The Light of Saratoga is a legend located in the Big Thicket of Southeast

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. This legend of a mysterious light is also known as the Ghost Road of Saratoga, the Saratoga Light, and Bragg Light by local residents. Located on a dirt road, it is a light that may appear and disappear at random during the dark of night without explanation.

Witness observations

There are different beliefs as far as what the ghostly light could be, such as

swamp gas Marsh gas, also known as swamp gas or bog gas, is a mixture primarily of methane and smaller amounts of hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and trace phosphine that is produced naturally within some geographical marshes, swamps, and bogs. The surfac ...

and similar natural occurrences. The most popular story surrounding this legend is that a railroad worker was decapitated in a railway accident, and the light is that of his lantern as his

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

searches endlessly for his head. Two similar phenomena are the

Paulding Light The Paulding Light (also called the Lights of Paulding or the Dog Meadow 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 ...

in Michigan's Upper Peninsula just north of Watersmeet and the

Maco light 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. Sa ...

in south-eastern North Carolina. Coincidentally, the same story of a headless railroad conductor also is offered as the explanation for these mysterious lights.

Geography

Located in

between Beaumont and Livingston, approximately 16 miles west of

Kountze, Texas Kountze ( ) is a city in Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,981 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Hardin County. The city is part of the Beaumont– Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. Kountze was orig ...

. The dirt road runs north-south starting at the south end at a bend on Farm-to-Market Road 787 that is 1.7 miles north of the intersection of FM 787-770, near Saratoga and ending at the north end at Farm-to-Market Road 1293 near the

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

of Bragg Station. The cause of the light has not been established but one common explanation is that the light is the result of car lights from a nearby highway, however the light is usually seen when facing north and the highway can only be seen while facing south.

History

In 1902,

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. From its starting point in Galveston, Texas, the railroad eventually extended northwestwards across the state to Sweetwater and northwards via ...

hacked a survey line from Bragg to Saratoga, bought right-of-way and opened the Big Thicket forest with a railroad, and the Saratoga train began its daily trips to Beaumont, carrying people, cattle, oil and logs. When the area's oil booms and virgin pine gave out, road crews pulled up the rails in 1934, the right-of-way was purchased by the county and the tram road became a county road.

City and villages

Bragg, Texas Bragg is a ghost town in Hardin County, Texas, United States, in the Big Thicket forest area of the southeastern part of the state. Sometimes referred to as "Bragg Station", this small community that flourished in the early 1900s lies ten miles w ...

(

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Gallery

Image:Entrance of Ghost Road of Hardin County TX.JPG, Entrance of the "Ghost Road" of Hardin County TX Image:Bragg Road Hardin County Texas.JPG, ''Bragg Road'' of Hardin County, Texas (looking south) Image:Bragg Road Hardin County TX Looking North.JPG, ''Bragg Road'' of Hardin County, Texas (looking north) Image:Bragg Station-old junction point GCSF Railroad.JPG, Bragg Station, Texas where GCSF railroad used to run south to Saratoga.

References

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External links

Bragg Road - The Ghost Road of Hardin County''Big Thicket Light''
- From the Handbook of Texas Online

- Historical article with photo of the light and map of the area

- From www.texasescapes.com

- From www.texasescapes.com Atmospheric ghost lights Weather lore Reportedly haunted locations in Texas American ghosts Texas culture UFO-related phenomena