Scientist Might Solve the Mystery of ‘Summerville Ghost’ of South Carolina
A scientist believes she has solved the decades-old mystery of ghostly hauntings in Summerville, South Carolina.
Since the 1950s, locals have reported paranormal activity near abandoned railroad tracks on Old Sheep Island Road (Old Light Road), including eerie glowing orbs—often small, blue, green, or red—shaking cars, and whispered voices. The legend claims a man died on the tracks, and his widow haunts the area with a lantern.
Dr. Susan Hough, a geophysicist, suggests natural causes. Studying the area, she found a kink in the railroad tracks indicating an underlying fault line. Historical records reveal a massive 1886 Charleston earthquake (magnitude 6.6–7.3) shifted a nearby rail line 15 feet.
“There were newspaper articles about the Summerville Light. And books like Haunted Summerville. I didn’t give it a lot of thought. Then last October [2024], a USGS newsletter ran a little feature on spooky science. That got me thinking again about the ghost stories. And some of the details just screamed earthquake phenomena,” Hough told Science.
She attributes the lights to “earthquake lights”—optical phenomena like glowing orbs, streamers, or sheet lightning during seismic activity. Though their cause is debated, Hough theorizes shallow quakes release water-soluble gases (radon/methane), ignited by static or rock movement. Flammable gases exposed to oxygen might also ignite.
“It turns out they’re all over the place. Lights have been reported in Wilmington and elsewhere in the Carolinas. Maybe those “ghosts” are illuminating shallow active faults. They’re impossible to study, because you can’t catch them in the act. But there are plausible theories that might explain them,” she said.
“The association between ghosts and railroad tracks made me think about sparks,” Hough continued. “But the association could have a different explanation, for example the tendency of railroads to follow corridors that were carved out by faults.”
She noted old steel tracks left behind during replacements might spark, adding: “Historically, when [rail companies] replaced tracks, they did not always haul the old track away. So, you’ve got heaps of steel out there. Sparks might be part of the story.”
Shaking cars and noises are linked to shallow tremors.
“Sound waves at frequencies of 20–200 Hz are within the audible range,” Hough wrote, explaining infrasound (<20 Hz) may cause sensations like “detonations” reported before the 1886 quake.
High-frequency energy from shallow sources could explain these phenomena. Hough hopes studying ghost stories can advance earthquake research:
“My hope is that ghost stories might provide a useful target for investigations, both to understand earthquake lights and to identify shallow active faults in eastern North America.”
