Naked Eye Accounts

As you can see from the photo above and the narrative, from the point of view of the Viewing Area, there seem to be several different kinds of lights in the area that people talk about. This usually makes it very hard to disentangle the different kinds of 'lights' based on crude eyewitness accounts.

4) There are, presumably, a collection of lights that do not behave like any of the above, but which move about in the area towards the mountains.

 5) In one account...Number 22 below...says that the 'true' Marfa Lights are not seen against the mountains at all but are seen in the desert!

6) In an account...Number 14 below...They have been seen between Paso Lajitas and San Carlos, Mexico,

Eye-witnesses that only stay a short while and who do not pay attention, call all of the above (except #6) the Marfa Lights. As they stay awhile and hear other 'old timers' and 'veterans' chat, it is apparently possible to clearly identify the ranch lights, and the radio tower lights because they are fixed. They also learn to distinguish the car lights, leaving 'everything else' a potential Marfa Light.

There are several ways that this ensemble of Lights has been observed. 1) Commonly people use their naked eyes. 2)Some bring binoculars, but do not say whether they were tripod-mounted or not. 3)Some take photographs, but these are often useless because they are black with only a few streaky 'light's and provide no information about context, time of night or viewing direction. Usually it is so dark that the horizon cannot be seen. 4)Still others bring telescopes of significant aperture. 5)Some of the earlier accounts, when the Air Base was active, include pilots who saw them from the air. Lets look at the reports from each of these categories of observation and see what turns up.

 1... "The Lights, which most people describe as spherical, appear south of Marfa each evening. They appear to bounce around, vanish, then re-appear elsewhere." (slaroche@concentric.net...http://www.watchingyou.com/marfa.html...also at his chat room: 109417.html)

2... "Descriptions vary. Spiraling, basketball-sized neon globes. Floating fireballs. The taillights of some flying object (unidentifiable, of course). Giant sparklers (the Fourth of July kind). Lamplights that dance. Faint flickers of light. Colors, meanwhile, range from red to yellow to, most commonly, green or white. The only consistent description you'll get from the folks who live in Marfa, population 2,515, is that they're not headlights. "If they're headlights, then I've seen some pretty creative drivers," jokes Liz Browning, owner of the Cows n' Udder Crafts store. " (http://www.worldofthestrange.com/Archives/110899.htm From World of the Strange, Louise Lowry, November 8, 1999)

3..."I grew up in far West Texas and observed the "Marfa lights" on many occasions. I never saw anything that didn't appear to be consistent with car lights on the Presidio to Marfa highway. They appear to be above ground level because the far side of the enormous valley swells up toward Chinati peak. They either stand still or move left to right consistent with stretches where cars come straight toward you or turn a little northward to Marfa. They disappear in a manner consistent with obstructions and turns of the road." (http://www.big.bend.national-park.com/wwwboard/messages/395.html Posted by Paul K, October 3, 2000 'Response from a Skeptic' 395.htm )

4..."I've been there. You can see the interstate from the "watch-zone" and you can see the tailights on same said interstate but the "marfa" lights appear above a field no where near the interstate and it's moving headlamps/tailights. You should see the territory surrounding the Marfa area....low bluffs covered in black granite, glimmering granite pebbles everywhere...the area is ripe for light shows like that of Aurora Borealis...i imagine that something similar might be happening. Sorry for being so scientific, hee! The problem is that the frontage is owned by the state of Texas but the "lights area" or where they appear to be moving is privately owned with nothing on it but cattle and fences. I did trespass into this field and walked for at least a mile but the lights did not appear to get any closer or clearer. My friends present with me on the trip also wondered if there must be another road or that the interstate must turn back in the direction of the field even so without a spy satellite or a helicopter or permission to trespass we'll never know....i know one thing,,the people of Marfa don't want to know." (http://www.netdesignlab.com/phactboard/messages/677.html) Posted by 'Terry' on September 9, 1999

7..."The ghost lights have entranced area settlers and visitors for more than a century and have eluded precise scientific examination and explanation for at least half that long. Some viewers claim to have seem them up close, describing them as one or two (occasionally more) red or yellow or bluish lights about the size of basketballs, or one colored basketball-sized light, or as a single, startlingly bright light. But most people view them from afar, the way Hallie Stillwell has done for more than 75 years. " (http://www.urbanlegends.com/science/marfa_lights.html Janet Christian. Urban Legends. July 23, 1993. marfa_lights.html)

