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Shine Your Lantern Three Times

Local legend says that one December night more than a hundred years ago, a mother sent her son into the woods to retrieve a Christmas tree for the family. Reportedly, the mother told her son to flash his lantern three times if he got into any trouble. When the boy did not return, his mother searched for him until she herself died. Near the woman’s burial site, there is a crossroads. It is said that if one parks his car and flashes the headlights three times, a mysterious light will rise and traverse across the road. One will then hear a voice yelling, “Mommy they got me. I’m over here.” The light then turns red and flies toward the voice.

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38 Comments

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beatriz says:

October 14, 2005, 7:21 pm

i live in abilene tx next to anson and i been to the anson light prenty of times and the light never comes out!!!! i’m been there with a big and a small group of friends but it never comes out….i’m one of those persons that doesn’t belive till i see it with my OWN eyes….

kim says:

October 23, 2005, 10:50 pm

i also live in Abilene not to far from Anson and that was not the story that was told to me about the lights. I have seen the lights but have not herd anything. The story i herd was this ladies husband and her son went hunting and never returned so she shines her lantern trying to direct her family home.

Mystery hah! says:

November 4, 2005, 7:17 pm

well thats a mystery then…

Gayle says:

January 5, 2006, 5:57 pm

I have seen the lights and believei me they are true

chastity says:

January 20, 2006, 8:22 pm

I live in Stamford,Texas it’s close to Anson.Everyone in my town talks about the Anson Lights,but I don’t believe it.Maybe I will someday.

destiny says:

April 30, 2006, 10:16 pm

i live in kilgore texas and i hope oneday to go to anson to see the lights i hope it is real because i like alot of haunting stuff .
destiny b.

Tori says:

May 7, 2006, 5:58 pm

I, too, live in Abilene. While I’ve never been to the ‘anson lights’, both of my sisters have. The light doesn’t turn red, nor burst, but it is there. If you do go visit, make sure to park on the side of the road (police watch the road, because teenagers do go there alot) or they will make you leave. Flash your lights three times and, most of the time, a light will appear at the end of the road and travel back and forth, comming closer and closer. To make it stop, you just turn your lights back on.

Its said that it is indeed the vengeful spirit of a mother, and if you’re pregnant, as my sister was at the time of her visit, you will get very ill, and I’ve heard tales of women actually loosing their babies from ‘unknown illnesses’ after visiting the ‘anson lights’.

Luis Lopez says:

May 15, 2006, 3:40 pm

Unsolved Mysteries actually made a show about the Anson Lights. I purchased the dvd and hope to one day visit Anson. I’m from Dallas and really don’t believe in this sort of thing but maybe after this I may.

Patricia says:

May 27, 2006, 11:07 pm

Myself and a group of friends went to witness the Anson lights last night. I was amazed that it did work, but it did not change color and we didn’t hear any voices. It just looked like a flickering lantern type light off in the distance that gradually faded away. It was a neat experience.

T says:

September 16, 2006, 4:47 am

About 4 1/2 years ago me and a small group of 4, 5 including me, went to check this stuff out. Yes, it’s real, but we didn’t hear anyone yelling mommy or anything like that. We did see the light though. We could see the cars pass in front of it as it seemed to come closer. Car headlights are much different than this light. It moved in a figure eight sorta, then seemed to “jump” about 15 feet in the air and back to ground level only to go back to a figure eight type motion. I’d say it got about 60 feet or so in front of us before it disappeared. A sense of dread came over us all. Not that it seems like a surprise or anything. But it is really there, if you don’t see it go to an eye doctor and get your stuff checked out. 5 of us saw it and we even got it on video. Pretty wicked if you ask me. We were speechless!

G.G.H. says:

September 16, 2006, 11:36 pm

I live in Abilene, and this is the first I have heard of it. Could someone tell me where this is at exactly? I would like to go and try it out!

michael says:

September 25, 2006, 10:55 pm

I lived in Anson while going to high school. To get to the lights you go down the highway east from the only light in town. Go about 4 miles till you see the cemetary. Turn right down the road directly before it. Go about a mile to the intersection and turn your vehicle back towards the highway you came from. Park on the side with a quick exit available, because the cops will mess with you. If no sight of cops, flash the lights three times and wait. Oh, and all that bullshit about the voices is just that…****! There is no part of the story dealing with voices, nor the actual phenom. That’s just some uneducated ****. There is also a haunted bridge and some other spooky **** there, just ask someone local who is youong.

