September 25, 2025 • 59 mins
TW: We do at one point briefly discuss suicide, so if this is a problem for you, feel free to skip the part about the spooklight's origins, which is where the discussion happens. This week, Arthur talks school ande grandma, Laura talks her recent birthday (other Virgos holla!) and then we talk the Hornet Spooklight. Seen over E 50 Road better known as spooklight road to the locals. The area is also called the Devil's Promenade and the Spooklight is often seen over this cursed stretch of ground. It lets viewers chase it, often dodging out of the way or going behind them. Skeptics say it's reflections from the road. Non-skeptics say it's been reported by indigenous Americans in the area for hundreds of years. We talk it's origins, it's histories and so much more in this first episode of Spooky Season specials in the Family Plot Podcast!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
H m hmm. I'm Dean, I'm the dad.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
What the heck was that?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It was my attempt at a witch? Laugh, it's fool,
It's good.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It was.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
It's spooky seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Spooky season.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What, yes, but this isn't early spooky season episodes. So
I was trying to bring the fire.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You bring the fire? You a that up? Now?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Mother, I'm Laura, I'm the mom.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
And i am author. I am the sun.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Sounds like satan. Let's see and together we are family
reply spooky season and we're van for it.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I see mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It's spooky season, all right. Oh, so let me get
the housekeeping out of the way. You help us out.
One is through our t Spring merch store. That are
our merch stickers are pretty awesome. We've just got a
bunch in so Arthur's own I'm the kid sticker is
(01:58):
on the thing. So that's he's on my phone. Yep.
That is one thing you can do. If you cannot
afford to buy our merch, you can always just go
on Patreon and become a dollar or a three dollars
a month member of our Patreon account, and the three
dollars a month members get special access to special episodes
(02:21):
like the full episode of the Faqua Infestation that we
just played two weeks ago for in our Call of
Cthula campaign. Yes, that's available online video right now for
our three dollar members only. Now our one dollar members
get dollar get ad free episodes of the show's audio episodes,
(02:45):
and those are posted first, so that's cool. If you
cannot do a monthly donation, you can always do cost
us a dollar through through buy me a copy. If
you enjoy the show, please share it on social media.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
With friends, share it with family, with every.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
One, and you could also leave us a five star review.
If you don't enjoy the show, please cheap it to yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
If you don't have anything nice to say.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Don't say anything at all.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Weird noise goes here, so deep?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What are we talking about tonight?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, we begin our spooky season episodes with a tale
that flickers between folklore and the unknode. The Hornet spook Light,
also known as the Joplin spook Light, a glowing orb
that's haunted the Devil's Promenade near the Missouri Oklahoma border
for more than a century. Locals say it drifts through
(03:53):
the night like a restless spirit, appearing without warning, vanishing
without a trace, and defying every attempt to planet. Is
it a wandering soul, a trick of the land, or
something older watching from the dark. We're looking on all
that and more in this our first Spooky Season episode
of twenty twenty five of The Family Plot Podcast.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I need to point out that it's not spooky season yet.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Okay. One, I celebrate great spooky season all year long. Two.
I couldn't wait. Okay, we have so much to do
this spooky season that this this, this is the first
spooky season episode.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Okay, let it start Earli. That means I mean me
and my partners. When year is sixteen days away? Okay,
fifteen by the time posting this, well.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Spooky sir, Are you gonna start.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Us off tonight? Yep. The region around Hornet was originally
home to several Native American tribes. Am I in your way?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Buddy?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Can I? Can I do so?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Nope?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Apparently not, Okay was originally home to several Native American tribes,
most notably the os Age. And I apologize if I
don't get this correct. The Quapa wa Quapa.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Quapa maybe Papa seems seems like a like.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Grip and the Cherokee passed through the area during the
forced relocation known as the Trail of Tears in the
eighteen thirties. Oral traditions from these communities speak of strange
lights and spiritual presences in the area long before settlers arrived.
Some legends described the spook light as a manifestation of
(05:38):
grief or ancestral spirits, especially tied to the tragic migrations
and river crossings during the Trail of Tears. Hornet was
settled by frontier folk in the mid to late eighteen hundreds,
likely by farmers and trades people drawn to the fertile
land and proximity to trade routes. The town's name Hornet
(06:01):
is strikingly visual and evocative. While there's no definitive origin story,
it may have referred to the buzzing activity of early settlers,
a local abundance of hornets, or even a metaphor for
the town's feisty spirit. It's kind of named that sticks
in the imagination, perfect for a place that would become
(06:21):
synonymous with a paralonormal mystery. While the Hornet spook Light
isn't the town's most famous or is the town's most
famous supernatural claim there are hants of eerie happenings even
before it's reported. For sightings in the eighteen thirties. Local
legends suggest that settlers were unnerved by strange sounds and
(06:42):
flickering lights in the woods. Some reportedly moved away out
of fear. Native accounts described the light as always having
been there, implying a deeper, older presence tied to the
land itself. There are no confirmed printed reports of paranormal
events prior to the spook lights emerging, but oral histories
and regional folklore suggests that the area was considered spiritually
(07:05):
active long before the arrival of Route sixty six or
modern explanations. Hornet's history is a blend of settler grit,
indigenous sorrow, and spectral ambiguity. It's a place where memory
lingers in the soil and the past refuses to stay bury.
And now let's pause for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It's early first sponsor word.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But okay, it is. But it's a lorng episode. Well
it's not even that it's a long episode. It's just
we've been getting complaints because the way it's all set up.
Usually our art commercials are about five minutes apart, so
I'm just trying to space it out of lote.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
I see Lexia has Cayman as of fancy Gur. All right,
even though I hurt my foot, I am still unstoppable.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Awesome, awesome. Are you also sponsored?
Speaker 5 (08:10):
That's why I'm unstoppable because I'm sponsored.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Excellent.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
Thank you give us unstoppable because you guys are sponsored too.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Everyone sponsors.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Hey, you know what we can do? Since you're here,
We're gonna head over to Arthur's corner.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Art is good.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You're my corner.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
Oh here, ye here you allow me to present Arthur's Corner.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Hello, everyone, Welcome back to my corner. It has been
a week so far. How are we doing? Folks?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Am I a folk?
Speaker 7 (08:58):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (08:59):
You are not his folks, So yes, I'm I'm pretty good.
You're the one who's been ragging about your rabbits.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
But oh my god, okay, i'll.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Because your just be weird, so to your smart books.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Okay, all the smut. Let's let's move on. Let's how
are we?
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Are you you know how I am?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
How are you? I'm happy you are here with me today?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I missed you.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I missed you guys too.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I'm excellent now that you're home. I missed you a bunch,
you know.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Okay, that's good, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I am.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I have been over to my grandma's this week already. Yes,
I went halfway through Monday. Yes, stayed there on Tuesday.
It's been there half day today.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
And then I came home and I got Church's chicken,
which was good.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
You're well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
It was leftovers, but it was it was still good.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm full mouth. It is churches and Mom swears by it.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Church's chicken is so and it was your birthday on Monday.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
See, the church is chicken, all of the ornament.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It was your birthday on Monday. So now you are
a beautiful twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Sure, yep, that's what I am.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
We'll we'll call her twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, which means I'm robbing the cradle at fifty seven.
But I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, you're rubbing the cradle. Even before I magically became
twenty nine again, nine years and fourteen days older than.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Me, nine years and fourteen days exactly, I got a
job opportunity, not necessarily job opportunity, but I got a
drawing opportunity, recent condition opportunity kind of. I mean, I'm
not getting paid for it, but.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Why don't you think you'll get paid for it?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I probably won't get paid for it.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Are we talking about the same thing?
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I think so, the thing that you were offered and
the other day. Yeah, that would definitely come with a
paycheck if if it was decided to be used. Absolutely,
if Uncle Danny used his.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Artwork for Yeah. In fact, he sent over a what
he calls a terribly drawn idea of what he wants.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Okay, send it over to me.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So well, he sent it a Messenger, and I wasn't
sure how to send it to you.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I guess you have his Facebook.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You got Messenger. Yeah, I don't know why. I didn't
think you had a Messenger for some reason.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yeah, I don't know either, because you send it to
me every week on Messenger.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yeah I do. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I send this episode. You send the episodes to me
Messenger every week. I didn't think I had Messenger.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But well, you know, sometimes the two just separate in
your conscious thought.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Well, fine, I get it. Oh wow, I've been spammed today.
It wasn't me, No, it wasn't It was my friends.
They're very talkative. I've been working on drawn humans. Speaking
of drawing humans.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Very nice, very nice.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Just through that not yesterday, but gave a four yesterday.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Very cool.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I haven't really done anything interesting.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Other than stay in the night of Grandma's and hang
out with your brother.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Mm hmm, who has been picking on you and your
lack of cat shame on him. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
We weagle, wele vehicle.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
We all like to do a little wiggle.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Everybody likes to.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Wiggle and puts you in a good mood. If you're
ever in a bad mood, just wiggle.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
It's it's something to try at least.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Yeah, Or hum because I learned something recently, and is
that humming actually distracts you from your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
You can't think while you're humming.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, this is actually like starting to sound like a
song i'd have to pay for. So I'm gonna have
to insistory stuff.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
She was trying to she was child, trying to see
it that actually works.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I was trying to fact check our child, and and well,
that's nanaying, not humming.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
That's not the same, probably not, but.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
No, I don't think so that's okay. But I'll do
more research on that later, but I trust.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
You I have I have done it, and it's helped
me from having panic attacks.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
So ye, anything that does that, it doesn't even matter
if it actually keeps you from thinking. It just distracts
you enough that you don't have panic attacks. I'm all
for it.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Heck yeah, yeah, I'm boring this.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
Week, folks. Well, the fact that you know I'm talking
about drawing stuff. I love drawing stuff. I've been drawing stuff,
looking right. You're good at drawing stuff. You're really good
at it. I mean you are stickers.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
You show that you did an amazing job first, absolutely so.
