QUICK FACTS:

Location: Dillon, South Carolina

Appearance: White or blue light that swings from side to side, in nearby fields or in the woods. Some observers report a sinister feeling.

Folklore:

  1. A farmer named John (or Bill) Bingham was run over on the train tracks and now haunts them.
  2. The ghost is that of a man named Bingham murdered one or several people and carried his lantern at night to bury them.

Other explanations: None known.

MORE INFORMATION:

Bingham’s Light, located in or near Dillon, South Carolina, seems to be one of the lesser-known ghost lights in America and one of the lights I received the fewest entries about. The apocryphal tale concerns a farmer named John (or Bill) Bingham who was either run over on the train tracks in the area or murdered someone there. Either way, he was carrying his lantern at the time, and that is the explanation for the mysterious light now seen there. The site is described as woody, with a creek running nearby and swampland in the general vicinity.

Most reports describe the light as white or blue and swinging from side to side. Some observers have seen the light in nearby fields, while others insist the light emanates from the woods. There seems to be some confusion on this point, as apparently at some point the area was woodier than it is now and a narrow road was cut through the woods that may no longer exist. One aspect that makes this ghost light a little different than others is that a “sinister” feeling is sometimes reported as part of the experience.

Overall, this light is difficult to find details about, and many of the articles available on the web seem to be copied from each other or from ghosts.org. The single coherent reader experience I received is offered below.

Reader Experience

Date received: Fri, 20 Aug 1999

Bingham’s Light in Dillon, South Carolina is one of the scariest things I’ve ever witnessed. You get off of I-95 Dillon exit and at the historical marker you will see a dirt road that leads into the woods. Park and walk about a mile or so and start yelling for him. You will know when you are close because the temperature will drop drastically.

His name is John Bingham. He was hit by a train in the late 1800s or early 1900s depending on who you ask in town. He was flagging the train with a lantern and his lantern is what you will see swaying back and forth. The tracks are no longer there. I’ve been there four or five times and every time I go, something weird happens.

The first time, the light actually got in my face about three feet away and I got sick. The second time, the motor in my friend’s brand new car blew up on the dirt road. He had only had the car four days. The third time we bogged down a four wheel drive Jeep on the dirt road. The fourth time, my friends shot it with a rifle after making sure that it wasn’t some idiot out there playing a joke, and it split and turned different colors.

All this stuff happened in a two week period. If you ever go, you will get the feeling that you need to go back. PM magazine that used to be on TV did a story on Bingham’s Light. Just thought you would like to know about it.

7 Replies to “Bingham Light”

  1. Hi my name is Genetria McGill and I actually live in Bingham. I’ve seen the light most of my life and it is very real. The train tracks are still here over grown with tree’s and grass.

    1. I’m curious….what railroad tracks are you referring to in Bingham, SC? There is absolutely NO historical record of any railroad line extending that far out of Dillon, SC. I’ve seen that light many times….especially during the mid to late 80’s when I was stationed in Myrtle Beach, SC. Back at that time….the area was heavily wooded and you could actually drive back to the point where people watched the light. It is totally different now though….that whole area was logged a number of years ago and all the trees are gone. As for the light….I figured out what it was years ago. That viewing point off of the access road Reedy Springs, Ct, is directly lined up with S. Butler Rd. This isn’t any mysterious light….these are car headlights from vehicles traveling down Butler Rd.

      1. Hi Loren, thanks for your comments! I’ll be adding more to this page soon that I had originally withdrawn due to Amazon’s ebook rules. You’ll be happy to know you are correct in your assessment.
        — Obiwan

  2. Greetings!

    I just came across this website after some Googling to see if any newer information has been established about this light since I seen it.

    I have to say that this light is VERY REAL, but unfortunately with this sorta phenomena there is more misinformation available than factual information, mainly due to people exaggerating their experiences just to have a story to tell.

    I have been out to see this light over 50 something times and I saw it maybe 4-5 times between 2010-2020. My experiences would be too long to recount here but there are a few points I would like to shed some light on – no pun intended.

    First of all, the area….. the main location in this area that most people have claimed to witness the light is near a swamp. There is indeed a swamp in the area but it is a great deal of walking to get to it. When you get to the community of Bingham (depending on which direction you are coming from) you will see two dirt roads. The first one is S Butler Rd. The second one is a little bit further down the road and is called Reedy Springs Ct. Reedy Springs Ct is the road you take if you want to see it from the swamp. Along the road you will come to a yellow gate to your right that is blocking a path that leads to the woods. If you duck under the gate it is considered trespassing but that is the path you walk to the swamp. It is about a 40 minute walk and you will come to a few paths along the way and it is VERY isolated. Back when I went around 2010 there were logging trucks parked because they were logging trees so I don’t know how it looks now. After a while you will come to an opening and a dirt crosspath that allegedly used to be the old railroad, although you can’t tell it as it is nothing but dirt now. If you head left on the path about maybe a quarter mile it will lead to a steep washout. This is the swamp.

