Jacksonville, Florida - Ghost Light Road

by Amy
(Jacksonville, Florida, USA)

On the outskirts of Jacksonville there is a town called “Switzerland" and this is where you find what is known as “Ghost Light Road". My boyfriend told me that he had been there a few times as a teen and what supposedly was to happen is that a guy on a motorcycle died drag-racing back in the 50’s or 60’s and what you do is drive down the road, park your car and watch your rearview mirror for a single headlight (his motorcycle) then as it gets closer it disappears then you look straight ahead and see the taillight as it speeds away.






My boyfriend hadn’t been there for years the night we decided to go together and even though the town is a very small one and it took about an hour to get there, he drove right to it. Well, we waited and waited but nothing seemed to happen so we drove all the way home. Once we got home we both felt that something would happen if we went back so we got right back in the car and drove the hour back to the road. This time it felt completely different and didn’t quite look the same as I recalled.

We drove down the road slowly, past the school and the one dirt road that goes off it, and I mentioned to Steven that it was such a clear night, I bet we could see every single star, and right then out of the completely clear sky what seemed like a lightening bolt struck. But it was silent and I looked over and said, oh my gawd, I bet I could point right to where that thing struck and so I pointed and Steve goes, oh my gawd Amy there it is.

Right where I was pointing was a red tail light and we became very excited to actually see it and we began to speed up to catch up to it. Well, the road was winding this way and that and I became aware that I could “feel" the ghost and looked over at a lake right beside the road and just immediately knew to turn around. So I told Steven to stop the car right there and turn us around, he seemed kinda dazed and goes, “Oh, yeah. OK Amy. “

So we did a 3-point turn in the middle of the dirt road and there was just enough light for me to see the imprint of our tire marks in the dirt and we began heading back. Almost instantly the absolute BRIGHTEST single white light appeared in all the rear view mirrors and we were overwhelmed with the most terrifying reality that we were being followed and it was gaining on us. I looked at Steven and nervously said Geez, don’t you wish we brought someone else along, and right then the lighter FLEW out of the front console and landed between us, I picked it up and said, it’s not even hot Steven. (That lighter normally had to be YANKED free from the console to use.)

We both looked at the speedometer and Steven said, "We’re haulin’ oats, Amy!" We were going 80 miles per hour and the light was still gaining on us. We were terrified and felt an absolute evil all around us, and we both wanted to talk about it but later admitted we were too scared at that moment to do anything but focus on getting the heck out of there. Well, it took a good 15 minutes of driving 80mph down that dirt road before we finally got to the paved part at which point the light disappeared. It was no longer visual but the feeling that it was right there with us didn’t end until the next day.

We speed all the way out to the main road. Heading back to Orange Park, we crossed the Buchman Bridge at which point I yelled to Steven, "Do you hear that??" and he yelled back "Yea, what is that??" and I yelled "I Dunno" and tried looking in the sky, as what we heard very plainly was about 50 airplanes all at once, and I remember specifically saying it sounded like a war was going on, but there was not a single thing in the sky but stars.

Well, back in Orange Park we went to bed, it was about 5:30 am at this time, Steven and I calculated we were missing about 45 minutes of time and a quarter tank of gas. But I wouldn’t let this experience rest and the next morning I INSISTED we return to Ghost Light Road. Steven didn’t want to but agreed. We went down the road again and this time we traveled about 5 miles per hour, checking everything out. About 3 minutes down the road, I saw the dirt marks where we 3-point turned out of there the night before and I said, WHAT? That can’t be right Steven, there was a lake right there, I remember seeing it when we turned around, and he said I was right, but when we looked over all there was was a 3-foot wide ditch.

After about 5 minutes, we reached the road’s end, which outletted to a paved road. We were VERY CONFUSED because the night before, the road was very long and winding, but the next day it was straight and only about 5 minutes long going about 5-10 miles an hour. The previous night it took 15 minutes doing 80mph to get off it. Well, we returned home bewildered. About 3 weeks later, we told friends about our crazy experience, and this one girl goes, "WOW you heard the planes," and I freaked out and said, yea, and she said her friend had done a college paper on the place and very, very few people ever heard the planes.