So are you just trying to tell me you don't
have a lot in your corner this week?
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Is?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
It's okay, don't Unfortunately, that's okay. You can. You can
give Dad a beat and then take this next section.
It's tindy with small so I thought that one. I
saw it too.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
This one is. I don't know about the next ones.
I think you said one of them were long.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
The name Devil's Promenade is a mysterious is as mysterious
as the glowing light that travels along it, closely tied
to the Hornet Spook Light. The nickname likely came about
in the late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds, after
the locid locals saw the strange orb drifting and bobbing.
(14:59):
Dumb the road at night promenade suggests a slow, showy
new movement, and adding devil gives it a spooky folklore feel,
like something dangerous or mischievous is taking a nightly stroll.
There's no known legend behind the name itself, and no
(15:21):
signated existed before the light appeared, making it seem like
the road was named after the haunting, not the other
way around.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Right, Thank you, babe.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
You.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So let's pause here and hear from some of our
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Speaker 10 (17:45):
It's time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Big question, what is the spook plate? And the answer no, exactly,
though the theories are many. Mystical and folkloric theories include
they may be wandering spirit. Some say the light is
the soul of a beheaded osage or would we decide
we were pronouncing that as Quopa Quapa Quapa Quapa chief
(18:17):
searching for his lost head. Others claim it's the ghostly
flame of a young couple who died by suicide. Remember,
suicide is never a good idea. It's always a long
term solution to a short term problem. You matter, after
being forbidden to marry again, not a good way to
(18:39):
go about that. Others think it may be just residual energy.
A more esoteric theory suggests that the light is a
visual echo energy imprinted on the land by trauma, grief,
or ritual It appears only when the veil between world's
thins also could be elemental or a Faye presence. In summarytellings,
(19:04):
the spook light behaves like a trickster spirit, curious, evasive,
and drawn to silence. It could be a local manifestation
of the will of the wisps, or a fade like
entity tied to the land's emotional resonance. Skeptical and scientific
(19:27):
theories include that it could just be headlight refraction. The
most widely accepted mundane theory is that the spook light
is an optical illusion caused by distant car headlights refracting
off the drain that seems like a really far stretched
to me, but I digress. Alans Rice's study claimed to
(19:50):
prove this, though critics point out that sightings pre date
automobiles escaping natural gas. The area swampy enough to support
this theory consistently, but it's possible that anything is possible
atmosphere conditions. Other speculas speculate that electrical shifts in atmosphere,
(20:14):
possibly caused by the underground metal deposits or fault lines,
could produce glowing orbs. Will of the wisps. Are As
we've already mentioned are a classic explanation in ghost lore.
Luminescent gases from decaying organic matter. Again, the terrain doesn't
(20:35):
really quite match the usual conditions for this phenomenon, which
are swampier, marshy terrain. These lights are often These lights
are most often reported in areas with decaying organic matter,
like peat bogs or wetlands. High humidity and low wind
(20:57):
calm moist air helps trap gases and allows faint lights
to linger presence of methane and phosphing gases. As organic
material breaks down, it releases gases that can spontaneously ignite
under the right conditions, creating a flickering blue or yellow flame, darkness,
(21:19):
and isolation. They're usually seen in remote, unlit areas, adding
to their ghostly reputation. Despite decades of investigating, including a
nineteen forty six study by the US Army Corps of Engineers,
no theory has fully explained the spook light's behavior. That
am ambiguity, that words are hard is part of its power.
(21:47):
It resists being pinned down, remaining a flickering question mark
in the dark.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That was nice poetry, my love mark in the dark.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Somebody wrote it for me.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
And now a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
And it was coming. You did it.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It's almost sponsor times.
Speaker 11 (22:19):
Yeah, I feel that feeling.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
I feel that that sponsor.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Since she's got a sponsor, since y'all.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Like like spider since.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yes, I got it. Yep.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I recently watched the Amazing Spider Man one and two.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
It was really good.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I loved them, especially the second movie.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
The second movie was really cute.
Speaker 11 (22:44):
But at the same time, it's really sad.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Does everybody feel spread?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Very sponsored? Very thank you?
Speaker 5 (22:54):
So I had to get that singing out of my veins.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
You did great, beautiful bestie.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Busted dollar.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
All right, Now the sponsored girl is bought to the
first appearance. The first printed account of the Hornet Spook
Light came from journalist ab McDonald, who wrote about it
in a January nineteen thirty six issue of the Kansas
City Star. His article helped bring wider attention to the phenomenon,
(23:27):
Though locals had recordedly seen the light for decades prior,
there are oral traditions claiming the spook Light was witnessed
as early as eighteen thirty six during the Trail of Tears,
with Native Americans describing a mysterious light that followed them
through the region. However, no written records from that time
(23:49):
confirmed the sighting. So while the legend is powerful, the
ninetyeen thirty six article remains the first verifiable documentation.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
All right, so let's talk a little bit about some
of the tales of the spook Plight. While Dean's research
could not turn up the first article itself, not even
from the morgue of the Kansas City Star. I believe
they call that archives.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
No, they call it the morgue, or they used to,
do they really? Okay, Yeah, there's archives and then there's
the more. The morgue is where you go to look
for a story that's more than ten years old.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Usually I see, Oh, that makes as much sense as
anything good At your Kansas City Star. He has come
up with a somewhat humorous approximation. Unfortunately he's the one
calling it humorous. So we'll see how this works out
that I will share with you all. Mystery Light Baffles Locals,
(24:46):
Outsmart Science by ab McDonald, Kansas City Star, nineteen thirty six. Approximation. Well, folks,
I've seen a fair share of oddities in my time.
Two headed calfs a preacher who swore he could speak
fluent Latin in his sleep, and a man who claimed
his mule could play poker. But nothing quite like the
(25:10):
ghostly glow that haunts the gravel stretch of stretch west
of Hornet, Missouri. They call it the spook Light, and
by thunder it's a humdinger. I parked my jaloppi on
what all the locals called the Devil's Promenade, a name
that ought to give any god fearing man pause. Around
(25:33):
nine o'clock, just as the moon was playing peek a
boo with the clouds. There it was a ball of light,
orange as a harvest pumpkin, floating down the road like
it had somewhere to be, had no intention of explaining itself.
Some say it swamp gas. Others say it's the ghost
(25:55):
of a native chief still searching for his head. One
old time told me it's the lantern of a miner
who lost his children in the woods, never came back.
I asked him if he'd been drinking. He said only
on Sundays. I tried chasing it, foolish, I know, the light.
Speaker 12 (26:14):
Danced away like a debutante dodging a suitor. It's splitting
two vanished, then reampeared behind me like it was laughing.
I hollered it didn't care.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
The Army Corps of engineers came out once left, scratching
their heads and muttering about refraction and topography. I say,
if science can't explain it, maybe it's not meant to
be explained. I don't know where the accent came from.
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
It sounds like it's closed to be a way. I'm
gonna be so real with.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You, so if you're ever out near Hornet and the
night feels a little too quiet, take a drive down
the Devil's Promenade. But don't be surprised some watches you back.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
All right, well, we're gonna take another word from our sponsors.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
But before we go do that, I think it's a
good idea to take a moment to uh thank you.
Speaker 13 (27:11):
No, Nope, that too though. I'm gonna remind you that
you can go get our Patreon and you can you
don't have to listen to our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yes, right exactly, And that's for the one and the
three dollar Patreon subscribers, and you can get my ranting
and my PG non thirteen talking. If you're a three
dollars members to do it.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
But before we go do that, I think it would
be a good idea to take a moment for my
Finch app and.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Repeat an affirmation.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
Okay, I release self doubt and embrace confidence.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah Finch, Hey, French Finch does not sponsor this show.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
No, it does not, but I wanted to share that
with I like it, and Finn says, you should repeat
it three times.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Okay, so while we're doing sponsors, you can go ahead
and repeat yeah. Yeah, our sponsor girl should be here
at some point to bring us back from being sponsored.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Do you feel sponsored?
Speaker 10 (28:26):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (28:27):
And I also feel like a grilling because I just
ran like that you did.
Speaker 11 (28:31):
You'd be careful, Arthur, you want to take the next
section for us?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Also one of the things that I'd be closing. It
really helped.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Got This report comes from Reddit. Take it for what
it's worth. The first time I saw the light, I
was twelve years old and on a sleepover with some
girls my age. We drove out where with my cousin's
parents and didn't see anything for about thirty minutes. Then
nowhere we see a glowing yellowish ball about the size
(29:02):
of a volleyball in the near rear in the rear
view mirror. Moments later, after hovering mid air, the light
jumps to the front of the car about one hundred
feet ahead. We try to broad a drive up to it,
but we are never able to catch it. Eventually, it
(29:23):
just disappeared over a rise in the road. The other
times I've seen it it has event been much less
up close, But every other time it lets you just
it lets you chase it, and then it goes behind
you or completely disappears. I've probably been out there eight
(29:46):
times and I've seen it every single time. I've never
felt scared seeing it, even the first time, I just
felt an overwhelming calm.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Well, hey, at least we know it's not malevolent in
any way.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Or it doesn't seem to be at least. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
This next story too, comes from Reddit. It has been
slightly edited to give it more of a narrative format
and to remove redundancies. So here we go. I asked
some friends of mine where it would be a good
place to explore around where I lived, and was offered
a place I had never been, Devil's Promenade. See that
must form. It spook light. I researched the spook Light
(30:24):
and became curious to see if I could figure out
what it was, so I invited my mom and sister
to go with me. I hope that doesn't refer to
the same person, because we all love strange things, even
though they get more freaked out than I do. We
packed into the car and headed to spook Light Road
and waited. Then around midnight, you all suddenly felt like
you were being why. At first, we figured it was
(30:47):
probably animals making noise in the woods and spooking us,
but then gradually this feeling of anxiety seemed to be
pressing down on her. I began to worry that there
might be a person stalking us and made the decision
to tell my mom and sister. We were leaving when
a shadow ran by me, brushing my left arm and
(31:08):
immediately dissipated. It felt like ice and fire erupted in
my arm, and we decided to leave. Luckily, my sister
drove us there as I could barely use my arm
and couldn't drive us back home. I knew it couldn't
be a person because I was sitting next to the
road on a pile of rocks from when they graded
the road, and directly behind me were trees and brush
(31:30):
so thick I would have easily heard anything running up
behind me. I'm not a stranger to ghosts and other
strange things, but this was my first encounter with a
shadow person. A few weeks later, I decided I wanted
to go back, and my sister was up for it,
but my mom was a firm no. So they are
separate people. I was beginning to worry. We went back
(31:52):
to the road and saw nothing. Everything felt calm, so
I decided to leave. My sister said, you heard there
was a bridge cloth by Devil's Promenade called Devil's Promenade Bridge.
