Senath Mo.Class of '58
Senath Ghost Light
Information on the subject gathered by:
Bob Corley - Littleton, Colorado
RECORDED QUOTATIONS
FROM
ACTUAL (IDENTIFIED) VISITORS
describing their knowledge
of
THE SENATH LIGHT
by writing….
(1)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
(Statement by her grandfather)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“When driving by the cemetery on the way to see the Senath Light, the cemetery gate is closed”
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The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
(Statement made by her grandfather)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“When you get to the correct spot in the road (currently known as County road 602) and park then flash your car lights three times will "summon" the ghost light.
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(3)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
(Statement made by her grandfather)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“When “summoned” in such manner the light will appear.”
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(4)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
(Statement made by her grandfather)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“If you let the “light” get close enough to touch your car, your car will stall.”
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(5)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
(Statement made by her grandfather)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“When you drive past the cemetery on the way home the gate is open.”
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(6)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“The small grave yard may have 10 or 12 graves at most.”
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(7)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“The graves are so bunched up it is hard to believe there are people buried there and not pets.”
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(8)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“The graveyard is strange looking when you drive past and it is very small.”
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(9)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“I stopped on the way past (the cemetery) one day to see for myself if there were people buried in the cemetery but I chickened out before I got across the ditch.”
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(10)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“Years later I had my own encounter with the light. I was staying with a friend in a neighboring city after a dance. We were with some other teens and didn't have anything to do. Someone spoke up about the Senath light. I have always been interested in ghost stories and such so I was all for it. Some of the others had seen it before, and knew where it was, so we set out”
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(11)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“We `summoned' the light and it appeared. We were far back enough from the highway that we could see cars passing occasionally, but they were passing behind the light. It was far enough away and so bright that it shined on the hood of the car. It grew bigger and smaller and changed colors also. We had rolled up the windows and locked all the doors. Some one suggested that it was someone holding a spotlight, but I refuse to believe that there is some crazy old man who has been standing in that road every night for decades waiting to be "summoned" in order to shine his light. Too many people have witnessed it and there are too many odd things about it. Its brightness for one thing.”
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(13)
The following was written by:
kbrown22@webtv.net (kammie)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 20:12:04 -0600 (CST)
obiwan@ghosts.org
“My friend who I was staying with that night said that her older sister had photographed the light and when the film was developed there was a skeletal figure in its place on the film. I don't know what to think but I know I witnessed something that I did not understand.”
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(14)
The following was written by:
comsgt@earthlink.net (William Chapmon)
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 20:43:00 -0400
obiwan@ghosts.org
“There is a small town in the south-eastern part of Missouri ( Arbyrd ) where it is told that three sisters burned inside their home while the oldest was waiting for her boyfriend to come for her. She apparently had a lantern in the window to let him know that it was OK for him to come by. From what I understand the lantern caught the curtains on fire when they all fell asleep while waiting. The boyfriend never came and the three burned in the house. To this day it is said on the anniversary of that fateful night you will see the light of the lantern roaming the area in a search for the boyfriend that never showed. This is all of the story that I know…….”
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(15)
A Short (Fictional) Story (on the subject) was Written By
Alex Sydorenko
The story is displayed on
obiwan@ghosts.org
=============
(16)
The following was written by:
F.Motes
(fmotes@piggott.net) "fmotes"
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 18:52:29 -0600
obiwan@ghosts.org
“My husband and I live about 5 miles from the `Senath' light, or as people around here call it the `Arbyrd' light. We have lived here all our lives. We have been out there hundreds of times trying to see the light (unsuccessfully). However one night about four years ago us and two of our close friends ended up at the "light" on a double date. We shut off the car, flashed our headlights 3 times and waited. After about 30 minutes we saw what appeared to be a car approaching. I'd say it was a 1\4 of a mile from us when we realized it was only one light. It was a ways back then all of a sudden it jumped towards us then backed off then it was coming back. The driver decided to drive into the light. It was like playing chicken then it just disappeared. We don't know exactly what it was but we were convinced that we'd finally seen the light. The legend of the light around here is that the light is a ghost of a woman carrying a lantern up and down the road looking for her husband. He was said to have been hung in a nearby tree. The light is just one of the many mysteries that this particular road has. Rumor has it that a nearby cemetery "Lulu" is also haunted, we personally have yet to experience anything there. Although just past the cemetery is a bridge known to locals as "Crybaby Bridge". If you park on the bridge you can sometimes hear a baby crying. We have heard the sounds on numerous occasions but have no explanation for it.
If you have any information about these things please reply.”
fmotes@piggott.net
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(16)
The following was written by:
Lisa Galloway
“Just outside of Senath, Missouri in Dunklin County, a lonely country road runs right along an abandoned cemetery and old train tracks. A tumble down house molders nearby.