She said the place was an emergency landing strip for airplanes during a WW and after it was abandoned, they used to drag race on it and the place has always been haunted for most of the century. All I know is that it radiates the most awful evil feeling and if you visit it yourself, you should use caution and try to keep from being tranced out.

Another important thing: about 3 months later I awoke at 3 am crying and had a bad dream about the road. I looked over and Steve was already awake and he asked if I wanted to talk about it and I said “No," and he said, “I just had a dream about Ghost Light Road," and I said, “Oh My Gawd, I did too!" As it turns out, his dream was he and I going to the road, and my dream was us already there. He had the first part to the dream and couldn’t remember the rest, I had the second part of the dream but couldn’t remember the first. And all this happened at 3am. The PRECISE time we had the weird experience that one night when we were there, and then, for seemingly no reason at all, right then in the middle of the night we could hear motorcycles racing all around the neighborhood.

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Jacksonville, Florida - Ghost Light Road

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Sep 16, 2011
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Greenrbiar
by: Anonymous

The old airport rests just to the south of Greenbriar Road. It was considered more of a "touch and go" airstrip than a real airport for aircraft carrier practice landing.

Long story short, war ended, funding ended, nice government landing strip turned into backwoods drag racing/shooting range/anything goes recreational area.

In the 1970's and early 80's a few folks lost their lives in unfortunate racing accidents. This was truly one of the only racing strips that you could cheer on your favorite car. Brooke Shields had some scenes from one of her movies filmed at this location.

Now as far as ghosts go, I can tell you from personal experience on that dark road that you would have to be there to experience it. I say "experience" because to this day I still can't talk my mind into accepting what my own eyes saw on that road one night back in the 1970's when I was a young fellow.

I don't believe in ghosts or all that other supernatural stuff, but I can't explain this ball of light that rolled over the hood of the car I was in and passed through the windshield, and then between my driver and me.

I've reasoned to myself that it was a "ball lightning". Coolest thing I have ever seen.

Word of warning.... local cops are total a..holes and are waiting to take curious spectators to jail for made up infractions. The original main road has long since been paved and reworked so there really is no real "Ghost light Road" anymore. The west of the runway is abutted by a neighborhood, the north by a paved road, the south and east are culled by the most water moccasin infested lowland swamps you will ever see.

(Note: If I receive any complaints about this post from anyone about people doing anything unsafe, illegal or irresponsible, this post is coming down. Any questions, kids? - Brenda, Webmaster)

Sep 15, 2011
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Old airport
by: Anonymous

Was there or was there not an old airport that you could get to from ghost light road?

Aug 28, 2011
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Ghost Light Rd.
by: Anonymous

It's been about 15 yrs now, I have been down this road 2 times. Once with my sister and one time with my nephew. At that time the only thing on that road except for a few houses was the school on the left side of the road. It was a dirt road. When I was there with my nephew we found our way into the area where we could see the straffing practice from WWII (can't remember now how we found our way in there). You could see the remains of old barracks and an old tower. It was really neat but sort of creepy.

The second time I was there with my sister it was at dusk and we did see the lights. It did scare us a bit and we peeled out of there back onto San Jose. Since then they have build houses in there with lots of streets and now you cannot find or see where the old entrance to the old airport or air base was. Never heard anything about a mental hospital or motor cycles. The way I found out about Greenbriar Rd. is because a boss of mine where I worked used to play there when he was a young kid with his friends.

Aug 28, 2011
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The ghost light is real
by: Anonymous

Back in the 80's I went out to Greenbrier Rd. because I was told by friends of this light people were seeing.

I rode out there from St. Augustine, not expecting anything in particular. I was there for about half an hour and then we decided to leave. As we turned to leave, we saw the light. It was gaining on us pretty rapidly. We did not hear any sounds at all.

We were pretty scared and left in a hurry. I heard that there was a military base from WWII over there. You used to be able to go on the grounds, but now because of housing, it is off limits.

It's been awhile since that first time. The second time I went I was talking to a person who lived in the neighborhood and asked her if she ever experienced anything. She said she did not but several people in the area said they have seen things.

So, who knows? Stranger things have happened in other places.

Aug 18, 2011
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Ghost Light
by: Rage Head

You bunch of city slickers, for your information the road was called Old Airport Road. There was an old airport there where World War Two planes practiced their bombing maneuvers.

