Marfa lights
As Marfa lights denote the Ufologie and parascience one since at least 1957 documented phenomenon of luminous effects, the great similarities with the so-called Brown-Mountain lights and the famous lights of Hessdalen should have. The phenomenon is said to occur on the plains of Mitchell Flat and the Chinati Mountains near the city of Marfa in the US state of Texas .
description
The so-called “Marfa lights” only appear during the night, especially shortly after dark. Reports of daytime sightings are not available. They are predominantly described as spherical, roughly the size of a baseball or basketball, and very brightly shining. Their light color ranges from white to yellowish to orange and reddish, in rare cases from green to blue. Often they should float motionless close to the ground or high in the air. Some eyewitnesses report leisurely movements, while others report hectic zigzag maneuvers. What all reports have in common is the description of the sudden appearance and disappearance of lights. They should also be silent.
Legends, Theories, and Studies
According to a local legend , the Marfa lights are said to be the souls of murdered Apache Indians who were killed near Marfa around 1860. Another version of this legend describes the lights as the bonfires of the deceased Apaches.
In the years 1914 to 1918, during World War I and in the aftermath, the local military suspected that the Marfa lights might be the work of German allies who used position lights to prepare for an invasion of the United States. During World War II , American pilots were asked to follow the flares and investigate them, but they were as unsuccessful as the cowboys and rangers before them. The source of the alleged apparitions could not be found. The first official report on the Marfa lights appeared in 1957 in the news magazine Coronet under the title The mystery of the Marfa ghost lights (Eng. "The riddle of the ghost lights of Marfa").
Over the years, the lights have been regularly filmed, photographed, and their appearance and frequency accurately documented. Special mention should be made of the study carried out in 2004 on several students at the University of Texas at Dallas . It turned out that most of the alleged “ghost lights” were attributed to passing cars, trucks and other vehicles. These drive on US Highway 90 and US Highway 67 . Both highways are only a few kilometers east of Marfa. Since the plain is largely free of artificial light sources, the lights of the headlights appear unusually bright. Other phenomena could be assigned to low-flying jets. In a few cases, bright stars were the cause of luminous phenomena. Meteorologists consider it a further possibility that the lights are the result of mirages (so-called mirage ), which come about when cold layers of air meet the strongly warmed air in the ground. The lights - which are actually miles away - are reflected in such a way that they appear close to the viewer.
See also
literature
- Alan Brown: Haunted Texas: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Lone Star State . Stackpole Books, 2008, ISBN 0811740803 , pp. 101 & 102.
- Brian Haughton: Famous Ghost Stories: Legends and Lore . The Rosen Publishing Group, 2011, ISBN 1448848407 , pp. 156 & 157.
- Dan K. Utley: History Ahead: Stories Beyond the Texas Roadside Markers . Texas A&M University Press, 2010, ISBN 1603443444 , pp. 148-159.