8... "I think it is quite obvious the lights in these photos come from highway traffic between Marfa and Presidio. Still this does not explain reports of lights traveling beside vehicles at highway speeds and several tens of feet away from the roadway. And it does not explain sightings that occurred as far back as the mid 1800s before automobiles came along." (http://homes.sulross.edu/~bbaker/alpine/marfa_lights.html Bill Baker marfa_lights2.html)

9..." From the viewing area looking across toward the Chinati Mountains there is a red beacon light and beyond that a stretch of highway running from Presidio. Some of what people see in that portion of the horizon could be car lights. But again the carlight theory runs into problems because the highway is over 40 miles away and the mystery lights were reported here long before cars existed." (marfaL4.html)

11... "The orbs appear at dusk on the horizon. The red, blue or green lights dance around in the night and at times split into two separate entities. Efforts to get near them have failed and left those who have tried feeling as though the orbs were toying with them. The closest report is that of geologist Pat Kenney who was in the area in search of uranium deposits. He is to have claimed to coming within 25 yards of an orb and says now, "finally, after some 15 years of studying the lights and searching for their source, I kind of adopted the local 'let 'em be' philosophy, and quit looking so hard." (http://www.strangetexas.com/marfa.htm Cary Darling , Strange Texas News, Copyright 2000)

12..."The best way to view the Lights, according to the "experts", is to go to the viewing area east of Marfa. Soon after dusk, the lights will appear, just to the right (west) of a radio tower. If you go, you'll easily see them if the weather is fairly clear. The Lights will indeed appear to move around, disappear, then suddenly reappear. During this spectacle, the crowd at the viewing site will give a few hearty "wows" and "didja see thats" to liven things up. If you wish to believe the "Mystery" Lights are mysterious, don't go with a pair of high-powered binoculars. Because if you do, you'll soon realize that the Lights are nothing more than the headlights and taillights of cars driving U.S. 67 between Marfa and Presidio, on the crest of the Chinati Mountains. " (slaroche@concentric.net http://www.watchingyou.com/marfa.html marfaL7.htm )

13..."... a bright white (not red like the tower) point of light appeared at the base of the mountains near the tower, and could obviously be seen to move clockwise along the mountains. After about 10 seconds, (and already about one third of the way along the mountains) the light disappeared. In less than a minute, another light appeared and repeated the motions of the first...This turned out to be just the beginning. From then until midnight there was a nearly constant stream of Lights." Of course the lights trickle down after Midnight - traffic on the road between Presidio and Marfa is almost nil during those hours. These white lights appear to repeat their motions because there are numerous cars driving in the same direction, and the lights disappear when the car crests the mountain or the road dips into a gully. (slaroche@concentric.net http://www.watchingyou.com/marfa.html ...marfaL7.html)

14... "The lights really do defy all attempts at explanation. Attempts to locate their source always fail because they usually vanish when anyone tries to approach them. People hike, ride horseback, drive jeeps, and even fly helicopters and airplanes to follow the lights. Some have followed them as far as thirty-five miles. The lights always win. Searchers have never found campfires, buildings, tire tracks, footprints, or any other evidence that could explain the lights' sources. Some people even claim that the lights would reappear, after they had abandoned the search and were miles away looking back over their shoulders. The lights can be seen in the southwest, across the Mitchell Flats near Chinati Mountain, from an official viewing point on Highway 90 between Alpine and Marfa. This viewing point was erected at the request of area ranchers, who became tired of curiosity seekers disturbing their cattle, and they had a right to complain. Just about every night, right before dusk, the parking lot fills up with spectators equipped with everything from binoculars, cameras, and camcorders to high-powered telescopes. And they are seldom disappointed. As the sun sets, the lights appear, coming in all sorts of sizes, which climb in the sky, then merge, split, or float back down. They change color, appearing green, yellow, blue, and sometimes orange. One minute they will be bright, then fade and disappear. They have even been reported between Paso Lajitas and San Carlos, Mexico, and the Federales, who patrol the road for smugglers, have been fooled into spotting what they thought were approaching headlights, only to have no vehicle ever appear." (http://www.theoutlaws.com/marfa.htm marfaL8.html )

