Seeking the Spook Light

 By Corey Childs

 

It was the early 2000's and I was running my own paranormal investigation team. I had read up on countless legends around The Show Me State that I called home.

    The Joplin Spooklight was interesting, it had a rich history, and from what I had read it was our best chance at obtaining evidence. Our best chance because it was reoccurring and had been spotted for years. Reports stated that if you parked on the Oklahoma East 50 Road, near the three state junction of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma on a dark night, your chances of viewing the unexplained were better than not.

     The history of the light was filled with legend which made it hard to tell fact from fiction. It was said that in the late 1800's it became part of local Native American lore with a love story element to the lights origin. It was also said that the light was the spirit of a local woman searching nightly for her missing husband. It was also said that the light was investigated in 1946 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who deemed the light as "A mysterious light of unknown origin." The light even appeared on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.

     Over time the light had gone by several names including The Devil's Promenade, Hornet Spook Light etc...

So yours’ truly, a young investigator, set out to solve this long mystery. We arrived approximately three hours before dusk and drove the "haunted" road and all nearby roads, something we did before all investigations. The road had a spooky look and it was easy to imagine it to be haunted. It looked like it were straight out of a  horror movie. The vegetation and trees canopied several parts of the road. Most of the road cut through wooded areas and open fields. As the summer sun sank into the sky the road looked like an old time drive-inn theater. Cars lined both sides of the road and teenagers sat on the hoods waiting to witness the mysterious light.

Upon speaking with some of the locals we got even more stories. Stories of the light passing through cars, chasing cars and people. Most of the witnesses said that when the light got close they could feel heat off of it. From these statements the light sounded more like a fireball than a UFO in the sky.

     We broke out our equipment (Night vision, Cameras, Binoculars, digital temperature gauge etc...) and were ready for anything. The teenagers that lined the road were also ready, some standing on the hoods of their car for a better view. Then in the distance we began to see lights. Low to the ground and bright green in color an orb moved around in a circle about 100 feet from us. Then another, this time white in color and about 50 feet from us. Through the night vision cameras we discovered that these were the teenagers with flashlights and glow sticks.  We were disappointed because if there were a mysterious light here the teenagers might destroy our investigation.

      We toughed it out though, and just kept our eyes in the tree line. A few hours went by and all the teenagers left. It was only the investigative team at this point and within minutes we saw an auburn light swaying back and forth in the

roadway. We looked through the night vision and binoculars and saw the dim light with nobody around. The light swayed back and forth in an area approximately three to four feet wide.

      We weren't going to chance being fooled so we drove to the location quickly in order to catch any possible hoaxers. The road was fairly straight in this area, but had had small hills that caused you to lose sight of the light when going up and down. This was a problem because the light disappeared... every time.

 At this point it was time to try something different. We drove with no headlights on to see if our lights might have affected the spooklight, (Driving without headlights is dangerous and not recommended). That changed nothing however, and the light again vanished.

     We then set out on foot and still had the same result. After about an hour we tried yet another technique where two of us set out on foot while two people stayed in our original location with eyes on the light. The two watchers who stayed behind reported that as we approached the light it raised up into the sky and stopped at the top of the tree line. Shortly after the light vanished and did not return.

      We then attempted to recreate the light by driving on the nearby roads with our headlights on regular and bright beams. We were unable to recreate the light.
   
Many others have investigated The Joplin Spooklight(s) without finding the source or sources.  Like others of its kind, the light remains a mystery to this day.

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Corey Childs is a paranormal investigator and police officer residing in Kansas City, Missouri.