From mysterious lights to ghostly apparitions seen in fearsome fog, an unexplainable ball of fire, creatures running into the street to cause accidents: there are terrifying things on the highway and some of these are almost as scary as the speeders. Between Joplin, Missouri and Quapaw, Oklahoma, the Spook Light dances on The Devil’s Promenade. Across the southeastern states, bizarre phenomena occurs on The Devil’s Highway. Finally, an ominous mist and decades mixing truth and lore makes New Jersey’s Shades of Death Road chill-worthy. Don’t worry, we’ll be linking to the adjacent websites where people have shared more details behind these stories so that we don’t scare you too much.
First seen on the Trail of Tears in 1836, but officially documented in 1881, is the “Joplin Spook Light,” also known as the Hornet Light, or Tri-State Spook Light. Since the light is mostly seen from the east, it has gained association with Hornet, Missouri. However, most people are more familiar with Joplin, MO. People claim to see an orange ball of fire dancing and spinning at high speeds, or swinging like a lantern hanging from an unseen hand, rising above the treetops before it disappears. The light appears usually between 10pm and midnight, but not for large crowds or whenever there are loud sounds. There have been a number of explanations for this light, such as balls of gas or reflecting car lights, but these don’t explain all its qualities and they only raise more questions. The only explanation that seems the most likely is that the light is made of electrical atmospheric charges due to the location being on a fault line. Since the rocks below the earth’s surface are shifting, there’s the possibility that they’re creating electrical charges that spark in the air. However, this also hasn’t been proven as the true source of the light.
Of course, there are the “other” kinds of explanations, such as the light appearing after two lovers in a forbidden marriage met their end, or another where the spirit of a man is searching for his wife and children. You’ll find more elaborations on this type of lore here, if you’re feeling so inclined. Otherwise, maybe you’d like to check out this spooky “Spook Light” yourself. If so, travel down I-44 and take exit 4 - Highway 86 South down approximately six miles to Junction Route BB. There, you’ll turn right onto BB Highway and follow until it ends and turn right. After a mile, you’ll find E50 Road, also known as Spooklight Road. According to locals, the darkest and best place to view the light is 1.5 - 2 miles down. This area is also known as the Devil’s Promenade.
If the Devil can have a promenade, of course he gets his own highway. Traveling across the southeastern states is former US 666, only named such for being the 6th designated offshoot of Route 66. Now this is known as Highway 191 and in 2003, renamed US Route 491. Also called “Satan’s Highway” or the “Highway to Hell,” this 200 mile stretch of rugged desert wilderness is unnerving already, aside from any local lore. Through Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, folks have reported seeing a woman in a white dress that asks for help and then vanishes, packs of demon dogs with glowing eyes and jagged teeth, skin-walkers posing as animals and running into the road to cause motorists to crash, UFO sightings, and have claimed to lose their sense of time, only realizing it when they’ve reappeared back on the road days later.
Finally, we head north, all the way to New Jersey’s Shades of Death Road, an isolated highway toward Allamuchy in Warren County. This creepy road travels alongside Jenny Jump State Forest (named after a sad tale about a little girl named Jenny), and passes a haunted lake with mysterious pillars of mist, a phenomena called the Great Meadows Fog. People claim to see the dead walking along the road, footprints appearing by their vehicles when no one is there, and other visions appearing in the fog—often times, different images to people in the same vehicle. The rumors about how the street got its name vary and it’s hard to tell which is true and which is local lore. Some tell stories of different murders that occurred along the road. Some speak about a plague that spread across the town due to the water from the lake. Another and more likely story is about a malaria outbreak that started in 1850. As deaths spread through the town very summer due to the malaria-carrying insects, people grew accustomed to an annual rising death count. For more of these stories, go here.
Whether it be your own scientific exploration of a possible natural phenomena in Missouri, vying to fend off the demon dogs on the Devil’s Highway in Arizona, or discovering what you’ll see in the phantom fog in New Jersey, remember that Interstate Signways made the signs that guided the way. Happy Halloween!