The Booger Lights Project: Crossett – The “New” 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.

The Crossett Light Road (c) 2010 Thornton Austen

The Light Road 3 hours later using same camera position on tripod (c)2010 Thornton Austen

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.
The author was fortunate to be present when another group positioned a laser at headlight level on the highway and directed its beam up the old tram.  From the known viewing area and the zone where the light most often appears the hill blocked the beam.  However when observers went to the wrong area and stared toward the highway, they could both see the laser and easily identify headlights on the highway.  Curiously, from both locations the investigators witness the appearance of the actual Crossett Light.

An overlay combining the above photos to show the position of the light relative to the road (c)2010 Thornton Austen

By going to the designated viewing area, prospective observers remove headlights from consideration and stand a better chance of seeing the actual Crossett Light phenomenon.  Take Arkansas Highway 52 from Crossett to the airport and turn left on Ashley County Road 17.  After a short distance, Ashley 17 will curve sharply to the right where it intersects Ashley 425.  (Not to be confused with the US highway of the same number that goes through Hamburg.)  Continue north on Ashley 425 past where the pavement turns to gravel.  You will soon pass the site of the old deer camp on the right.  Only a chimney remains.  Continue north to the crossroads of Ashley 425 and Ashley 16.  At the crossroads, turn around and drive back toward the camp for 100-200 yards.  Park and turn off all lights.  Local tradition says you should flash your headlights three times to summon the Crossett Light.  Experience has shown this to be unnecessary, but why buck tradition?  The light most often appears near the old deer camp, but if you approach it will disappear.
As always respect private property, be courteous to other viewers, and enjoy the Crossett Light.  I hope you are fortunate enough to see it.

The Crossett Viewing Area

Thornton Austen is the author of Blood Knowing
from Arkansas Traveller Publishing
© 2011, Thornton Austen

 

Tags: arkansas, brakeman, Crossett, Crossett Light, Earth Lights, ghost lights, haunting, legend, Missouri-Pacific, paranormal, preservation, railroad, The Booger Lights Project, Thornton Austen

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 at 1:03 am by resurgam3191 and is filed under Ghost Lights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.