Light of Saratoga
Encyclopedia
The "Light of Saratoga" is a legend located in the Big Thicket
Big Thicket
The Big Thicket is the name of a heavily forested area in Southeast Texas. While no exact boundaries exist, the area occupies much of Hardin County, Liberty, Tyler, San Jacinto, and Polk Counties and is roughly bounded by the San Jacinto River, Neches River, and Pine Island Bayou. To the north, it...

 of Southeast Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. This legend of a mysterious light is also known as the "Ghost Road" of Saratoga, the "Saratoga Light", and "Bragg Road Ghost Light" by local residents. Located on a dirt road, it is a light that may appear and disappear at random during the dark of night without explanation.

Witness observations

The strange light is often described as changing from yellow to white, and sometimes appearing red as it may approach the observer. Some witnesses have observed that the light will sway back-and-forth, as if someone were carrying a lantern and walking. Another common attribute given to the strange light is its unpredictable nature. Some eyewitnesses have attempted to follow or approach the light with no success. However, there are some that claim that the light has actually followed or entered their vehicle while traveling the dirt road at night.

There are different beliefs as far as what the ghostly light could be, such as swamp gas and similar natural occurrences. The most popular story surrounding this legend is that a railroad worker was decapitated in a railway accident, and the light is that of his lantern as his ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...

 searches endlessly for his head.

A similar phenomenon known as the Paulding Light
Paulding Light
The Paulding Light is a light that appears in a valley that lies outside of Paulding, Michigan. Reports of the light have appeared since the 1960s, with popular folklore providing such explanations as ghosts, geologic activity, or swamp gas...

 can be observed in Michigan's Upper Peninsula just north of Watersmeet. Coincidently, the same story of a headless railroad conductor also is offered as the explanation for this mysterious light.

Geography

Located in Texas between Beaumont and Livingston, approximately 16 miles west of Kountze, Texas
Kountze, Texas
Kountze is a city in Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,115 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hardin County. The city is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area....

. The dirt road runs north-south starting at the south end at a bend on Farm-to-Market Road 787 that is 1.7 miles north of the intersection of FM 787-770, near Saratoga
Saratoga, Texas
Saratoga is an unincorporated community in Hardin County, Texas, United States. It is located thirty-eight miles northwest of Beaumont. The zip code is 77585.Saratoga is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area....

 and ending at the north end at Farm-to-Market Road 1293 near the ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 of Bragg Station
Bragg, Texas
Bragg is a ghost town in Hardin County, Texas, United States, in the Big Thicket forest area of the southeastern part of the state. Sometimes referred to as "Bragg Station", this small community that flourished in the early 1900s lies ten miles west of Kountze....

.

History

In 1902, Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway
The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in eastern Texas and to Purcell, Oklahoma.- Nineteenth Century :...

hacked a survey line from Bragg to Saratoga, bought right-of-way and opened the Big Thicket forest with a railroad, and the Saratoga train began its daily trips to Beaumont, carrying people, cattle, oil and logs. When the area's oil booms and virgin pine gave out, road crews pulled up the rails in 1934, the right-of-way was purchased by the county and the tram road became a county road.

External links

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