by Colleen Mart

Created on: September 18, 2009   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

The Hornet Spook Light haunts the Devil's Promenade.

For more than 100 years, hundreds of people near Joplin, Missouri have claimed to observe the Hornet Spook Light as it travels along the road that locals have dubbed the Devil's Promenade. In 1946 the Army Corp of Engineers conducted studies of the phenomena, and concluded that it was a "mysterious light of unknown origin." Although photos have been taken, no one has been able to explain this amazing and sometimes frightening spectacle. The photos raise more questions than they answer.

There have been many legends to explain the light. One may have been the inspiration of the song "Running Bear" written by J.P. Richardson, who was killed in the plane crash that took the life of Buddy Holly. This legend tells of a young Indian brave and maiden in a Romeo and Juliet scenario. Another legend tells of a mother, sometimes it's a farmer, with a lantern hunting for their family supposedly stolen by Indians. And yet another legend is very similar to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, wherein a miner was beheaded by Indians and is searching for his head with a lantern. On the flip side of the coin, another legend says it is a beheaded Osage Indian chief looking for his head with a lantern.

People have claimed experiences with this strange light that range from a feeling of heat radiating from the object when it is next to a person, all the way to having a piece of bread taken from one's hand. There is also a claim of people seeing a Sasquatch like creature in the area of the Devil's Promenade. Whatever legend you choose to believe, it is a fact that something exists on the lonely roads where the three corners of Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas come together. Something that has been seen by hundreds of people and studied by scientists and government agencies.

My own experience with the Hornet Spook Light was rather mundane compared to some of the others that have been claimed. In 1972, my husband, I and another couple made our way to the road where the Spook Light had been reportedly seen. We were told that the light would appear if no one turned on their headlights, honked their horn or made any other noise. That seemed to be an impossible task since when we turned onto the road at nearly 11:00 pm, there were probably more than twenty cars parked on the sides of the road. We sat in the car and put the windows down to enjoy the warm spring night, as most other cars must have done, and waited. After waiting nearly 30 minutes

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