Morrison says:

October 13, 2006, 10:13 am

well i live in graham tx and i went to see the anson lights and yep we saw a light it came from far of and started to come closer it was crazy i was shocked and it did turn red

Kenzee says:

October 13, 2006, 8:19 pm

I live in aspermont near anson and ive lived here for about three yearrs and i have never even heard of the anson lights. if you ask me i think that it was all made up by someone who wanted attention and the people who believe it and say theyve seen it want even more attention. i will believe it when i see it. untill then it is just a ghost story.

lori says:

October 15, 2006, 5:04 pm

who has him i mean what has got him because he never said anything about him being caught by anything if your with me say i am

Texas angel says:

October 21, 2006, 1:24 am

This story is all over texas and probably else where. I heard it in Amarillo and it was a lover coming home from the civil war.

Mike says:

October 26, 2006, 11:00 am

yup i lived in abilene for a while. while in jr high my english teacher talked about it. real or not it would be fun, Anson is a small town and being so isulated makes anything erie i remeber hitting up some farm roads and snooping around the cult near abilene…

wrmsun says:

October 29, 2006, 7:50 pm

I went to one of the universities in Abilene about 10 years back and the story is definately true. It didn’t turn red and I didn’t hear any voices but there is a an unexplained white flickering light that swings back and forth like a lantern. I also went to the gym there in Anson where there’s a headstone with the names of a basketball team that died in an accident or something like that. That place was pretty wicked but I’m sure we were criminally trespassing and all that. If you sit there and stay quiet, you start hearing the sounds of an actual game and I saw the lights flicker on the score board and ummm there was no power.

LaDonna says:

October 30, 2006, 12:32 pm

Hey all well I just moved to texas like a few yrs ago and have nothing to do on this halloween so I what the heck. Lets check out haunt places. This here would be the freakiest one. Has anyone ever actually got the light up close and personal or had any more dramatic contact? has anyone ever… tryed it to flash the lights where , the light came from or talk to it? uhmmm interesting, gonna have to see this for myself… Oh and u got it on video … “why not share???”

lilsouthernbelle83 says:

October 30, 2006, 3:32 pm

Anson lights… I never went out there but an ex boyfriend of mine and his friends did and they said they did the whole turn the car around blah blah and the sherriffs deputies were out there because of people going out there and they were told to leave or they will be cited for trespassing since the landowners around there hate people coming around. They were then told by one of the deputies that some of the law enforcement and even some people who live out there are the ones doing the lights just to mess with people. Its fake.

Tara says:

December 29, 2006, 6:26 pm

Me and a group of friends drove over two hours last night to see the Anson lights and even one of my most skeptical friends was convinced that it was real. The light appeared and disappeared suddenly; it followed no pattern, and though it never turned red, it did change from yellow to white and it moved from side to side and split in two. I was pretty amazed that we actually saw it..it was worth the trip!

Me says:

January 11, 2007, 7:50 pm

HI YALL

destiny says:

March 24, 2007, 6:00 pm

i moved here from houston and i heard stories aboyt itso i had to check it out for myself.and it was for reals.everytime i have gone to show my cousins from out of town they really freakout.abilene tx,destiny

Pam says:

June 20, 2007, 4:40 pm

THIS IS SO TRUE!!! My aunt told me about it so my whole family went. I forget the details of the story but you stop at the stop sign and flash your headlights. Then you see a light. My dad and cousin went walking towards the light and after they were gone about 7 min down the street towards the light we saw the light moving really fast. It was SO CRAZY. My dad said they didn’t see anything but we say the light. They also did a story about it on Unsolved Mysteries and it is TRUE!! You can’t go anymore because the police patrol it regularly.

Kiki says:

September 20, 2007, 7:03 pm

Well, I live in Abilene and have went out to Anson. I was told a different story and a person that lives in Anson has told me that it is just the people driving up that interstate

James says:

September 29, 2007, 1:29 am

Here’s the deal on Anson Lights. It doesn’t change colors, there are no voices, it’s simply a strange floating light. You don’t have to even do the ritualistic turn the car around and flash your lights three times. I have a friend from Anson who lives like 4 miles away from Anson Lights and you can see it at all times from the second story of his house. So who knows what it is, but it is there. This seems to be a regular ordeal, because there are lots of other towns with similar stories. San Antonio, Amarillo, etc.

