HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
An unexplained light that has floated above an abandoned railroad bed outside Gurdon, Arkansas, since at least the 1930s
Gurdon Light Trail, off AR-53 near Sticky Road, Gurdon, AR 71743
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No admission fee; the site is an unimproved former rail corridor reached by a roughly 2-mile walk from the trailhead.
Access
Limited Access
Level but unimproved former railroad bed, gravel and dirt, crossing several old trestle bridges; can be muddy after rain
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1931 · Site of the December 1931 killing of railroad foreman William McClain · Missouri Pacific rail corridor through Clark County, Arkansas
Gurdon sits in Clark County, about 85 miles south of Little Rock, and grew through the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a stop on the Missouri Pacific railroad, built on the timber trade that shaped much of south Arkansas. The rail line running west out of town became the setting for the area's best-known piece of folklore.
In December 1931, William McClain, a Missouri Pacific section foreman, argued with one of his crew, Louis McBride, over how many days McBride was being allowed to work. The dispute turned violent: McBride struck McClain and beat him to death with a tool from the rail crew's equipment. McBride confessed and was later executed for the killing, according to Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Sightings of an unexplained light along the rail bed near where McClain died are said to date to shortly after the killing, and locals connected the two from early on, treating the light as McClain's lantern still searching the tracks. A second, older story tells of a railroad brakeman decapitated in an accident on the same line, his ghost searching for his head — a variant some tellers prefer to the McClain story.
The rails themselves were pulled up decades ago, leaving a walkable bed through the woods. The Missouri Pacific right-of-way is not developed for tourism, but the walk to the reported sighting area has become a well-worn local tradition, particularly around Halloween.
Sources
Witnesses describe the Gurdon Light as a small glow that appears along the old rail bed, sometimes staying still and sometimes moving toward or away from observers, most commonly reported between the fifth and sixth trestle about two miles down the corridor from the trailhead. Two competing origin stories circulate locally: the more specific one ties it to William McClain, the railroad foreman beaten to death near the tracks in December 1931, and holds that the light is his lantern, still out checking the line. An older, vaguer version involves a brakeman decapitated in a railroad accident, doomed to search for his head.
The light drew national attention when NBC's Unsolved Mysteries filmed a segment recreating the McClain killing and documenting the phenomenon, which aired December 16, 1994. Skeptics have offered several explanations over the years — headlights reflecting off Interstate 30, swamp gas, or electrical discharge from underground quartz pressure — but locals point out that sightings were reported for decades before I-30 was built in the 1970s, and that the light appears regardless of weather, which cuts against the swamp-gas theory.
What's actually out there remains unresolved. The Gurdon Light has never been captured on film or instrument in a way that has settled the question either way, and the walk to see it has become a Clark County tradition independent of whether anyone believes the ghost story behind it.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A roughly 2-mile round trip down the old Missouri Pacific rail bed outside Gurdon, where the light is most often reported between the fifth and sixth trestle. The rails have been removed, leaving a level gravel bed that's walkable even after dark, though a flashlight and sturdy shoes are recommended.
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