Ottawa County Spook Lights

For more than a century, residents and visitors to Ohio’s Ottawa County have witnessed unexplained balls of light rushing toward them while parked on rickety old bridges.  Many know the phenomenon as the legend of Elmore Ghost Rider… the glowing spirit of a local man who lost his head in a motorcycle accident.

Few understand the larger context behind this legendary story.

Come hear the truth.  Come hear the history of supernatural claims which pre-date the alleged ghost rider tale.  

Something’s been afoot in Ottawa County long before motorcycles even existed.  Come hear the details for yourself.

If you enjoy this episode, please rate, review and subscribe to Ohio Folklore on your chosen podcast platform.  You can also find Ohio Folklore at:

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And as always, keep wondering… 

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host Melissa Davies. Today, we're exploring an unexplained phenomenon that has persisted in Ohio's Ottawa County for decades, if not centuries. It's a strange occurrence that has spawned folktales with more drama than a daytime soap opera. I'm talking about the Ottawa County spook lights. Many Ottawa County residents claimed to have witnessed yellowish balls of light rushing toward them while parked on rickety bridges in the dead of night. These glowing spheres are disembodied, and attached to any object in the physical world. The name spook lights sounds like it was trumped up by some bored teenagers nothing to do on a Saturday night, right. Wherever the name came from, this phenomenon is well known to locals. Let's take a listen to some audio from a YouTube video called spook light between Oak Harbor and Elmore, Ohio. The 2013 video starts with a mother and her daughter filming a group of spherical lights in the darkness. Smaller lights soon dissipate, leaving one central hovering ball. The description states that this video was captured from a bridge spanning Indian Creek on slimmer Portage Brode I'll post a link to the video on Ohio folklorists website but for now take a listen to the wonder and this young girl's voice there's like oh my god oh my god you're in the road watching or watching and I and I get up there with the staff side it's gonna go oh my god. Thomas gone the only light is so free on its face, these claims are easy to dismiss. I mean, think about the outrageous postings you come across in your Facebook feed. We know anyone can claim just about anything, all with the hopes of getting more likes and comments. To get a taste of what I'm describing. Consider another woman's anonymous comments posted on another YouTube video about this legendary phenomenon and August 2019. She her young son and his friend all claimed to have witnessed a strange light outside Elmore, Ohio. As we'll come to learn the small town of Elmore is at the epicenter of this legend, and locals have attributed the disembodied lights to the ghost of a headless motorcyclist dubbed the Elmore Ghost Rider. Supposedly, this ghost can be summoned by turning off your car, honking the horn three times and flashing the lights three times. But more on that later. Let's hear the account as this anonymous poster describes her account reads. One day I had a young boy and my son in the car heading from Fremont back to Genoa. We stopped at the crossroad and the boy wanted to see the headless motorcyclist as he didn't believe it. I hopped three times and did my lights three times and then turn left to go home. It was about 11:30pm Suddenly, a great big yellow ball of light caught up to our car in an unimaginable speed from the bridge and chased us until it overtook the car. The light filled our car so that I couldn't see to drive. The boy was screaming and crying. I was so afraid to stop the car with that thing surrounding us but had no choice. Once I stopped and said Jesus help us the light dissipated. I will never do that again. Great story right? I mean, this account has a few entertaining elements. There's the plan to have a little fun scaring your son and his friend. Then the story twists when the adult herself gets overwhelmed and bested by the phenomenon, lighting the car up so bright she can't see anything. I'll admit my first impression on hearing these accounts of which there are many is incredulous. They sound like entertaining stories and nothing more. However, as is the case with most every Ohio folklore story, I found that this subject has a far deeper and wider reach than I could have ever anticipated. These glowing spheres of light which allegedly frequent old bridges in Ottawa County, predate the existence of social media. They predate the existence of the internet and the automobile for that matter. A review of historical records reveals that something unexplainable has been enthralling residents and paranormal tourists alike down lonely dusty roads and Ottawa County. Turns out Ohioans have been talking about this subject and theorizing as to its origins for a long, long time. The earliest account I was able to discover dated back to 6518 65. That is, Mr. Dan Schneider, one of Ohio folklores listeners was kind enough to pass along a newspaper article on the account that had been published in the Sandusky register on November 25 1922. It reads Oh carbers Ghostlight used to climb trees back in 65. Free monitor recalls. In regard to the mysterious ghost lights which have been mystifying many persons in the rural district between Oak Harbor and Lindsey for some time passed. JB read 76 well known resident of this city, says the mystery lights are nothing new that existed when he was a boy and resided on a farm near the supposedly haunted spot. Mr. Reid says that many times when he was a lad on the farm, he and the other boys watched the