We headed over there and by luck, met a couple
of teenage boys who were videotaping the bridge. We talked
for a while and discovered that they had been to
(32:13):
the spook Light numerous times and heard that if you
chant the devil's name three times while walking on the bridge,
the devil would appear. They didn't believe it, but thought
it would make a fun video project. My sister and
I watched amused as the boy with a video camera
made his trip back and forth in the bridge, and
as he met us on the third leg, a strange
growl could be heard from somewhere under the bridge. We
(32:36):
all thought this was some kind of animal. It was
just pure luck that it happened. Just then. The young
man looked over the edge of the bridge with his
camera and it shut off. He messed around with it
for a few minutes, and when he replayed the video,
you could hear the growl, which sounded much closer than
it did in person. Echoes is my guess, and then
the video skips ahead. The young man turned to me
(32:58):
and said, the devil as my tape. We all decided
to leave, the boys because they were spooked, and my
sister and I because we figured nothing happened. A few
weeks later, we decided to go back again, and this
time my mother decided to go with us. By now
I knew my way easily and figured I'd have no
trouble finding my way back. They had even expanded the
(33:21):
road and made the entry way easier to turn in.
There was also an abandoned house directly across from the turnoff,
and we used that as a landmark to make sure
we weren't turning on the same road. As I got
near the area, I knew the road would where the
road would be, I began to get a terrible feeling
and figured it was just a little nerves from my
(33:43):
encounter with the Shadowers. I saw the abandoned house and
looked left to turn, but there was no road. I
figured I must have been staking in the house and
kept going. After a while, I knew I had gone
too far and turned around. Every time I'd get close
to the abandoned house, I'd get that nervous feeling again
and again the road wasn't there. I asked my mom
(34:05):
and sister to keep a close eye out in case
I was missing something, and both said the road should
be where I thought it was. My sister knew the
area as well as I did, and none of us
could figure out why we couldn't send the road. To
make this more clear in your mind, the first time
I went, I almost missed the road because the trees
were a bit overgrown and kind of obscured it. By
(34:26):
this trip, the road itself was over to carwits wide,
and the entry for it was even larger as it
curved out to allow for easy turning. In the entry,
I had to have been over fifteen feet wide. There's
no way I should have missed seeing it, even in
the dark. I still think to this day that something
made me not see it. All I saw where the
(34:48):
road should have been was a field and probably saved
us all from something.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
That's quite a story, very interesting. But I'm taking that
with away for assault because it came from rented.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, seek.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
A break here for a final word from our sponsors.
Just like Arthur told us a little while ago, we
can help you out to skip these sponsor breaks bye
by becoming either a one dollar or a three dollars
Patreon subscriber. I don't know if I got that whole
Patreon bump in there to cut that out too. I tried, but.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
They distracted me.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Do you feel sponsored?
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Saw her skire over? You're like a little monster? Was terrifying.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Apparently that kicked in.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Your baby.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Oh, I guess this is my spot.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah, I was waiting.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
For Arthur to talk. I don't know why I was
suddenly thinking, Arthur, this was Arthur's colored Okay, so sorry.
It's absolutely possible to interpret the Hornet's book Light as
a belief born phenomenon, especially through the lens of collective
consciousness and psychic imprinting. Take the Philip experiment from the
(36:18):
nineteen seventies, where a group of Canadian researchers created a
fictional ghost named Philip, and through focus seances and shared belief,
began receiving real responses, knots, table movements, and even voices.
The implication belief itself might be a kind of conjuring.
(36:40):
Now apply that to the trail of tears, a moment
of immense trauma, grief, and displacement. If the Cherokee and
other tribes witnessed a mysterious light during their forced march,
it could have become a symbol of sorrow, guidance, or warning,
(37:00):
a spiritual echo that grew stronger as stories passed down
over time. That shared belief might have shaped how others
saw the light, reinforcing its presence and behavior. This idea
fits beautifully with residual hauntings, where intense emotions imprint on
(37:22):
a location, replaying like a loop holpus, tolpus or thought forms.
I almost had it almost so close holpus or thought forms.
Entities created through focused belief common in Tibetan mysticism, and
echoed through modern paranormal theory, liminal geography. The Devil's Promenade
(37:49):
sits on a border between states, cultures, and geological fault lines.
It's the perfect stage for belief to manifest. The Spooklight
could be more than just a mystery. It might be
a living legend shaped by grief, memory, and the human
(38:09):
need to make meaning from the dark. Oh that's very lyrical,
dear son. You want to take over. You have a baby,
but you want to take over. He's levin on you.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
His eyes are closed. He is so happy right now.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Speaking of vice, it sounds like sometimes that purple new
mess with you.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Huh.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Born in Missouri is more about a ghost town than
than town these days.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Can you do, poor dad?
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Okay, let's restart.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
LEXI dropped the app bomb last night when we got.
Speaker 11 (38:47):
Seriously, oh my god, Lexity.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Totally We were getting out of the car and she's like, totally.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Did not.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
That is not the word I heard come out of
her little face.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Missouri is more ghost town than a town these days.
It's largely absorbed into the greater Joplin area, with only
a few scattered homes and fading landmarks to mark its presence,
but legacy lives on through the Hornet Spooklight, which continues
(39:23):
to draw curious visitors, paranormal investigators, and folklore fanatics. The
Spooklight has appeared in documentaries, param normal TV shows, and
YouTube investigations. Often framed as one of America's most enduring
(39:43):
ghost light mysteries. It's been featured in books or on
regional hauntings, UFO lore, and unexplained phenomenon, Though it hasn't
had a major Hollywood moment yet. The lights hired local legends,
short stories, and even Reddit threads where users share eurie
(40:07):
encounters and family lore. Some describe it as playful and
others as deeply as unsettling. Paranormal teams have investigated the
spook Light for decades. In nineteen forty six, the US
Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study but couldn't explain it.
(40:31):
More recently, groups like Ellen Rice's Boomers have staged experiments
experiments with headlights and spotlights to test to test the
refraction theory. Despite these efforts, no one has definitive, definitively
(40:55):
debunked or confirmed the light's origin, keeping it firmly in
the realm of mystery. There was a spook Light Museum.
Oh yes, the Spooklight Museum a true roadside relic. It was.
It operated in the nineteen sixties at the eastern end
(41:15):
of what's now E fifty.
Speaker 7 (41:19):
Road, I colloquially, okay, colloquially known as spook Light Road.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Here's the vibe, the vibe.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
That co pilot must have been. Here's the vibe.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
When do I ever say that.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
I had to come from Gobe? Not sound like anything
your dad website?
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Fine, okay? Visitors paid twenty five sentence sentences since.
Speaker 11 (41:51):
Two short.
Speaker 7 (41:57):
Twenty five Since you peer through a three inch telescope
aimed at the light, but instead of being outside, the
telescope was mountained mounted indoors, looking through a half inch
hole in the wall. Why, the owner said it was
(42:22):
to protect the scope from rain. According to journalist Robert Gannon,
the setup was limited, so it couldn't resolve anything clearly.
He brought his own telescope and claimed the lights fut
into carhead lights, supporting the skeptical view. Despite its limitations,
(42:46):
the museum became a local attraction, part curity curiosity shop,
part folklore hub. It's long gone now, but its memory
adds to the spooklight mythos.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Okay, but can I just say that twenty five sentences
a great thing to charge, And I feel like maybe
maybe that's the kind of thing that our government needs
to start looking at charging so that people can take
their kids to these things. So like, instead of having
to pay, you actually just make the children give a
(43:23):
short verbal reason of what to go or why their
parents say they have to commit something, a short verbal essay.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Okay, twenty five sentences best.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
I know it wasn't on purpose, but that's like an
amazing idea that I feel like the government should put
into play. I'm running for office under that platform.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Okay, my vote, vote twenty.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Five sentences for government park admission where it will all
be more literate by the end of it.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
I agree, that's one way to keep school involved.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Laura for office, and I am I'm old enough to
be the president too. I'm over what is it forty.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Five to people?
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yeah, I believe it's forty five. It's still a.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Law, right, Yes, we haven't over overturned that one yet.
