For more than eight decades, a mysterious light moving up and down and changing colours with various brightness has appeared over the train tracks which located south of Prince Albert and north of St. Louis, Saskatchewan, Canada. This unexplained phenomena is called St. Louis Light, or also known as St. Louis Ghost Train. Even though the line has had its tracks removed, but the phenomenon still occurs on a regular basis.
Several stories attempt to explain the lights, including that it is a phantom train, or the ghost of a drunk brakeman who lost his head to a passing train and now wanders up and down the tracks with a lantern attempting to find it. According to local legend, a CNR (Canadian National Railway) engineer was checking the tracks near St. Louis when he was struck by a train and decapitated. It's said the bright, yellowish light belongs to the old steam locomotive pulling his train. The smaller, red one, is the lantern he's using in a futile search for his head.
On November 1, 2001, Mayor Emile Lussier told CBC News , that he was present when a scientist came to the site to investigate the mysterious appearance of the ghost light. According to Lussier, the scientist left baffled by the maneuvers of the engineer’s lantern. The light would appear behind them, but when they turned around, the ghostly illumination appeared right at their heels.
Few years later, Alysha and Shannon, who live in northern Saskatchewan decided to investigate the mysterious light. They were two grade 12 students at that time and they also won science fair gold medals for investigating and eventually duplicating the phenomenon. Based on their research, an optical phenomenon called "diffraction" may be the answer. Light passing through a small opening -- perhaps some distant trees on either side of the old track bed -- can diffuse and expand in size. In other words, headlights from a car normally too tiny to be noticed could become apparent through diffraction. However, there is a problem with their theory: the light has been seen even before cars were invented. Also, sometimes, other lights appear, which are unlikely to come from cars, as they are in the trees.
Sources:
Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places by Brad Steiger;
http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/mystery.html;
http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/ghost_train.html;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Light
Pic Source:
http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/ghost_train.htm
Several stories attempt to explain the lights, including that it is a phantom train, or the ghost of a drunk brakeman who lost his head to a passing train and now wanders up and down the tracks with a lantern attempting to find it. According to local legend, a CNR (Canadian National Railway) engineer was checking the tracks near St. Louis when he was struck by a train and decapitated. It's said the bright, yellowish light belongs to the old steam locomotive pulling his train. The smaller, red one, is the lantern he's using in a futile search for his head.
On November 1, 2001, Mayor Emile Lussier told CBC News , that he was present when a scientist came to the site to investigate the mysterious appearance of the ghost light. According to Lussier, the scientist left baffled by the maneuvers of the engineer’s lantern. The light would appear behind them, but when they turned around, the ghostly illumination appeared right at their heels.
Few years later, Alysha and Shannon, who live in northern Saskatchewan decided to investigate the mysterious light. They were two grade 12 students at that time and they also won science fair gold medals for investigating and eventually duplicating the phenomenon. Based on their research, an optical phenomenon called "diffraction" may be the answer. Light passing through a small opening -- perhaps some distant trees on either side of the old track bed -- can diffuse and expand in size. In other words, headlights from a car normally too tiny to be noticed could become apparent through diffraction. However, there is a problem with their theory: the light has been seen even before cars were invented. Also, sometimes, other lights appear, which are unlikely to come from cars, as they are in the trees.
Sources:
Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places by Brad Steiger;
http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/mystery.html;
http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/ghost_train.html;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Light
Pic Source:
http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/ghost_train.htm
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