strange light as it traveled about that section of the country for a distance of several miles. But they were never able to solve the mystery and even today he is an ignorance as to the cause. At times, the light would shine so brightly that one could easily read a newspaper he says. Mr. Reid says A short time after the Civil War one night his folks believe the neighbor's barn was on fire, and he quickly jumped to the back of his horse and started for the fire. When he got there, he could find no fire and no light. On his return, the mysterious light showed up again, and his horse was frightened as was he himself. Read said he lost no time and getting home and to safety. Once he and his brothers were in route home from a country spelling school, and suddenly the light appeared beside the road was a large sycamore tree and read as positive the light went up that tree. The light is nothing new in these parts as the older people who have ever resided in this section, we'll remember it. Mr. Reid said that he had been reading so much about it that he thought he would hand out the information for the benefit of the younger generation, who have late had been greatly excited over the strange light and have sought to capture it or at least get close to it. At the time when this article published in 1922 excitement around these mysterious lights chasing locals around Ottawa County was growing to a fever pitch. In an attempt to explain them, this reporter turned to an elder of the community, who stated the phenomenon had been going on since his childhood in the days after the Civil War. One article published in the Sandusky star journal a few months earlier in July of 1922 offered more insights it read the spook light on Lindsey road is still a mystery. No further developments have been reported, which would in any way account for the light source, except the belief that it is the Spirit light of a suicide. Several Autofest have chased the light one reporting that when he drew near, the light burst into little balls of fire. Another has reported that it grew in size and brilliance as he drew nearer, until it fairly dazzled him, and then went out so quickly as to leave the space about his auto and almost total darkness. Neither was able to explain the mystery. The similarities between this auto US account in July of 1922 and our YouTubers claims in August of 2019 is striking. And still more accounts were being reported in the remaining months of 1922. One article offered insights on the suppose it suicide connection. It was an article published in November 1922 in the Sandusky register. It offered more details as to the suppose that ghost a man dead from hanging. By then it had become a public ritual for motorists to go and look for the lights This article reads port Clinton folk have been taking an active interest in the spook light on the Lindsey road five miles southwest of oak Arbor, and eight use from that place were immediately initiated into the mystery of the light. The spirit of a man who hung himself in a hut nearby, which the light is supposed to represent, did not seem to care as long as they watched from a distance, but when they prowled around the bridge, it moved out into a field. The use then began prowling around the abandoned hut and one venture to open the door and throw a light inside. He did not go very far after opening the door for something hit him on the forehead and sent him staggering back to the support of his comrades. What he said in the excitement following is not clearly recalled by the other members of the party. Deputy Sheriff Eugene Karsten was a member of the party, but his experience as a sleuth was not sufficient to solve the mystery. The mysterious lights that locals had known for decades had gained a kind of notoriety in the region at large in the early 1920s. And for perhaps the first time, rural Ottawa County became a destination for Ghost tourism. Groups of outsiders were traveling to hotspots in and around the village of Elmore, Lindsay and Oak Harbor. These tourists became so numerous that law enforcement was accustomed to spotting them. Sometimes they even accompanied them in their search for the lights. The pandemonium grew so large that by October 1924, the Mansfield News Journal published a front page article pleading for people to stop. It chronicled the plight of one migrant farming family from Mexico. They were unfortunate enough to live in a rundown farmhouse located at the center of the sightings. The article explained several automobiles of Toledo ins vainly looking for ghost lights along the lonely road near Elmore Saturday night. Attracted by reports that mystery rays have been seen dancing along the infrequently traverse thoroughfare. The motorists dim their headlights and strain their eyes. A Mexican family is suffering from the series of investigations, occupying a dilapidated farmhouse. The foreigners are being subjected to nightly disturbances on the part of pilgrims who, believing the dwelling has been abandoned, have been throwing stones at the windows. The fact that the head of the family a sugar beet worker sleeps on the floor accounts for his presence in the world today. Someone fired a volley of shots at the old house recently, and one of the bullets whizzed through the glass and over the sleepers head. He and his wife and children unable to speak English have been terrified by the actions of person seeking the so called Ghost slides. These poor people were just trying to make enough income to get by in a world where they didn't speak the language. They became the unwitting targets of hordes of Ghost Hunters eager to catch a glimpse of the supernatural lights. If the reporters at the Mansfield lose journal hope the article would help calm things down. They were