HOOKERMAN LIGHTS

The legend of the Hookerman is an odd phenomenon happening in more than sixty different locations throughout the United States alone, and the stories of its origins could fill a library. Most of the sightings happen near railroad tracks, but sometimes they are seen in open farmland and hillsides, they have even been reported over water.

The Hookerman of New Jersey was a railroad worker that had his arm cut off in a train accident a hundred years ago. He was said to have worked on the Bartley-Flanders. He was either signaling and oncoming train to stop or was on the train itself. He fell and was knocked unconscious. When he woke up the train had cut off his arm. He now wears a hook and the Hookerman's ghost appears on the tracks carrying a lantern and looking for his arm.

Anthony Muller, a science teacher in Mount Arlington, has seen the lights numerous times. "The effect is a bright, rose- to amber-colored light, ball-like or disklike in shape, with a diameter of about four feet. It seems to be ten to twelve feet above the tracks and moves in one direction, I would estimate at 25 to 40 mph. I was quite interested in this phenomenon and began some research. Geologists and electrical engineers told me that quartz-bearing rocks, under pressure and stress, produce electrical discharges in what is known as the piezoelectric effect. The railroad tracks may focus this electrical energy into ball lightning or at least something close to it."

In 1976 Vestigia did research on the Long Valley mystery lights. They used a Geiger counter and methane detectors, in addition, four thousand feet of copper was put between the rails, they were attached to amplifiers and oscilloscopes. At ten p.m. on November 20 their instruments registered drastic changes as a small but distinct light appeared a foot above the ground and hovered there for about two minutes before disappearing. The team's cameras photographed a pinpoint of light, with infrared photographs that showed more density and light range of the object. The team then turned to geophysical science for an explanation. The geodesic maps of New Jersey revealed a major fault, the Ramapo Border Fault, which runs through Peapack and ends at Indian Point, New York. Since 1962 there have been no less than thirty-three minor earthquakes along this fault. Because quartz-bearing rock produces an electrical charge under seismic stresses and the railroad bed in Long Valley is granite, which is a very good conductor of electricity, a scientific explanation had been reached.

Unfortunately the tracks were tore up in 1977 due to all the people looking for the Hookerman lights. The owners were afraid of someone getting hurt or losing arms along the tracks. This didn't stop the thrill seekers from going out looking for the Hookerman.

Story from Don in Andover
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