Francesville Light

[truthorder]

I don't know if anyone has ever brought this up here before. It's not exactly an extremely famous place, but I've been there...and I've witnessed it.

I am as skeptic as they come so allow me to indulge you on this a little bit.

I live in Northwest Indiana and there's a small town called "Francesville" that is about a 40 minute drive from where I live and grew up. Well, of course any rural Indiana stories and legends will make their rounds throughout the surrounding communities over time.

As legend had it, if you parked your car along a certain road outside of the town...a glowing yellow light would come towards you. What happens after that is not very detailed, as most people were too scared to stick around to find out what it was.

Well, I can tell you that as a high schooler, I was there.

I saw the damn thing.

I can't explain it, and like many others before me, I didn't stick around to ask it any questions either. It was just myself and a bunch of other friends who had heard the stories and asked another person who had been there for directions to see it.

We weren't drinking. None of us were taking any drugs. I'll try and sum up the story exactly as it happened.

When we got out to the area we were supposed to be at...we were on a dirt road that sloped down...and then back up in the distance. We were out in the country (picture Indiana..you get the idea) and it was around 11 PM on a hot July evening.

We sat there for a while and were really silent at first...but I knew that everyone else's heart was beating just as hard as mine was. The legend was enough. But being out on a deserted dirt road in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with the lights turned off was damn creepy enough.

After a few minutes and nothing extraordinary happening, my friend Brian made some quiet "ghost" like sound. It was so damn pathetic that it wasn't scary...but funny as hell. We all immediately started cracking up. That loosened everyone up enough to start talking for a few minutes.

I was in the middle of cracking some stupid joke when I noticed that everyone got real quiet. I turned and looked out the front windshield and...well...there it was........

A small, yellowish glow in the middle of the road that looked as though it was waving back and forth a bit.

My first reaction was to tell everyone that it had to be a car from another road down the way and that we'd probably see the light dim as the car turned.

That didn't happen.

After a few minutes of watching it seemingly sit idly there, we all got the distinct impression that it was moving towards us. Again, I thought it was maybe a trick of light somehow. I couldn't tell how far away it was. At one point it looked like it was real far away, and then at another it looked like it was getting closer.

And then..........I covered my eyes to block out the light....and saw that the damn thing was casting shadows on the trees that were at the bottom of the slope. It's at this point that I really got unnerved...and pointed out what I was seeing to everyone else.

Brian immediately started the car but we sat there for just a little while longer. Just to make sure if we could get away if we needed to, Brian put the car in reverse and did a quick 3-point turn. The object was now in back of us...and of course we all turned back to see it.

It was moving. And it was coming towards us. It was moving a bit side to side and now we could see it casting shadows quite easily.

That's all we needed to see. As I said, we didn't stick around to ask any questions. Brian gunned the engine and we got out of there in one helluva hurry.

To this day, I don't know what it was. Maybe it was someone else who knew the legend and saw us...then decided to give us what we came there for. Maybe it really was somehow lights from another road that were playing a trick on us.

All I know is that what I saw was real and tangible, not an hallucination or a trick of the eyes.

[Bobzilla]

Cool story. It would be kinda neat to find out what it was though.

[AnnieAngel]

Farmer with a flashlight coming to see what them durned kids were up to.

[Mekeys]

I too am from IN and have been to the fracisville light..... What they say happens does same thing happened to my friends and I....... It was a scary night,,,,,

[Manc_Lad]

Sounds pretty cool. So go back again and film it! Why did nobody have a camera? Someone must have had a phone!? Same to the other guy who mentioned it. It sounds pretty cool, so go film it!

With a quick search I've found only 2 videos on this, one is a stupidly obvious fake and the other is so inconclusive it's pretty much worthless. So one of you guys could be the first to get a good film of this thing. So go do it and get back to us!

[Wyvernkeeper]

Great story...

Sounds pretty cool. So go back again and film it! Why did nobody have a camera? Someone must have had a phone!? Same to the other guy who mentioned it. It sounds pretty cool, so go film it!

With a quick search I've found only 2 videos on this, one is a stupidly obvious fake and the other is so inconclusive it's pretty much worthless. So one of you guys could be the first to get a good film of this thing. So go do it and get back to us!

can you post the link of the one that isn't obviously fake, would be interesting to see if it tallies with what truthorder saw...

But yeah truth, you should totally go back and take a video... I'm not saying you are lying, more that the story is good and it would be interesting to see if you could get footage.

[Mekeys]

I would but I dont live in IN anymore..... Someday i will........ But right now i live in ND with my husband whos in the sir force and we will be moving to Belgium in February....... So then i wont be back for 3 years..... But after that i PROMISE you if i can get the GUTS to record it with out thinking something is going to happen to me i will for you guys and everyone.......