Speaker 7 (44:20):
Yeah, no, no, but there are plenty of things that
they did overturn there.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
They think they think they can get overturned or they
plan on ransacking. Sorry, yeah, I'm running. Hey guess what
that brings us to our summary in final thought? Yes,
and I thank goodness because I am on a roll tonight.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
I started off this week. I've had friends who told
me about this. I have been over that part of
the world several times. I've performed many times in Oklahoma
and in Joplin, Missouri. So in fact, there's a restaurant
there called Kitchen Pass that I used to love. Got
to do stand up there and they made good food, so,
(45:03):
you know, nice make the fat comic happy. But anyway,
the point is is that I've never seen it, and
I've been in that part of the world, but that
doesn't mean it doesn't exist. From everything I have tracked down,
there are people I know who have seen it, and
they compare it to other spook lights in other parts
(45:26):
of the country. Like I think we might have talked
about one last year where one of the train wrecks happened.
That people see a light that they think is the train,
but it's just a spook light that runs the track
for some reason. So I'm gonna lend my belief to this.
(45:47):
That's what I'll say. As far as believe it. I
thought it was fascinating. I thought it's mostly local. At
least it's on the border of our state.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Well, I think anything in the State of Missouri Council
local as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
So, you know, it was an interesting episode, and it
was a nice opening to spooky season. There's not much
it's ghostly without being creepy, especially if you take the
one of the two Reddit things I included that I believe,
(46:22):
the one that was like, we saw it and it
split and it went behind us, and I've seen it
eight or ten times since. And the one that I read, yes,
the one that you read, that's the one I believe
because they're not making any outrageous claims there. They saw
the light, they've seen it eight times, and sometimes when
you chase it, it just goes behind you. So and
(46:45):
I find that a believable thing. Yep. And especially when
he says that there wasn't any like accompanying feeling of
dread it. Also, I tend to believe the indigenous people
who live there and say, hey, we've been talking about
this long before your European butt showed up. I tend
to believe them rather than you. Know rationalists who are like, well,
(47:11):
it's not recorded, so it doesn't count. It's recorded in
their oral tradition that counts. Don't quit trying to tell
me that the Indigenous people don't count, because they do.
And that's all I got off the top of this.
Other than the there was only two Reddit stories. I
(47:31):
was forced to take them both, and boy, that's the.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Second was very similar. Check this. I mean, we've seen
this on a lot of the shows that we watched,
talking about paranormal happenings, talking about So this is not
I'm I'm am I jumping. You're supposed to go, right,
isn't it you? After Dad?
Speaker 1 (47:54):
I think so, but you've already started, and Arthur doesn't
seem inclined to correct you. You're shaking his head. No, just.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
I've heard of this a lot before. Anything. Like I said,
I tend to think of anything hometown as anything that's
in our state that I've lived in. Most of my life,
I've lived in California, and so I'll still think of
California parts of California as home. But anything here locally
(48:27):
in the state of Missouri I always think of as
home because it's where one of my children was born,
and it's where we've lived most of our relationship throughout
both times, so I always think of Missouri as home.
But I'm inclined to believe in just about anything like this,
(48:49):
because even with everything that we do now and everything
that happens and everything that is watched, there's no way
that everything gets watch twenty four hours a day, three
hundred and sixty five days a year. There are always
things that are going to happen in the shadows and
in the dark. And I absolutely believe that out in
the woods there can be things that people have seen
(49:14):
that machines haven't picked up. Absolutely believe it, Absolutely believe it.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
Yeah, and I don't know the Indigenous Americans have reported
things like this for centuries before we.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
And just about everything we tend to give the benefit
of the doubt because I am self aware enough to
know that things have happened in my life that everybody
doesn't know about. Therefore, absolutely stands to imagine that there
are things going on that everybody doesn't know about. I mean,
(49:54):
you can driw that down into the smallest smallest bits
and still come out with that, say the answer, and
anybody who doesn't believe that there are still secrets out there.
Those are the people who are in the dark. You know. Yeah,
that makes sense, right, That wasn't too convoluted.
Speaker 3 (50:10):
No, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Okay, No, that was not circular logic.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Okay, good deal, like that might reach. We hadn't talked
about spooky season, so I didn't know these were I'm
seeing the one for next for next week, like so.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
So Arthur, now now it's it's your turn.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
I mean, I don't really have much else to add.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
I feel like you agree with us, Yeah, me.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Dad, both of you. So you think it's a real phenomena, then, I.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Mean, I think it's a real phenomena.
Speaker 7 (50:42):
I do believe the indigenous people over you know, the
people were just occurring in this area.
Speaker 14 (50:51):
If I ever talked about my fairy that I saw
when I was a kid, no, I just thought of
that when you were talking about this and talking about
people seeing things, and when.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
I was young Lexi's age or younger, could have even
been younger. It was some time in my elementary school years,
which was kindergarten to fifth grade. I was in the
same elementary school that I was outside by myself on
the playground and I saw a tiny string. And when
(51:31):
I say tiny, I mean probably smaller than half an
inch long. And to me, it looked like just a
straight string. I saw it across the playground from where
I was, but it was kind of down near a
culvert in the playground area. And it was a crillian blue,
(51:54):
looked like a string, like a nylon string. And I
followed it and watched it with my eyes and followed
it and watched it. No one else saw it, no
one else paid any attention. There were no wings. I
didn't see any wings. I couldn't see any legs or
antenna or anything. It looked like it might have been
(52:17):
part of a dragonfly, but none of the rest of
the pieces. Just this string, this colored, brightly colored string,
and I followed it. I followed it for a good
ten minutes on that playground. Other kids are just running
around and I'm following the string. There's nothing like I
followed it for a long time. It was It was
(52:39):
not a spider web, it wasn't a piece of flower.
It was just this thin, straight string flying through the air.
And I followed it for ten minutes until they called
us in from recess and I had to leave it.
And I will never forget that, and I hadn't thought
(53:02):
about it forever, but I still remember it just bright
as day, just as if I was looking at it
right now. I can still see it. But there was
nothing on it. And when I was a kid, I
that's so weird. But I didn't ever.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
Put two and two together two to care.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Until sit here thinking, you know, I never have talked
about that, but that was the strangest thing. And even
as an adult, there's nothing that I can think about
that now and that my brain clicks, oh yeah, that
was a.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
Yeah, yeah, and I definitely agree. I think it might
have been faye, but what kind I have no idea,
But at.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
The time it didn't and mind, you know, I've always
been a Disney kid.
Speaker 11 (53:54):
Didn't even cross my mind that it was a.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Faery or something, just that it was a strange something.
It was something not regular. It was like, sorry that
you can cut that all out.
Speaker 11 (54:07):
I can't know it makes good Patreon.
Speaker 1 (54:10):
Oh my gosh, I was gonna leave it in. I
think it. I think it. It's like.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Moments where you catch something and like it doesn't click
in your head that there's anything wrong with it, and
then just one day you're sitting there and go, you
know that was really weird. Yeah, I ever told you
about that's the world, Like it doesn't click with us
then and maybe even years and years down the road
(54:41):
and you're like, oh, you know that really was weird
hecky this one time.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, either that or he's gonna get to about thirty
five and go, oh my god, dad was an.
Speaker 2 (54:51):
Alien that not Well, that won't happen in this family.
We're so multi generational. Everybody knows everybody. It's weird. I
mean you figure, you figure, we've got your mom, and
(55:13):
then you have brothers and sister that are let you
guys go down the age scale, and me and my
family and how they go down an age scale, and
then we have the kids and the grandkids, like we
go all the way down, and then we have our
(55:34):
art year Arthur's in there too, absolutely, and then our
a LEXI Somewhere I said kids that.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
I wanted to I wanted to say their names? Is
that okay Ore in Alexandria, so they could hear me
acknowledge that because they're awesome. Yes, now we are.
Speaker 3 (55:59):
Arthur was off.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
Yes, my final thoughts and I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Arthur, she interrupted you I interrupt.
Speaker 3 (56:06):
I didn't really have much to say.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Oh, that's right, you just were agreeing with us. Yeah,
I just I felt like maybe I cut you off
a little at the end, but I got I just it.
Speaker 1 (56:17):
Just I felt like you cat. I felt like you did.
Speaker 3 (56:22):
With the cat. I'm happy right now her cat.
Speaker 1 (56:26):
And you know what, He's not gonna want you to
put him down. He's gonna want you to keep holding
him and keep holding him because now he's asleep, and
now your job is to beat his bed and remain
comfortable and maybe feed him chicken.
Speaker 2 (56:39):
That's a show. Thanks for listening to that.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
We should finish the show.
Speaker 2 (56:46):
I mean, I was trying to let you come back
to it, but you're just getting into family time.
Speaker 1 (56:50):
So that's our show, and that's our show. Thanks for listening,
Thanks for keeping us in the good pods. Top one hundred.
Thanks for the beating.
Speaker 3 (56:59):
Hey, that's family plot.
Speaker 2 (57:02):
Absolutely, that's the family plot.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
Thanks for being members of the fan. Thanks to Blue, Lexi,
Laura and Arthur's come we do miss you Blue.
Speaker 2 (57:22):
Friends.
Speaker 1 (57:23):
I've been sending it to him so he does get it.
Every week.
Speaker 2 (57:27):
You were saying something and I interrupted you again, but
it was it took that long for it to get
to my ears. Come on, say something to your brother.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
He says, he'll see you later. Blue ky pooky.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
No, you have to cut that out now. He won't
share it with anybody. You said, blooky pooky.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
I've heard him call him.
Speaker 3 (57:49):
That, you pooky. It's weird hearing dad say it because
he always situates the pooky.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
Because he's dad and pooh, he's twelve.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
Your job is to net is now, is to be comfortable,
and he thinks you are failing, all right, So cutting
out the blue kypooky. Thanks to Bill that is Bill
Barrant b E h R E N d T, the
guy that does our theme music. If you need music
for a project of any kind, Bill's your guy, Bill
Barrant at SBC global dot net. Thanks to Paige Elmore
(58:24):
of the Reverie Crime Pod, who has combined her own
love of Canva with our own Arthur's artwork to create
some logo art for us. Thank you, Paige, Thank you.
