The Oxford light….the phantom motorcyclist….the Oxford ghost light….this urban legend is known by many names. It’s been around for a long time, some say as far back as the 40’s. It is said that if you drive out to where Oxford-Milford Rd. and Earhart Rd. meet, facing south, and flash your headlights 3 times, the phantom light will appear in the distance, come towards you, then disappear. This is supposed to be the headlight of the phantom motorcyclist.
The story behind the Oxford light varies depending on who you ask, but there are 3 basic variations.
1) Two teenagers fall in love, but the girls parents don’t approve. They set up a signal so that they can meet in secret. She’s supposed to flash the porch light (or a flashlight) three times to signal him to ride his motorcycle and pick her up. One night, seeing the signal, he jumps on his bike (some versions say he was drunk) and speeds down the road to set her. From there he either is hit by a tractor and killed, hits a young boy on a bicycle, killing them both. Or the most popular version has him losing control at the bend in the road, crashing through a barbed wire fence, decapitating him.
2) The second version involves a serial rapist on the loose in Oxford. Afraid of being his next victim, the girl and her boyfriend set up the same signal as a kind of call for help, in case she feels she’s in danger. From there it’s the same story, she flashes light, he comes riding to the rescue, but wrecks and is killed before making it there.
3) The 3rd says the boyfriend went off to war, and when he returned he found his girl with another man. He takes off on his bike in a rage, and you can figure the rest out from there. Not sure where the flashing light figures into this version of the tale.
What happened to the girl? The rapist? Who was the little boy on the bike? Maybe none of them ever existed? Heres an excerpt from an article in the October 31st, 1992 edition of the Hamilton Journal:
The problem with the legend is that longtime residents have never heard of such an accident. William Falk, 70, was born and has always lived in the house where the girl in the legend supposedly lived. He knows nothing of the story of the girl and doesn’t believe the lights are from a ghost
Regardless of if the Oxford Light is ‘real’, or just an optical illusion caused by car headlights from up the road, it’s still fun to test out….which we did. The headlights of the cars that are a pretty good distance from the parking spot are what we saw. The lay of the road makes them appear much closer than they really are. Often times, chasing after them leads you nowhere, as they have already turned off onto another street before you can reach them, and with the dips in the road obscuring your view, you don’t see it. But again, maybe one of them IS the phantom biker. Most say the best place to park is right where the no parking sign is (obviously why the sign is there), but others say you can do it anywhere in the area. Locals are understandably fed up with people doing this though, so try not to be a pest.
Here’s some Video of the search for the Oxford Light
Directions
Take I-275 to the Colerain Ave exit. This is US-27, take it north to Old Oxford Road and turn right. Then left on Lanes Mill Rd. Next bear left onto Schollenbarger Rd. Continue on to Hamilton Richmond Rd. where you turn left. From there it’s on to Earhart Rd. Turn left onto Earhart, and follow it till you reach the sharp bend in the road. Park on Oxford-Milford Road (by the no parking signs), facing south.
Creepy Cincinnati 
Reblogged this on forrestfotos.
Man, I really got to look around this place more. I didn’t realize you had a post about this. I’d like to share my story of this, if I could. Well, I guess I can, cause nobody is stopping me… who’s that at my door?
Anyway, back when I was 18 I was dating this girl and she had an older brother. He was the first to tell me about this light. I kept begging him to take us out there, but he kept telling me he wasn’t sure if he could remember how to get out there. At some point later he mentioned he had been out there hundreds of times. I mean, I’ve been out there about 10 times in my life, last time was over a decade ago, and I can still find it.
Next, I begged him enough to give in, so he says to me (which I didn’t catch right away) that he had to talk to a friend of his. Later he says he’s going to take us out and (I didn’t catch this either right away) that everything is set up.
We went out there, him and his girlfriend, me and mine (his sister). When we got to where we were supposed to be, instead of stopping and flashing lights, he continues on down the road to the next intersection. There’s a house on that corner with a fence around the yard. There was one man on the inside of the fence talking to a man on the outside of the fence. The man on the outside of the fence had a dirt bike. Uh…
We circled around, got set up, turned off the car, and flashed our lights. We did it several times, and then suddenly THE LIGHT! Satisfied, we left.
I’ve been out, as I said, about 10 times and it has never worked for me since. I guess that’s because I never called that guy and got him to ride his dirt bike up the road at me.
