Joshua Dowidat

Eerie for Thoughts: Marfa Lights

Hello Everyone,

 

Well, we made it through another segment of haunted places on the page but now we take a look at something else. A brief report on The Weather Channel brought this phenomena to my attention and after looking a little further into it. I found out that not only ae the Marfa Lights something I consider and “eerie for thoughts” candidate but there are a lot of other mysterious and haunting lights out there.

 

So over the next several weeks we will be hearing about some of these haunted and unexplained apparitions of light that people have reported over the years. Often, even photographed and videoed.

 

Marfa Lights:

 

The Marfa Lights get there name from the city in Texas. Marfa. Usually showing, or I should say lighting up, just east of Marfa along the highway the lights have fascinated people, and freaked people out Continue reading →

Eerie for Thoughts: Brown Mountain Lights

Hello Everyone,

 

Well first off, sorry about not getting this out sooner on Monday like I usually do. Been busy. However, I do want to continue my segment about the mysterious an eerie lights that people report in different areas. This week is the Brown Mountain Lights.

 

Brown Mountain Lights:

 

The sightings occur near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. Just above the horizon is where the reports say that the Brown Mountain Lights can be seen. Early reports date back as far as 1913 but USGS employees deemed it that the lights were mistaken for something else. In most cases the trains that went through the area or even vehicles. Some even report that this is random campfires.

 

Yet, the Brown Mountain Lights are most often seen above the horizon. Now you may remember from the last blog post that the mirages and heat waves in Continue reading →

Eerie for Thoughts: Paulding Light

Hello Everyone,

Out of the eerie lights I have discussed so far this one seems to have had an investigation that brought it closer to being explained. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t reported until later in the last century when cars, planes and other modern “lighted” objects were more relevant. But to me the Paulding Light still captures a little bit of eeriness.

Paulding Light:

The Paulding Light gets its name from the town nearby of Paulding, Michigan. The mysterious and often ghostly appearance has been reported since the 1960s. However, unlike many of the other eerie, unexplained lights we discuss, the Paulding Light was first observed when traffic in the area was heavy or in some cases already existed.

Yet, the light still captures the mysterious mindset that the other unexplained lights do. Many of the locals claim it can’t be the traffic. A series of investigations using telescopes Continue reading →

Eerie for Thoughts: Maco Light

Hello Everyone,

I actually found this one by accident when researching a little bit about the other eerie lights. This one seems to hold a lot of credibility because of the large amount of witnesses and the time frame the light existed. The Maco Light carries a haunting luminescent tale through the areas surrounding Maco, North Carolina.

The Maco Light:

Well, like many of the lights, and I am sure you will be hearing this from me a lot, this one occurs around the railroad tracks in the swampy wooded areas by Maco. Kind of odd that so many occur near railroad tracks and also in North Carolina.

The Maco Light has been reported since the late 1800s and up till 1977. There is a reason it being seen in 1977 but you will have to keep reading. This light very distinctly resembles the red-to-white hot glow of an old Continue reading →

Eerie for Thoughts: St. Louis Light

Hello Everyone,

This one is probably going to be a little short compared to the other eerie lights we’ve been discussing. Surprisingly, I could find limited information on this phantom light. And being named the St. Louis Light or St. Louis Ghost Light I find that a bit odd.

St. Louis Light:

The St Louis Light is yet another phantom or ghostly light that can be seen alongside the railroad tracks. This one, in particular, has been witnessed along the railroad tracks near St. Louis, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Appearing in many different sizes and shades the light gives the locals a haunted feeling when it appears. And of course anyone else who might happen to be visiting the location.

The Tale:

Similar to some of the other lights this one is believed to be a lantern shining from a drunken brakeman who lost his head from an oncoming train. The lantern swings around eerily in the dark as the body of the deceased brakeman attempts to find his missing head. Of course it isn’t there anymore, so the lantern will swing around aimlessly in the dark forever.

Another story is that it is a ghost train in its entirety. That’s right, a whole train. This is interesting because I wonder what other effects of an entire phantom ghost train might bring upon you in a place like this. I keep thinking about the scene from Ghost Busters when the subway passes through them in the abandoned subway tunnels.

Either way, there is something about a mysterious light in the middle of nowhere at night that gives me the chills.

Conclusions:

Of course, like many of the other lights, it has been studied, debunked, de-mystified, and what-not. There was even a class of grade-schoolers who did a science experiment showing that the St. Louis Light was coming from vehicle lights in the distance. They won an award for this. Unfortunately with my limited time I was not able to look further into this and see when the lights were in fact, first reported. Did they appear before or after vehicles, is my question.