[Wyvernkeeper]

I would but I dont live in IN anymore..... Someday i will........ But right now i live in ND with my husband whos in the sir force and we will be moving to Belgium in February....... So then i wont be back for 3 years..... But after that i PROMISE you if i can get the GUTS to record it with out thinking something is going to happen to me i will for you guys and everyone.......

No worries, I understand it must have been scary...

Could you describe your experience and how it differed from truthorders.

edit: Don't know if you have anything similar in the states, but this is reminiscent of British Fairy lights and Willo' the Wisp legends.

Edited October 10, 2011 by Wyvernkeeper

[Manc_Lad]

Great story...

can you post the link of the one that isn't obviously fake, would be interesting to see if it tallies with what truthorder saw...

But yeah truth, you should totally go back and take a video... I'm not saying you are lying, more that the story is good and it would be interesting to see if you could get footage.

That's the link, but I was saying it's an obvious fake, not real. There are a couple of lights in the distance, nothing really happens and then suddenly at the end a really bright light appears and nobody in the car reacts to it and the camera goes off. Looks really fake to me.

[rashore]

I might be mistaken about this, but isn't the Francesville light AKA the Moody Road light?

[Wyvernkeeper]

That's the link, but I was saying it's an obvious fake, not real. There are a couple of lights in the distance, nothing really happens and then suddenly at the end a really bright light appears and nobody in the car reacts to it and the camera goes off. Looks really fake to me.

At work atm so can't really watch it properly but from flicking through I see what you mean. It does look staged but it seems to be based on the same legend as the OP as the descriptions/events tally quite well.

[Rafterman]

Not familiar with this story, but I have yet to see one of these "lights" that isn't explainable in one way or another - superior mirages, actual lights in the distance, aircraft, etc.

[rashore]

I think the Francesville light and Moody light are the same story, the stories overlap a lot and Moody Rd is just a bit out of town west of Francesville.

The spooky explanation is that it's a long dead farmer swinging his lantern. The mundane explanation most commonly given is that it's cars coming down Hwy 49 and due to the hills in the area it looks freaky.

[Wyvernkeeper]

I think the Francesville light and Moody light are the same story, the stories overlap a lot and Moody Rd is just a bit out of town west of Francesville.

The spooky explanation is that it's a long dead farmer swinging his lantern. The mundane explanation most commonly given is that it's cars coming down Hwy 49 and due to the hills in the area it looks freaky.

There is a place in North Wales that I am familiar with in which we get a similar illusion from car headlights following the road along the clifftops.... It is quite similar to this story but less terrifying.

[constantine_337]

Not trying to debunk your story but do not rule out crafty locals. I too live in Indiana, and the town I live in their is a legend about a road known as Spook Hill. on this old dirt road you are supposed to park your car atop this hill and flash your lights, about a quarter of a mile down the road a ball of light will appear and is supposed to be the apparition of a man looking for his head after a freak wagon accident or the ghost of a father looking for his daughter. (their are actually a number of story's bouncing around. I have been out their numerous times and never saw a thing until a few years ago on Halloween me and some friends tried and and finally saw it. My conclusion: Seeing how I never saw it until Halloween I figured it was some local having fun knowing that lots of people will be looking for it. Their were at times 5 cars along side the road. And finally the ball of light that we saw only moved from one side of the road to the other and looked exactly like my led lantern. I am almost 100% sure someone was having a laugh with everyone that was their that night. So if the legend is fairly popular don't rule out some jokesters.

[paul the walrus]

I live on around the border of IL and IN and have been to see the "Moody Lights." We heard about the story from a friend who attended St Joe's college.

At the time, I was a teenager, and we clearly saw some type of light on the end of the road appear and disappear. We were really freaked out by it and nobody could explain it at the time. We did try to videotape the light, but the light was never bright enough to be caught clearly on camera, even with a pitch black background. It really looked more like a red blob that would somewhat change colors and shape, then an actual light coming towards you.

Now that I am older, I am like 99% sure of what we saw out there. It was cars moving along the highway and their headlights were reflected off the top of the farmers silo at the end of the road. If you notice the whole silo is spray painted by kids, or was, except for the roof which no one could reach. I would not be surprized if the farmer who lives off that road, or used to live out there, placed some type of mirror on top of that silo just for laughs, since all the local scumbag kids from down the road at the college, ruined his silo by spray painting it.

My theories on the subject are all fine and well, but I am pretty sure if you research local news articles about the place, you will clearly find that people have recreated these lights and there is no real mystery here. Once again, do some research in the local newspapers from the area, and you will clearly see that these lights can be recreated by having a car drive down that highway.