Thanks to Aaron Ginerk of The Big Dumb Fun Show,
who continues to promote us locally. Join us next week
as we continue this early leap into spooky season to
(58:46):
discuss American Catacombs in New York and the Old North
Church crypt in I believe it's Boston. Bye,
H m hmm. I'm Dean, I'm the dad.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
What the heck was that?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It was my attempt at a witch? Laugh, it's fool,
It's good.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It was.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
It's spooky seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Spooky season.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What, yes, but this isn't early spooky season episodes. So
I was trying to bring the fire.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You bring the fire? You a that up? Now?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Mother, I'm Laura, I'm the mom.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
And i am author. I am the sun.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Sounds like satan. Let's see and together we are family
reply spooky season and we're van for it.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I see mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It's spooky season, all right. Oh, so let me get
the housekeeping out of the way. You help us out.
One is through our t Spring merch store. That are
our merch stickers are pretty awesome. We've just got a
bunch in so Arthur's own I'm the kid sticker is
(01:58):
on the thing. So that's he's on my phone. Yep.
That is one thing you can do. If you cannot
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(02:21):
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Speaker 3 (02:58):
With friends, share it with family, with every.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
One, and you could also leave us a five star review.
If you don't enjoy the show, please cheap it to yourself.
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Don't say anything at all.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Weird noise goes here, so deep?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What are we talking about tonight?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, we begin our spooky season episodes with a tale
that flickers between folklore and the unknode. The Hornet spook Light,
also known as the Joplin spook Light, a glowing orb
that's haunted the Devil's Promenade near the Missouri Oklahoma border
for more than a century. Locals say it drifts through
(03:53):
the night like a restless spirit, appearing without warning, vanishing
without a trace, and defying every attempt to planet. Is
it a wandering soul, a trick of the land, or
something older watching from the dark. We're looking on all
that and more in this our first Spooky Season episode
of twenty twenty five of The Family Plot Podcast.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I need to point out that it's not spooky season yet.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Okay. One, I celebrate great spooky season all year long. Two.
I couldn't wait. Okay, we have so much to do
this spooky season that this this, this is the first
spooky season episode.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Okay, let it start Earli. That means I mean me
and my partners. When year is sixteen days away? Okay,
fifteen by the time posting this, well.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Spooky sir, Are you gonna start.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Us off tonight? Yep. The region around Hornet was originally
home to several Native American tribes. Am I in your way?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Buddy?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Can I? Can I do so?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Nope?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Apparently not, Okay was originally home to several Native American tribes,
most notably the os Age. And I apologize if I
don't get this correct. The Quapa wa Quapa.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Quapa maybe Papa seems seems like a like.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Grip and the Cherokee passed through the area during the
forced relocation known as the Trail of Tears in the
eighteen thirties. Oral traditions from these communities speak of strange
lights and spiritual presences in the area long before settlers arrived.
Some legends described the spook light as a manifestation of
(05:38):
grief or ancestral spirits, especially tied to the tragic migrations
and river crossings during the Trail of Tears. Hornet was
settled by frontier folk in the mid to late eighteen hundreds,
likely by farmers and trades people drawn to the fertile
land and proximity to trade routes. The town's name Hornet
(06:01):
is strikingly visual and evocative. While there's no definitive origin story,
it may have referred to the buzzing activity of early settlers,
a local abundance of hornets, or even a metaphor for
the town's feisty spirit. It's kind of named that sticks
in the imagination, perfect for a place that would become
(06:21):
synonymous with a paralonormal mystery. While the Hornet spook Light
isn't the town's most famous or is the town's most
famous supernatural claim there are hants of eerie happenings even
before it's reported. For sightings in the eighteen thirties. Local
legends suggest that settlers were unnerved by strange sounds and
(06:42):
flickering lights in the woods. Some reportedly moved away out
of fear. Native accounts described the light as always having
been there, implying a deeper, older presence tied to the
land itself. There are no confirmed printed reports of paranormal
events prior to the spook lights emerging, but oral histories
and regional folklore suggests that the area was considered spiritually
(07:05):
active long before the arrival of Route sixty six or
modern explanations. Hornet's history is a blend of settler grit,
indigenous sorrow, and spectral ambiguity. It's a place where memory
lingers in the soil and the past refuses to stay bury.
And now let's pause for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It's early first sponsor word.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But okay, it is. But it's a lorng episode. Well
it's not even that it's a long episode. It's just
we've been getting complaints because the way it's all set up.
Usually our art commercials are about five minutes apart, so
I'm just trying to space it out of lote.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
I see Lexia has Cayman as of fancy Gur. All right,
even though I hurt my foot, I am still unstoppable.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Awesome, awesome. Are you also sponsored?
Speaker 5 (08:10):
That's why I'm unstoppable because I'm sponsored.
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Excellent.
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Thank you give us unstoppable because you guys are sponsored too.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Everyone sponsors.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Hey, you know what we can do? Since you're here,
We're gonna head over to Arthur's corner.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Art is good.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You're my corner.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
Oh here, ye here you allow me to present Arthur's Corner.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Hello, everyone, Welcome back to my corner. It has been
a week so far. How are we doing? Folks?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Am I a folk?
Speaker 7 (08:58):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (08:59):
You are not his folks, So yes, I'm I'm pretty good.
You're the one who's been ragging about your rabbits.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
But oh my god, okay, i'll.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Because your just be weird, so to your smart books.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Okay, all the smut. Let's let's move on. Let's how
are we?
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Are you you know how I am?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
How are you? I'm happy you are here with me today?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I missed you.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I missed you guys too.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I'm excellent now that you're home. I missed you a bunch,
you know.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Okay, that's good, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I am.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I have been over to my grandma's this week already. Yes,
I went halfway through Monday. Yes, stayed there on Tuesday.
It's been there half day today.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
And then I came home and I got Church's chicken,
which was good.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
You're well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
It was leftovers, but it was it was still good.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm full mouth. It is churches and Mom swears by it.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Church's chicken is so and it was your birthday on Monday.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
See, the church is chicken, all of the ornament.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It was your birthday on Monday. So now you are
a beautiful twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Sure, yep, that's what I am.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
We'll we'll call her twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, which means I'm robbing the cradle at fifty seven.
But I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, you're rubbing the cradle. Even before I magically became
twenty nine again, nine years and fourteen days older than.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Me, nine years and fourteen days exactly, I got a
job opportunity, not necessarily job opportunity, but I got a
drawing opportunity, recent condition opportunity kind of. I mean, I'm
not getting paid for it, but.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Why don't you think you'll get paid for it?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I probably won't get paid for it.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Are we talking about the same thing?
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I think so, the thing that you were offered and
the other day. Yeah, that would definitely come with a
paycheck if if it was decided to be used. Absolutely,
if Uncle Danny used his.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Artwork for Yeah. In fact, he sent over a what
he calls a terribly drawn idea of what he wants.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Okay, send it over to me.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So well, he sent it a Messenger, and I wasn't
sure how to send it to you.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I guess you have his Facebook.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You got Messenger. Yeah, I don't know why. I didn't
think you had a Messenger for some reason.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yeah, I don't know either, because you send it to
me every week on Messenger.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yeah I do. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I send this episode. You send the episodes to me
Messenger every week. I didn't think I had Messenger.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But well, you know, sometimes the two just separate in
your conscious thought.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Well, fine, I get it. Oh wow, I've been spammed today.
It wasn't me, No, it wasn't It was my friends.
They're very talkative. I've been working on drawn humans. Speaking
of drawing humans.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Very nice, very nice.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Just through that not yesterday, but gave a four yesterday.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Very cool.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I haven't really done anything interesting.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Other than stay in the night of Grandma's and hang
out with your brother.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Mm hmm, who has been picking on you and your
lack of cat shame on him. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
We weagle, wele vehicle.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
We all like to do a little wiggle.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Everybody likes to.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Wiggle and puts you in a good mood. If you're
ever in a bad mood, just wiggle.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
It's it's something to try at least.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Yeah, Or hum because I learned something recently, and is
that humming actually distracts you from your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
You can't think while you're humming.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, this is actually like starting to sound like a
song i'd have to pay for. So I'm gonna have
to insistory stuff.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
She was trying to she was child, trying to see
it that actually works.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I was trying to fact check our child, and and well,
that's nanaying, not humming.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
That's not the same, probably not, but.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
No, I don't think so that's okay. But I'll do
more research on that later, but I trust.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
You I have I have done it, and it's helped
me from having panic attacks.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
So ye, anything that does that, it doesn't even matter
if it actually keeps you from thinking. It just distracts
you enough that you don't have panic attacks. I'm all
for it.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Heck yeah, yeah, I'm boring this.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
Week, folks. Well, the fact that you know I'm talking
about drawing stuff. I love drawing stuff. I've been drawing stuff,
looking right. You're good at drawing stuff. You're really good
at it. I mean you are stickers.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
You show that you did an amazing job first, absolutely so.
So are you just trying to tell me you don't
have a lot in your corner this week?
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Is?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
It's okay, don't Unfortunately, that's okay. You can. You can
give Dad a beat and then take this next section.
It's tindy with small so I thought that one. I
saw it too.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
This one is. I don't know about the next ones.
I think you said one of them were long.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
The name Devil's Promenade is a mysterious is as mysterious
as the glowing light that travels along it, closely tied
to the Hornet Spook Light. The nickname likely came about
in the late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds, after
the locid locals saw the strange orb drifting and bobbing.
(14:59):
Dumb the road at night promenade suggests a slow, showy
new movement, and adding devil gives it a spooky folklore feel,
like something dangerous or mischievous is taking a nightly stroll.
There's no known legend behind the name itself, and no
(15:21):
signated existed before the light appeared, making it seem like
the road was named after the haunting, not the other
way around.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Right, Thank you, babe.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
You.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So let's pause here and hear from some of our
fellow content creators.
