{"id":21360,"date":"2025-02-01T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21360"},"modified":"2025-02-01T10:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T10:39:23","slug":"earthquakes-may-explain-summerville-lights-eerie-glow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21360","title":{"rendered":"Earthquakes May Explain Summerville Light\u2019s Eerie Glow"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">A seismologist thinks natural phenomena could explain the Summerville Light and other mysteries around a South Carolina locale.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Summerville, a town northwest of Charleston, S.C., has its share of ghost stories. One yarn that has stuck around for decades is the tale of the Summerville Light.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the dead of night, along a dirt road in the nearby pine forest following abandoned railroad tracks, people have observed mysterious lights, bobbing up and down, pulsing with a pale blue, green or orange hue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Along the tracks, the story goes, a woman waited for her husband, a railroad worker, to return. But he died, losing his head in an accident. Ever devoted, the widow searched for his remains. She continued \u2014 even after her own death: The flicker of her lantern was all that remained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It\u2019s a goose-bumpy explanation of the Summerville Light. The remote road in the story even became known to locals as Light Road, a spot where specter seekers reported glowing orbs and unusual noises in the 1960s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Dropzone-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Susan Hough, a seismologist at the U. S. Geological Survey, thinks this supernatural story can be explained by natural phenomena. While studying the area\u2019s seismology, Dr. Hough scoured historical accounts, old newspaper articles, letters and diaries for mentions of earthquakes. One book she found, \u201cHaunted Summerville,\u201d mentioned a big 1886 quake. Could there be a connection between earthquakes and the area\u2019s ghost stories?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some reports of the Summerville Light also mentioned that cars violently shook. \u201cWell, to a seismologist, that sort of screams \u2018shallow earthquake,\u2019\u201d Dr. Hough said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1336jj\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171quhb\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F01%2Fscience%2Fearthquake-lights-summerville-ghost.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F01%2Fscience%2Fearthquake-lights-summerville-ghost.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F01%2Fscience%2Fearthquake-lights-summerville-ghost.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F02%2F01%2Fscience%2Fearthquake-lights-summerville-ghost.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A seismologist thinks natural phenomena could explain the Summerville Light and other mysteries around a South Carolina locale.Summerville, a town northwest of Charleston, S.C., has its share of ghost stories. One yarn that has stuck around for decades is the tale of the Summerville Light.In the dead of night, along a dirt road in the nearby pine forest following abandoned railroad tracks, people have observed mysterious lights, bobbing up and down, pulsing with a pale blue, green or orange hue.Along the tracks, the story goes, a woman waited for her husband, a railroad worker, to return. But he died, losing his head in an accident. Ever devoted, the widow searched for his remains. She continued \u2014 even after her own death: The flicker of her lantern was all that remained.It\u2019s a goose-bumpy explanation of the Summerville Light. The remote road in the story even became known to locals as Light Road, a spot where specter seekers reported glowing orbs and unusual noises in the 1960s.Susan Hough, a seismologist at the U. S. Geological Survey, thinks this supernatural story can be explained by natural phenomena. While studying the area\u2019s seismology, Dr. Hough scoured historical accounts, old newspaper articles, letters and diaries for mentions of earthquakes. One book she found, \u201cHaunted Summerville,\u201d mentioned a big 1886 quake. Could there be a connection between earthquakes and the area\u2019s ghost stories?Some reports of the Summerville Light also mentioned that cars violently shook. \u201cWell, to a seismologist, that sort of screams \u2018shallow earthquake,\u2019\u201d Dr. Hough said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21362,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21363,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21360\/revisions\/21363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}