The Gurdon Ghost Light
A photo taken of the mysterious Gurdon Ghost Light. Source: Curious Historian
A four-mile stretch of Missouri-Pacific railroad is home to a strange ball of light that has been sighted hundreds, if not thousands of times. What is not known is what the Gurdon Light is and what causes it.
Where to See the Gurdon Ghost Light
The Gurdon Ghost Light is an unexplained phenomenon that has been reported by many people in Gurdon, Arkansas. It is described as a bright, glowing light that appears on the railroad tracks near the old Gurdon railway station. You can see this light along a four-mile section of the Missouri-Pacific railroad track, about two and a half miles east of Highway 67. To get there, you have to walk through a swamp, go past two bridges, and an old cemetery.
You can ask anyone in Gurdon for directions - try any gas station. Everyone in town will know what you're talking about (they refer to it as "ghost light bluffs").
Sightings of the Gurdon Ghost Light
Another photo of the mysterious Gurdon Ghost Light. Source: Only in Arkansas
Hundreds of people have reported seeing the light over the years, describing it as white or yellow in color and about the size of a basketball. Some have described it as being about eighteen inches wide and a foot tall, and shaped like a rugby ball. The light moves back and forth above the railroad tracks, about one to three feet high. Sometimes, it even goes from one end of the tracks to the other.
The Light never stays in one place. It's described as moving up and down. Some people say that the Light seems to move from being far away to very close in what feels like a very short time.
The Gurdon Ghost Light attracts visitors from all over the world. Many people come to Gurdon just to see the light and experience the mystery for themselves. It stands out amongst other paranormal phenomena due to its repeatability. It can’t be written off as a hoax or someone’s drunken hallucination as it has been seen and photographed over and over again.
Legends Associated with the Gurdon Ghost Light
In 1931, a guy named William McClain who worked for the Missouri-Pacific railroad was killed with a railroad tool after he fired another worker named McBride. Some stories say McBride killed McClain because he wouldn't give him more work hours. Other stories say that McBride was fired because he messed up part of the track and caused a train to run off it. In a 1932 newspaper article, McBride said he killed McClain because McClain blamed him for a train crash a few days before. McBride was sentenced to death and was put to death using electric shock on July 8, 1932. The first time someone saw the Gurdon light was soon after this murder. Some believe that McClain's ghost still hangs around the railroad tracks and the light is his work lantern.
Another legend claims that the light comes from a lantern held by a ghost of a railroad worker, but it's not McClain's ghost. This worker is said to have fallen onto the tracks and was hit by a train, which cut off his head. His head was never found, and the Gurdon light is from his lantern as he keeps wandering the tracks, looking for his lost head. There's no historical evidence to support this story, but it's true that railroad workers often died, and some may have even lost their heads, while on the job.
Theories about the Gurdon Ghost Light
Many people think that the light is just car headlights from the highway bouncing off the trees, but this highway wasn't there in the 1930s and 1940s when the light was first seen.
Even so, researchers tried to show that it was the car lights, but couldn't. A physics student found that the light was visible for a different amount of time than car headlights would be if they somehow got reflected over a hill from the highway four miles away. He also noticed that the sound from the highway didn't match up with when the light showed up.
Dr. Charles Leming, a professor from Henderson State University, noticed that the light didn't behave like a mirage, which would have a certain pattern. He also saw that the light showed up no matter what the weather was like, which means it couldn't be caused by swamp gas.
The most accepted explanation is that the light comes from something called the piezoelectric effect. This idea suggests that pressure from the New Madrid fault makes underground crystals release charged particles, which are then kept together by the metal train tracks. These charged particles manifest as a glowing ball of light, hovering above the train tracks.
What do you think is causing the Gurdon Ghost Light? Let us know in the comments.
If you enjoyed learning about the Gordon Ghost Light you might also be interested in the corpse candle phenomenon or the mysterious story of Mel’s hole.