Speaker 8 (15:40):
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Speaker 9 (16:56):
Hello, I'm Marg, host of the Project Football podcasting into
your Football even just a little bit, and don't mind
a decent slice of football related randomness and some new
music throwing it on the side, then this may well
be the podcast for you. Our guests discuss their history
with the team they support, pick their best eleven in
a tripia through time, and pick up moments in football
history they'd like to have experienced from a particular individual's
(17:18):
point of view in fo for you. As well as that,
there's a few other guest segments that deliver on the
aforementioned randomness in cut for yours amounts. If this sounds
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stroke x, at proje, Underscore foot, Instagram, at Project Football Podcast,
(17:39):
and on Facebook. If you just search for Project Football
Podcast you'll find us there. Give it listen, you might
even like it.
Speaker 10 (17:45):
It's time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Big question, what is the spook plate? And the answer no, exactly,
though the theories are many. Mystical and folkloric theories include
they may be wandering spirit. Some say the light is
the soul of a beheaded osage or would we decide
we were pronouncing that as Quopa Quapa Quapa Quapa chief
(18:17):
searching for his lost head. Others claim it's the ghostly
flame of a young couple who died by suicide. Remember,
suicide is never a good idea. It's always a long
term solution to a short term problem. You matter, after
being forbidden to marry again, not a good way to
(18:39):
go about that. Others think it may be just residual energy.
A more esoteric theory suggests that the light is a
visual echo energy imprinted on the land by trauma, grief,
or ritual It appears only when the veil between world's
thins also could be elemental or a Faye presence. In summarytellings,
(19:04):
the spook light behaves like a trickster spirit, curious, evasive,
and drawn to silence. It could be a local manifestation
of the will of the wisps, or a fade like
entity tied to the land's emotional resonance. Skeptical and scientific
(19:27):
theories include that it could just be headlight refraction. The
most widely accepted mundane theory is that the spook light
is an optical illusion caused by distant car headlights refracting
off the drain that seems like a really far stretched
to me, but I digress. Alans Rice's study claimed to
(19:50):
prove this, though critics point out that sightings pre date
automobiles escaping natural gas. The area swampy enough to support
this theory consistently, but it's possible that anything is possible
atmosphere conditions. Other speculas speculate that electrical shifts in atmosphere,
(20:14):
possibly caused by the underground metal deposits or fault lines,
could produce glowing orbs. Will of the wisps. Are As
we've already mentioned are a classic explanation in ghost lore.
Luminescent gases from decaying organic matter. Again, the terrain doesn't
(20:35):
really quite match the usual conditions for this phenomenon, which
are swampier, marshy terrain. These lights are often These lights
are most often reported in areas with decaying organic matter,
like peat bogs or wetlands. High humidity and low wind
(20:57):
calm moist air helps trap gases and allows faint lights
to linger presence of methane and phosphing gases. As organic
material breaks down, it releases gases that can spontaneously ignite
under the right conditions, creating a flickering blue or yellow flame, darkness,
(21:19):
and isolation. They're usually seen in remote, unlit areas, adding
to their ghostly reputation. Despite decades of investigating, including a
nineteen forty six study by the US Army Corps of Engineers,
no theory has fully explained the spook light's behavior. That
am ambiguity, that words are hard is part of its power.
(21:47):
It resists being pinned down, remaining a flickering question mark
in the dark.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That was nice poetry, my love mark in the dark.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Somebody wrote it for me.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
And now a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
And it was coming. You did it.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
It was time to get back to the show.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It's almost sponsor times.
Speaker 11 (22:19):
Yeah, I feel that feeling.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
I feel that that sponsor.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Since she's got a sponsor, since y'all.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Like like spider since.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yes, I got it. Yep.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I recently watched the Amazing Spider Man one and two.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
It was really good.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I loved them, especially the second movie.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
The second movie was really cute.
Speaker 11 (22:44):
But at the same time, it's really sad.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Does everybody feel spread?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Very sponsored? Very thank you?
Speaker 5 (22:54):
So I had to get that singing out of my veins.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
You did great, beautiful bestie.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Busted dollar.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
All right, Now the sponsored girl is bought to the
first appearance. The first printed account of the Hornet Spook
Light came from journalist ab McDonald, who wrote about it
in a January nineteen thirty six issue of the Kansas
City Star. His article helped bring wider attention to the phenomenon,
(23:27):
Though locals had recordedly seen the light for decades prior,
there are oral traditions claiming the spook Light was witnessed
as early as eighteen thirty six during the Trail of Tears,
with Native Americans describing a mysterious light that followed them
through the region. However, no written records from that time
(23:49):
confirmed the sighting. So while the legend is powerful, the
ninetyeen thirty six article remains the first verifiable documentation.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
All right, so let's talk a little bit about some
of the tales of the spook Plight. While Dean's research
could not turn up the first article itself, not even
from the morgue of the Kansas City Star. I believe
they call that archives.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
No, they call it the morgue, or they used to,
do they really? Okay, Yeah, there's archives and then there's
the more. The morgue is where you go to look
for a story that's more than ten years old.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Usually I see, Oh, that makes as much sense as
anything good At your Kansas City Star. He has come
up with a somewhat humorous approximation. Unfortunately he's the one
calling it humorous. So we'll see how this works out
that I will share with you all. Mystery Light Baffles Locals,
(24:46):
Outsmart Science by ab McDonald, Kansas City Star, nineteen thirty six. Approximation. Well, folks,
I've seen a fair share of oddities in my time.
Two headed calfs a preacher who swore he could speak
fluent Latin in his sleep, and a man who claimed
his mule could play poker. But nothing quite like the
(25:10):
ghostly glow that haunts the gravel stretch of stretch west
of Hornet, Missouri. They call it the spook Light, and
by thunder it's a humdinger. I parked my jaloppi on
what all the locals called the Devil's Promenade, a name
that ought to give any god fearing man pause. Around
(25:33):
nine o'clock, just as the moon was playing peek a
boo with the clouds. There it was a ball of light,
orange as a harvest pumpkin, floating down the road like
it had somewhere to be, had no intention of explaining itself.
Some say it swamp gas. Others say it's the ghost
(25:55):
of a native chief still searching for his head. One
old time told me it's the lantern of a miner
who lost his children in the woods, never came back.
I asked him if he'd been drinking. He said only
on Sundays. I tried chasing it, foolish, I know, the light.
Speaker 12 (26:14):
Danced away like a debutante dodging a suitor. It's splitting
two vanished, then reampeared behind me like it was laughing.
I hollered it didn't care.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
The Army Corps of engineers came out once left, scratching
their heads and muttering about refraction and topography. I say,
if science can't explain it, maybe it's not meant to
be explained. I don't know where the accent came from.
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
It sounds like it's closed to be a way. I'm
gonna be so real with.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You, so if you're ever out near Hornet and the
night feels a little too quiet, take a drive down
the Devil's Promenade. But don't be surprised some watches you back.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
All right, well, we're gonna take another word from our sponsors.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
But before we go do that, I think it's a
good idea to take a moment to uh thank you.
Speaker 13 (27:11):
No, Nope, that too though. I'm gonna remind you that
you can go get our Patreon and you can you
don't have to listen to our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yes, right exactly, And that's for the one and the
three dollar Patreon subscribers, and you can get my ranting
and my PG non thirteen talking. If you're a three
dollars members to do it.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
But before we go do that, I think it would
be a good idea to take a moment for my
Finch app and.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Repeat an affirmation.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
Okay, I release self doubt and embrace confidence.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah Finch, Hey, French Finch does not sponsor this show.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
No, it does not, but I wanted to share that
with I like it, and Finn says, you should repeat
it three times.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Okay, so while we're doing sponsors, you can go ahead
and repeat yeah. Yeah, our sponsor girl should be here
at some point to bring us back from being sponsored.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Do you feel sponsored?
Speaker 10 (28:26):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (28:27):
And I also feel like a grilling because I just
ran like that you did.
Speaker 11 (28:31):
You'd be careful, Arthur, you want to take the next
section for us?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Also one of the things that I'd be closing. It
really helped.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Got This report comes from Reddit. Take it for what
it's worth. The first time I saw the light, I
was twelve years old and on a sleepover with some
girls my age. We drove out where with my cousin's
parents and didn't see anything for about thirty minutes. Then
nowhere we see a glowing yellowish ball about the size
(29:02):
of a volleyball in the near rear in the rear
view mirror. Moments later, after hovering mid air, the light
jumps to the front of the car about one hundred
feet ahead. We try to broad a drive up to it,
but we are never able to catch it. Eventually, it
(29:23):
just disappeared over a rise in the road. The other
times I've seen it it has event been much less
up close, But every other time it lets you just
it lets you chase it, and then it goes behind
you or completely disappears. I've probably been out there eight
(29:46):
times and I've seen it every single time. I've never
felt scared seeing it, even the first time, I just
felt an overwhelming calm.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Well, hey, at least we know it's not malevolent in
any way.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Or it doesn't seem to be at least. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
This next story too, comes from Reddit. It has been
slightly edited to give it more of a narrative format
and to remove redundancies. So here we go. I asked
some friends of mine where it would be a good
place to explore around where I lived, and was offered
a place I had never been, Devil's Promenade. See that
must form. It spook light. I researched the spook Light
(30:24):
and became curious to see if I could figure out
what it was, so I invited my mom and sister
to go with me. I hope that doesn't refer to
the same person, because we all love strange things, even
though they get more freaked out than I do. We
packed into the car and headed to spook Light Road
and waited. Then around midnight, you all suddenly felt like
you were being why. At first, we figured it was
(30:47):
probably animals making noise in the woods and spooking us,
but then gradually this feeling of anxiety seemed to be
pressing down on her. I began to worry that there
might be a person stalking us and made the decision
to tell my mom and sister. We were leaving when
a shadow ran by me, brushing my left arm and
(31:08):
immediately dissipated. It felt like ice and fire erupted in
my arm, and we decided to leave. Luckily, my sister
drove us there as I could barely use my arm
and couldn't drive us back home. I knew it couldn't
be a person because I was sitting next to the
road on a pile of rocks from when they graded
the road, and directly behind me were trees and brush
(31:30):
so thick I would have easily heard anything running up
behind me. I'm not a stranger to ghosts and other
strange things, but this was my first encounter with a
shadow person. A few weeks later, I decided I wanted
to go back, and my sister was up for it,
but my mom was a firm no. So they are
separate people. I was beginning to worry. We went back
(31:52):
to the road and saw nothing. Everything felt calm, so
I decided to leave. My sister said, you heard there
was a bridge cloth by Devil's Promenade called Devil's Promenade Bridge.
