“If you see the light and try to run away from it because you’re scared, it’ll show up right behind you.” said Sherry Kelly, Gurdon local and Gurdon Light enthusiast.
The Gurdon light is a mysterious, ghostly light that can be seen on and around the railroad tracks running through Gurdon, Ark. It’s said to be the ghost of a railroad worker who was beheaded by one of his coworkers in the 1940’s, still wandering the tracks in search of his head. However, people have been skeptical.
“The murder is a true story,” Kelly said. “A man named McLaine was actually killed, although we’re not sure if he was really beheaded. His son was present at his killer’s execution.”
The Gurdon light is not only a fun thing for the Gurdon locals to claim about their town, it attracts a fair amount of tourist attraction. Almost everyone who has visited claims to have seen the light, making it a popular destination for people looking for paranormal activity.
As mentioned before, there are skeptics. People who don’t believe in ghosts have claimed that the light is just about anything under the sun, but Kelly is still a believer.
“People have said that the light is anything from swamp gas to fox fire, although I’m not even sure what that is,” Kelly said. “Lots of people say it’s a reflection of the lights from the highway. They can say whatever they want, but I think it’s McLaine.”
Our little group from the Signal drove out to Gurdon on a dark and stormy night and walked all the way past the seventh bridge (there’s a series of foot bridges spanning a creek in the woods that’s been used as a system of distance to tell when you’re in the light’s territory) to see for ourselves. I had seen the light before, but only with a few people, and we had been flashing signals down the trail with flashlights, which led me to believe it was another group just ahead of us flashing their lights back.
This time, however, we didn’t see the light. The train tracks have been pulled up, which may have given peace to any wandering spirits associated with them, and it was raining, which Kelly herself said would probably prevent us from seeing the light.
Whether it’s lights from the highway or a headless ghost searching for lost body parts by lantern light, the Gurdon light is a great local legend, a fantastic piece of history and an adventure that’s hard to come by nowadays. I’d highly recommend going to see it to anybody, especially now that they have torn the tracks up; it may not be there much longer.