Maria says:

October 11, 2007, 5:45 pm

This isn’t the version of hte story i heard i know someone from abilene and he said that some kid had gone to school and never came back. The mom stayed outside to wait for his son until the next day the police had told her that the bus ahd an accident and everyone died. The mom never got over the death of her child and kept going to wait for him. Eventually she went crazy and died. The part of the lights is true.I don’t know never been there but I’m planning on going myself and checking out pretty soon.

Kelly says:

October 15, 2007, 4:05 pm

wow thats exciting i wanna go there now

LLS says:

October 24, 2007, 10:48 pm

I just went out there last weekend..me and my husband and brother & our teenage son and some friends..i have seen the light off and on since i was about 13 yr’s old myself(im now 36)..it was very, very bright saturday night and we stayed there about an hour or more..not only was it bright it changed while we were there to red 2 or 3 times..and it went off into 2 lights then back to one…i have seen it more times than i can count and ive never been there that it didnt show up…i know its real whether or not its a ghost light i dont know but i do know something likes to mess with door locks,saturday was the 2nd time weve had our doors lock going out there and we were all out of the car..when we tried to get back in they were locked..coincidence?i dont know

jason says:

November 1, 2007, 4:26 pm

this is true its off of higway 180 heading east out of anson.. right next to mount hope cemetary.. its been happening since my grandmother was a teenager so im sure its nto poeple playing a joke idiot. ive lived in anson my entire life. the bridge u speak of is presley’s bridge. a small tin covered bridge outside or town northwest to be exact. howvere the bridge is on private property so be careful if someoen lets u knwo of its whereabouts. when i was n highschool it was romoured there was a abondoned graveyard near truby texas outside of ansoen abotu 10 miles and if you knocked on a certain headstone it would knock back. also said it has a strange greenish glow. i have freinds that have said theyve been. i believe them. also somewhere sowthwest out on some private property is an abandoned ferris wheel in the middle of nowhere said to start turning automatically if soemeone sits on it. the fact its there is true i dotn knwo if it really moves or not. ots of creepy things

stace says:

November 24, 2007, 5:36 am

i think tht gayle is lyeing why would a little boy shout theyve got me

Elaine says:

January 6, 2008, 1:10 pm

YOU PEOPLE ARE ALL INSANE-O!!! well i live in Merkel near Anson and never heard of this story… everyone’s comment say thats not the way the stroy goes….HOW DOES IT REALLY GO?…

jenny says:

February 20, 2008, 11:13 pm

I would just like to say i really don’t believe in all the different stories but….this light does appear and it really does give you the feeling that something is coming closer and closer. me and my non-believer friends…BELIEVED!!!! everyone should check it out for themselves.

beezwax says:

May 29, 2008, 4:11 pm

GET REAL YOU ALL IF YOU BELIVE THIS IM OUT SEE YOU LATER

I WANT MY MOMMY (WA)

JUST JOKEING YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT

beezwax says:

May 29, 2008, 4:13 pm

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y and z

beezwax says:

May 29, 2008, 4:15 pm

I LOVE NICK SO MUCH YOU DONT KNOW YOU ALL

SO HA AND A HA AND A HA

Patricia says:

August 15, 2008, 12:11 pm

I have seen the Anson light before, it’s creepy. I have not heard the voices or seen the light change color though. It’s still worth trying out.

S.A.S.H. says:

September 13, 2008, 9:06 pm

For starters, half of you need to seriously get your spelling in check. Reading some of these was ridiculous!! As a member of a paranormal team here in San Angelo, TX, there are many stories dealing with this event. The most common is the young boy and mother story. There are no voices, and no changing of the colors when you visit. The lights appear almost everytime, except on foggy nights we have found. There is much speculation about these being headlights from the Stamford highway, but it’s hard to pin-point exactly what is causing it. It’s very interesting, much like the Marfa Lights. If you’re up for the drive, definitely check it out!

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