The Walrus

PS I really always wanted to believe that there was something supernatural about these lights, but common sense lead me to my own theories, and some internent research blew the lid right off this case file.

[Evo]

I live on around the border of IL and IN and have been to see the "Moody Lights." We heard about the story from a friend who attended St Joe's college.

At the time, I was a teenager, and we clearly saw some type of light on the end of the road appear and disappear. We were really freaked out by it and nobody could explain it at the time. We did try to videotape the light, but the light was never bright enough to be caught clearly on camera, even with a pitch black background. It really looked more like a red blob that would somewhat change colors and shape, then an actual light coming towards you.

Now that I am older, I am like 99% sure of what we saw out there. It was cars moving along the highway and their headlights were reflected off the top of the farmers silo at the end of the road. If you notice the whole silo is spray painted by kids, or was, except for the roof which no one could reach. I would not be surprized if the farmer who lives off that road, or used to live out there, placed some type of mirror on top of that silo just for laughs, since all the local scumbag kids from down the road at the college, ruined his silo by spray painting it.

My theories on the subject are all fine and well, but I am pretty sure if you research local news articles about the place, you will clearly find that people have recreated these lights and there is no real mystery here. Once again, do some research in the local newspapers from the area, and you will clearly see that these lights can be recreated by having a car drive down that highway.

The Walrus

PS I really always wanted to believe that there was something supernatural about these lights, but common sense lead me to my own theories, and some internent research blew the lid right off this case file.

Now do this:

Cover the roof and see if this happens again. Also, while there may be other theories, the one you believe is not possible. Headlights emit a beam of light, there fore any reflected light would appear either as a beam or on the ground. In this guys story, it not only hovers, but stays still for awhile. Cars on the highway are moving fast, not standing still. Also, the beams should be going towards the road, not the sides of the road where the farms are at.

[Wyvernkeeper]

Now do this:

Cover the roof and see if this happens again. Also, while there may be other theories, the one you believe is not possible. Headlights emit a beam of light, there fore any reflected light would appear either as a beam or on the ground. In this guys story, it not only hovers, but stays still for awhile. Cars on the highway are moving fast, not standing still. Also, the beams should be going towards the road, not the sides of the road where the farms are at.

It doesn't always work like that.... Topography, direction and colour/brightness of lighting can have surprising effects. It is completely possible for headlights to reflect off parts of the landscape. If the viewer is standing in the right location, simple motions can take on very strange appearances.

If a beam of light is pointed towards you, it appears less like a beam and more like a bright point of light.

[Evo]

It doesn't always work like that.... Topography, direction and colour/brightness of lighting can have surprising effects. It is completely possible for headlights to reflect off parts of the landscape. If the viewer is standing in the right location, simple motions can take on very strange appearances.

If a beam of light is pointed towards you, it appears less like a beam and more like a bright point of light.

The thing is, every time light is reflected, its intensity is lessened. If it were to be continuously reflected in order to achieve the mentioned illusion, then it wouldn't be a very bright light. Also, in this story (and maybe in others, but Im not sure), the light was still for awhile. A car in the highway is moving fast; the light should have a near consistent movement at the very least. I believe this is one case which we cannot close with possibilities: This one warrants for investigation and experimentation (and some more research into other stories, which will be somewhat more difficult as there is another light which this may be confused with: the moody light).

[RRSteigely]

I have been there SEVERAL times. I have seen it every time I went. It is not a farmer or mirrors. I am not sure what it is but it will scare the crap out of you!

[little star]

No one has ever been hurt by it, right?

[Evo]

No one has ever been hurt by it, right?

People have been rarely reported to be hurt by paranormal events, but almost every report shows they get to freaked out to wait around and see if it'll hurt them too. So you can think of it as one of the ultimate tests of courage if you'd like.

[Manc_Lad]

I have been there SEVERAL times. I have seen it every time I went. It is not a farmer or mirrors. I am not sure what it is but it will scare the crap out of you!

Like I said to the other people that have claimed to see it. Why have you never once thought to film it? If you've been several times and seen it every single time then why have you nor your friends filmed it? Go back, film it and show us on here, I'm sure I'm not the only that would love to see a decent video of this.

I don't get it, it's the first thing I'd think of when going.

Edited October 26, 2011 by Manc_Lad

[Orclas Hands]

Didnt Fact or Fiction on SCFY do a story on these lights

[darkrpysm88]

Like I said to the other people that have claimed to see it. Why have you never once thought to film it? If you've been several times and seen it every single time then why have you nor your friends filmed it? Go back, film it and show us on here, I'm sure I'm not the only that would love to see a decent video of this.

I don't get it, it's the first thing I'd think of when going.

There is a video on Youtube. Someone else on here says its a fake but I have been there and it is not a fake.