|
|
POLLOK
AND A MYSTERY LIGHT ON THE BODAN
by Ken Rudine |
The
Bodan Creek ran through my mother’s family land on its way southwest
to the Neches River. As a child during the 1930’s and 40’s my parents
took me to visit this 140+ acres about every other weekend of each
year. The Bodan crossed the road I later named Edwards Loop, about
200 yards from the house. I played in the creek bed when it was dry
and tried to dam it up when it had water.
My Uncle Jack had a battery-powered radio that could pick up The Grande
Ole Opry on Saturday night. He would listen usually while he sat in
his rocking chair on the front porch smoking his pipe of Prince Albert
tobacco. Jack spent his life plowing and I often ran behind, listening
to him talk to the mule. One Saturday night Jack recalled seeing a
glow, in the direction of the Bodan.
Electrical service for this area was still 10 years in the future
so this light must have come from a lantern or some unknown source.
Suspecting the latter, Jack loaded his shotgun and followed a cow
trail he knew would approach the mysterious glow. |
 |
Finally
reaching a nearby view point, he crouched as the glow moved from behind
a high creek bank that hid the light. Perhaps twenty feet before him
he saw what looked like a dim lamp, maybe one foot in diameter. It
was in the middle of the creek bed unsupported in mid-air about three
feet above water level. Silently the mysterious glow moved slowly
down stream until it disappeared. Jack remained motionless, frozen
in his crouched position and puzzled.
He returned to the porch where he tried to understand what he had
just seen. The night was dark and heavy with humidity, he recalled,
but he never understood what he saw. Over the years before his death,
he told me the story several times but the ending never changed.
Now 70 years later the Bodan still feeds into the Neches River that
flows southeast into Tyler County. From Woodville
south to Saratoga,
in the Big Thicket, strange lights have been seen in the past on a
regular basis. When electricity began coming to these remote areas
in 1947, mystery light reports reduced. Now when darkness falls, electric
lights come on. This causes naturally occurring fluorescent objects
and unknown glowing phenomena to go unnoticed.
– Ken Rudine |
|
|
