Some say a lost soul roams the hills northwest of Anson; others believe it’s a ghost swinging a lantern back and forth. Skeptics say it’s an unremarkable phenomenon easily explained by logic – but the only thing certain about a mysterious light in the sky near Anson, Texas, is no one is certain.
Anson, a town of 2,500 located about 30 miles north of Abilene, sits at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 83 and U.S. Highway 180. The city may first appear to fit every stereotype of a small Texas town. The town square surrounding the 20th century red-brick courthouse lost half its tenants long ago. Red dirt and small trees dominate the landscape.
But a light dancing across the sky northwest of town makes this sleepy West Texas town anything but ordinary.
The Mystery
“The first time I was there I saw a mysterious light bobbing in the sky along the road,” said Vince Somoza of Anson. “Some people think it’s a ghost, but personally, I don’t think that’s what it is. I don’t believe in spirits.”
Somoza works at the 7-Eleven on Highway 277 just north of town. He said visitors, especially college students, often come into the store looking for directions to the light. Somoza said he thinks the light comes from a barn north of town, but his theory is one of many.
“Legend has it, the light is the spirit of a mother out searching for her lost children at night,” Somoza said. “The light is her lantern.”
Visitors to the lights can only view them from a desolate dirt road west of town. Scraggly mesquite trees and waist-high grass line both sides of the road, which runs parallel to Anson’s Mount Hope Cemetery. A faint glow from the city lights of Anson provides the only reminder of civilization in this remote location.
Visitors must travel south down the bumpy dirt road then turn around to face north because the light cannot be seen from the highway. The light seems to rise from the horizon and sway back and forth. It appears and then disappears.
The Adventure
Kayla Avery does not believe in ghosts or spirits. However, the sophomore psychology major from Longview is still fascinated by the light and the adventure that comes with the trip to Anson. She said she has been to see the light several times, even though she believes the light has some sort of explanation.
“We were told to turn the car around and flash the headlights three times to make the light appear,” Avery said. “What we saw looked like a light swinging back and forth across the end of the road. It was eerie. There are lots of trees around and it is really dark, but there is nothing to be afraid of.”
She believes the light is nothing more than a flashing traffic light in the distance. However, not everyone who searches sees the light, further complicating the mystery.
Margaret Moore, junior youth and family ministry and secondary education major from Houston, visited Anson with three of her friends in search of the mystery last year, but she didn’t see anything. Moore said she had heard about the light and wanted to investigate for herself.
“I had heard that the lights shifted across the street like a swinging lantern that swayed back and forth,” Moore said. “But it was funny because we didn’t see anything. One person in the car was freaking out which made me nervous. It is in the middle of nowhere and you still become paranoid thinking about mysterious things.”
Moore said she finds the idea of ghosts illogical, but she still wonders what the light could be. She thinks the glow is caused by car headlights on a nearby road, but she’s not sure.
While the light itself may be an unsolved mystery, some people find the experience itself more thrilling than the idea of a “ghost light.” Suzi Summers, sophomore elementary education major from Mesquite, said she thinks the light is an optical illusion of some sort. Summers said her biggest fear when visiting the light was mischief from other people – not ghosts.
“It was fun, but it was kind of freaky at the same time. You just see these little bouncing lights. It was dark and we had to turn off the headlights, and you felt like something might pop out,” Summers said. “People like to scare people to get a reaction. But it seems kind of dangerous if you have people pop out with cars. It’s a bad idea.”
Despite fears that the area is dangerous, Anson Police Chief Barrett Thomas said the area is perfectly safe. He said deputies from the Jones County Sheriff’s department frequently patrol the area because they know the light is a popular destination for area students. Thomas said as long as students stay on the road and off private property they will be fine.
“We have students from all three Abilene universities come out all the time,” Thomas said. “We love to have them out here; we’re happy to have them. It’s perfectly safe.”
The Unsolved Phenomenon
For visitors to the Anson lights like Avery, Moore and Summers, the adventure is what provides the excitement – not a hope to see something paranormal. For Anson residents like Somoza and Chief Thomas the Anson lights serve as a magnet, bringing visitors to the town. They all have two things in common: They don’t think the lights are paranormal and they believe the lights are explainable. But even so, the Anson lights remain a mystery.
The mystery of the lights, the short trip to Anson and the spookiness of the location of the light itself make the trip a popular venture – even for skeptics.
