Michigan valley

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joplin, Missouri, metropolitan area</span> Metropolitan statistical area

The Joplin, Missouri-Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of Jasper, Newton, and Cherokee counties in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas anchored by the city of Joplin. The estimated 2023 population of the Joplin, MO-KS (MSA) is 204,787. As of March 2023, The U.S. Census Bureau MSA delineation report added Cherokee County, Kansas to the Joplin, MO MSA making it the Joplin, MO-KS MSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boots Court Motel</span>

The Boots Motel, a historic U.S. Route 66 motor hotel in Carthage, Missouri, opened in 1939 as the Boots Court at 107 S. Garrison Avenue.

Midnight ghost shows were traveling stage shows that originated in the United States during the Great Depression. The shows were influenced by the stage magic traditions that preceded them, and typically incorporated illusions; simulated séances; interactivity between a host—often called a "ghostmaster"—or performers and the audience; a "blackout" sequence in which the theater would go completely dark; and horror film screenings before or after the show.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dunning, Brian. "Illuminating the Hornet Spooklight". Skeptoid Podcast. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  2. ↑ "Route 66's glowing mystery orb". BBC News . Archived from the original on 2022-11-17.
  3. 1 2 3 "Popular Mechanics". google.com. September 1965. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "Spook light mystery solved insist amateur sleuths" . Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "Spooklight Mystery Solved!". YouTube. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  6. ↑ Spooklights' source is still unknown , Tulsa World , October 30, 2007
  7. 1 2 Johns, Paul W. (December 16, 2018). "MOzarks Moments: Much rides on just when the Spooklight was first seen". Marshfield Mail. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  8. 1 2 Johns, Paul W. "MOzarks Moments:The not-so-mysterious 'Spook Light'". Marshfield Mail. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  9. 1 2 Vance Randolph, Ozark Magic and Folklore, 1947 (Dover, 2003, ISBN   9780486211817)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.