We headed over there and by luck, met a couple
of teenage boys who were videotaping the bridge. We talked
for a while and discovered that they had been to
(32:13):
the spook Light numerous times and heard that if you
chant the devil's name three times while walking on the bridge,
the devil would appear. They didn't believe it, but thought
it would make a fun video project. My sister and
I watched amused as the boy with a video camera
made his trip back and forth in the bridge, and
as he met us on the third leg, a strange
growl could be heard from somewhere under the bridge. We
(32:36):
all thought this was some kind of animal. It was
just pure luck that it happened. Just then. The young
man looked over the edge of the bridge with his
camera and it shut off. He messed around with it
for a few minutes, and when he replayed the video,
you could hear the growl, which sounded much closer than
it did in person. Echoes is my guess, and then
the video skips ahead. The young man turned to me
(32:58):
and said, the devil as my tape. We all decided
to leave, the boys because they were spooked, and my
sister and I because we figured nothing happened. A few
weeks later, we decided to go back again, and this
time my mother decided to go with us. By now
I knew my way easily and figured I'd have no
trouble finding my way back. They had even expanded the
(33:21):
road and made the entry way easier to turn in.
There was also an abandoned house directly across from the turnoff,
and we used that as a landmark to make sure
we weren't turning on the same road. As I got
near the area, I knew the road would where the
road would be, I began to get a terrible feeling
and figured it was just a little nerves from my
(33:43):
encounter with the Shadowers. I saw the abandoned house and
looked left to turn, but there was no road. I
figured I must have been staking in the house and
kept going. After a while, I knew I had gone
too far and turned around. Every time I'd get close
to the abandoned house, I'd get that nervous feeling again
and again the road wasn't there. I asked my mom
(34:05):
and sister to keep a close eye out in case
I was missing something, and both said the road should
be where I thought it was. My sister knew the
area as well as I did, and none of us
could figure out why we couldn't send the road. To
make this more clear in your mind, the first time
I went, I almost missed the road because the trees
were a bit overgrown and kind of obscured it. By
(34:26):
this trip, the road itself was over to carwits wide,
and the entry for it was even larger as it
curved out to allow for easy turning. In the entry,
I had to have been over fifteen feet wide. There's
no way I should have missed seeing it, even in
the dark. I still think to this day that something
made me not see it. All I saw where the
(34:48):
road should have been was a field and probably saved
us all from something.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
That's quite a story, very interesting. But I'm taking that
with away for assault because it came from rented.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, seek.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
A break here for a final word from our sponsors.
Just like Arthur told us a little while ago, we
can help you out to skip these sponsor breaks bye
by becoming either a one dollar or a three dollars
Patreon subscriber. I don't know if I got that whole
Patreon bump in there to cut that out too. I tried, but.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
They distracted me.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Do you feel sponsored?
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Saw her skire over? You're like a little monster? Was terrifying.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Apparently that kicked in.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Your baby.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Oh, I guess this is my spot.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Yeah, I was waiting.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
For Arthur to talk. I don't know why I was
suddenly thinking, Arthur, this was Arthur's colored Okay, so sorry.
It's absolutely possible to interpret the Hornet's book Light as
a belief born phenomenon, especially through the lens of collective
consciousness and psychic imprinting. Take the Philip experiment from the
(36:18):
nineteen seventies, where a group of Canadian researchers created a
fictional ghost named Philip, and through focus seances and shared belief,
began receiving real responses, knots, table movements, and even voices.
The implication belief itself might be a kind of conjuring.
(36:40):
Now apply that to the trail of tears, a moment
of immense trauma, grief, and displacement. If the Cherokee and
other tribes witnessed a mysterious light during their forced march,
it could have become a symbol of sorrow, guidance, or warning,
(37:00):
a spiritual echo that grew stronger as stories passed down
over time. That shared belief might have shaped how others
saw the light, reinforcing its presence and behavior. This idea
fits beautifully with residual hauntings, where intense emotions imprint on
(37:22):
a location, replaying like a loop holpus, tolpus or thought forms.
I almost had it almost so close holpus or thought forms.
Entities created through focused belief common in Tibetan mysticism, and
echoed through modern paranormal theory, liminal geography. The Devil's Promenade
(37:49):
sits on a border between states, cultures, and geological fault lines.
It's the perfect stage for belief to manifest. The Spooklight
could be more than just a mystery. It might be
a living legend shaped by grief, memory, and the human
(38:09):
need to make meaning from the dark. Oh that's very lyrical,
dear son. You want to take over. You have a baby,
but you want to take over. He's levin on you.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
His eyes are closed. He is so happy right now.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Speaking of vice, it sounds like sometimes that purple new
mess with you.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Huh.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Born in Missouri is more about a ghost town than
than town these days.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Can you do, poor dad?
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Okay, let's restart.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
LEXI dropped the app bomb last night when we got.
Speaker 11 (38:47):
Seriously, oh my god, Lexity.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Totally We were getting out of the car and she's like, totally.
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Did not.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
That is not the word I heard come out of
her little face.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Missouri is more ghost town than a town these days.
It's largely absorbed into the greater Joplin area, with only
a few scattered homes and fading landmarks to mark its presence,
but legacy lives on through the Hornet Spooklight, which continues
(39:23):
to draw curious visitors, paranormal investigators, and folklore fanatics. The
Spooklight has appeared in documentaries, param normal TV shows, and
YouTube investigations. Often framed as one of America's most enduring
(39:43):
ghost light mysteries. It's been featured in books or on
regional hauntings, UFO lore, and unexplained phenomenon, Though it hasn't
had a major Hollywood moment yet. The lights hired local legends,
short stories, and even Reddit threads where users share eurie
(40:07):
encounters and family lore. Some describe it as playful and
others as deeply as unsettling. Paranormal teams have investigated the
spook Light for decades. In nineteen forty six, the US
Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study but couldn't explain it.
(40:31):
More recently, groups like Ellen Rice's Boomers have staged experiments
experiments with headlights and spotlights to test to test the
refraction theory. Despite these efforts, no one has definitive, definitively
(40:55):
debunked or confirmed the light's origin, keeping it firmly in
the realm of mystery. There was a spook Light Museum.
Oh yes, the Spooklight Museum a true roadside relic. It was.
It operated in the nineteen sixties at the eastern end
(41:15):
of what's now E fifty.
Speaker 7 (41:19):
Road, I colloquially, okay, colloquially known as spook Light Road.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Here's the vibe, the vibe.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
That co pilot must have been. Here's the vibe.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
When do I ever say that.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
I had to come from Gobe? Not sound like anything
your dad website?
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Fine, okay? Visitors paid twenty five sentence sentences since.
Speaker 11 (41:51):
Two short.
Speaker 7 (41:57):
Twenty five Since you peer through a three inch telescope
aimed at the light, but instead of being outside, the
telescope was mountained mounted indoors, looking through a half inch
hole in the wall. Why, the owner said it was
(42:22):
to protect the scope from rain. According to journalist Robert Gannon,
the setup was limited, so it couldn't resolve anything clearly.
He brought his own telescope and claimed the lights fut
into carhead lights, supporting the skeptical view. Despite its limitations,
(42:46):
the museum became a local attraction, part curity curiosity shop,
part folklore hub. It's long gone now, but its memory
adds to the spooklight mythos.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Okay, but can I just say that twenty five sentences
a great thing to charge, And I feel like maybe
maybe that's the kind of thing that our government needs
to start looking at charging so that people can take
their kids to these things. So like, instead of having
to pay, you actually just make the children give a
(43:23):
short verbal reason of what to go or why their
parents say they have to commit something, a short verbal essay.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Okay, twenty five sentences best.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
I know it wasn't on purpose, but that's like an
amazing idea that I feel like the government should put
into play. I'm running for office under that platform.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Okay, my vote, vote twenty.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Five sentences for government park admission where it will all
be more literate by the end of it.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
I agree, that's one way to keep school involved.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Laura for office, and I am I'm old enough to
be the president too. I'm over what is it forty.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Five to people?
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yeah, I believe it's forty five. It's still a.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Law, right, Yes, we haven't over overturned that one yet.
Speaker 7 (44:20):
Yeah, no, no, but there are plenty of things that
they did overturn there.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
They think they think they can get overturned or they
plan on ransacking. Sorry, yeah, I'm running. Hey guess what
that brings us to our summary in final thought? Yes,
and I thank goodness because I am on a roll tonight.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
I started off this week. I've had friends who told
me about this. I have been over that part of
the world several times. I've performed many times in Oklahoma
and in Joplin, Missouri. So in fact, there's a restaurant
there called Kitchen Pass that I used to love. Got
to do stand up there and they made good food, so,
(45:03):
you know, nice make the fat comic happy. But anyway,
the point is is that I've never seen it, and
I've been in that part of the world, but that
doesn't mean it doesn't exist. From everything I have tracked down,
there are people I know who have seen it, and
they compare it to other spook lights in other parts
(45:26):
of the country. Like I think we might have talked
about one last year where one of the train wrecks happened.