15..."Describing Marfa's mysterious lights is all but impossible. They appear as distant bright lights on the Mitchell Flats and are distinguishable from ranch lights and automobile headlights on nearby Highway 67, between Marfa and Presidio, by their aberrant movements and behavior. They appear and disappear, veering and cavorting suddenly in odd directions. One moment there might be one, and just as suddenly, it might split into two or three or more, dividing and merging at whim. They hover in mid-air and sometimes flicker like balls of fire. They might shoot straight up into the sky, or race madly to the left and right. The color is predominately greenish-yellow, but they also are white and shades of pastel. "I do not know how anyone could mistake them for car lights," reported one eyewitness in 1984." (http://www.theoutlaws.com/marfa.htm marfaL8.htm)

16..."March 1975. Don Witt, then a physics professor at Sul Ross University in Alpine, coordinated a monumental effort to locate the lights' source. Using the Sul Ross Society of Physics Students, the Big Bend Outdoor Club comprised of community members, and local pilots, short-wave radio amateurs, and a few outside professionals, Witt's group was positively unable to form any sort of solid conclusion. They did say, however, that sometimes the lights that people claimed were "Marfa Lights," were really artificial lights from area ranches or automobile headlights merely passing behind unseen obstructions along distant Highway 67, which winds through the Chinati Mountains between Marfa and Presidio. " (http://www.theoutlaws.com/marfa.htm marfaL8.html)

17..."The eyewitnesses also ruled out the scientists' artificial "ranch lights" theory. With only one ranch in the area with only one spotlight---a spotlight easily recognizable to the naked eye and, therefore, discounted as a legitimate sighting---there was no way ranches played any role in the matter.( http://www.theoutlaws.com/marfa.htm marfaL8.html)

18..."Then, a sighting occurred in 1985 which appeared to succeed in wiping out the car headlight theory...at least, that's the claim. Robert Black, a graduate student in geology at Sul Ross University, decided to climb Goat Mountain south of Alpine for rock samples. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, he and a friend drove out a county road east of Marfa, parked their truck, and hiked in. It was early in the morning on an exceptionally warm day for the mountains at that time of year, and both men were dressed in light-weight clothing. After collecting rock samples, Black's friend, who loved sunsets, commented, "This is going to be a beautiful sunset, isn't it. Look, the sun's going down." At that moment, Black realized that they had stayed longer on the climb than he had intended. They would have to really hurry to make it out before dark. Breaking into a run, they spied the truck way off on the Flats, but distances are deceiving in the desert, and before they could reach the truck, the sun was down. They were on the west side of Goat Mountain, in the middle of the Mitchell Flats. Black says it best, "Anyone who knows the Marfa flats, knows that it is flat, featureless, and boring---no geological marker out in the sea of desert and really no way to find your way around, especially in the dark." The men wisely decided to spend the night where they were. To keep warm, they gathered creosote bushes for fires. A little before midnight, as they huddled around the fires looking toward the north and northwest in the direction of Highway 90, their talk turned to the Marfa Lights. The men were right in the Flats, where the lights were normally seen, and they began to hope the lights would make an appearance. They didn't have long to wait. Shortly after midnight, they saw a "horizontal length of light that had a sort of dancing vibration movement." As the men watched in fascination, the "little beams of light danced up and down in a kind of wave formation, moved across, jumped straight up vertically, came back down, danced horizontally, then disappeared." They saw the lights four or five times that night. Black's account was unusual because it was the first reported sighting of the lights from a location several miles south of Highway 90 and looking north toward Highway 90. The Chinati Mountains were to their backs. It ruled out any supposition of car headlights in the mountains as being the cause of the mystery lights. Since Black and his companion were between the Chinati Mountains and Highway 90, and the lights appeared between the men and the highway, skeptics were forced to rethink their previous positions. (http://www.theoutlaws.com/marfa.htm marfaL8.html)

