Wednesday, February 1, 2023

The Spooklight in Hornet, Missouri just is a superior mirage from car headlights on Route 66

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some writers like to tell us tall tales. Their breathless stories are about unexplainable strange things rather than well-understood phenomena. There is an article by Amy Bizzarri at BBC Travel on October 7, 2022 titled Route 66’s glowing mystery orb. But then it was clearly explained by Brian Dunning at Skeptoid on November 29, 2022 in a second article titled Illuminating the Hornet Spooklight.

 

Mr. Dunning also links to a third article by Ron Warnick at Route 66 News on December 17, 2018 explaining that the Spook Light legend was debunked more than 70 years ago. As shown above, it just is a superior mirage – from colder air above a river bending images as car headlights go around a curve.

 

Both Amy and Brian’s articles link to an article in Popular Mechanics magazine by Robert Gannon from back in September 1965, on pages 116 to 119, 207, 208, and 211. To me it’s a compelling explanation, but Amy just says her witness somehow disagreed.

 

The image of a superior mirage was cropped from this one by Ludovica Lorenzelli at Wikimedia Commons.

 


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