Ghosts & Hauntings

Has the mystery of South Carolina's 'Summerville ghost' been solved ?

By T.K. Randall
February 13, 2025 ·  0 comments

Are the tracks haunted ? Image Credit: Pixabay Tales of a ghostly presence in the town of Summerville, South Carolina date back to the 1950s when a man who had been either working or traveling on the railroad was hit by a train and killed.

The stories say that, after his death, his wife would venture out after dark with a lantern and frequent the tracks, leading to tales of a ghostly light that would appear at night over the railroad.

Even today, people still claim to see an eerie glow over the abandoned tracks as well as small orbs of light - often blue or green in color - that can sometimes be seen floating in the air.

But is this really evidence of a ghostly presence or is there a conventional explanation for these sightings ?

Dr Susan Hough, a geophysicist at the Earthquake Hazards Program, believes that this long-running phenomenon may have a natural explanation and it is all to do with what lies beneath the ground.Back in 2023, she and a colleague discovered evidence that there was a fault line situated directly beneath the tracks and that there were also records of earthquakes occurring within the general area.

She now believes that the ghostly orbs could be down to a rare and poorly understood optical phenomenon known as earthquake lights.

These can sometimes appear at the site of earthquakes and could be mistaken for paranormal activity.

"It turns out they're all over the place. Lights have been reported in Wilmington and elsewhere in the Carolinas," said Dr Hough.

"Maybe those 'ghosts' are illuminating shallow active faults. They're impossible to study, because you can't catch them in the act. But there are plausible theories that might explain them."

Source: Mail Online | Comments (0)

Tags: Ghost, Paranormal