Linda
|
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.
|
Track near Sandy Crossing
|
Tombstone
|
|
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.
|
Trestle 429.9 looking west.
|
Simulated picture showing what we saw.
|
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.
We don't know what it was. Mostly it was near the horizon just above the tracks.
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.
|
Unsolved Mysteries time exposure of the Gurdon Light.
|
Here's an all night exposure that "Unsolved Mysteries" took. I had
thought that it probably really was the Gurdon Light, but have since read a
Gurdon Times article dated August 16th, 1995 that says, "When a television crew from
the NBC program 'Unsolved Mysteries' wanted to do a segment on the lights, Smith
was recruited to assist them. He showed them where the area was the lights occur,
but none showed at the time. The workers 'faked' the lights for their program."
|