19..."In July 1989, scientists from McDonald Observatory on Mount Locke outside Fort Davis, and from Sul Ross University, decided to conduct another investigation into the lights. Included in the group were a professor of chemistry, Dr. Avinash Rangra, and an astronomer, Dr. Edwin Barker. With them were eleven other technicians and observers. Since the lights are most frequently seen near the Chinati Mountains from Highway 90, which runs east and west between Marfa and Alpine, the scientists decided they had best rule out any misidentification of headlights on Highway 67, which winds through the Chinati Mountains north and south between Marfa and Presidio. A radio beacon resembling a red spotlight, visible in front of the peaks, was used as a guide. In order to prevent the misidentification of headlights, two marker lights were placed at the borders of Highway 67, where it enters and leaves the mountain range. These marker locations were manned by two technicians with radio equipment. Any lights spotted outside the markers, which the scientists could not explain, would be identified as the ghostly phenomena. The investigators used special cameras and night-viewing equipment. At midnight, an unknown light appeared past the right marker light in the middle of the empty Mitchell Flats. Contacting the technician at the marker by radio indicated there was no traffic on Highway 67. The ghostly globe was recorded on a video camera. Observers were certain the light did not come from a man-made source. It disappeared and came back and faded again. Doctor Rangra confirmed that something of natural origin was occurring over Mitchell Flats outside Marfa, but he did not know what. All he could say for certain was that it was not man-made. Doctor Edwin Barker agreed. People were seeing real activity in the atmosphere, but how to explain it? One scientist thought the lights might be refracted starlight. Another believed them to be illuminous gases produced by small earthquakes. But the fact is, every one of the scientists in the investigation were not sure and could only say for certain that it is a natural phenomena as yet unexplained by science. "Ha," the locals snorted, "we already knew that."( http://www.theoutlaws.com/marfa.htm marfaL8.html)

22..."During our first visit to Marfa, we met two very nice local couples who were home on vacation from college. They were quite interested in astronomy and enjoyed some views through the big binoculars and the telescopes. Naturally, we got talking with them about the Marfa lights. They claimed that the true Marfa lights were something entirely different. They are quite rare, and when they are seen they appear as lights moving and bouncing around on the desert, and not against the distant mountains. I can certainly say that many people who think they have seen the Marfa lights, simply saw the lights of distant cars, but I can't say there isn't something else going on here. (http://gigaday.com/ayear/C14.html .... http://www.rensselaer.edu/~sofkam/isuny/Journal/vol1_1.html ...skeptics3.htm ca 1987 Alan French. Also, C14.htm Chapter 14:)

 23... "Get there about 10 minutes before complete darkness. They're most active then. Look south. Some people have seen them north of the highway, but mostly they appear near a mountain called 'Twin Peaks.' That mountain kinda looks like Dolly Parton, if you know what I mean.'' (http://www.vaportrails.com/USA/USAFeatures/Marfa/Marfa.html George Ridge. 'Have ypu seen the marfa lights?)

24... "According to the descriptions of numerous observers, the lights vary in color, are spherical, are characterized by rapid and erratic movements, and range from the size of a baseball to a basketball. The light is constant, rather than pulsating. Many people claim to have seen the lights up close, and others even claim to have been chased by them." (http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Staff/Brooks/marfa.htm James Long, Georgia Skeptics, 1990)

25.. "However, within just a few minutes (ten at the most), a bright white (not red like the tower) point of light appeared at the base of the mountains near the tower, and could obviously be seen to move clockwise along the mountains. After about ten seconds, (and already about one third of the way along the mountains) the light disappeared. In less than a minute, another light appeared and repeated the motions of the first. This turned out to be just the beginning. From then until midnight there was a nearly constant stream of Lights. There were two major patterns visible to the eye. The first pattern was to appear near the southern edge of the mountains (near the tower), and move about halfway to the road and vanish. The second pattern was to appear about two/thirds of the way to the road (or closer), and to stay motionless. With both patterns, however, there was still a wide range of variation. The moving Lights traveled at different speeds (although movement was always easily visible to the eye), whereas the stationary Lights tended to blink on and off at regular intervals, before disappearing. The Lights themselves appeared about equal in brightness to the tower light (or perhaps somewhat brighter). They never appeared to be anything other than mere points of light. They appeared quite similar to distant car headlights, but were always single to the naked eye. Car headlights eventually were ruled out as a cause, since reports have occured for over a century. In addition, the map provided to us showed no indication of a road on the near side of the mountain.( http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Staff/Brooks/marfa.htm James Long. Georgia Skeptics.)

