Crossett Light

A mysterious ghost light appears along abandoned railroad tracks outside Crossett, similar to the Gurdon Light. The phenomenon has been witnessed by generations of local residents.

The Crossett Light appears on a desolate stretch of unpaved road near the small city of Crossett in Ashley County, deep in the timberlands of southeastern Arkansas. The light has been observed for decades along what locals call the Crossett Light Road — a narrow, rutted path that cuts through dense forest approximately seven miles southwest of town. The road runs roughly parallel to an abandoned railroad grade, and it is this connection to the railroad that provides the most widely told origin story.

According to the legend, a railroad brakeman working the line in the early 1900s was decapitated in an accident — struck by a train or caught between coupling cars during switching operations. His body was recovered, but his head was never found. The light that appears along the road is said to be the ghost of the brakeman, carrying a lantern as he walks the old rail bed searching for his severed head. The story is remarkably similar to other "ghost light" legends across the American South — the Gurdon Light in Clark County, Arkansas, the Maco Light in North Carolina, and the Bragg Light in Texas all share the motif of a decapitated railroad worker and a mysterious floating light.

The Crossett Light itself is described as a luminous orb that floats approximately two to three feet above the ground, moving slowly along the road or hovering in place before vanishing. Witnesses report that the light ranges in color from yellow-orange to blue-green, sometimes shifting between hues during a single appearance. It has been observed to split into two separate lights that move independently before recombining or fading out. The light appears at irregular intervals — some visitors report seeing it within minutes of arriving, while others wait for hours without result. It tends to appear most frequently on dark, overcast nights and is rarely reported during periods of bright moonlight.

The most unsettling characteristic of the Crossett Light, repeated across many witness accounts, is its apparent responsiveness to observers. When viewers walk toward the light, it retreats, maintaining a consistent distance as though deliberately staying just out of reach. If observers stand still, the light may approach, sometimes drawing within a hundred yards before stopping or disappearing. Some witnesses have reported that the light appears to react to flashlight beams or vehicle headlights, either flickering out when illuminated or intensifying in response.

Several explanations have been proposed. The most common scientific hypothesis attributes the light to piezoelectric effects — quartz-bearing rocks under tectonic stress releasing electrical energy that manifests as visible light. Ashley County sits near the edge of the Gulf Coastal Plain where underlying geological formations contain quartz deposits. Swamp gas (methane from decomposing organic matter in the surrounding wetlands) is another frequently cited explanation, as is the refraction of distant headlights through atmospheric temperature inversions common in the low-lying river bottoms of southeastern Arkansas. None of these explanations has been conclusively demonstrated, and the light continues to defy easy categorization.

The Crossett Light has been a rite of passage for teenagers in Ashley County for generations, with groups driving out to the road on weekend nights to watch for the phenomenon. The city of Crossett and Ashley County do not officially promote the light as a tourist attraction, but its reputation extends well beyond the local area. The road remains unpaved and unlit, accessible but isolated — the kind of place where the darkness is absolute and the silence is broken only by the sounds of the forest.