DEEP DARK WOODS and an oft-seen but unexplained light? These are
ideal ingredients for a good ghost story.
The Big Thicket is a dense, biodiverse forest region in East Texas. A few
tribes, including the Alabama-Coushatta and Caddo, hunted around the
edges, but it was essentially uncharted territory when Anglo settlers arrived in
the 1830s seeking solitude to hunt and carve out subsistence farms. Swampy,
dark, and difficult to penetrate, it was a destination for people who didn’t want
to be found. Oil and lumber operations rendered the terrain more accessible,
but the Big Thicket remains plenty dense and mysterious today.
In the heart of the Big Thicket is Hardin County, and in the heart of Hardin
County is the infamous Bragg Road, home to countless sightings of the Ghost
Road Light (aka Big Thicket Light, Saratoga Light, and Bragg Road Light) that
appears to nighttime travelers on the road between Saratoga and the defunct
village of Bragg Station.
Before the current road was built, the arrow-straight clearing served as
Santa Fe Railroad’s branch line built in 1903. From its inception, locals consid-
ered the line haunted by Mexican laborers murdered by a thieving foreman;
a recalcitrant deserter shot by Confederate soldiers; a hunter lost forever in
the woods; and a decapitated railroad brakeman searching for his head. But
all the stories share a common theme—a floating orb of light.
The road replaced the railroad tracks in 1934, but the light remained, seen
by hundreds of people over the decades. In the 1960s, Archer Fullingim, icon-
oclast editor of The Kountze News, spread its notoriety in articles. National
Geographic published a clear photo of the light in a 1974 feature about the Big
Thicket. Texas folklorist Francis Abernethy documented sighting stories from
old-timers and young folks alike.
In 1997, Hardin County designated Bragg Road as Ghost Road Scenic Drive
Park. A pretty road through the woods in the daytime turns into a spooky spot
for supernatural sightings by night. Word is the most auspicious times to see
the light are on moonless autumn nights. Dare you go? –MM Pack
The Grove, a private home
built in Jefferson in 1861, of-
fers weekend tours (reser-
vations required) with stories
about the glowing white figure
of the original owner, Minerva
Fox Stilley; ghostly victims of
the violent Reconstruction-era
murders known as the Stock-
ade Case; and mysterious wet
footprints indoors, odd sounds,
and unexplained odors. 405
Moseley St., Jefferson.The oldest continuously op-
erating hotel in East Texas, the
Excelsior House Hotel in Jef-
ferson, is notorious for sight-
ings of a headless man; a
woman in black holding a child;
and “Diamond Bessie,” mur-
dered by her itinerant lover.
Director Steven Spielberg told
the Dallas Morning News he
was spooked while staying
there in the 1970s. 211 W. Austin
St., Jefferson.Photos:Nathan Lindstrom