Japanese Scientists

According to Bill Baker at Sul Ross ( email 2-12-2001)

"To the best of my sometimes feeble memory, the Japanese were here in late 80s or early 90s. I want to say around 91 or 92 but I just don't remember for certain. Local news papers could pin it down for you. They would be the Marfa "Big Bend Sentinel" or in Alpine the "Alpine Avalanche". You might also search our online catalog at http://libit.sulross.edu/ and select WebCat Catalog. It also seems that another Japanese team was to come out in the later 90s but weather or something either kept them away or they weren't able to do what they had planned or something. As I say, my memory of these details is less than reliable. If the two news paper sources fail you might also try the "Odessa American" in Odessa or the "San Angelo Standard Times".

48...From slaroche's 'www.watchingyou.com/marfa.html) page, he notes a comment by a fellow tourist "9:30 p.m. Fireflies are visible. Comments overheard: "Someone in town said a Japanese scientist spent a month here trying to figure it out." "There's no road over there!" "This is like waiting for paint to dry." I agree with that last comment." His email address is slaroche@concentric.net. The date of this comment is May 25, 1997.

49... "It's not for lack of trying. In recent years there have been a number of scientific examinations, including an exhaustive study by a team from Japan. For weeks at a time the Japanese, using sophisticated cameras and instruments, studied the skies. They filmed the lights, formulated theories, but didn't prove much. There are no phosphor deposits in the area, ruling out glowing phosphorescent minerals. No methane or swamp gas. Static electricity is another theory but, again, one without much supporting evidence. The bottom line is that virtually no one disputes that the Marfa lights exist, but every scientific theory thus far proposed to explain them is seriously flawed."

Story copyrighted 2001. (www.lifeadventures.com/marfa.htm) "Life Adventures" is an internet travel and recreation magazine. Catherine and Richard Ray, Texas based journalists with a passion for adventure, share news and tips based on first-hand experience.

50... "In 1975 a local group, including local citizens and Sul Ross Physics students, engaged in a coordinated effort to try and determine the cause and source of the lights. As late as the early 1990s, a group of Japanese scientists spent a few weeks with high tech instruments studying the phenomenon." Bob Baker, http://homes.sulross.edu/~bbaker/alpine/marfa_lights.html)

51... ''Drive about nine miles toward Alpine on Highway 90,'' advised Sandy at the Chamber of Commerce....''Some people say these are just jackrabbits with flashlights, but that was no jackrabbit that found that pickup!'' emphasized Sandy. ''We had 40 Japanese scientists come here for six weeks. They never found the reason for the lights.'' (George Ridge: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/ww/marfa/marfa.html)

52... One of the members of the Georgia Skeptics told me that they determined that the Marfa Lights were auto headlamps. Proponents say that can't be since the lights have been seen for the past hundred years (but there can be no proof of those sightings). A group of Japanese investigators was shown on Sightings. They went away convinced that the lights were auto headlamps. There's also the fact that the lamps follow the highway which lends some credence to the auto headlamp theory. (Bruce Williamson, September 9, 1999; http://www.netdesignlab.com/phactboard/messages/675.html)

53... Kahl goes on to tell me he has seen too many people of my profession come at it the wrong way -- reporters looking to solve the mystery, or at least to poke fun at it. He refers to a Japanese TV crew from a few years ago, and the filmmakers from England's BBC who are in town just this weekend. Says Kahl: The Japanese, "they didn't have a clue. This is the first bunch of limeys we've had, though. We'll see how they do." Chris Reimenschneider (http://www.austin360.com/entertainment/xl/features/1999/10/28marfamain_003.html) reprinted November 1999, (Louise Lowry, http://www.worldofthestrange.com/Archives/110899.htm)

54..." I also remember a group of Japanese engineers who believed we were overlooking something obvious, that there had to be an explanation. They brought out so many pieces of measuring equipment and telescopes. It was quite an impressive group of things. But, still, the mystery couldn't be figured out. All of their advanced equipment and these little glowing balls remain unexplained." (http://www.tje.net/para/wots/9903/99_03_15_01.htm) This story is unattributed to a person, and is on a page called 'Paranormal News" The copyright date is 1998.