27... Marfa Lights are famous floating balls of light that have been seen in the mountains near Marfa for over 150 years. They are yellowish-green and appear above the horizon at dusk The sometimes split into two or more separate lights. ... The lights appear in an area SW of Chinati Mountain, on Mitchell Flat, near Twin Peaks, and over the flat prairie north of Cuesto Del Burro Mountains.. A roadside plaque on US 90, 8 miles E of Marfa commemorates the lights. An abandoned USAF base is nearby... The Lights, which most people describe as spherical, appear south of Marfa each evening. They appear to bounce around, vanish, then re-appear elsewhere. According to the legend, these lights have been observed since the 1800s. The Lights have become an important tourist attraction in Marfa, a town that has seen much better days. On a nice evening, dozens of people will stop and view the Lights at the "official" viewing area, about 10 miles east of town on Highway 90. (http://www.crystalinks.com/lightballs.html

28... At times they appear colored as they twinkle in the distance. They move about, split apart, melt together, disappear, and reappear. (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/MM/lxm1.html Handbook of Texas. Julia Cauble Smith.)

29... First sighted in the 1880s, the lights may appear as one sphere that divides into several balls of many colors; sometimes they become elongated, then snap back to their original shape. The mysterious lights have been seen flitting about the mountains east of Marfa, or cruising the flats below. Some people say that if you flash your headlights at them, they come closer. (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/news/magazine/ghost.htm October 1988. Mary-Love Bigony 'Texas State Parks and Wildlife' ghost.html)

30... When you pull off the highway, park with your headlights toward the barbed wire and the vast flats, beyond. The observation point is really nothing more than a wide spot in the road between Alpine and Marfa...so kick back, pop a top, play some tunes, and wait for dark. Try to get there at dusk so you can see that there are no roads, no houses, no cars, no railroad tracks; nothing but empty land and the mountains beyond. Now there are some folks who've lived in Marfa their whole lives and have never seen the lights....To wit, I say....They've never looked. I mean, let's face it, you could miss a muddy elephant in the snow if you never bothered to leave the house. We had quite good luck on our little outting......And we weren't even drunk. The first light appeared a few moments after sundown, about a mile away, as near as I could tell....and looked like a single headlight moving against the dark silhouette of the distant mountains ...low to the ground...but running swiftly and smoothly along the horizontal plane. At first, we presumed someone was riding a dirtbike along the flats...except that the terrain was far too rocky and uneven to allow such a bumpless glide. Then it suddenly rose vertically 200 feet, and split off into two, three, four lights...hovered in formation, then shot off from hell to breakfast in different directions, at different speeds, and in different colors. They morphed before our eyes...starting out, the size of a tiny star. After a few acrobatics, the star grew to the size of a headlight... split up and blinked..chased itself....formed up again... and blinked out. It was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. They playing 'grab-ass' like they were cognizant. ...like little ethereal 'prairie faeries'. We watched them for a good three hours while hypothesizing their origins and wishing for a skid-o-can. When at last, our bladders grew urgent, we left. The scientific community has finally come up with a fairly decent explanation for the lights. Whereas, in the past, they'd been attributed to 'swamp gas' (in a desert) ball lightening, (in a cloudless sky), and ghosts or aliens..(well, Marfa *is* kinda close to Roswell..). Now they say the lights are caused by fault lines, and the buildup of underground pressure being released as electrical energy. I can buy that. It's either that, or a fat little Mexican kid with a bunch of flashlights, string, and pulleys....paid by The City of Marfa to bring in the touristas. (http://www.lesion.com/jul99/aa/ ArchAngel slacknicity.htm)

