The Actual Hornet Spook Light

The Hornet spook light (or Joplin spook light) is an orange ball of light that bobs and bounces along a four-mile gravel road in northeastern Oklahoma. Because the approach to the road is from the Missouri side, it gets its name from Hornet or Joplin, Missouri. The ball of fire, described as varying from the size of a baseball to a basketball, dances and spins down the center of the road, rising and hovering above the treetops before it retreats and disappears. The best time to view the spook light is between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and midnight.

Jennifer and I went out to see it one night a long time ago, but we did not see anything. The likeliest explanation for the spook light is that it is actually caused by headlights of cars moving along Route 66 about 10 miles to the west. In the 1970s there was a "Spook Light Free Museum" run by local man Garland G. Middleton (1909-1984). who sold photo postcards of the light. The color photo for this card was taken in 1982 by Robert H. Gibbons of Springfield, Missouri.

A good overview of the spook light can be found at http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/.../joplin-spooklight.html .