Today, we’re going to be stepping out of East Tennessee and heading closer to Nashville. Nashville is full of many different tales, including ghosts of famous country singers, but we’re going to be talking about the Headless Signalman.
The Headless Signalman is said to be a spirit that haunts train tracks about an hour out of Nashville, dating back to the 1900s. The most common origin of the Headless Signalman states that on a rainy night in a small town, the train tracks had started to wash out in just one particular spot. Because of this, a worker was sent out to alert incoming trains. The worker was given this task in the middle of a downpour and only a single light to use and flash at the dangerous spot.
Since there was such low visibility, the worker had to stand on the tracks so that any conductors in their trains could see the light. It is said that one train was nearing the dangerous spot, and the signalman on the tracks flashed his light at them. After successfully flashing his light to the oncoming train, the worker, completing his task, went to move out of the train’s way but slipped and fell onto the tracks.
Although the train conductor pulled the brakes as fast as he could, the train was moving far too fast and struck the worker, killing him. It is said that the conductor, once the train had fully stopped, ran back to the worker to help in any way he could, but it was no use. The signal man’s head had been completely decapitated, and his head lay next to the tracks in the mud with his light still flickering.
During the 1950s, this tale spread quickly through town. People quickly went to try and see for themselves if there was a real haunting, most of them being young couples on dates. The majority of those who have seen the signal man’s light say that it doesn’t look like any other train light. People report that this light will move, sometimes just back and forth as if a person were holding it and swinging themselves. But many report that this light will move towards you or away from you, or it will suddenly be right behind you.
More and more people ventured to experience what others had been reporting, and it quickly became dangerous to visit the site. There was even a time when one man was out by himself when he saw the light. He was so shocked to actually experience something that he didn’t realize it was the light of a real train coming towards him, and sadly, it struck and killed him on the tracks. Once this incident occurred, the police started to patrol the area and arrest anyone they saw on the tracks.
It is reported by people who have seen the infamous light that they will be overcome with a certain emotion that won’t allow them to move, let alone scream. Other people report that their cars stop running once they see the light, so there’s no way out.
Now, the main question is whether or not this widely believed origin of the Headless Signalman is, in fact, true, and if so, is he protecting others from meeting a fate like his or luring them into joining him?