31... We arrived at the viewing area about 10 minutes before sunset and found the lot quickly filling with cars. There was even a tractor trailer idling nearby, its driver waiting to see the display. It kind of reminded me of the scene in Close Encounters when all the weirdos were hanging out on the mountain road waiting for the aliens to show up. After the sun had dipped below the horizon but before it was completely dark, I saw the first light. I wasn't sure if this was an actual mystery light, however, never having actually witnessed spook lights of any sort, but I had a feeling it was. Diana wasn't convinced because it just sat there and flickered. But then it went out. Now bear in mind that we're parked on the side of the road looking out over miles of desert toward a distant mountain range, maybe 15 or 20 miles away. There didn't appear to be too much there which could generate light. As it got darker, more and more lights began to appear over the desert. They weren't high in the sky: They were all below the top of the mountains. There was one in the middle that seemed particularly bright, and as I looked at it through the binoculars I could see it was actually two or three lights. They seemed to come on and go out at random intervals at various places across the skyline. I really don't have any idea what they were. After we had been there for a while, a school bus pulled up and a group of senior citizens started filing out. This was too weird. I had visions of the mother ship coming down, a la Cocoon, to carry these octogenarians off to their great reward. (http://home.earthlink.net/~mdlaird/texas2.htm#Buckhorn. May 25, 1998. ..mdlaird@earthlink.net...)

32... What are the Marfa Lights? Well, they're just that, lights, but they're more than that. They're small lights that float, that move, that seem to have a life of their own. Some people have described them as colorful, others as pulsating white lights. To some the Lights are well-defined glowing orbs, while others describe them as more like floating "cotton balls." (http://djkelley.home.mindspring.com/MarfaLights.htm Dave Kelly )

33... On many nights they were seen by me and as many as 100 other people while we set at a road side park. The Marfa Lights are not of high altitude, but are in some low mountains and appear to be only a few feet to a few hundred feet off the ground. The lights change color and sometimes divide in two and then go back to a single light. Some times they get brighter or then they get dimmer. My uncle has been a rancher in the area since the 50's. and my family for generations past since the White Man came to the area. They were there when they arrived on covered wagons, and the area Indians sure knew that they were there (http://www.tje.net/para/terms/marfa_lights.htm Rod Hardy RHardy2@aol.com marfaL12.htm)

35... Not only are these lights mysterious, but they are also downright unconventional, possessing the ability to imprint themselves on a person's visual senses one moment -- seemingly from out of nowhere -- and be gone just as quickly the next. What we find interesting, and what we plan to focus on during our upcoming live web cast event, The Ghost Hunters Net Live from the Marfa Lights, is the fact that people in the same group who witness the light display at the same moment report seeing different things. One group of witnesses to the phenomenon, two of them longtime Marfa residents who on this particular autumn evening were seeing the display for the umpteenth time, had an interesting experience to relate. When dusk had settled to darkness and the lights appeared, two members of the group became excited and started to verbalize what they were experiencing: "There they are! Five of them, no three, no six. Look!" They went on to discuss the various attributes of the lights, remarking excitedly about their movement and bright white color. But the other two members of their group saw nothing at all. And apparently this is very common. Another interesting discrepancy among witnesses to the Marfa lights is that many of them claim to see different colors of lights while they watch the display, while other people standing right next to them report seeing only white lights. (http://www.theghosthunters.net/marfa_lights_live_xc.htm The Ghost Hunters Net ...marfaL13.htm)

36... Since that time, people have flocked to what is now Route 90, nine miles east of Marfa, to try to spot the lights, which have appeared in white, pink, yellow, green, and blue hues to the east of the Chinati Mountains. Sometimes the lights dance erratically, while other times they remain motionless, slowly brightening with intensity. Skeptics believe that the lights are simply car headlights skimming across the mountains, but that would not explain sightings in the last century, or the fact that the lights often move incircles or zig zag formations. (Texas Monthly... http://www.texasmonthly.com/ranch/ufo/marfa.html)