I've lived here all my life and I am 50 years old and as far as a ghost light, I've never seen it. They use to drag race out there on the old run ways and other things. It was a lot of fun.

Mar 31, 2011
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Greenbriar Road
by: Anonymous

Wasn't there an old airport and mental Hospital out there? I just bought a house off Greenbriar road in the colony and have had some really weird stuff happen to us that even the builders can't explain. Does anybody remember where this was. I have lived in Fruitcove my whole life even visited the ghost light and the old airport, but with all the new construction and road changes I can't remember where it was?

Jan 29, 2011
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I saw this light back in 1990...
by: Rich

I went to this road at night with two friends because I had read about the 'ghost lights.' The dirt road was very bumpy so it was hard to go fast. I could see red lights in the distance which were obviously from the tail lights of cars. I thought this must be what people were seeing and calling them ghost lights. Out of nowhere a bright white light came down the road toward my car. It was like a headlight but I didn't hear any noise. I was so stunned I started speeding away. As the light came close to my car it suddenly veered away into the brush and disappeared.

It certainly wasn't an optical illusion. We all saw the same thing. I was sorry to hear the road was paved over - I don't know if it was a ghost, but it sure was something.

Apr 26, 2010
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Yeah,it really used to happen.
by: Cetacean

I went to the famous Ghost Light road, back in 1993 with my hubby.We went to disprove the thing because we we're told of it by a known prevaricator so we enjoyed a nice meal and then went "ghost hunting". We were told not only could you see the light but also hear the bike.

We traveled the road twice,the first time nothing special other than a long road. We turned around and tried it one more time and sure enough, a single headlight did appear.We also caught the very low level sound of a motorcycle. I figured,like many skeptics that it was an optical illusion from the main road,so unbeliever that I was, I actually got out of the car and stood in the middle of Greenbriar Rd and dared the light. I figured it would stay far back and disappear as traffic on the main road made the curve.

Guess what? The thing got closer and closer as did the sound.It was not on the highway but definitely coming down the road towards us. Finally when it was within yards of 'running me down' my husband jumped out and grabbed me away. No bike to be seen, certainly no driver, but we saw the light get huge and bright almost on top of us for a moment then it just slowly faded out.
Way cool and turned this skeptic into a believer. Since then,though, the road has been both paved and straightened out and have heard that the ghost light no longer appears.

Feb 26, 2010
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Where do I start
by: Reality

Ok, if you guys want people to take your made-up stories seriously try and make them somewhat believable.

1st off, who would drive 1 hour to a remote location, see and hear nothing, drive home, then drive all the way back again? If you want to establish that it felt different from a previous visit just say that.

Then you claim to see lightening strike out of the clear sky and an automobile (ghost automobile) to appear at the point of the strike? Ok from this point to the point your lighter pops out of the console I won't even touch that because it's so rediculous it has absolutely no basis in reality(I'll stick to things that are just stupid).

So your cigarette lighter pops out of the console. You know those things have springs in them right? And you were traveling at high speeds down a dirt road, right?...bump bump...so you see where I'm going with that. You don't have to punch it in and heat it up for it to get dislodged and pop out especially when traveling rough terrain at high speeds.

So you claim to be traveling 80mph for 15 minutes. Well that's called adrenaline, you were scared and much like in dreams when you can't run fast enough to get away from the monster you felt like you were driving much further and probably faster than you actually were.

Then you hear airplanes over the buckman bridge. Well you do know that NAS Jacksonville is about 2 miles from the buckman. It is quite normal to hear planes in Jacksonville at any time of the day or night as it has 2 naval air stations and a international airport which service both jet and propeller planes, there is NOTHING paranormal about hearing planes in the night.

How do you calculate missing time? If your watch is off by 45min then it's slow or not set properly.

You claim your husband had the the 1st half of a dream you couldn't remember all of and he had the second half of this dream? How do you know he had the part of your dream you don't remember....I mean do you read this after you type it?

And my favorite part: "In the middle of the night we could hear motorcycles racing all around the neighborhood"....this is supernatural how? I hear motorcycles every night and never have I once thought it was a gang of ghost bikers, lol.