I was, however, once stopped by a sheriff who kept me there for almost an hour, asked me all kinds of questions and told me to never go back to that road again. So if anybody does plan on going out there, be safe, don’t be disrespectful of the people who live on that road, and know that the cops do patrol that area.
I have been around this area for years. My best friend used to live n the house rite n the curve. Lived there for years. Never seen nothing. We used to mess with ppl parked there. Now another friend of mine lives there. So n the 20 years that my friends have lived around there. Theres no such thing. Except ppl parking there to see a light. Throwing there trash out n parking n there yard. Basically its annoying to the ppl that live around there. N for the farm house the guy mentioned n the comments above. That was ol man Falks house. He was a horder. The condemned the house cause of all the trash. Its a hoax. U guys just annoy the ppl that live around there.
There used to be an old farmhouse east of the curve on the south side of the street. Back in the late 90s, while at Miami a group of us went to check out the light and decided to take it a bit farther and explore the farmhouse. It was abandoned, but accessible. So we went into each room. The only odd then (besides that it was open) was that the upstairs rooms were full of old newspapers and magazines. A friend of mine picked up on old time, and it happened to be the same month and date of his mother’s death (she died when he was young – in the late 70s). This spooked him a bit and we left.
It seems that the farmhouse is no longer there, but it was certainly a creepy place.
[…] a ghost motorcyclist who rides up and down the road. For a few of the stories about its history, Creepy Cincinnati has them all laid out. You can also check out this Google search, that comes up with Youtube videos […]
[…] ALSO: The Oxford Light, Creepy […]
[…] ALSO: The Oxford Light, Creepy […]
[…] ALSO: The Oxford Light, Creepy […]
I lived second house from the curve. People all the time stopping out there. When they would park in front of my fence I would go out and tell them where they needed to be. My sons and their friends would sometimes drive way down the road and wait til they flashed their lights and come barreling up the road on their dirtbike. Lol. Scare some of the college students to death. I loved living there. Of course I also love living in houses where spirits still reside. I have great stories of their presense with me.
I live in Oxford, grew up around here. Every time I have done it, it worked. But you have to go at the right time, between 130 and 330. Always on cue. No friends to set it up, drive out there, flash three times, and boom, it comes. And it disappears. Every time. If it’s neighborhood kids, that’s dedication not to mention pissing off the neighbors who put up all the no parking signs and got the police to regularly patrol. Always the same start and finish point. If it’s a prank, somebody’s life must suck for them to do it every night of their lives. And the road is very little traveled, you don’t see another soul till you flash them.
I went out there a couple month ago . i went into the barn and then left the barn and parked at the end of th hill in the corner flashed the lights and it happened but we only got it to happen twice . so i believe its real
So Beautiful
I tried it and I SAW IT IT WAS SO chilling
Okay I’m late to the party here but here goes:
This was quite awhile back, 1996 to be exact. The story I was told was this-
There was a kid who was told to return home before dark whenever he was out to play with his friends. One evening, he was running late, it had already become dark when he started his trek home. He was on his bicycle & it had one of those generator-style headlamps on it that he turned on to see. Someone came down the road in a car & inadvertently struck & killed him.
The rules to make the light appear were kind of the same. You would drive around the bend but you HAD to turn around in the old abandoned house’s driveway. That was apparently the kid’s destination. Once you did you were to park at the top of the hill, turn your car off, then flash your headlights three times & wait.
I was sixteen at the time & thought it was total bullshit but my girlfriend and two other friends said we had to try it out. They’d been there before & swore it happened.
So we did exactly what was outlined above & waited.
I shit you not just moments later we saw a dim, amber-coloured headlamp, that had that generator flicker to it, come around the sharp curve towards the bottom of the hill. It continued towards us for about ten long seconds before a car came from behind us (I mention this because there’s no way it was the cause of the light we saw in front of us because of the curve in the road both to the front & behind us. Impossible physics.), eventually illuminating a free floating orb of light, then passing it. After the car passed the light it vanished AFTER the car went past it.
I still don’t believe in ghosts, god, afterlife, etc. but that was one of the single strangest events of my teenage life. I still can’t explain it.
The girl I dated after the gal I was with during this incident said you have to turn your lights on before the light reaches you or you’ll be the next to die. She said her previous boyfriend & she didn’t do that & apparently the light turned red & ran parallel to them for a few minutes when they took off to run from it.
I know it sounds like a farce of a story but I do attest with all honesty that I bore witness to it firsthand.
You may piss off the people that live around there if you try it, as I was told the same thing, but it was still worth it considering what we all saw that evening.