Maple Lake Lights - Springs, Illinois

Maple Lake is a man-made body of water roughly half a mile in width. With its wide, curving shores and tranquil waters, it is a deceptively peaceful place. Over the years, Maple Lake has acquired a reputation for the unusual. Visitors have reported seeing strange lights hovering over the lake, and there have been at least two homicides and four drownings there. Stories of strange lights have circulated for decades. “An inexplicable red glow has been seen oozing around the shoreline, between the trees and above the sand,” ChicagoTribune reporter Howard Reich wrote in a feature story on Halloween 1980. This “oozing” glow was later described as small and was said to hover in the one particular location in the middle of the lake. According to most contemporary accounts, the spook light is most often visible from the Maple Lake Overlook along 95th Street between 10:30pm and 12am. Onlookers report that the red light shines brightly for a few precious moments before it disappears.