Old Lady Anson

Many years ago there was a mother who sent her children into a storm to procure food from the local store. She gave her two children a lantern and told them if they got into trouble, they should flash their lantern three times and wait for help. But the children were never seen again. It is said that the woman set out with a lantern to look for them, and to this day you can still see her light.

The drive from Abilene to Anson is 15 or so miles, and in the car with me are my couchsurfing host Melissa, and her roommate Garrett. Garrett starts making cracks about how they're really just taking me out to shoot me and take my car. I've only just met this guy today. For all I know he could be serious.

When we get to Anson, we turn down a dark, dirt road, the kind you might see in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It doesn't help that I'm in Texas right now. We drive a mile or so to a T intersection, turn around facing the way we came, and kill the engine and lights. Here Melissa tells me the story of Old Lady Anson. We are here to see her light.

Local legend has it that at this intersection, one is to flash the carlights three times, just as she instructed her children, and at the end of the road, where there is nothing but an empty cornfield, a light will appear.

I flashed my highbeams three times, and after the third time the darkness was a bit terrifying. Suddenly there came a light from the cornfield, which extinguished shortly thereafter. When it reappeared a few seconds later, it seemed brighter. Closer.

Sadly, the story ends there. The light extinguished again, and deciding we'd had enough, my hosts and I drove back to Abilene.

The rest of my time in Abilene was comprised of eating my first brisket sandwich, smoking a cigar in a local shop with Melissa, walking around downtown Abilene with her friends, and best of all, going to a drive in movie. "Surf's Up." Chalk another one up for couchsurfing!