Local lore tells of a train conductor who had fallen off a train. Swept under the wheels of the locomotive, the man was beheaded.
Another tells of a man lynched from a nearby tree, only to be found days later by his frantic wife.
A third story, equally tragic, is that of three sisters burned alive in their house: they had left a candle burning in the window to guide their would-be suitors and the draperies caught fire.
Late at night, local young people like to take a drive to this place to see if they can catch a glimpse of the Senath Ghost light.
The glowing orb appears on the road, often bobbing up and down as if held by a human hand.
Is it the light from that long-ago locomotive?
The spectral lantern held aloft by the equally ghostly conductor searching for his head along the tracks? Is it the lamp or torch carried by the wraith of the wife so desperately searching for her husband, only to find him swinging from a tree? Perhaps the ghosts of the three sisters still reside here, with an otherworldly candle still burning in the window to draw their lovers near.
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(17)
The following was written by:
Sherry (Hall) Pleasure Gait Farms
http://www.foxtrotting.com
Foxtrotters@horsemail.com
Sherry was a former schoolmate in Senath.
“Hello Bob, My husband, Chuck grew up in Southern California. I had mentioned "The Light" to him several times over the years, but he was always a little skeptical. After we moved here in the Fall of '89, on an overcast night with a storm brewing I asked him if he wanted to go out and see the Light. He agreed. We drove there and got out for a stroll, but not too far from the car, in case it started to rain. We were walking and talking and just enjoying the thick, cool breezy air that always precedes a good ole Missouri thunderstorm. Chuck saw it first in the distance and suggested that it must be car lights. I giggled nervously and said, "Oh I don't think so, and it's one light, not lights". It kept coming closer and we could tell it was indeed one light, definitely not two car lights. I suggested we head back to the car. It was beginning to sprinkle a bit anyway, (good excuse). We watched from the safety of our car as it got within a half mile or so from of us, then it just vanished in thin air. Now Chuck is a believer and he has delighted in telling his California friends and family how he "Saw the Light” in Senath, Missouri! When Janice and Phyllis get together they really come up with some wonderful old "Light" stories. I think that thing must have been more active when you all were in high school....”
2-17-2003
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The following was written by :
Shirly (Collins) Rickman
srickman@vip1.net (shirley rickman)
Shirley was a former classmate in Senath.
“ Bob, I lived there close to the “light” back when I was just a kid. The only way I knew how to get to it was the way from my house. Gordon Fritz lived close by on the curve at Bucoda. You turned left just about where his house sat on the right of the curve and went down that dirt road about a couple of miles and turned left again , then you were practically at the “junk ditch light.”
2-17-2003
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(19)
The following was written by:
Joe Don Fritz
Joe was a schoolmate in Senath
“Bob, My own belief is that the lights were from cars as they came from dirt roads and traveled over the railroad at an angle to reach Highway 25. They would be seen and disappear and reappear. That intersection is where Tink Cude lived. Marvin and Donis Layne lived at the highway 25 and dirt road intersection in the 60s. The road structure has changed since the railroad in gone and the new highway (412) was built.…………….”
Joe Fritz 2-17-2003
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(20)
The following was written by:
Elizabeth (Seymore) Autry
2-17-2003
Elizabeth was a former classmate in Senath.
“Bob, I have been meaning to have the time to ask you if you remember David Rainey having a dummy stuffed like a man that he hung in the tree where the light was located. Needless to say it caused hysteria, especially in the girls. I do not know what it was but I have seen it. I have not heard of anyone seeing it lately. Lots of the tree rows have been destroyed but Dennis said if you go to the road just before Lulu Baptist Church and turn left, go about one half mile, just before you get to the bridge that is where it is.
--- Liz”
Another article written by: Liz. (Seymeore) Autry
Date: 2/20/2003 7:36:47 PM PST
Well, it seems as if everyone remembers the light. A lot of it seems to have a lot in common. Dennis said he does remember there being two locations. All I remember is it was a place where a man was (reportedly) hanged and his wife's ghost was carrying a lantern looking for him, which could have been responsible for my remembrance of having seen a DUMMY hanging in the tree that (David Rainey) hung there to scare the daylights out of some of us girls one night --- Liz”
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(21)
The following was written by:
DONALD SMITH DLSMITH9318@aol.com
2-17-2003
Donald Smith was a former classmate in Senath.