    I went in the evening time so my crew and I didn’t see any light that visit. To be honest we really didn’t want to. That little area is creepy enough even in the day time, especially with low hanging branches, huge spider webs, and deep trenches on either side.

    Now on to my second point. The most convenient location and the one where I’ve personally seen the light is on S Butler Rd. When you take this dirt road you will travel a mile down through the woods, passing several corn fields along the way. When you reach the final and largest corn field you are at the viewing spot.

    At this point you are at an intersection. If you veer off right you will go up into a patch of woods for a good bit, then you will end up on Reedy Springs Ct because this whole area is connected. But if you keep going straight from the intersection you will run alongside the field and eventually leave the area.

    So about the field…….it is very large but being as it is a corn field you have to make sure that the field is plowed or else the corn will block any chance of seeing the light. If the field is plowed and you are lucky, you may get to see the light coming for you!

    Finally, regarding the light itself…… I know there are many variations of the backstory, but I don’t care to get into that as I don’t have any verification for any of it. All I know is that the light is real. You call out to the light and just depending on whenever it chooses to reveal itself you will see it in the area, usually coming from way back in the distance near the tree line.

    The light isn’t bright light or a glow. When I saw it it was a very faint illumination. It isn’t a steady glow. It shows itself in flashes and appears in random areas. Eventually it comes closer to you and appears to chase you. It is so faint that you have to pay attention to where it turns up next or it can be right up on you in no time. It is very freaky!

    That in itself proves that it is not car headlights off in the distance or swamp gas because the field where I seen it is not near the swamp.

    I am glad to have finally had the opportunity to witness the Bingham Light for myself, but I have to say that while it is indeed real, there is without any doubt that many people have exaggerated the lore behind this strange phenomon.

    1. Thank you for this additional information! This is very useful. If you’d like to tell more of your experiences with the light, please feel free to comment here or email me at obiwan@ghosts.org. Thanks again for your contribution!

      1. Just giving an update on another experience with the light!

        I went out to the community of Bingham to attempt to see the light this past Halloween. It was obviously the perfect time to go.

        I was expecting to see a crowd of people out there given the occasion, but to my surprise I only saw 1 or 2 other cars and they were only driving through the location and then left. By time I had gotten down the mile long dirt road (S. Butler rd) I was the only one out there.

        Nothing spectacular happened that night. I just got out of the car and did the usual call, “Bingham Light, come out!”. As always, it was pretty creepy out there but I had been out there so many times that I became quite accustomed to it by now. I think the scariest part about being out there is the darkness itself along with the remoteness of the area. The light in and of itself is nothing scary. It’s just knowing what it is that gets to you!

        The crops in the field was grown up to maybe a foot and I noticed there were 2 cotton trucks parked on opposite sides of the field.

        I stood out there maybe 20 something minutes (estimate) calling the light and looking around me at all times. I asked it to reveal itself in a way that wouldn’t scare me.

        It wasn’t much long after that when I noticed right dead in the middle of the field I saw a faint flash low to the ground. It took a second for my eyes to really adjust to what I was looking at but given my previous experiences I knew right then that was the light! It was moving towards me at a fairly quick pace in it’s usual side to side motion. It was only a few yards away from me. I quickly ran to my car and tore out of there!

        The thing about this light is that it’s so faint that you really don’t realize what you’re seeing until it’s nearly right up on you. That’s the scary part about it. A lot of people (and I do mean ALOT) have exaggerated the appearance of the light over the years, but on the handful of occassions I seen it, it showed itself as a soft faint blue-ish illumination that flashed side to side. Never anything like hard and bright like car lights or a flame. It’s not even as bright as a firefly illumination and there ARE tons of those out there in the warm months, so that alone has unknowingly confused many I’m sure! But I digress at this point……

        Anyway, I left S. Butler rd and took a left on Hwy 34 to drive another mile or so around to Reedy Springs Ct, which is another dirt road. The whole area is connected, so Reedy Springs Ct. runs parallel to S. Butler rd (imagine something along the lines of a big rectangle and you sorta got the picture).

        I got down Reedy Springs Ct, turned my car around and parked at the point where the two dirt roads intersect. At first I got out of the car and made the call but it began to dawn on me just how creepy that area was. I thought the area around the crop field on S. Butler rd was creepy, but Reedy Springs Ct is just outright dreadful on a dark night!

        I couldn’t stand out there any longer. I quickly got back in my car and rolled the passenger window down and made the call to the light. I made sure to look around me at all times as that particular area is where the light is known to come up on you close and FAST…… though it never happened to me yet.

        After several minutes I didn’t see anything and I wasn’t about to wait around much longer either. I was getting creeped out by the minute so I had to go!

        Although not much happened that night, I can say that I did finally get to see the light again after so long. After all, considering I had over 50 something visits, I’ve only seen the light maybe 5-6 times in the span of 10 years.

        I’m glad to know that the ghost light of Bingham still exists!

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