Hornet Spook Light - Near Joplin, Missouri

Since the 1860s, an old road near the Oklahoma border has been the scene of one of America’s most famous spook lights. The Hornet Spook Light, as it is known, appears in an area called the Devil’s Promenade. The light, which rushes, bobs, and weaves down the road, is described as being bright, hot, and about the size of a basketball. In the 1950s, a reporter who witnessed the light described it as a diffused, orange glow. Hundreds of people have seen the light. It has been photographed and investigated by scientists, but so far no one has been able to explain what it is. According to legend, however, the light belongs to the ghost of an old miner whose children were kidnapped by Indians in the early 1800s. He set off into the Devil’s Promenade with a lantern to search for them and never returned. Others say the light is the spirit of an Osage Indian chief. The Hornet Spook Light became so famous that a small museum was once dedicated to it.