Naked Eye Accounts

 

* What I've seen My first trip to Gurdon was on April 14, 1999 with my son, Schuyler. The morning of the 15th about 4:00 a.m. we walked from "Sandy Crossing", where the tracks meet Highway 53 near Sandy Branch Creek (Right edge of above map), until we'd crossed the first 6 trestles. We saw nothing going west. (Moving from right to left on above map) On the way back (traveling eastward) we saw distant lights over the tracks. We thought the first was the Gurdon light, but since the highway ( Highway 53) can be seen as far west as the hill top west of the sixth trestle, I can't be sure it wasn't just car headlights and tail lights on Highway 53.

My second trip was Friday, May 7, 1999 and I went with my wife, Linda. My friend and co-worker Robin and her husband David, and her Aunt Joyce came too. Robin and Joyce grew up in Gurdon and have seen the light before. Robin has been within 10 feet of it. Saturday afternoon Linda and I walked the track from the Sandy Crossing, at Highway 53. We did not make it to the Sticky road. Our time ran out. But we did walk about 3.5 miles west and back. Linda took some pictures, including the cemetery that is mentioned in the episode of the TV show "Unsolved Mysteries", and a particularly nice tombstone for Mary Wilson. All five of us came back that night. We did see a strange light or two in the distance. We were at the west end of the third trestle (429.9 miles I suppose) looking west (This picture was taken from that spot in the day.)

We don't know what it was. Mostly it was near the horizon just above the tracks. (Simulated picture below.)

We would see a glow, then a light for a moment, then it would be gone. As you can see from the picture, only the top of the hill and the sky beyond are visible. I went back with a telescope in early June to make sure that traffic on Interstate 30, is not visible from there. Other lights we saw that night included a firefly sitting on the track and blinking brightly as we approached and passed him. We saw the cars passing on Highway 53. The "Unsolved Mysteries" episode has a good shot of that, though they don't tell you that's what it is. We also saw flashlights of a group of young people who were out there to scare each other. We saw their lights first then heard their voices, then a couple girls' mock screams, then they left. Here's an all night exposure that "Unsolved Mysteries" took. It probably really is the Gurdon Light.

My third trip was June 4th, 1999. I went by myself. I went out on the track Friday night. I went about half way up the hill past the 6th trestle from Highway 53 and saw nothing other than thousands of fireflies. I noticed that there are two kinds. There are dim greenish ones and bright white ones. Coming back down the hill I saw a white light several times and a red light once in the general vicinity of Highway 53. I was convinced at the time that the lights weren't cars on 53 since they didn't seem to move sideways or last as briefly as a car crossing the tracks. However there are cars on 53 and from that hill one has a good view of 53, so I guess it must have been cars. When I got to the third trestle I turned around and looked west for quite some time. No light was visible where it had been the last trip.

Saturday I drove to the spot where the Sticky Road and the tracks cross under Interstate 30. I walked the tracks in the 96 degree heat counting my paces and taking notes about where I could see I30 and Highway 53, where I was going up, down, or level, and where the trestles are. Here's a sketch from my notes (Top of this page). The horizontal scale is pretty accurate. Since I had no way to measure vertical distances the vertical scale is pretty rough, but qualitatively accurate as to where the track goes up and down. I usually took two railroad ties to a step. I took about 10,300 steps, round trip, and between the exertion and getting somewhat dehydrated, when I was through my lower legs were ready to cramp at the slightest provocation. Therefore I did not go out on the tracks that night as I had originally planned.

Sunday, with my lower legs sore but no longer cramping, I drove down the cemetery access road from Highway 53 to where it meets the tracks just east of trestle 2 (429.8 miles sign). I carried a small telescope to the west end of trestle 3 (429.9 miles) and looked west to see if the I30 freeway is visible from that spot. It is not. There are small hills in the way. All that can be seen in the distance are the very tops of trees that may be in the general vicinity of the freeway. The lights we saw on the previous trip were not cars on I30.

On July 26th, 1999 we went to Marfa, Texas and drove to the lights viewing area just over nine miles east of Marfa on the highway. We saw the lights of cars on Highway 67 near the two red lights of an antenna to our right (west). We saw two blue-green lights south of us, in a direction perpendicular to the highway. We were told by two locals that these were not the Marfa lights. After a while we saw a yellow-white light like a street light come on. It stayed put at least till 11:30 p.m. when we left. We also saw a light that appeared to this lights left and then moved to the right and disappeared. One local resident said as we watched that these were "Marfa Lights". Another resident said the next day after hearing my description that they might have been "Marfa Lights". We didn't see anything terribly unusual looking in any event. The next night we were occupied at the nearby McDonald Observatory and the next morning we left. I hope to go back there within the next year, bring my video camera, and try several nights to see the lights. I'll put pictures up here if I get any.

On May 19th, 2000 Linda and I went to Gurdon again. We arrived in time to visit the Hoo-Hoo Museum. Beth and her husband J.R. were there and Beth gave us a nice tour. The only information she had on the Gurdon Light was a newspaper clipping about Will McClain, and it had been misplaced. Beth did tell us a couple interesting thing. She said that just before Will McClain was killed some men had been blowing up trestles to make work for themselves and others, repairing the railroad. Will McClain was about to, or maybe did, find out who they were when he was killed. Beth also mentioned that she believed her husband's father or grandfather, I don't remember which, had seen the Gurdon light some years before Will McClain was killed. Friday night we did not go out on the tracks. Linda had been sick and so had I. We were just too tired. Saturday we went to the Clark County Library in Arkadelphia on a tip that they had some information on the light. We could not find anything. We wenk to the library of Ouichita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, but summer break had started and the library was closed. The same was true at Herderson State University, also in Arkadelphia.

Saturday night we were out on the track from 9:30p.m. to about 12:15. We met some people coming back as we were going out. We saw a few lightning bugs, and that was it. Sunday morning we had to come home. We hope to try again later in the year. "Stay tuned." Garr Lystad: lystad@iglobal.net http://www.iglobal.net/lystad/curiosity-shop/gurdon-trips.html)

Copyright (C) 2001 Dr. Sten Odenwald