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The Gurdon Light is a mystery light located near railroad tracks in a wooded area of
Haunted Arkansas: The Gurdon Light
" The light has been ascribed various colors, ranging from blue, green or white, to orange, and has been described as bobbing around. Its exact location is said to vary and witnesses have described it appearing at various times of day or night.
Encyclopedia of Arkansas:The Gurdon LightMap depicting site of the Gurdon light
Clark County, Arkansas Natural history of Arkansas Atmospheric ghost lights Paranormal Supernatural legends
The Gurdon Light is a mystery light located near railroad tracks in a wooded area of Gurdon, Arkansas
Gurdon is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,212 at the 2010 census.
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History
The town was founded in the late nineteenth century as a railroad town for the timber industry on the St. Louis, Iron Mou ...
. It is the subject of local folklore and has been featured in local media and on ''Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...
'' and ''Mysteries at the Museum
''Mysteries at the Museum'' is an hour-long television program on the Travel Channel which features museum artifacts of unusual or mysterious origins.
Plot
Each episode is focused on interesting and unusual artifacts held in museums. The show ...
''. The tracks are no longer in use, and the rails at least partially removed/covered, but it remains one of the most popular Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
attractions in the area.Brown, Alan (2002) "Haunted Places in the American South", University Press of Mississippi, McNeil W. K, Clements William M. (1992) "An Arkansas Folklore Sourcebook" University of Arkansas Press, Unsolved Mysteries: Gurdon Light, NBC (December 1994)Tailor, Troy (1998)Haunted Arkansas: The Gurdon Light
" The light has been ascribed various colors, ranging from blue, green or white, to orange, and has been described as bobbing around. Its exact location is said to vary and witnesses have described it appearing at various times of day or night.
Folklore
According to folklore, the light originates from alantern
A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to carry and h ...
of a railroad worker who was killed when he fell into the path of a train. The legend states that the man's head was separated from his body and was never found, and that the light that people see comes from his lantern as he searches for it. In another variation, the light is a lantern carried by railway foreman Will McClain, who was killed in the vicinity during a confrontation with one of his workers, Louis McBride in 1931. McClain believed McBride was the one who removed the spikes from a section of track, causing a freight train to derail, in an attempt to derail the ''Sunshine Special
The ''Sunshine Special'' was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, (later the Missouri Pacific Railroad), on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between St. Louis, Little Rock, an ...
'' passenger train. Some sources say the confrontation was about how many hours McBride was allowed to work due to the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. McBride confessed to the murder and was executed by electrocution.
Causes
The lights are believed by some to be from passing cars on the highway in the distance (which looks like small floating lights that flash off in the distance). Some believe that it's caused bypiezoelectricity
Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ''p ...
from the constant stress that the area's underground quartz crystals are under. Gurdon sits above large amounts of quartz crystals and the New Madrid fault line.
See also
*Aleya (Ghost light)
In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ''ignis fatuus'' (, plural ''ignes fatui''), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The phenomenon is known in English folk belief, En ...
, Bengal
* Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
* Brown Mountain Lights
* Chir Batti
Chir Batti, Chhir Batti or Cheer batti is a ghost light reported in the Banni grasslands, a seasonal marshy wetlands near the India–Pakistan border in Kutch district, Gujarat, India. Local villagers refer to the light as Chir Batti in the Kutc ...
* Cohoke Light
The Cohoke Light is a reported ghost light in King William County, Virginia near West Point. The light has been frequently sighted along a stretch of Virginia State Route 632, where Mt. Olive Cohoke Road crosses the Norfolk Southern Railway.
T ...
* Hessdalen light
The Hessdalen lights are unidentified lights observed in a stretch of the Hessdalen valley in rural central Norway.
Background
The Hessdalen lights are of unknown origin. They appear both by day and by night, and seem to float through and abov ...
* Maco light
* Marfa lights
The Marfa lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights, have been observed near U.S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of Marfa, Texas, in the United States. They have gained some fame as onlookers have attributed them to paranormal phenomena such ...
* Min Min light
Min Min is a light phenomenon that has often been reported in outback Australia.
History
Stories about the lights can be found in several Aboriginal Australian cultures predating the European colonisation of Australia, and have since become ...
* Naga fireball
Naga fireballs ( th, บั้งไฟพญานาค; ), 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 natura ...
* 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 ...
* Will-o'-the-wisp
In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ''ignis fatuus'' (, plural ''ignes fatui''), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The phenomenon is known in English folk belief, ...
{{coord, 33, 54, 55, N, 93, 09, 19, W, region:US-AR_type:event, display=title, notes={{gnis, 2403775, City of Gurdon
References
External links
Encyclopedia of Arkansas:The Gurdon Light
Clark County, Arkansas Natural history of Arkansas Atmospheric ghost lights Paranormal Supernatural legends