“HI Bob, I remember what we called " The Light " and since I lived at Crossroads, my recollection was that it was about a mile down highway 25 going towards Arbyrd. There was a Transformer Station on the left side of the highway. I think we would go down that road to the left about a mile and then turn right and park in the road to watch for it. It was at a place called the “Junk Ditch " where lots of people took their trash and dumped it. I recall the story about someone getting hung there but never knew anything about it. We used to go down there in car loads and the girls would scream when they saw it. Don Smith”
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(22)
The following was written by:
JIMMY COLLINS
Brother to Shirley (Collins) Rickman
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 8:30 AM
jim c. To: srickman@vip1.net
“Shirley; The old junk ditch was located about a mile south of the Bucoda Store and cotton gin, directly south of the house Roy Jones lived in. At one time before we got our own land from Matthew's to farm we lived about 200 feet from the junk ditch and played there sometime when we were not in school. The lights at night were fascinating and at that time they were called "fox fire" by all the residents around the area. People did come from miles around to gaze and wonder at the splendid site created on this old junk ditch. Towns from around the vicinity brought all their trash to this ditch for dumping and every week or so, a bulldozer would come, smooth and grade down the trash to keep it contained in the ditch and to keep it from getting scattered onto the farm land that surrounded the junk area.
We talked in grade school and high school about this phenomenon of lights and was told by those a lot smarter than we were, that the "light" was gasses caused by all the rotting trash, waste and wood that was piled up together. We had a lot of fun playing at the junk ditch and watching all the birds building their nests and checking out their nests everyday , counting their eggs and waiting for all the cute little babies to hatch out while we kicked the cans around and found other marvelous things of nature to hold our interest. While playing on the ditch one day we spotted a big black panther in one of the trees and after running home to tell our parents we were not allowed to play there anymore except in early to mid fall when the panthers and other wild critters would migrate elsewhere. We learned this by watching them and sure enough they would all leave in the fall and wouldn't return until the next year.
LOCATION OF THE
“SENATH LIGHT”
Go south on 412, to the cross road at Bucoda, The intersection has an alphabetical number, but I don't know what it is right now. There is a fairly new farm shed building or maybe two standing there on the right. On the left is the farm where Roy Jones lived. They park farm equipment there now. Turn left (East) toward the old cross road Just a few feet -- then turn (South) right onto the dirt road and proceed south. About a half mile down the road you will cross over a ditch with a dirt bridge. We called this the "little lateral ditch" it was man made for farm drainage. The place we farmed was to the left and on either side of this ditch. Continue going south to the Old Honey Cypress Ditch, (That ditch is much better remembered as being our “old swimming hole.”)
Cross over the wood bridge and go to the first cross road and turn left, (East) go about fifty yards or so to the location of the old "fox fire" ditch. ( At that location is where the light used to be. )
The ditch does not exist now, it has long been filled in and is farmland. Thinking through all this to answer your letter sure brought back a lot of nice memories of our time growing up there.
Love Jim C. “
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(23)
The following was written by:
Shirley(Collins) Rickman srickman@vip1.net
Date: 2/20/2003 2:53:06 PM PST
“Bob. In the '50's if you came down old highway 25 from Senath to Bucoda you would see Gordon Fritz's house situated to the right of the Bucoda curve. To get to the “light” you would turn left at the Bucoda curve onto the dirt road almost directly in front of Gordon's house. Down that dirt road a couple of miles you would come to a cross road and turn left. After turning left and going maybe 200 feet you were at the “ditch” location referred to back then as being the “junk ditch” located at Bucoda, Mo. --- Shirley”
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Another article written by:
srickman@vip1.net (shirley rickman
Date: 2/22/2003 9:05:53 AM PST
NOTE: As requested (below) the two necessary corrections regarding 200 feet in lieu of 200 yards have been made to each of the above articles submitted by both Jimmy and Shirley Collins. The corrections are in response to the following message from Shirley.
“Thanks, ……. I also wanted to mention to you that I made a mistake in the directions I sent to you earlier on how to get to the junk ditch from the Bucoda curve. When I said you go down that road a couple of miles and turn left at the first cross road past the “Honey Cypress” Ditch more commonly known as the Bucoda swimming hole. When I said go about 200 yards I meant to say 200 feet then you were at the ditch ( light ) which was to the right side of the road going the direction I gave you on how to get there. I also accidentally put 200 yards in Jimmy's account of the light when his should also say 200 feet. Sorry about this. Shirley”
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(23)
The following was written by:
Betsey (Gately) Dinkins bjdinkins@ldd.net
Date: 2/20/2003 5:23:08 PM PST
To: bco4845700@aol.com (Bobby Corley)
“Bob, …… the only thing I remember about the light was going out with a bunch of kids in Daddy's red station truck. He drove and we all sat in the back. I don't think we saw anything. Betsey (Gately) Dinkins”
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Research on this subject
remains in progress.
All additional information should be directed
to
Bob Corley
via email
at
Bco4845700@aol.com