Greetings from the "Ghost Road"

So after spending a great weekend at my buddy Jay's house in Conroe, Texas, I decided to take a little "side trip" on my way home. I try to do this type of thing as often as possible when time permits. I always keep a big fold-out state map with me for wherever I happen to be traveling for just this reason. Not sure if anyone really uses these things anymore, but they are worth their weight in gold to me. I'm like a kid in a candy store when faced with the opportunity to explore new backroads! The "skinnier" the line on the map, the more interested I am. In addition, usually the more rural the road, the more digits in its designation. So if I see highway 1416 on a map (which is one of the highways I took on this trip) I go for it. They are usually much more scenic than say….I-10. I try to stay away from Interstates when I travel as they usually don't have the type of scenery you can find on a windy stretch of backroad. Plus life moves way too fast. There is one exception though; the stretch of I-70 from the Colorado/Utah state line to Denver. It's like driving through a postcard and is absolutely beautiful. Getting back on track here, before I left Jay's driveway I studied the map and picked out some good looking roads that had me zig-zagging north, to east, to south, to east, to north, etc. Looks like I was plotting a way to lose the cops. Of course, I always keep an open mind when I get to intersections. Do I really feel like going straight…or maybe I should go left…sometimes I just pull over to the side of the road and decide from there. And I LOVE every minute of it. If I had a nickel for every time I've done that I could have one hell of a collection of Pez dispensers. The weather didn't totally cooperate for me to take pics along the way, but I thoroughly enjoyed cruising down the hilly backroads, passing everything from big beautiful farms to abandoned businesses in small towns, to "ghost farms", to old cars, to some 9 year old kids who looked like they were gonna throw their beer bottles at me. Yeah, I come across some characters when I'm out in the country. So one of my "on the spot" decisions had me heading southeast on Highway 787 out of Rye, Texas when out of the corner of my eye on the left side I caught a glimpse of a blue sign. As I passed I looked in my review mirror and thought to myself " what the hell is a "evirD cinecS daoR tsohG". Then I remembered I was looking at it in the mirror and had to translate. It said "Ghost Road Scenic Drive". I IMMEDIATELY found a place to turn around and go check it out. The sign describing the details was in rough shape, so I wasn't able to get a whole lot out of it, but I read about its past when I got home (link provided below). What is crazy is a few months ago I had come across this when surfing the web but didn't really pay to much attention to it. And whadda ya know…I "stumbled" upon it by pure luck of the draw. Or was I being "pulled" there by some unknown presence. Maybe a spirit looking for a ride? Didn't matter to me how I got there, I was THERE. And no way in hell I was gonna leave without exploring…unless of course a resident spirit would have made itself known then, well, I would have left screaming like a child and would have stopped to change my underwear later. In a nutshell, this is an 8 mile, straight as an arrow, dirt road that used to be a rail line. There are some legends surrounding its history, one of them being that it is haunted by a brakeman who lost his head in a railroad accident…and there are many stories of the "spook light" that makes an appearance at night…and that this light is said brakeman with a lantern looking for his head. If you search for "Bragg Road Ghost Light" on Google or YouTube you can see "actual" photos and videos, as well as numerous stories of those who have seen it. I had read a little about the light when I came across the information months ago so I wasn't totally oblivious to what this was about. I watch Ghost Adventures and I'm somewhat of a skeptic, although not closed minded about the paranormal stuff. So while I knew I was taking a chance of perhaps seeing something by taking this drive, I absolutely had to do it. None of the stories I've read ever has any activity taking place in daylight, although I'm sure if I searched more I could probably find something. One kinda crazy thing did happen though. I took my phone out to take a picture of the sign and road to upload to Facebook. I opened up my camera app and held the phone up, framed the picture, went to hit the button to snap it…and the phone shut off completely. No warning, no "powering down". Just kaput. So then I got a little nervous. Was this a warning from Mr. headless brakeman? So the phone fired back up and I took a pic and uploaded to Facebook. I took a few snaps with the camera, got in the truck and started driving. Every so often there were signs that people had been camping back there as well as some hunting trailers. There were also some pullouts with information, but those were in bad shape too and barely readable. I stopped every so often to take some pics…and I was kinda hoping I'd find something in them that I didn't see. But to no avail. It is a dirt and gravel road that I would not drive down after a big rain unless I had a 4x4. I drove the 8 miles where the other end of the road intersects another highway, then turned around and drove back down it the other way. When I got to the other end, I was kinda disappointed that I didn't see anything paranormal…although you can bet if I had I would have completely freaked. Some of the stories I've read since I got home have told tales of cars shutting off and having trouble starting again when the light is around. Let me tell you…had this happened to me…I would have ran, full sprint with soiled pants, all the way back to Abita and called a freakin tow truck. I'd have instructed them to bring that possessed truck right to the nearest river and dump it in. Well, after leaving there I drove up and down some more roads till I finally got back to the interstate just before dark for the last leg of the drive home. Even though I didn't get too many picture opportunities, the drive itself was very satisfying…unlike that BCS championship game. That was much scarier than anything I saw on the Ghost Road.

The road is about 50 miles northwest of Beaumont, Texas along Hwy 787 between Saratoga and Rye, Texas.

I've found that the road goes by a few different names; Hardin County Ghost Road, Bragg Ghost Road, etc. But if you Google either one of those names you will get the same information. Here is a link to information and pictures on the Texas Escapes website: http://www.texasescapes.com/DEPARTMENTS/Guest_Columnists/East_Texas_all_things_historical/GhostRoad1BB901.htm

At the bottom of the page there are a few other links to more information within the site.

The Texas Escapes website itself has extensive information for anyone who wants to see interesting things, including ghost towns, in Texas.

There are other places where "spook lights" are known to exist. They are the Marfa lights in Texas and the Joplin spook lights near Joplin, Missouri. Google those too if you want to get some info.

Well that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed my lil adventure, and I also hope you GET OUT THERE AND EXPLORE!