The Spook Light

Georgia · United States · Haunted site

A railwayman lost his balance and fell onto the track in front of a train. The locals have called it the Spook Light for a long time.

Just off Highway 84 in Wayne County, Georgia, between Jesup and Screven, there is a stretch of railway line with a light on it that everybody locally calls the Spook Light.

The account is that years ago a rail worker lost his balance and fell onto the track, and a train took his head off.

He walks the line with a lamp, looking.

This is the most widely distributed railway legend in the American south and it appears in this archive several times over. The decapitated brakeman with a lantern turns up in North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and here.

What gives the family of stories its weight is that the underlying deaths were real and constant. Coupling and uncoupling cars by hand, and walking moving trains, killed railwaymen in enormous numbers before automatic couplers and air brakes.

The line is live.

FAQ

Where is The Spook Light located?

The Spook Light is in Georgia, United States.