The Amazing Crossett Light - The New Light

The "New" Crossett Light

The absence of its namesake light left the town of Crossett without its claim to Fortean fame. Most people believed the reports of the light's passing with the removal of the Missouri-Pacific tracks. The sporadic reports that the light sightings that drifted in from local teenagers were dismissed as wishful thinking, but as reports increased it became clear that the Crossett Light hadn't died. It simply moved to a more hospitable location near the old Bovine Station.

In fact, it is hard for Crossett to claim the light anymore, as it appears much closer to the town of Hamburg than it does its original location. However, local habit conquers geography in this case and the light retains its old name.

Today, the Crossett Light displays a mere fragment of its former brilliance and activity. Still, it resides in the area thought to be nearer the home Rose-Marie and David, the story's original characters along a tram-road near the ruins of the old Bovine Station north of the Crossett airport. If Rose-Marie still seeks for her husband's lost cranium, she finally gave up on the area near Crossett after seventy years and now searches closer to her and her husband's final resting place. Perhaps even ghosts require a change of scenery.

The Crossett Light Road by Day

One longtime resident claims that the light was seen in this area all along, but because of less frequent sightings the tram never caught public attention as did the more popular sighting areas along the Mo-Pac tracks near Crossett. Several other locals agree saying that the light was seen here during several periods as early as the 1940's during the light's occasional absences from the tracks near Crossett. It was only after those tracks were removed that Bovine became the prime location to view the Crossett Light.

The Crossett Light in its present location taken
in the exact setup as the daytime picture

The Crossett Light is seen often here, but like in the old location it is not a regular or predictable event. While rarely as brilliant as in its early years, the Light is often still described as a lantern-like glow. It most often appears as a softball sized orb about waist-high from the surface of the gravel road between the site of an old deer camp and where the Mo-Pac tracks crossed the tram road. The light oscillates in intensity and changes color from white to amber to red, with occasional reports of a dim violet hue visible only on the darkest moonless nights. On most accessions the light bobs and wobbles along the roadway drawing closer to observers. During especially active events, it has been reported to move in a circular pattern from the ground up to the tree tops. During these active periods the light approaches its original brightness, yet it still does not reflect from the gravel road's surface or cast an identifiable beam the way car headlights and flashlights do.

While the light usually appears in the same predictable area, there are times that observers have witnessed the light travel across adjacent properties. Though this is exceedingly rare, when the light strays from its usual pattern it seems to gravitate toward the ruins of the Bovine Station platform to the east of the normal viewing area. On other rare occasions, witnesses report seeing the light appear near ground level between parked cars.

At its current location, the Crossett Light does not attract the attention it once commanded. Still, several amateur investigators have tried to debunk the occurrences unsuccessfully. The viewing area and the zone where the light most often appears is in close proximity to a local highway. This causes most skeptics to dismiss the Light as headlights even though a hill exists between the highway and the viewing area. When the viewer is in position to see the Crossett Light the hill shields the highway from view.

After one adamant and vocal out-of-town critic tried to persuade law enforcement to ban light hunters from the road, a local group set out to dispose of the headlight theory once and for all. They posted observers at the sighting area and the highway with two-way radios. During that night more than a hundred cars passed on the highway. The Crossett Light appeared several times as well, but failed to conform to traffic patterns. Still, the headlight explanation persists, mainly among those who have never seen the actual phenomenon and those who do not bother to even visit the site.

An Overlay of the photos shows that the light
is not headlights unless they are from flying cars

Next: Directions to the Light

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