Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Ghost Road
From: michael.blackmon@woodybbs.com (Michael Blackmon)
Date: Wed, 24 May 95 03:58:00 -0500
Hi, I thought some of you might be interested in this article that was in the Palestine Herald Press today:
TOWN URGES TIMBER CUTTERS TO NOT CUT TIMBER ON HAUNTED ROAD
HOUSTON (AP) - The east Texas town of Saratoga is once again up in arms over salesmen who want to cut and sell timber from haunted Ghost Road.
But residents want nothing to spoil the spirit world they claim haunts the eight-mile sandy path that seems more like a tunnel with its thick canopy of trees and other foliage.
For the fifth time in the last 30 years, Hardin County commissioners have moved to sell the timber, which could add between $60,000 and $100,000 to county coffers. And for the fifth time residents have objected to removing any of the roadside timber that provides the spooky ambience.
Hardin County Judge Tom Mayfield has named a committee to hold open hearings and decide on a compromise regarding the road, which has been pictured in National Geographic magazine and on Japanese television.
Officially known as Bragg Road, the strip runs straight as a rifle shot from Farm-To-Market Road 787 northwest of Saratoga to Farm-To-Market Road 1293 at the town of Bragg. Saratoga is about 60 miles northeast of Houston.
For decades, visitors to Ghost Road have reported seeing a floating ball of light that varies from softball- to basketball-size. Some say the light dances throught the trees, floats along the roadway and sometimes skims above cars.
Local legend says the light comes from the lantern carried by the ghost of a train brakeman beheaded in a long-ago accident, or perhaps it is the spirit of a murdered railroad worker.
Others say the light is caused by swamp gas or the refraction of car headlights from the highway at the south end of the road.
Whatever the reason, the road has long been a popular visiting spot for teenagers.
"I never saw the light myself," says Keith Nugent, 38, who lives along the road. "But I know some mighty reputable people who say they've seen it."
Like many others, Nugent fears that cutting the timber will destroy the road's character.
Counters Judge Mayfield: "It's changing anyway."
This page (http://www.ghosts.org/ghostlights/ghostroad.html) last updated April 4, 2006.