Gurdon Light

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title: "Gurdon Light" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["clark-county,-arkansas", "natural-history-of-arkansas", "atmospheric-ghost-lights", "paranormal", "supernatural-legends"] description: "Atmospheric ghost light in Gurdon, Arkansas, US" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurdon_Light" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Atmospheric ghost light in Gurdon, Arkansas, US ::

The Gurdon Light is an atmospheric ghost light located near railroad tracks in a wooded area of Gurdon, Arkansas. It is the subject of local folklore and has been featured in local media and on Unsolved Mysteries and Mysteries at the Museum. The tracks are no longer in use, and the rails at least partially removed/covered, but it remains one of the most popular Halloween attractions in the area. The light has been described as blue, green, white or orange and appearing to have a "bobbing" movement.

Folklore

According to folklore, the light is the swinging lantern of a ghost brakeman accidentally beheaded by a passing train, searching for his disembodied head. Another variation of the legend holds that the light is a lantern carried by the ghost of a worker killed in a fight with another railroad employee on the tracks. According to skeptical writer Brian Dunning, very similar folklore exists for a number of such "ghost lights", and it's not likely "headless brakemen" could be such a common occurrence.

Explanations

The light has been proposed to be the reflection of passing cars on Interstate 30, but believers contend there have been reports of the lights since the 1930s, while the interstate was not built until the late 1950s.

References

References

1. Brown, Alan (2002) "Haunted Places in the American South", University Press of Mississippi, {{ISBN. 1-57806-477-5
2. McNeil W. K, Clements William M. (1992) "An Arkansas Folklore Sourcebook" University of Arkansas Press, {{ISBN. 1-55728-254-4
3. Unsolved Mysteries: Gurdon Light, NBC (December 1994)
4. "Arkansas Legend: The Gurdon Light". [[KARK-TV]].
5. "The Marfa Lights: A Real American Mystery". Skeptoid.
6. {{gnis. 2403775. City of Gurdon

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::