Off the Beaten Path

My fellow ghost tracking buddies and I spent our Saturday night in the woods, beside a railway track. We were waiting for a headless, lantern carrying ghost to make an appearance in this secluded spot, over a hundred clicks from the city.

According to the legend, since the 1930s, ghost lights and a phantom, holding an old gas lantern are said to have been seen numerous times near the railroad tracks in Woodridge, Manitoba. Hunters in the area who've seen the apparition with the lantern report that their brave hunting dogs run and cower at the sight of what their owners have to conclude is a ghost.

When seen, the ghost light is reported to appear only faintly, but as it gets closer it gets steadily stronger and even goes through color changes before becoming blindingly brilliant. Meanwhile, the ghost carrying the lantern may cause your car to temporarily stall. The ghost may also chase after you. Some people claim that the lights often appear in conjunction with the sound of an approaching train. Because the sightings were so close to the railway tracks, the guess is the ghost is a rail-riding hobo from the 1930s.

A "camp" was set up and my group began to wait for the ghost to make its appearance. As the sun dropped below the horizon, we watched and waited. Sometime after midnight with nothing happening, six of us decided to go and hunt this ghost down.

We started walking down the middle of the railway tracks. About 500 meters down the track, we noticed a glow in the trees ahead of us. Suddenly there it was! A train, travelling at full speed, rounded the bend and headed right for us. We had about a minute, if that, to scramble down into the bushes before it zipped by us.

When we got back onto the track to continue, we noticed a light shining behind us. We turned around and walked towards it. It seemed to approach us rapidly, and then began recede as we neared it. Back at the "camp" we found out it was a group member shining his portable headlamp down the tracks, wondering if we were still alive after the train went by. Finally at 1:30 am we decided to pack up and head for home.

We didn't see the ghost that night, and that is a frustration which plagues our off beat hobby of ghost tracking. Things don't always happen when you want them to. Neither could we say if the stories are hoaxes. According to legend, this eerie phenomenon does occur. We had an enjoyable time just anticipating it's arrival. My girlfriend thinks we should all be institutionalized, but there is always next time.

Pictures of the entire outing are on our group's web site, Shadows of Manitoba