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(erielack) RE: Hookerman's lights - Naughtright EL freights (and frights)

> Paul,
> 
> I'm wondering if you can retell the story about the Hookerman 
> lights near Naughtright in Flanders, NJ on the CNJ's High 
> Bridge Branch.  I'm sure that many of the folks are familiar 
> with this...and SE-98/ES-99...but what the heck, it's Halloween!


Only because it's Halloween - enjoy this one-time excursion into
"railroad ghost stories" (with somewhat EL relevance, too!)

Right down the street from me (literally), the CNJ's High Bridge Branch
had a station called Naughright. Over the past century, there have been
sightings of a ghost light along the right of way at this location. Many
stories try to explain the origin of the light, but the general
consensus is that it's a former CNJ employee's spirit returning looking
for something (one story is that the employee lost his arm in an
accident, and it was replaced with a hook - hence, "Hookerman" - and
he's back looking for his arm). The light has been seen for a long time,
and it was so problematic in the first part of the 20th Century that CNJ
timetables of the day included an admonition to "not stop for lantern
signals at Naughright," because so many trains came to a screeching halt
when they saw the swinging lantern light - and then it disappeared!

Two stories I can share that I heard from two different friends. Both
these stories are from the early 1970s timeframe.

Story 1: A friend went down with several (10-15) other friends to
participate in a common activity of that time - see the Hookerman
lights! They were north of Naughright Road, waiting and watching, when a
ghost light appeared, swinging back and forth over the track. However,
this night, the CNJ had a freight coming through. They sat and watched,
transfixed at this surreal scene. The light started moving down the
tracks towards the group, with the freight bearing down on it. As it got
close, the engineer shut his headlights off for a second, and then
turned them on to the maximum brightness setting. For a second, the
headlight illuminated the translucent image of a man in overalls waving
a lantern. Then the lead unit hit the apparition, which evaporated as if
it were a cloud of smoke. The group watching stood frozen at the sight,
until the engineer or fireman (not sure which) leaned out the window and
said, "Holy s***! Did you see THAT?!?"  Thoroughly freaked, they wanted
to run back to the road, but due to the tight quarters, they had to wait
for the entire train to pass on that decrepit piece of track. They
basically chased the caboose down the tracks! My friend looked over his
shoulder, and saw the lantern light, back and swinging over the tracks
once again.

Story 2: A friend took a date down to see the "Hookerman," but were
disappointed when they didn't see anything. It was a hot, muggy summer
night, so they just sat on the tracks with their feet hanging over a low
deck girder bridge over a small creek, enjoying the breeze off the
river. My friend then said he noted a "feeling" like someone was
watching them, and he turned to look. He was staring at a bright light
with the wire "cage" of a lantern around the light. He blinked, and it
was gone! His girlfriend also saw it and freaked out. Needless to say,
they left quickly.

On a personal note, myself and lister Scott Lupia both witnessed this
ghost light ourselves. Being engineering-minded individuals, we made the
proper observations about our surroundings and had flashlights and a
camera, and we're convinced it was something that wasn't easily
explainable.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

	- Paul


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