The Joplin Spooklight

Shining a light on one of Joplin’s spookiest phenomenons

Article and original photographs by Curtis Almeter

The air was heavy and the sounds of frogs, crickets and other miscellaneous Midwestern insects filled in the otherwise quiet summer evening.

I looked at my watch … 10:30 p.m. It’d been a good hour since I’d pulled off along Stateline Road in Oklahoma. With hopes high, I waited; my eyes scanned the road ahead, camera at the ready.

As a natural skeptic, I suspected the only light that would catch anyone off guard tonight would come from the refrigerator as soon as I got home. That said, I wanted to give the famous light the benefit of the doubt.

For decades, the Spooklight phenomenon has been the uniting inspiration for curiosity, fear and underage drinking. Located on the border of Oklahoma and Missouri, approximately 12 miles southwest of Joplin near the small community of Hornet, there is a backwoods area known as Devil’s Promenade. This is the area where the Spooklight is said to call home. Described as a flickering ball of light or fire ranging in size from a caramel apple to a Halloween pumpkin, it spins, hovers, zigzags, and dances down the center of the road like a teenage girl on TikTok.

Ozarks spooklight mystery joplin Postcard — Image courtesy of Larry Wood

The list of Spooklight origins is a long and diverse one. Detailed in Vance Randolph’s “Ozark Magic and Folklore,” it is said to be the ghost of an Osage chief who was murdered somewhere in the wooded area. Another legend talks about a minor who, upon returning home, found his family missing and his cabin burned to the ground by Native Americans. It’s said that he roams the old country road at night with a lantern in his hand, searching for his family.

I’ve heard others say the glow comes from the spirits of two young lovers within the Quapaw Indian tribe – a woman who fell for a young brave despite her father’s wishes. The couple chose to elope, which further angered the bride’s father. Together, the pair held hands and plunged to their death in Spring River after being chased through the forest by a party of warriors at the father’s behest.

In my opinion, the most credible story being passed around suggests the light comes from a lantern held by Satan himself wandering the earth – perhaps looking for a place to relieve himself, which is what I found myself doing more than once while I waited.

The light’s intriguing lore has captured attention from the likes of Popular Mechanics, The Kansas City Star, the U.S. Army and, most notably, The Joplin Toad.

Cherokee Indians were purportedly the first to see the Spooklight while traveling along the infamous Trail of Tears; however, the first written mention of the mysterious light wouldn’t appear until years later by way of an article in the Neosho newspaper in 1935, according to Ozark historian Larry Wood.

In 1946, Kansas City Star reporter Charles Graham enlisted the help of Col. Dennis E. McCunniff, commanding officer in the U.S. Army at Camp Crowder. With a handful of accompanying Army engineers, Graham and McCunniff spent days investigating the area only to contend the mystery lights were simply the result of car headlights on the adjacent Route 66.

Not letting a solid explanation stand in their way, the locals kept the story alive.

One man in particular, Arthur “Spooky” Meadows, wasn’t about to see the legend of the Spooklight go dark. According to locals, Meadows bought some land on the east end of E50 where it meets Stateline Road and founded the Spookville Community Building and Museum. The small museum became a local hangout for teens and

sold merchandise, snacks and novelty items. The main attraction was a fixed telescope aimed westward down what would soon be coined as “Spooklight Road.”

The Spooklight continued to attract more attention, curiosity and presumably a crap-ton of bugs. By the mid 1950s, other local businesses began to embrace the publicity. A general store in the small town of Hornet handed out information about the light to sightseers that included directions to the museum, presumably with the purchase of six or more cans of White Claw.

Spooklight museum joplin Missouri historical — Garland "Spooky" Middleton outside the spooklight museum. Image courtesy of Larry Wood.

In 1965, Popular Mechanics writer Robert Gannon published an article seemingly confirming that the Spooklight was also the result of car headlights commuting along Route 66. Gannon came to his conclusion after conducting a test in which he flashed his headlights on the adjacent 66 highway. Meanwhile, an assistant waited from afar for the predictable flashes like an Elk River beach onlooker during Memorial Day weekend.

Arthur “Spooky” Meadows’ museum remained mildly successful and was eventually sold to his son-in-law Garland Middleton in the 1970s. Middleton, who also inherited the very much on-the-nose moniker “Spooky,” continued to promote and capitalize on the mysterious light until the 1980s, when he passed away. The museum subsequently fell into disrepair and eventually burned to the ground, much like my attempt at humor.

