| According
to legend, the ghost, carrying a lantern, roams across the flat land of Brazoria
County, Texas - at night, constantly searching for a jug of whiskey. It
appears as a bouncing, white ball of light floating about four to six feet off
the ground occasionally making an appearance somewhere between West
Columbia and Angleton,
Texas. A large number of folks have seen the phenomenon known as "Bailey's
Light." My family lived in Angleton
and I saw it one night while varmint hunting near the Brazos River. My sister,
while a teenager, went with some of her friends searching for Bailey's Light.
Well, they found it all right, she said it chased them all the way back to Angleton.
I don't think they ever went looking for it again.
I guess to understand the temperament of the ghost, you would have to know a little
about him when he was still of this world - humanly speaking, that is.
According
to The Handbook of Texas, James Briton Bailey was part of Stephen F. Austin's
Old Three Hundred colonists. He was born in North Carolina in 1779. Bailey was
married at a young age and the couple had six children. After his first wife died,
he married her sister and fathered five more children.
Bailey, known as "Brit," moved his family from North Carolina to Kentucky and
apparently served in the legislature of that state. He was a very controversial
figure and obtained a bad reputation. The story goes that he was prosecuted for
forgery before he left the state.
After leaving Kentucky, Bailey turned up in Tennessee. He lived there for a number
of years and later fought in the War of 1812. When the war was over, Bailey moved
his family and six adult slaves to Texas. He
settled on land that would later become part of Brazoria County. That specific
area is known as Bailey's
Prairie.
Bailey allegedly bought his land from the Spanish government. After Mexico won
its independence from Spain however, the Mexican authorities refused to recognize
his claim that the land belonged to him. Bailey would not give up his home even
though Stephen F. Austin ordered him to leave the Austin colony. Although
Bailey and Austin apparently disliked one another, Austin finally recognized Bailey's
squatter's claim to the land. He was given a league and a labor of ground on the
east bank of the Brazos River. Brit Bailey was later commissioned as a captain
in the local militia. At that time, Texans were loyal Mexican citizens and Bailey
took the oath to defend the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Bailey
gained a reputation as being a troublemaker - he regularly engaged in brawls and
evidently was a constant thorn in the side of Stephen Austin. Some were probably
relieved when he finally passed away. Those who knew Brit Bailey may have thought
that he died of just plain meanness, but history says that the tough old man succumbed
to cholera on December 6, 1832.
In
his will, Bailey demanded that he be buried standing straight up and facing the
West. According to legend, he also wanted his rifle at his side and a jug of whiskey
at his feet. I'm sure that the story has been embellished greatly over the years
- the way I heard it, the slaves who were digging the grave stole Bailey's jug
of whiskey. If that's the truth of it, which I doubt, who could blame them? Heck,
if he was that mean, they deserved a drink just for having to put up with him
all those years.
Nobody knows what causes the light to appear over Bailey's
Prairie. But, it does exist, I've seen it, and there was an eerie sort of
feeling that came with that experience. The
vision of Bailey's Light has been prevalent in Brazoria County for years and the
folks there are probably convinced the old Brit is never going to find that jug
of whiskey and that's okay - as far as we know, Bailey's ghost has never physically
harmed anyone - but scare the hell out of them yes, he has definitely done that. | 
