Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 13:15:28 -0800 (PST)
To: stories@ghosts.org
yourname John Robinson
email hollywood7301@yahoo.com
I read the posted story regarding the Anson Lights and I can verify that they exist-I've seen them quite a few times firsthand. For those who aren't familiar with the largely empty area that is refered to as West Texas, Anson is a small town, the kind who's only claim to fame is the fact that dancing (yes, dancing) is against the law there. Anson sits about twenty miles north of the town of Abilene, a city home to three colleges and Dyess AFB. I had the dubious distinction of being a resident of Abilene for six years while attending college there at ACU. As a young college kid, I soon heard about the infamous "Anson Lights" and so a few friends and I made the trip out to Anson one Friday night.
We got to the calieche (that's "dirt" in west Texas) road turnoff and proceeded down to the intersection, turned around, killed the headlights and engines of our cars, and looked around for ANYTHING that could be construed as a "supernatural" light. We didn't see anything, so we flashed our headlights three times and waited. After a few seconds, a light began to feebly glow a ways down the road. It appeared to be orangish, looking very similar to an arc-sodium streetlamp or such viewed at at distance. After a bit of time, the color gradually changed to a bluish hue-similar to the xenon headlamps in some cars. After a bit more time had passed, the light-which appeared to be anywhere from 200 yards to a half-mile away-slowly faded out. We wondered if we could bring it back if we flashed our lights at it again, and sure enough, when we did, it gradually reappeared. Shortly after that, the Anson Police Department-who are the finest collection of ignorant rednecks to wear a badge-appeared and stated that it would behoove us to leave. ...So we did.
I went back to see the Anson lights many times while I was in college-sometimes with friends, sometimes with a date (hey-it's a weak excuse, but it works), and I have seen the lights EVERY time I have "called" them with my headlights. I say "lights" because, on different occasions, I have seen them split into two or three distinct, different lights, gone through every visible color in the spectrum, and move-sometimes hanging there, sometimes swaying back and forth, and (only once) jumping around like a cat set on fire.
If you'd like to see the lights for yourself, take I-20 west from Dallas-Ft. Worth approx. 160 miles to Abilene. Once you reach Abilene, take State Highway 277 North 20 miles to Anson. Be mindful that the local cops STRICTLY ENFORCE the speed limits-trust me. At the first stoplight, there is an Allsup's or Chevron or some such other quickie mart. Hang a right at the stoplight. Continue down this road for a couple of miles until you see a cemetary off to your right. There is a calieche road that borders the cemetary on the WEST SIDE. If you pass the cemetary on the paved road, you've gone too far. Turn off the paved road onto this calieche road. Travel down this calieche road until you reach the first intersection of another calieche road. Turn your car around so you face back the way you came, kill the lights and the engine, and wait a minute or so-this being so the dust trail you raised coming down the road will have time to settle. Then, flash your headlights on/off three times, and enjoy the (as it were) show.
If unsure about the methods, feel free to ask any local college student in Abilene-Abilene Christian University, McMurry University, and Hardin-Simmons University are all based in Abilene.
This page (http://www.ghosts.org/ghostlights/ansonlights3.html) last updated September 26, 2005.