mistaken. Accounts of continued sightings would persist into the 1940s and beyond. It was clear this legend with roots as far back as the Civil War era wasn't going anywhere. And this is where I believe the legend of the Elmore ghost writer begins. It's an oral tale first told in the early 1920s meant to explain a phenomenon that had been going on for decades. You may recall that I already mentioned the Elmore ghost writer as it was the focus of our anonymous YouTubers account. Many people on first hearing this legendary story are unaware of its connection to the older and more widespread folklore around the auto county spook lights. As it turns out, this often told and retold narrative grew out of the mystery surrounding the spook lights. I believe the story of the Elmore Ghost Rider is an attempt at explaining something bigger that had been going on for a very long time. No one has ever found historical records that would account for the story's protagonist, an unfortunate man killed in a motorcycle crash that removed his head. And yet, it's a story worth hearing. According to locals from Ottawa County, the tale of the Elmore ghost writer goes something like this A young man from Elmore had spent years overseas fighting in the trenches in France during World War One. For countless nights on the battlefield, he slept in the soaking mud. He didn't think he'd survived the constant shelling, not to mention the rampant disease. But even worse was the despair of watching one friend after another fall. More than a few had leapt up out of the trench against orders and charge the enemy line. They were mowed down like the rest, their corpses left writing in the barren space between the trenches. Our young soldier from Elmore didn't judge them. When he dared to be honest with himself, he'd considered it to. It was a sure way to end his suffering. In an instant. His family would get word that he died at battle, and they'd receive His benefits. It seemed a better way to go than an agonizing death from disease. And yet, our young soldier survived. How you ask, with the only for stronger than fear, stronger than despair, love. On the coldest and most lonely of nights, his thoughts would turn to the woman who promised him she'd be there waiting on his return. They'd marry, buy a house and start a family right there in Northwest Ohio, where they'd grown up together. He kept her photograph in his breast pocket, a reminder that she was his heart, his reason for returning in one piece. And finally, on a cold damp March 21st. Our soldier had made it home to the flattened fields of Ottawa County. He was stunned on receiving discharge orders and was placed on the next ship home when he finally hopped off the train near Elmore. He has to ride to his parents home. He was happy to see them Sure. And of course, they were elated and surprised. He made quick greetings and embraces before apologizing for leaving again so quickly. He found his motorcycle in the barn where he'd left it. After dusting it off, he was relieved to hear it roar to life as he bled out the throttle. In no time he was speeding down county roads he wants thought he would never see again. soon he'd reached slimmer Portage road, the last turn before arriving at the farm where his sweetheart lived with her parents. Before crossing the bridge spanning Wolf Creek, he'd cut the engine and coast the rest of the way. That way, no one would hear him coming. In seconds, he reached the apron that led to a driveway. The gravel crunched under the weight of his tires. The trees parted as he neared the end of the driveway and the farmhouse barn and the rest of the property came into view. His heart was bursting. It pounded with each thump in his ears. She had no idea he'd returned. Never again. Would he be alone, cold and afraid. He stopped a park the motorcycle and let out the kickstand. And just then he thought he heard something. He stilled himself to take a better lesson. Her laughter seemed to bounce around him like a butterfly on the breeze. It was coming from the backyard as lightly as he could wearing army boots. Our soldier crept around the back corner of the garage to surprise her. The surprise was all his she was there all right, and she was laughing, laughing in the arms of another man. The two of them were at a tickling match of sorts, and her back was to our soldier. The other man stopped on seeing him and stepped back. She kept at it not understanding his abrupt halt and attacked his midsection with their wriggling fingers. The other man whipped around by the shoulders to face our heartbroken soldier. The three stood in silence for what felt like a very long time until our soldier finally stated I see and a voice hardly audible. Despite a sweethearts protest, he marched back to his motorcycle, mounted it and slammed on the gas. Her cries for a chance to explain herself never reached his ears as he sped off, trying to outrun his own anguish. In his fury, he turned to sharply on to Slammer Portage road and began fishtailing and the short distance to the bridge he'd lost control completely. perhaps he'd given control over to the fates willingly. He'd seen men die from despair countless times before. And perhaps he chose the only certain way to end it all. Whether by fate, or by will, our soldier crash there at the bridge, losing his head with the force of the impact. And today, if you go there, stop the car on the bridge spanning Wolf Creek on Slammer Portage road. honk your horn three times and flash your lights three times, and you'll see it a single headlight speeding down an old overgrown driveway that leads out onto the roadway. The glowing sphere will make a sharp turn before rushing up onto the bridge and inside your car. The light will envelop you, so bright, it'll blind you before