Ghost Train RadioLantern Man
They say he is the Lantern Man
Some yell out "Jesus Christ"
He scares the living daylights
Out of everyone at night
Some say they see him every year
With his golden light
In Hackettstown and Blairstown
They heard stories of his plight
On earth he was a lantern man
Until he lost a limb
Now he hangs his lantern
On the hook that they gave him
His headstone in a country plot
Out near old route 46
Before the train hit his car
And he crossed the River Styx
Well, this is the last day of Dios de la Muerte, my favorite extension of Halloween. I mean – why not stretch it out three days? This year I have tried to combine surreal or dada influenced art with American Gothic stories – heavy on ghosts in ghost towns like Bodie, the Catholic Cemetery in Martinez and just imagined mannequins running amok on train tracks.
This is a true story – when I was in High School – near the M&M Mars factory – there was a train track and at night you could see the green glow of a swinging lantern with no person near it. I suspect it was an optical illusion – but it made for great fun and story telling. This is my version (or one of them anyway) . . ..
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