The Gurdon Light, Arkansas: The Legend, the 1931 Murder and How to See It

Gurdon is a small timber and railroad town in Clark County, about 85 miles southwest of Little Rock and just off Interstate 30. Outside town, in a stretch of pine woods along an old Missouri Pacific rail line, people have reported a strange light since the 1930s. It is the best known of Arkansas’s ghost lights, a cousin of the Crossett Light in the southeast of the state and the spook lights of the Missouri and Oklahoma border.

This guide covers what witnesses describe, the 1931 killing that the legend grew from, the explanations people have offered, and practical advice for anyone who wants to go and look. There is no visitor center, ticket office or official trail: the light is a local legend in the woods, so be prepared and respectful of the land you cross.

The Gurdon Light legend and its history

The light is usually described as a round glow about the size of a cap, floating one to three feet above the old track bed. It may be white, yellowish, blue or orange, and it seems to sway as if someone were carrying it. Witnesses say it appears at one end of the line and later at the other, but never comes close; walk toward it and it fades. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas notes that it is reported in all kinds of weather.

Sightings date back to the 1930s and the legend is tied to an event in December 1931. Will McClain, a Missouri Pacific section foreman, was killed on the line by a member of his crew, Louis McBride (also spelled McBryde). Newspaper accounts at the time said McBride was arrested for acting suspiciously, confessed and led officers to the body and the weapon, a spike maul. McClain had been struck in the head four times and had crawled almost a quarter of a mile before he died. Accounts differ on the motive: McBride said it was about work and Depression layoffs, while a 1931 report said the foreman had accused him of tampering with the track to wreck a passenger train.

McBride was tried and, according to Ouachita Baptist University historian Wendy Richter, who studied the trial transcripts, executed by the state in July 1932. McClain was buried in Saline County. The story says he kept hold of his lantern during the attack, and that the light is that lantern, carried by his ghost along the line where he died. An older version, told about railroad lights all over the South, says the light belongs to a worker beheaded by a train who is still searching for his head.

The light became a local institution, especially around Halloween. In October 1994 the NBC series Unsolved Mysteries filmed a reconstruction of the murder in Gurdon and aired the segment on December 16, 1994. The rail line itself is no longer in use, and parts of the track have been removed or covered.

The ghost of the Gurdon Light

Will McClain and his lantern

Gurdon residents have long said the light is McClain’s ghost walking the line with his lantern, and a UPI reporter in 1981 summed up local feeling bluntly: residents know the light is his ghost. The murder itself is a matter of record. Whether McClain was carrying a lantern that night, as the legend insists, cannot be verified.

The headless railroad man

The second story, of a brakeman or worker killed by a train and searching for his head, is told about the Crossett Light too and about many ghost lights across the country. Skeptical writers point out that headless railroad men turn up in so many places that the story says more about folklore than about Gurdon.

What witnesses report

Filmmaker Marcus Lowe, who made a documentary about the light as a University of Arkansas at Little Rock student in 2012, told THV11 that it appeared between his parked car and where he was sitting. Bob Thompson of the Clark County Historical Association has said there is no doubt that it exists. Others go several nights and see nothing at all.

The explanations

The most common skeptical answer is headlights from Interstate 30, a couple of miles away. The difficulty, noted by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas and by a Gurdon-born physics student who tested the light in 1981, is that people reported it before the interstate was built. Swamp gas fits poorly because the light appears in all weather and keeps its shape. Some suggest electricity released by pressure on quartz in the ground. Richter’s conclusion is the fairest: several plausible explanations exist, but none can be proven.

Where to look

• The old rail bed north of town: the main viewing area, reached on foot along the disused line into the woods.
• The Highway 53 crossing: where the old tracks crossed the road and where most people start walking; online maps label the spot.
• Gurdon's depot and downtown: the railroad town that grew up around the line, with the Hoo-Hoo museum on Main Street.

How to see the Gurdon Light

There is no official site. According to recent travel coverage, people start where the abandoned tracks once crossed Route 53 and follow the old rail bed into the woods for a while to reach the usual viewing area. Go after dark, ideally on a moonless night, and give yourself time: people often wait an hour or more, and plenty go home having seen nothing.

Be sensible about it. This is not a park, the land along the line may be private, and there are no lights or facilities and phone signal may be patchy. Go with someone who knows the way, wear boots, bring a good flashlight and insect repellent, tell someone where you are going, and leave if you see posted signs. Never walk on any active railroad track.

Gurdon itself is worth a stop by day. The International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a lumbermen’s fraternity founded here in 1892, has its headquarters and a small museum on Main Street, with a black cat monument nearby.

• Visiting No official site; people walk in along the disused rail line from where it crossed Highway 53
• Ghost hunting No organized access; this is not a park, so respect private land

Tips for your visit

• Go on a dark, clear night with no moon, and be patient.
• Park legally near the old Highway 53 crossing; do not block the road or any gate.
• Bring boots, a flashlight and bug spray for the walk in.
• Watch the Unsolved Mysteries segment before you go to know the story.
• Visit the Hoo-Hoo museum in town by day.

More haunted places nearby

• Haunted places in Arkansas: the Crescent Hotel, the Allen House, Fort Smith’s gallows and more
• The Arlington Hotel, Hot Springs: a haunted grand hotel about an hour north of Gurdon
• Allen House, Monticello: Arkansas’s most famous haunted house
• Haunted places in Texas: across the state line from Texarkana
• Haunted places in Arkansas

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas: Gurdon Light
• UPI Archives: A ghost or swamp gas? (1981)
• THV11: The Gurdon Light, Arkansas's greatest paranormal mystery
• SWARK Today: Mysterious history, the Gurdon Light (2021)
• Wikipedia: Gurdon Light
• Islands: Gurdon's railroad legend (2025)
• Ghost lights still haunt Gurdon (2019)
• All Around Arkansas: Arkansas' spooklights (2022)