More Spooklight encounters

John Ford, associate editor of the Neosho (Mo.) Daily News, writes a column called “Whirled Peas.” In this week’s column, he writes about his encounter a few years ago with the tri-state area’s famous Spooklight that’s a few miles off Route 66.

Looking west, we saw a light in the trees where no light was supposed to be. This light changed colors, going from a brilliant white to a pale yellow to an icy blue. Others in our party reported it as being green and changing to red.

And as suddenly as it appeared, the light went out.

I continued to look west for some time, then looked down to fiddle with my camera tripod. I turned back to see a yellowish white light bobbing about three feet off of the ground maybe 100 yards away.

The light swung in semi-circles back and forth, in much the manner a hiker would swing a flashlight – or a miner would swing a lantern.

We started toward it and it seemed to pulse, growing brighter and dimmer, much like a coal oil lamp from years ago would do.

Then, as we pulled alongside it, it winked out.

The Spooklight has eluded scientific explanation for years. It seems particularly active during the summer months, for some reason.

On a related note, Louis Dodge posted on YouTube a documentary he made about ghost stories around in and around the Route 66 town of Springfield, Mo. He has footage and photos of Spooklight around the 8 1/2-minute mark of the film.