SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – For decades, Seminole County residents have told rumors about “ghost lights” that supposedly appear at night along a local back road.
More specifically, these so-called “Oviedo Lights” have been reported along Snow Hill Road, north of Chuluota and Taintsville.
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According to local historian Jason Byrne, the earliest reports of these lights stem back to the 1960s.
Supposed witnesses claim that around midnight — especially during winter months — the lights zoom south toward the bridge over the Econlockhatchee River.
“From a distance, it resembles an oncoming car, but as it approaches, witnesses say its light is as bright as a freight train and never separates into two lights, as would car lights,” Byrne writes. “Its tint takes on a discernably bluish hue as it starts to wobble slightly and then disappears promptly as it crosses the bridge, never making a sound.”
He told News 6 that the legend has been passed on for generations, with teenagers using the rumors as a means of entertainment.
“You drive out there and sit in the middle of the night — drink beer or whatever teenagers do — and look for these legendary lights,” Byrne explained. “So there’s literally generations of people who remember going out there, taking a date or taking some friends in search of these ghost lights.”
Byrne says there are several local (and unverified) stories about where the lights came from, including:
- A cub scout wandered away from his troop into the wilderness, with only a lantern in tow. The lights are said to be the boy’s spirit still searching the area for his friends.
- A teenager who was playing “chicken” dashed across the street and was killed by an oncoming vehicle.
- Two lovers ran out of gas along the roadway, so the boyfriend left to go grab gas while his girlfriend waited alone in the car that night. The next morning, she found him clawed to death, though the attacker was never found.
- A pair of boys crashed a car and drowned in the Econlockhatchee River beneath the bridge.
However, Byrnes told News 6 that there is one story from along that road he’s been able to confirm.
In 1963, a 17-year-old named Norbert Hyman drove out to the bridge at night with three friends to set off fireworks.
“After they were done shooting out the fireworks, one friend ran to get the car. The other friends walked ahead back toward the main road,” Byrne said.
Unfortunately, the “one friend” didn’t turn on the car lights and drove toward the others. While two of them were able to jump out of the way, Hyman was instead fatally struck.
“(The friend) drove his other two friends home and dropped them off before taking (Hyman) to the hospital...” Byrne added. “By the time they got to the hospital, (Hyman) was dead.”
While it’s the only story along Snow Hill Road that he’s been able to verify, Byrne theorized it could be the origin of the Oviedo Lights myth.
“Whether you believe it’s the root of the actual ghost story — and this kid is ‘haunting,’ if that’s your way of believing — or whether you just think that it’s the root ghost story that kicked off all these other stories, that’s, I guess, up to the reader,” he said.
However, the Oviedo Lights could be the product of something else: swamp gas.
According to experts, dead vegetation in swamps can break down into highly combustible methane, which could potentially ignite and cause flickering blue flames in the air. This could be the cause behind legends like the Oviedo Lights and other “will-o’-the-wisp” (a.k.a. “ignis fatuus”) phenomena.
Given the marshy areas near the Econlockhatchee bridge, this remains the most scientifically viable theory.
But there’s also a problem with this theory; no one has been able to put it to the test.
Last year, researchers took a closer look at the topic, and they explained that a huge problem with the theory is that experts haven’t been able to figure out what would cause the methane to suddenly combust.
“In nature, an extra source of energy is needed to ignite the cool flame of methane,” the research report reads. “That is, Ignis Fatuus is not the spontaneous combustion of swamp gas, as has been argued for years.”
Moreover, these researchers added that there have been no reliable reports over the past century. As such, the Ignis Fatuus phenomena could be “extinct” nowadays thanks to the huge reduction of marshlands around the globe.
Without a clear explanation, the Oviedo Lights are largely left up to personal belief. Are they spirits, swamp gasses, or just the product of a local’s overactive imagination?
Regardless, they make for a great story.
Just be sure to keep an eye out next time you go down Snow Hill Road at night.
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