photographs by Ed Gibson, Grove, Oklahoma
Twelve miles southwest of Joplin, Missouri, USA, a roughly paved road runs through a narrow canyon. Nearby is the former border village of Hornet, and close to that is the site of what once was a spook light museum. The place is remote and far from civilization, so why do so many people come here?
They are searching for an unexplained enigma, a puzzle that most of them actually seem to find. It has been seen along this road since 1866 and has created such a mystery that even the Army Corps of Engineers officially concluded that it was a 'mysterious light of unknown origin.' It has gone by many names, but it's most commonly known as the Hornet Spook Light.
6 comment(s):
The explanation is here. And in fact, the claim that the Army Corps of Engineers cannot explain the light is false ... the Army Corps of Engineers did indeed explain the lights in their report in 1946.
Paige, the findings of only one person is hardly an explanation. He talks about the 'headlights of cars' but there were 'spook lights' long before cars existed.
And the Army Corps could not 'explain' the lights. All they were able to do was reproduce them and they took those reproductions as an 'explanation.'
A Canyon?? In Missouri?? Ha Ha!! Yea Right. The heat affects them folk so much, they think they are living in real mountains.
Ozark Mountains are not mountains.
These are not the findings of one person. These are the findings of one person who wrote a web page, corroborated by a report by the Army Corps of Engineers report that came to the same explanation decades earlier, and which was reported in the Kansas City Star. Perhaps you misread that part?
You state: "All they were able to do was reproduce them and they took those reproductions as an 'explanation.'" That makes no sense at all. If you can reproduce something, then you have explained it. While there might be a 2nd cause of the lights, the burden of proof is now transferred to anyone who claims there is a 2nd explanation to show that these aren't always automobile lights.
Finally the web page also discussed those lights seen before there were cars. It says: "Yes the spook light was seen before there were cars, but very infrequently. Those sightings could easily be explained by cabin lights or campfires in the vicinity of the future towns of Commerce or Quapaw." So just saying that these lights were seen before cars is not a counter-explanation, it is a denial. You need to show why this explanation is not credible or valid.
All you have done is say "No" without providing a shred of evidence why "No" is correct.
So why have people made such a big deal out of it for such a long time then? I see car headlights all the time and I don't get confused and think its something else - simply explaining it as 'car headlights' is almost as bad as the airforce trying to explain ufo sightings as 'swamp gas reflecting off birds'
I personally live in Northeastern Oklahoma. I have gone to see the spooklight in person, and I can easily say it's not headlights. When you stand there in the dark, watching the light hover against the ground then lift up into tree branches, where it hovers while a pickup drives directly beneath it...well, that's not headlights. Try going to see it yourself, use a telescope to zoom into it or a camera with a zoom lens. Then try and explain the spooklight away when you're watching it darting in amongst leaves.
My parents have seen the spooklight, and their parents have seen the spooklight. It was first reported by Native Americans in 1866, long before there were headlights.
It's mainly seen in a small vicinity right on the stateline of Oklahoma and Missouri. The area is wooded, therefore the idea that the spooklight is from light from Commerce or Quapaw is incorrect. Both towns are quite a distance from the spooklight area and there are hills that rise between both vicinities thus obscuring the view.
As for the explanation of 'swamp gas', this is Northeastern Oklahoma/Southwest Missouri we're talking about...there are no swamps in this part of the country.
And in regards to the Army Corps of Engineers, just keep in mind, they're a branch of the US government and we all know how the US government likes to try and find explanations for everything.
BTW, the photographs at the top of the page showing the spooklight and the people observing it were taken in the late 1950s by Ed Gibson, who owned a professional photography studio in Grove, Oklahoma for nearly 60 years. (Who just happens to have been my grandfather.)
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