it dissipates, leaving you dark, cold and alone. And in a state of despair, you have never known the story, although it may be a total fiction, carries weights in the hearts and minds of eager Ghost Hunters yet today. Some locals are tired of hearing about it. One article published by port Clinton's news Herald in June 2006. Detailed an incident at yet another local bridge spanning Wolf Creek. This one spans Harris Salem road, the road that parallels Slammer Portage road. Two men from Kansas Yes, Kansas thought they had the right bridge. They had heard tell of the legend of the Elmore ghost writer and had traveled all that distance in hopes of encountering the mysterious light themselves. Like so many others before them, they had no idea they were repeating a ritual that countless tourists had completed for many decades. On this June night, however, they encounter something even more unexpected and threatening than any ghost. The two men both 21 years old, would later tell an Ottawa County Sheriff's deputy the whole story. When they arrived at the bridge in search of the Elmore ghostwriter, they were confronted by a very real man and his shotgun. He parked his pickup truck off the side of the road and approach their vehicle as it was stopped on the bridge. He told them to get the f out of here, they did, taking themselves to the sheriff's office. And still, the ghost hunters come. During the course of my research on this curious phenomenon, I've come to learn that these mysterious sightings of disembodied spheres of light occur in various places around the world. I've come across similar reports from places like Pikes Peak Colorado, rural Scotland, in the Andes mountain range. There have even been accounts of glowing orbs near the site of the pyramids in Egypt. Scientists have been consulted on the phenomenon, especially for locations where the sightings are so numerous. One scientific theory suggests that these spheres of light are due to low lying highly electrified clouds passing overhead. That got me thinking on whether ball lightning could account for these strange occurrences that so many have attributed to supernatural forces. As a scientific phenomenon, experts acknowledge that they can't definitively explain what ball lightning is. As far back as the mid 1600s, there had been written accounts of bright spherical balls of light appearing out of nowhere. But even before written history, ancient cultures in Argentina and Chile have passed down oral legends of these accounts. Although rare, meteorologists acknowledge the existence of ball lightning. It is a rare phenomenon, but one that's been documented in recent times. Just search for ball lightning on YouTube to watch some videos for yourself. More than a dozen scientific theories exist as to just what ball lightning is, and how it works. As of yet, none have been proven. And even more to the point, there's no explanation for how such a thing happens repeatedly in the same location for more than a century. So I guess until the scientific community has some consensus or proven explanation, the phenomenon will remain mysterious as ever. It's just this space, the place between scientific explanation and an awe inspiring wonder where folklore thrives. And for one specific location in Ohio's Ottawa County, locals have kept that folklore alive and flourishing. It's an unending curiosity that's brought people from great distances to catch a glimpse of the unexplainable and anytime we come across a mystery, our minds like to fill the gap with a good story and the early 1920s When the hype around these lights was raging, locals pieced together a heart wrenching tale that survives yet today. Back then, it probably wasn't all too different from the actual realities of Local World War One veterans. Maybe the legend as it's told today, is an amalgamation of local veterans experiences at the time. In any case, an actual man who supposedly lived as the Elmore ghost writer, has never been found in the historical record. As far as I can tell, no one ever died from losing their head in a motorcycle crash in Ottawa County. How, however, maybe the story itself reveals a larger universal truth. That's part of what it means to be human. We all long to find love. For those of us lucky enough to succeed, we are always at risk of losing it for our Elmore, ghost writer. The legend tells us that his love for his sweetheart survived war, disease and despair, only to be destroyed at the sight of his beloved in another's arms. And that is the conundrum we all face. If we dare to love, we dare to lose. And still, most of us dare to love anyway. There's something comforting in the fact that these mysterious lights remain unexplained. They provide a kind of blank canvas for us to project our own thoughts, ideas and spiritual beliefs. The fact that the phenomenon happens worldwide suggests larger forces that we don't yet understand. There's something humbling in the realization that we just don't know everything. Maybe someday, we'll learn the details of the electromagnetic forces that create these remarkable anomalies. Or instead, maybe it'll remain a mystery. I'd prefer the latter myself. Whether these glowing spheres represent the spirits of tortured souls and scorn lovers, we may never know for sure. Why this experience has become associated with lonely roads in Ohio's Ottawa County for more than a century may never be explained. Perhaps we're not meant to know the answer. Perhaps our job is to keep asking the questions. This concludes today's episode on the Ohio County spook lights. I hope you've enjoyed it. If so, please rate review and subscribe to Ohio folklore on your chosen podcast platform. You can also find Ohio folklore at Ohio folklore.com And on Facebook. And as always, keep wondering