ROWLETT REPORTS (http://www.strangemag.com/surrencyspooklight.html)

 The Surrency Spook Light by Curtis Rowlett

The Surrency Spook Light is a classic example of the ghost light phenomena in the best tradition of the more famous ones, such as the Marfa Light in Texas and the Brown Mountain Light in North Carolina. The site of the Surrency Light (called the "spook light" by locals) is centralized along a stretch of the Macon/Brunswick railway that runs through Surrency, Georgia. This phenomena was first brought to my attention in 1989 by my friend Mr. James Joyner, who is a resident of nearby Baxley. Mr. Joyner has witnessed the light several times and was kind enough to allow his account to be retold here.

He described how he was standing on the train track at night when the light appeared several hundred yards in front of him, hovering over the railway. Mr. Joyner's description of the light was "a very bright, golden-yellow light, about the size and shape of a grapefruit." When he tried to approach the light, it began to move toward him until it finally blinked out, only to reappear behind him! He describes his other experience as similar to the first.

The Surrency Light has been an observable phenomena since the turn of the century. Explanations for the light vary from the local belief that it is somehow connected to the famous Surrency ghost that haunted the hotel/home of A. P. Surrency (for whom the town is named) to a mysterious geological formation underneath the ground in Surrency, as theorized by Cornell University professor Larry Brown.

The Surrency hauntings were first written about in the Savannah Morning News after the paper received a letter from A. P. Surrency.(1) Hundreds of personal accounts from diaries, as well as books and magazines, have described tables flying through the air, mirrors exploding in hallways, clocks running wild after witnesses heard a mysterious buzzing noise, hot bricks falling from the sky, lights flickering in the dark, and unexplained voices screaming, crying or laughing in and around the Surrency house.(2) The hauntings continued until the house burned down in 1925.

Geological professor Larry Brown was part of a team that discovered what may be an ancient reservoir of water or other fluid nine miles beneath a pine forest in Surrency. Dr. Brown is a director of the Cornell University-based Consortium for Continental Reflective Profiling (COCORP) which is developing a detailed picture of the Earth's mantle. Dr. Brown describes this reservoir as "about two miles in diameter and apparently shaped like a contact lens."3 He also states that "we really don't have a good idea what the formation is composed of. It it is water, it would upset a lot of scientific theories as it is theoretically impossible for water or other fluids to exist at such a great depth due to the intense heat and pressure." My own investigation into the Surrency Spook Light is still in its beginning stage and so will be reported on further as new data comes to lighght

NOTES

1. Savannah Morning News, Oct. 23, 1872 edition.

2. Barron, Ruth T., Footprints in Appling County (Dallas, Ga.: Taylor Publishing, 1981),

Chapter 10.

3. "Surrency Bright Spot" from IllumiNet computer file RBBS/DL BRIGHT TXT 5-24-87.

Reference 2: (http://dixiexfiles.homestead.com/files/Surrency_Spook_Light.htm)

Surrency, Georgia . The Surrency Spook Light is located in Surrency, Georgia along the Macon/Brunswick railroad tracks. Surrency, which was incorporated in 1911, is a small town of about 300 people in the southeast portion of Georgia. The light itself is described as a bright yellow ball that disappears when approached. Sightings of the light began in the early 1900s, and apparently continue to the present day. Some theorize that the light is a product of a geologic anomaly deep under the town of Surrency. The anomaly, discovered in 1985 during a regional seismic survey, is theorized to be a convex shaped pocket of liquid about nine miles underground, unlike anything else in the world. Scientists are puzzled by the anomaly, since liquid is not supposed to be able to form so far underground. Just to confuse things, this anomaly is also known as the "Surrency Bright Spot" ("Bright" because it reflects a larger than normal amount of radio waves) and is not to be confused with the actual light itself, which is called the "Spook Light." Others believe the light is connected to the famous Surrency Ghost. The home of town founder A.P. Surrency was known to be haunted from the 1870s until it burned down in 1925. The haunting became well-known after A.P. himself wrote a letter in 1875 to the Savannah Morning News detailing the manifestations. The "haunting" had poltergeist-like qualities to it, such as mysterious noises and objects being thrown about or appearing out of nowhere. Disembodies voices were heard on the property as well.