39... The first of the "mystery lights" appears before the sun is all the way gone. It's a tiny round twinkle in the distance, way out over the flat desert basin to the Chisos Mountains at the Texas-Mexico border. The speck glows brighter as it starts a slow glide toward a pale green light who knows how many miles to the west. The lights meet, like oncoming headlamps, flash as bright as evening stars and disappear. There are a dozen people out here watching this, travelers like me who've heard or read about the phenomenon of the Marfa lights -- or seen reports of them on "Unsolved Mysteries." We've pulled off Interstate 90 in the twilight of a hot summer evening to stand on a row of jagged boulders in a windy roadside park, our eyes trained toward the south as we wait and watch. The sunset, lasting till nearly 10 p.m., has already provided quite a show. The clouds in the West Texas dome of sky glow with orange, deep purple and a blush of shocking pink. When the sun finally dips below the horizon, the wind becomes a gentler breeze carrying nightsounds of crickets and hawks and the whooshes of semis pushing 80 on the asphalt as the drivers hump it to Alpine before the cafes close.We see the lights appear in the silhouette of the mountains when the sky is nearly dark.First one light, then another. Then four or five at a time, pulsing and glowing just below the mountaintops. Some of the lights shine like crystals. Some look green or red or pale gold. A far-off thunderstorm adds to the visuals, punching the black sky with lightning. Sometimes the mountain lights vanish. Then they slowly reappear by ones and twos. They travel. They stay still. But they do their eerie dance right where they've always been, just west of the Border Patrol's red signal tower. Way out there in the Chisos. Out where there are no roads or buildings or airports or towns or houses or even campfires. Where there is no source for the lights. No source anyone can explain, anyway. (http://www.caller.com/specials/elaine/story5.html... Copyright 1999 Coller-Times, Elaine Liner)

41... Thousands of visitors flock yearly to the small desert plain to witness the Ghost Lights. Few leave disappointed. And few have the same story. Some say the lights are pure white and constant. Others say they are colorful and mobile. Some never see more than three at a time. Others have reported noticing up to 10 dancing in the desert air. The only consensus: They definitely exist. (http://www.tje.net/para/wots/9903/99_03_15_01.htm omarm@onramp.net. from www.marfalights.com)

42...Someone may see them once and then never see them again. In fact, several people can be watching the same spot and not everyone will see the same thing. It's part of their mystery, their charm. They defy explanation. And they're really not flashy or flamboyant. Think of a glowing cotton ball floating in the distance. That's pretty much what they look like. At least . . . that's how they look to me. Some people see colors and flashes. (http://www.tje.net/para/wots/9903/99_03_15_01.htm omarm@onramp.net. from www.marfalights.com)

43...Suddenly, Lois and my husband cried out, "There they are. Five of them, no three, no six, look!" They went on about how the lights were bobbing and weaving and fading in and out. Now, it's important to note at this point that I have seen the lights many, many times. And each time, I'm charmed by the mystery of it all. So when my husband commented that I didn't seem too excited, I had to tell him, "I don't see them." And I didn't. And neither did Doc. We were standing in the same place, looking at the same spot. My husband saw them. Lois saw them. We stayed for 30 minutes. And I never saw a one. How do you explain that? (http://www.tje.net/para/wots/9903/99_03_15_01.htm omarm@onramp.net. from www.marfalights.com)

44...She wrote in her own handwriting about driving down an old canyon road - a good 20 miles from the usual viewing site - many years ago. She was rather new to the area , and when she looked to her right she saw Chianti Mountain. "Isn't that a pretty big mountain?" she asked. Her friend replied that it was one of the highest around. "And there's a road coming down it?" she asked, amazed. Her friend looked at her strangely and answered, "There's no road coming down off Chianti. " "Then why do I see lights coming quickly down that mountain?" The entry went on to describe several lights that shot down the side of the mountain, directly toward them. They danced in the canyon and moved right up to the hood of the car. In her own words she wrote, "I felt so special. We were never afraid. In fact, we had sort of a warm feeling." (http://www.tje.net/para/wots/9903/99_03_15_01.htm omarm@onramp.net. from www.marfalights.com)

45...That's how most people experience the lights. Few people are frightened. Most everyone has a sort of peaceful, intrigued feeling when they see them. (http://www.tje.net/para/wots/9903/99_03_15_01.htm omarm@onramp.net. from www.marfalights.com)

