Hornet Light

Twelve miles southwest of Joplin, Missouri, an obscure paved road runs through a open patch of countryside. This nearly forgotten track runs across the Oklahoma border but is only about four miles long. Nearby is the former border village of Hornet, and close to that is the site of what once was a spook light museum. The place is remote and far from civilization, so why do so many people come here?

They are searching for an unexplained enigma, a puzzle that most of them actually seem to find. It has been seen along this road since 1866 and has created such a mystery that even the Army Corps of Engineers officially concluded that it was a "mysterious light of unknown origin". It has gone by many names as it has made it's appearances here in a place called the "Devil's Promenade", but it's most commonly known as the Hornet Spook Light.

This light has appeared seemingly as a ball of fire for almost 140 years, varying in size from a basketball to larger. It spins down the center of this gravel road at great speed, rises up high, bobs and weaves to the right and left. It appears to be a large lantern, but there is never anyone carrying it. The light has appeared inside of vehicles, seems to retreat when it is pursued and never allows anyone to get to close to it. Does the light have some sort of intelligence? That remains just one of the many mysteries connected to this light.

No one has ever been injured by the light but many claim to have been frightened by it while walking down this road at night. Sometimes it just seems to come from nowhere and a few witnesses claim they have felt the heat from it as it passed close by them. Occasionally, some observer will even take a shot or two at the light, like Franklin Rossman, who lived near the Devil’s Promenade for years. He twice attempted to shoot the light with a “30-30” rifle but the shots had no effect whatsoever. He told an investigator to the site that he was unable to judge the distance to the light as it had such an odd look to it.



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