Still, the St. Louis Light remains a mystery to this day and is still an eerie sight to see if you happen to be walking along the cold chilly railroad tracks. Just watching the moonlight reflect of the glistening rails. Then you see a light ahead that begins to move, you shiver but this time it’s not from the cold. There’s something else there. Are you about to be hit by an oncoming train and join the brakeman on his quest or is it a harmless apparition, a phantom ghost train that will pass right through. Perhaps it’s only the brakeman wanting some help. Will you answer his call or run away.

Thanks for Reading,

Joshua Crane Dowidat

Continue reading →

Eerie for Thoughts: Flying Dutchman

Hello Everyone,

Thought this recommendation was fun, considering most of us know about this eerie vessel but not many of us know about its origins. We have seen it appear in recent movies which has brought it more to light but how many of you know the original stories of the Flying Dutchman before the stories from the recent “Pirates” movies?

The Flying Dutchman:

The Flying Dutchman was a ship and one point in time. At least many of the stories of origin can attest to that. Whether it was a pirate ship, a merchant vessel, a man-o-war or some general shipping vessel is up to the story and place or origin.

The Flying Dutchman usually appears in a dark, eerie cloud of fog that floats on the water. It seems to drift where there is no wind or current. Some out its black tattered sails still hold wind and Continue reading →

Mythical Creatures: Tupilak

Hello Everyone,

We got another land based mythical creature today known as the Tupilak. Although there are similar types of mystical creatures we are going to focus on the ones in the Arctic Circle regions.

Tupilak:

Very similar to the Voodoo Doll, in a sense, the Tupilak is a small effigy formed from the remains of animals or humans. Sometimes these are dressed with hair, or cloth or even other body parts. They are designed to look like the native wildlife of the Arctic and some more resembled humans themselves.

The Inuit Tribes of the North were those most responsible for the little carvings. Their shaman or medicine man, known as angakuit, would be the ones to usually fashion these dolls. The problem is that not all angakuits made these dolls for good.

They were exactly what they were made of until the angakuit summoned them to life. Often a Continue reading →

Eerie for Thoughts: Hessdalen Lights

Hello Everyone,

The mysterious lights that we are going to discuss this week don’t have any folklore or eerie tale behind them yet I found them still eerie enough to put in here. Mainly because these lights are so prominent and spread out that it is odd to me that they still have no explanation. Still, only hypotheses that are scientific “possibilities” at best. For now, the Hessdalen Lights will remain a mystery to many, including the scientists that study the phenomena.

Hessdalen Lights:

The Hessdalen Lights spread across a valley in Norway where they get their name from, The Hessdalen Valley. In this scenario when I say spread out I mean they are spread out. They appear anywhere along a 7.5 mile stretch of the valley and just above the horizon and into the immediate sky above.

They appear in different colors as well but typically stick to a Continue reading →

Haunted Places: Highgate Cemetery

Hello Everyone,

As many of you know, I recently just finished a segment on Haunted Hospitals/Asylums. I didn’t even put a dent on it. However, currently I am still working on the haunted cemeteries. This haunted cemetery is Highgate Cemetery in London.

The reason I mentioned the Hospitals/Asylums is because I always mentioned, or at least a lot of the time, that the harsh conditions were from overcrowding. Well, cemeteries can be pretty crowded also.

Think about the possibilities of a haunting with so many people buried together in one location. What if that number is around 170,000, like in Highgate?

Highgate Cemetery:

As I mentioned it is located in England. North England to be more precise. The cemetery is divided into two sections as well, east and west. To help navigate but also because of the dividing on Swain’s Lane that splits the cemetery’s entirety.

The cemetery was officially Continue reading →

Haunted Places: Bachelors Grove Cemetery

Hello Everyone,

Since the last post was in Illinois I decided to keep it there while discussing this week’s haunted cemetery. Bachelors Grove Cemetery. The interesting thing about this cemetery that sets it aside from many of those I have been talking about is the size of it.

Bachelors Grove Cemetery:

The thick tree line makes the growing city of Chicago seem distant from the cemetery which adds to the secluded nature of the forgotten cemetery. At least forgotten for burials.

Only 82 plots are at the cemetery and many have never been filled. The cemetery started in 1840 and possibly even a few years earlier there were some burials in the same area. Perhaps the latest burials there, were rumored dumping of bodies by organized crime persons in the 1930s and 40s.

The cemetery which lies near the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve was founded by English homesteaders moving west Continue reading →