READER REPORT FROM ROBERT MOORHOUSE:
I live in South Florida now and am 51 years old. During my teen years in the mid-1970s, however, my high school buddies and I used to go to see "The Light" on a desolate road in a swampy area just 100 yards north of and parallel to Interstate 10, off the Ramah Maringouin exit, between Lafayette and Baton Rouge. My older brother and his friends used to go there, too, in the late 1960s.
The road itself was scary, and difficult to negotiate. Here's a recurring theme: You guessed it - the road was once the site of railroad tracks. Old railroad trestles were still there at the time, and one could cross them, carefully, by driving across a few strategically placed planks of lumber.
There were three bridges to be crossed, and then a fourth, which was burned in half. Beyond the burned bridge, which was totally impassable, the road continued into a thick canopy of trees. Sometimes the light appeared in that area.
The standard method of viewing the light was to drive to the burned bridge, turn the car around, and park, facing the beginning of the road. Usually a wait was involved, typically 10 to 15 minutes.
Most often, the light would appear far away, near the road's beginning. It would look much like a single auto headlight or a strong flashlight, but would pulsate, grow brighter and dimmer, and swing back and forth like a pendulum. It would often go out for a few minutes, then return, closer and brighter, continuing to come closer with a swinging motion. Then it would go out again, only to return again, even closer, scaring the hell out of us each time it reappeared.
Sometimes we'd see another car of thrill-seekers pull onto the road. We'd see their far-off headlights and orange parking lights bouncing along the bumpy, dusty road and negotiating those dangerous bridges. The car would get closer, to within about a quarter mile, and then the headlights and parking lights would either separate left and right, or ascend into the sky about 20 feet or so while gradually disappearing.
Very weird!
The light would put on spectacular shows for those who were eager to see it, but would not show up if skeptics were present. I was eager, as I had heard my brother's friends talk about The Light when I was a kid. On my first visit, the entire area around our car lit up - even the inside of our car was illuminated. Totally bathed in light, there were no shadows for about 10 seconds. Bright white light.
Locals in this very rural area were very standoffish, not wanting to discuss the light. But a friend, Andy, spoke to an older African-American woman once who told him that she and her siblings used to go out to see The Light when they were kids.
Two years ago, I went back to Louisiana for the first time in 25 years and took the attached photo of the beginning of the road, which is now gated.
I feel now as I felt way back then: both privileged and "creeped out" to have seen this ghostly, otherworldly phenomenon on many, many occasions.