 46... The Marfa home page gives a good back ground of the lights, so I don't want to cover ground that has already been gone over. I will only attempt to give you my impressions of the lights. The lights were more popular than I thought they would be several others came out the view the mytery while I was there. In fact, highway 67 just east of Marfa is such a popular place to see them that the Highway department put in a viewing area. The area is set up with a couple of picnic tables and plenty of room to park. The lights were not awesome, they were not fearful and I wouldn't call them UFO's because they didn't fly, at least I didn't see them fly. They were, however, very mysterious. After reading a paper about the lights at the hotel I was instructed to look for a lighted tower and that any lights to the right of that tower would be the mystery lights. As I parked the hog (I mean Honda) in the viewing area and walked over to a picnic table the tower was easy to see, some distance away. When I began looking there were no other lights in that area. Then suddenly a white light appeared above and left of the tower a bit brighter than the tower. It remained visible for about 10-30 seconds. Before that light faded out others began to appear, fading in and out. I don't think any light remained visible for more that a minute. The lights are easy to describe, they looked like a distant farm house with the yard light on. They appeared brighter than the stars and each light seemed to have its own character. All the lights were white but some turned slightly red as they faded out. I didn't see them move around. While staring at one, in the darkness it appeared to be moving, however when referencing it to a near by power pole you could see it was still in the same spot. The most lights I saw at one time were 6 or 8 sometimes 3-4 would appear in one location and form a neat looking cluster. The lights seemed to be random in when and where they would come into view. But some of the same lights would return in the same spot at random intervals. If I lived closer I would go back at the same time each night and chronicle the lights to see if there was some kind of pattern. These lights have been investigated very well so someone has probably thought of that. It would have been useless to try to take a picture of them and the binoculars didn't add much to the viewing. I tried to simulate the position and intensity of the lights in the picture with the red dots. After an hour, or so, of watching the lights it was time to get back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. I wanted to do some sight seeing in the morning before I headed back home. Keep checking you E-mail there will be--- More later----Arlie Long (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9948/The_Lights.html)

 47... From: SKEPTIC%YORKVM1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU@SMTP@CRDGW2 Sender: SKEPTIC Discussion Group From: Hal Finney Subject: The Marfa Lights X-To: skeptic@uunet.UU.NET To: Multiple recipients of list SKEPTIC I spent the summer of 1976 living with my parents in Midland, Texas. I heard about the Marfa lights from co-workers, and decided to drive down to see them. I only went once and just was there for a few hours, so this isn't a comprehensive observation by any means. My observations were not at all in accord with those of James Long of the Georgia Skeptics. Now, I may not have been at exactly the same viewing location. I was on the state highway east of Marfa, as was Long. And the view was the same, looking south across a basically flat plain to a range of low mountains many miles away. But I may have been at a different spot on the highway. I just picked a turnoff area on my own, without having received specific directions about any particular place. At that time the lights were mostly a local phenomenon and hadn't received as much publicity as they have now. The lights I observed differed in two ways from what Long saw. First, they were stationary; and second, they were exactly on the horizon. Each light was white, like a headlight seen from many miles away. But they didn't move. A light would appear, be visible for a minute or two, and then fade away over several seconds. A few minutes later another light would appear at a different spot. Sometimes there might be two or three lights visible at once. By the horizon, I mean the visual line between the mountains and the sky. That is where all of the lights appeared. There was no way to judge the distance to the lights but it was natural to assume that they came from at or beyond the mountains. They did not appear at the base of the mountains and certainly didn't appear on the plain between the mountains and the road, as the lights Long saw did. My feeling at the time was that this was an effect of atmospheric refraction, perhaps caused by a layer of warmer or cooler air near the ground. I felt that this was a kind of mirage, in which we were seeing a distant source of light that was being refracted and focussed as it passed grazingly over the mountains. Because of the fact that the lights lasted a minute or two, and because they are reported to have appeared for over a hundred years, my feeling was that I was seeing focussed starlight. I had also been told that the lights would not appear if it was overcast. Due to the earth's rotation, stars would be continually rising, and at different times it seemed possible that different stars would be in position to be made visible by an atmospheric effect. Perhaps the topography of the mountains was such that some kind of lensing could occur. Rising stars would then move through the focus points of the many different possible lensing positions along the mountains. Whether this explanation is correct or not, I am puzzled by the differences from what Long saw. Also, Unsolved Mysteries did a show on the Marfa lights last year, and I felt that what they showed was identical to what I saw. Their lights were stationary and on the horizon. They certainly didn't move and didn't appear partway between the mountains and the roads. I wonder if Long is the victim of some kind of local prank? Either that, or what I saw (and what the people from Unsolved Mysteries saw) weren't the real Marfa lights. Hal Finney ghsvax!hal@uunet.uu.net (http://www.ufonet.it/archivio/PARA492.UFO.htm)

1...red, yellow, blue, green or white (2)

Copyright (C) 2001 Dr. Sten Odenwald