That people see a light that they think is the train,
but it's just a spook light that runs the track
for some reason. So I'm gonna lend my belief to this.
(45:47):
That's what I'll say. As far as believe it. I
thought it was fascinating. I thought it's mostly local. At
least it's on the border of our state.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Well, I think anything in the State of Missouri Council
local as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
So, you know, it was an interesting episode, and it
was a nice opening to spooky season. There's not much
it's ghostly without being creepy, especially if you take the
one of the two Reddit things I included that I believe,
(46:22):
the one that was like, we saw it and it
split and it went behind us, and I've seen it
eight or ten times since. And the one that I read, yes,
the one that you read, that's the one I believe
because they're not making any outrageous claims there. They saw
the light, they've seen it eight times, and sometimes when
you chase it, it just goes behind you. So and
(46:45):
I find that a believable thing. Yep. And especially when
he says that there wasn't any like accompanying feeling of
dread it. Also, I tend to believe the indigenous people
who live there and say, hey, we've been talking about
this long before your European butt showed up. I tend
to believe them rather than you. Know rationalists who are like, well,
(47:11):
it's not recorded, so it doesn't count. It's recorded in
their oral tradition that counts. Don't quit trying to tell
me that the Indigenous people don't count, because they do.
And that's all I got off the top of this.
Other than the there was only two Reddit stories. I
(47:31):
was forced to take them both, and boy, that's the.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Second was very similar. Check this. I mean, we've seen
this on a lot of the shows that we watched,
talking about paranormal happenings, talking about So this is not
I'm I'm am I jumping. You're supposed to go, right,
isn't it you? After Dad?
Speaker 1 (47:54):
I think so, but you've already started, and Arthur doesn't
seem inclined to correct you. You're shaking his head. No, just.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
I've heard of this a lot before. Anything. Like I said,
I tend to think of anything hometown as anything that's
in our state that I've lived in. Most of my life,
I've lived in California, and so I'll still think of
California parts of California as home. But anything here locally
(48:27):
in the state of Missouri I always think of as
home because it's where one of my children was born,
and it's where we've lived most of our relationship throughout
both times, so I always think of Missouri as home.
But I'm inclined to believe in just about anything like this,
(48:49):
because even with everything that we do now and everything
that happens and everything that is watched, there's no way
that everything gets watch twenty four hours a day, three
hundred and sixty five days a year. There are always
things that are going to happen in the shadows and
in the dark. And I absolutely believe that out in
the woods there can be things that people have seen
(49:14):
that machines haven't picked up. Absolutely believe it, Absolutely believe it.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
Yeah, and I don't know the Indigenous Americans have reported
things like this for centuries before we.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
And just about everything we tend to give the benefit
of the doubt because I am self aware enough to
know that things have happened in my life that everybody
doesn't know about. Therefore, absolutely stands to imagine that there
are things going on that everybody doesn't know about. I mean,
(49:54):
you can driw that down into the smallest smallest bits
and still come out with that, say the answer, and
anybody who doesn't believe that there are still secrets out there.
Those are the people who are in the dark. You know. Yeah,
that makes sense, right, That wasn't too convoluted.
Speaker 3 (50:10):
No, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Okay, No, that was not circular logic.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Okay, good deal, like that might reach. We hadn't talked
about spooky season, so I didn't know these were I'm
seeing the one for next for next week, like so.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
So Arthur, now now it's it's your turn.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
I mean, I don't really have much else to add.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
I feel like you agree with us, Yeah, me.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Dad, both of you. So you think it's a real phenomena, then, I.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Mean, I think it's a real phenomena.
Speaker 7 (50:42):
I do believe the indigenous people over you know, the
people were just occurring in this area.
Speaker 14 (50:51):
If I ever talked about my fairy that I saw
when I was a kid, no, I just thought of
that when you were talking about this and talking about
people seeing things, and when.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
I was young Lexi's age or younger, could have even
been younger. It was some time in my elementary school years,
which was kindergarten to fifth grade. I was in the
same elementary school that I was outside by myself on
the playground and I saw a tiny string. And when
(51:31):
I say tiny, I mean probably smaller than half an
inch long. And to me, it looked like just a
straight string. I saw it across the playground from where
I was, but it was kind of down near a
culvert in the playground area. And it was a crillian blue,
(51:54):
looked like a string, like a nylon string. And I
followed it and watched it with my eyes and followed
it and watched it. No one else saw it, no
one else paid any attention. There were no wings. I
didn't see any wings. I couldn't see any legs or
antenna or anything. It looked like it might have been
(52:17):
part of a dragonfly, but none of the rest of
the pieces. Just this string, this colored, brightly colored string,
and I followed it. I followed it for a good
ten minutes on that playground. Other kids are just running
around and I'm following the string. There's nothing like I
followed it for a long time. It was It was
(52:39):
not a spider web, it wasn't a piece of flower.
It was just this thin, straight string flying through the air.
And I followed it for ten minutes until they called
us in from recess and I had to leave it.
And I will never forget that, and I hadn't thought
(53:02):
about it forever, but I still remember it just bright
as day, just as if I was looking at it
right now. I can still see it. But there was
nothing on it. And when I was a kid, I
that's so weird. But I didn't ever.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
Put two and two together two to care.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Until sit here thinking, you know, I never have talked
about that, but that was the strangest thing. And even
as an adult, there's nothing that I can think about
that now and that my brain clicks, oh yeah, that
was a.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
Yeah, yeah, and I definitely agree. I think it might
have been faye, but what kind I have no idea,
But at.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
The time it didn't and mind, you know, I've always
been a Disney kid.
Speaker 11 (53:54):
Didn't even cross my mind that it was a.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Faery or something, just that it was a strange something.
It was something not regular. It was like, sorry that
you can cut that all out.
Speaker 11 (54:07):
I can't know it makes good Patreon.
Speaker 1 (54:10):
Oh my gosh, I was gonna leave it in. I
think it. I think it. It's like.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Moments where you catch something and like it doesn't click
in your head that there's anything wrong with it, and
then just one day you're sitting there and go, you
know that was really weird. Yeah, I ever told you
about that's the world, Like it doesn't click with us
then and maybe even years and years down the road
(54:41):
and you're like, oh, you know that really was weird
hecky this one time.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, either that or he's gonna get to about thirty
five and go, oh my god, dad was an.
Speaker 2 (54:51):
Alien that not Well, that won't happen in this family.
We're so multi generational. Everybody knows everybody. It's weird. I
mean you figure, you figure, we've got your mom, and
(55:13):
then you have brothers and sister that are let you
guys go down the age scale, and me and my
family and how they go down an age scale, and
then we have the kids and the grandkids, like we
go all the way down, and then we have our
(55:34):
art year Arthur's in there too, absolutely, and then our
a LEXI Somewhere I said kids that.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
I wanted to I wanted to say their names? Is
that okay Ore in Alexandria, so they could hear me
acknowledge that because they're awesome. Yes, now we are.
Speaker 3 (55:59):
Arthur was off.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
Yes, my final thoughts and I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Arthur, she interrupted you I interrupt.
Speaker 3 (56:06):
I didn't really have much to say.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Oh, that's right, you just were agreeing with us. Yeah,
I just I felt like maybe I cut you off
a little at the end, but I got I just it.
Speaker 1 (56:17):
Just I felt like you cat. I felt like you did.
Speaker 3 (56:22):
With the cat. I'm happy right now her cat.
Speaker 1 (56:26):
And you know what, He's not gonna want you to
put him down. He's gonna want you to keep holding
him and keep holding him because now he's asleep, and
now your job is to beat his bed and remain
comfortable and maybe feed him chicken.
Speaker 2 (56:39):
That's a show. Thanks for listening to that.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
We should finish the show.
Speaker 2 (56:46):
I mean, I was trying to let you come back
to it, but you're just getting into family time.
Speaker 1 (56:50):
So that's our show, and that's our show. Thanks for listening,
Thanks for keeping us in the good pods. Top one hundred.
Thanks for the beating.
Speaker 3 (56:59):
Hey, that's family plot.
Speaker 2 (57:02):
Absolutely, that's the family plot.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
Thanks for being members of the fan. Thanks to Blue, Lexi,
Laura and Arthur's come we do miss you Blue.
Speaker 2 (57:22):
Friends.
Speaker 1 (57:23):
I've been sending it to him so he does get it.
Every week.
Speaker 2 (57:27):
You were saying something and I interrupted you again, but
it was it took that long for it to get
to my ears. Come on, say something to your brother.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
He says, he'll see you later. Blue ky pooky.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
No, you have to cut that out now. He won't
share it with anybody. You said, blooky pooky.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
I've heard him call him.
Speaker 3 (57:49):
That, you pooky. It's weird hearing dad say it because
he always situates the pooky.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
Because he's dad and pooh, he's twelve.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
Your job is to net is now, is to be comfortable,
and he thinks you are failing, all right, So cutting
out the blue kypooky. Thanks to Bill that is Bill
Barrant b E h R E N d T, the
guy that does our theme music. If you need music
for a project of any kind, Bill's your guy, Bill
Barrant at SBC global dot net. Thanks to Paige Elmore
(58:24):
of the Reverie Crime Pod, who has combined her own
love of Canva with our own Arthur's artwork to create
some logo art for us. Thank you, Paige, Thank you.
Thanks to Aaron Ginerk of The Big Dumb Fun Show,
who continues to promote us locally. Join us next week
as we continue this early leap into spooky season to
(58:46):
discuss American Catacombs in New York and the Old North
Church crypt in I believe it's Boston. Bye,
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