Jan 03, 2010
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These lights are NOT supernatural....
by: David

I lived in J.ville for years and have been to this road a few times. It's really very simple to figure out what is going on. Yes, there are lights and they do appear to simply wink out or vanish while you are looking at them and they do appear as if the are approaching you coming closer and closer. It's merely an illusion and if you will ride all the way down the road you will see why. Way down at the end of the road there is an oncoming highway that is lined up perfectly with Greenbriar Road. Like straight line perfect. The road heads straight for Greenbriar then makes a turn to the left away from Greenbriar. So the lights that people are seeing are not actually on Greenbriar, they are actually car headlights moving toward Greenbriar from the other highway and when the cars come to the left hand turn and the headlights no longer shine down Greenbriar road they appear to just suddenly wink out. Trust me, if you actually ride down Greenbriar toward the lights when you see them you will see what I mean. You will never reach the lights because they are on a completely different road. It's a very cool illusion but an illusion just the same. As for all the talk about speeding motorcycles and lights coming out of the sky and all....just overactive imaginations and people who "want" to see something out there. Test me...ride out there on a clear night and you WILL see the lights. Then ride towards them and you'll see what is REALLY going on.

Oct 25, 2009
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ghost light rd
by: Ashley

i grew up right on goast light rd, an u used to be able to c it before they paved it.as a teen we used to go walking down it to see the light and it was their.

Aug 13, 2009
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Don't believe it;
by: Matt

We have the same EXACT story up in Pennsylvania and second and her's the clincher. No guy is gonna ask her girlfriend/wife in the middle of the night if "you wanna talk about it". Just say'in lol

Oh yeah why not just use NAS Jax right up the river with a flightline and muliple runways. It was there in the 50s and 60s. NS Mayport a bit further north too.

Mar 04, 2009
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same thing happened to us
by: Anonymous

about 10 years ago...I didnt hear planes tho. But that light chased us, and it was FAST..then we turned around and faced it and it stopped and the light went out..but there was a glow of like a old motorcycle headlight bulb as it went off. We went towards where it was and nothing was there..we were all so scared, but it was fun.

Feb 17, 2009
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is that u
by: brian woodle

r u who i think u r

Jan 08, 2009
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wow
by: Anonymous

Great story. all 3 of you saw it as well... Very cool. That is terrific. I hope they didnt build a housing complex there. There is going to be a unexpalied light going back and forth should the residual haunting stay there... very creepy. Would love to expereince that one more myself.

Oct 05, 2008
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I HAVE BEEN THERE TOO
by: Martina Crews

I want to know when U were there, because I went there several times, the road is actually called Greenbrier road and it's bit long but it sure doesn't take 15 min to go down, and it especially wouldn't take even 5 at 80 miles per hour. I have been there during the day too, to see exactly what is around in the way of people, houses and so forth,,,,at the time I went, it was still a dirt road, BUT right when you turn off of San Jose onto Greenbrier it's paved for a few feet, THEN it turns into a dirt road. I have gone at all times of the night from first dusk to 4am,to 12 midnight, and I saw the light every single time, but I NEVER felt an evil aura, I believe that is just your fear and nerves getting the best of you...however when U go if U sit and wait a few minutes U will see a single white light, and the very last time I went we saw it head on, but then turned around because it did appear that it was going very fast, we did about 50mph leaving and the light was gaining on us..BUT once we hit the paved road it was like it couldn't follow, U could clearly see the white light dissapear and then there it was a single red light going back the other way..ALSO I had my window down and u know at night sound travels and if it was some one playing a trick we would have heard the motor, there was no noise, just us..also now this was 10 years ago, the only thing on the road was a rodeo/stable place, and I never saw a lake..I have looked it up on Google Earth and it appears that the road has been pavedand widened,and a housing complex has been built. I hope not. I'ts Octobernow,and the weather is better.iwilljust have to drive out there real soon,and when I do, I'll update as to the situation...I hope it's still there, but I doubt it.

Sep 03, 2008
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I saw it too.
by: Anonymous

About 10 years ago I too went to the road with a few friends. We sat there for over an hour and right before we were about to leave we saw the light. All 4 of us were terrified and turned the car on and left immediately.

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