While the mystery light is a seemingly harmless phenomenon, the same can’t be said for some of the people it attracted. In 1962, a Tulsa man decided to take some pot shots at the floating light and was swiftly fined and sentenced to five days in the local slammer. Loitering also became a big problem.

“I’ve had to run people off my property and nearly gotten into fights,” says one local who wishes to remain anonymous.

Another unnamed Devil’s Promenade resident flatly told me “The only way anyone ever sees the Spooklight is through the bottom of an empty bottle.”

spooklight sighting old truck joplin Missouri — photo by Curtis Almeter

It’s now been more than 75 years since the earliest accounts of the Spooklight were published. With “Spooky” Meadows and the Spookville Community Building and Museum long gone and locals less accommodating, enthusiasm for the mysterious light has dimmed. What was once a thrill-seeker’s weekend destination or young couple’s make-out spot is now a paved lane mostly traveled by locals (and the occasional opossum that made me wish I’d brought a change of pants).

As my patience dwindled and the night came to a close, I decided to put away my curiosity and pack up the camera gear. Perhaps one day I will see the elusive orb for myself. As for tonight, I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed –similar to how I imagine my parents often feel.

QUOTES FROM THOSE WHO WERE THERE…

We asked Joplin folks to weigh in with their own experiences. Here are some of their stories:

Kolourz Voss: I have definitely seen it. The odd part was the way it seemed to bounce over the car, at which time something left an actual dent in the roof of the vehicle.

Caleb Paxton: saw it once. Wasn’t spooky at all. 0 out of 5 stars.

Sarah Eidson: When I was a little girl i remember it going over the back of our car window.

Looking back now I wonder if one of my brothers tricked me

Emily Lansford: I’ve seen the spook light twice. Both times the light looked very different. Both times I turned to my partner to confirm they were seeing it too. Both times I freaked out and got the heck out of there.

Ryan Scheuermann:

I was a college student at OCC in a car with 4 others. We saw it from a distance and before we knew it , it was on the hood of the car. I went from making fun of it to nearly pissing my pants.

Sue Davidson: I saw it two different times years ago. Both close encounters Other times I think it was there but not close enough to be sure.

Raye Frehrer: About 45 years ago, a few of my college friends and I decided to make a trip to the Spook Light with my younger siblings. That ‘ole light didn’t show up for us so a couple of friends decided to spook with their own “spook” torch light. That was a Bad idea. Let’s just say “Mother knows best!”

A few years later, in the middle of the night, I was driving back from a visit to Shepherd of the Hills in Branson with a cousin and a different couple of siblings in the back seat of my old Chevy Impala when I noticed a light to my right shining on the hood. As we were on an old, country, dirt road, I at first wondered if someone was out working their field in the middle of the night. Nope! There was no one out!

Then I saw it. It appeared to be a hovering light. For a couple of miles, a large spherical ball of light traveled close to us, sometimes jumping ahead or behind. Seriously!

I felt freaked out and immediately started praying. When we reached the driveway of my parents’ farm it “lightspeed” warped away to the East and North, I pulled into the driveway and waited for my heartrate to slow back to normal. It did and I am here today to tell you this true story.

This was not at the exact Spook Light site, but a few miles away.

image of spooklight sighting — photo by Larry Wood

Michael Soderstrom: I saw it with my kids and have a video!

Josh Carroll- I have seen it and it is absolutely unexplainable. A surreal experience for sure. It moved so freely... it's quite odd!

Johanna Hall

It was 2006, my boyfriend and I were deciding what to do on a Saturday night. When you’re 17and trying to make plans for the weekend in southwest Missouri, your options for

entertainment are limited.

My boyfriend asked me if I had ever seen the spooklight. I was a bit nervous, but was willing tocheck out the local urban legend.

We drove to the site, parked his truck on the side of the road with only his park lights on and

jumped in the back to sit on his toolbox. We waited with the other spectators lined along the

side of the road, in hopes of seeing the infamous spooklight.

Within 20 minutes of sitting in the hot summer evening, a light appeared. It wasn’t bright, but

an orb with a soft orange glow. It started to come toward our direction and increased its speed

as it became closer to us. It came right to our faces and disappeared.

Both in disbelief of what just occurred, we immediately jumped out of the truck bed, got into

the cab and left. To this day, I vividly remember this occurrence, and that was 15 years ago.

The Joplin Spooklight