The old 'spook light' and other tales

Friday, February 10, 2006

In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, I attended PSU in Pittsburg, Kan. While a student there I was introduced to many new and fresh ideas and other things. One of the most unusual things I was introduced to was the infamous paranormal sighting of something called simply the "Spook Light." Before I go any further, I will testify here and under oath, that after innumerable visits to the area back in those days of my youth, I never once saw with my own eyes the light in question. Having said that, I will now go on record and say that I do believe that others have seen it. Is it real? I cannot answer that, but again I will say for the record that while I have not seen it, I do believe others have seen it whether it is real or not.

The light has become the thing of legend. Besides drawing upon my own first hand experience of visiting the site, there is a lot of information about the "spook light" available. I read many articles about the light and its history on the Internet. You can find it by simply typing in those two words. There are even a few maps shown on the 'net if you are interested.

At one time it seems that the legend of the light was so great that some enterprising locals went so far as to build a museum complete with a viewing porch close by. It was known aptly as the "Spooksville Museum." It is long gone now, but to this day the cars of curious seekers of the mysterious light travel up and down the road hoping to catch a glimpse of the phenomena.

Further facts and observations about the light and those trying to see it are interesting in and of themselves. The road in question is located not far from Hornet, Mo. The road also has parts in both Missouri and Oklahoma. It is remote and not very distinguishable from other land in and around the area. As a young man I would like to tell you that we were not "under the influence of …" while we were attempting to see the light, but that was never the case. We were mostly in our teenage years, and we were out on those country roads for a reason and it wasn't scientific research. We were often in mixed company and I can remember how proud I was of my bravery when driving to the sight. It really gives your manhood a boost when you are brave in front of the girls about something spooky. Back here Nevada, we had our own set of special places to visit on lonely boring nights. After all, most of us even if we had a car, it had only a radio. Eight track tape players and even FM stations were rare.

There was no Internet, no cell phones, no video games, it was almost as if we lived in prehistoric times. It was up to us to find things to do to amuse ourselves.

There was one place out north and east of town (some of you will have to get in touch with me and let me know for sure,) that we called the "Plantation."

It was supposed to be haunted. I went there several times with friends, and once again we were mostly in a party mood when we went. I cannot remember if anything happened, but there was always the folklore that someone a few weeks before had found strange things like cold drinks and hot food. We didn't find anything like that, so we decided to stay in the cars and protect the girls. We were brave -- just not that brave.

There were other very interesting things to go see that did not deal with haunted or paranormal sights.

One most teenagers of those days completed at one time or another was a trip to "13 Curves" and "Roller Coaster Hills." It was not spooky, but it never seemed to grow tiring. There was something about making all those turns (by the way, the county has rebuilt quite a bit of 13 curves and it is not the same anymore), and then driving at just the right speed to make your car hop in the air as you crested the hills. Sometimes we would even go on down a mile or so and stop for a while at the old rock quarry. It is still there and every few years divers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol go down to see how many cars and other stolen items are to be found in its depths.

As those of you close to my age will remember, we did not have much in the way of organized things to do back then. Sure, we would go to the movies and ball games, but we had a lot of spare time just to spend with friends in our cars hoping to find something interesting. I wonder if the kids today still do any of these things. I wonder if they have ever been anywhere near some of these spooky places. Probably not. Gas is too high now to take some of the drives we used to give never a thought to. Still, it would be nice for them to know what it is like to have that kind of unorganized spur of the moment type evening once in a while.

Spook Lights and other things were just as much a part of my growing up as anything I learned in school -- or life, for that matter.