In one of the most remote rural areas of the state of Arkans, (USA) is the small town of Gardon, and a few miles from it is an old abandoned railway. The overgrown Sandy Creek Cemetery runs along one side of the rail, and a dusty dirt road runs along the other.
In general, the landscape in these places would be perfect for a horror movie.
If any of you wants to come to this place to tickle your nerves and walk along the rails to the point where State Road 53 crosses them, then you can see an outlandish sight. Especially if it is at night.
Somewhere in the distance, a ball of light appears, sometimes white, sometimes bluish or red-orange. It keeps at the same level, at the height of a person's height, but it seems to "bounce" or sway and float above the rails, before disappearing as suddenly as it appeared. Sometimes under the light you can see a translucent human silhouette and then it becomes clear that this is a ghost holding a lantern in his hands.
Residents of Gardon know the legend well, why this light appeared here. In 1931, a certain Will McClain was working on the railway, who was once hacked to death with a pickaxe by another railway worker named Louis McBride.
The men did not share something and an angry McBride literally hacked McClane's body with a pickaxe. And then he threw him on the rails so that the train would run over him and it would look like an accident. The train did cut the body in half, but the investigation found marks on the body that were not caused by the wheels of the train and soon went to McBride. He was tried, found guilty of murder, and was electrocuted in 1932.
After that, the ghost of MacLane with a lantern in his hands or just one light was often noticed on the rails. During his lifetime, a man worked at night and now, as if every time he goes to work again and inspects the paths. But sometimes a light is seen on the dirt road next to the tracks.
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All of this can be counted as an excellent urban legend. However, the light of Gardon really exists and many people have seen it. and some even took pictures. Some even managed to observe this moving ball for several miles before it finally disappeared.
Many lovers of anomalous phenomena come here specially. to personally see this phenomenon and photograph it.
Photo of Gardon's ghostly light.
The phenomenon became especially famous in 1994, when a documentary about it was shown on American TV. And then, many criticized this, believing that people just see the headlights of cars on the highway. However, this is just nonsense, as the nearest highway is just over the hill, which is 4 miles from the road.
Another version blames swamp gas for this. However, if it were gas, it could not remain in one place in windy weather, and the light was often seen even in strong winds. The version with a mirage was also debunked.