Clay did not believe the explanation given by the woman for her sudden fright. He had no doubt that the mention of the mysterious three blue lights had led to this alleged heart failure.
“I’ll shore be better in a minute,” the woman said, dropping into a home-made chair which stood just inside the house. “What was it you said about the three blue lights? I was took sudden just as you began speaking of them.”
Clay repeated what he had said regarding the mysterious lights, watching the woman closely every second. She did not again show sign of emotion of any kind.
“Why,” the woman said directly, “them’s the ghost lights that are often seen on the Ohio. The steamboat Mary Ann went down with a dancing party on board ten years ago, and ever since then the lights have been seen on the river.”
“But the Mary Ann went down just off Wolf Creek,” Clay suggested.
“There is a story,” the woman began in a hushed voice, “that the lights show every year about the time the boat went down, at the exact place where she sunk. And then, again,” she continued, “they do say that wherever a body from the Mary Ann remains unburied at the bottom of the river the three blue lights show at least once a year.”
“So they really are ghost lights?” asked Clay.
“Why, stranger,” the woman continued, “boats have been pushed directly into them lights as they floated on the surface of the river, and they have burned right on after being submerged! Them explosions have been heard time and time again, and nothing has been found which could have produced them. We people along the river are mighty skeery of them ghost lights.”
“I have heard that they bring disaster,” Clay suggested.
“They sure do!” replied the woman. “But come in,” she went on, “here I’ve been talkin’ like a foolish old gossip, and you standing hungry in the doorway. Come in and sit down.”