Marfa lights

A Marfa light (center) seen from the official viewing platform east of Marfa, Texas

The Marfa lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights, are a light phenomenon regularly observed near Marfa, Texas, in the United States.[1] Onlookers have attributed them to a number of paranormal phenomena, including ghosts, UFOs, and flying dinosaurs, among other things.[1][2] They are most often seen from a viewing area nearby, which the community has publicized to encourage tourism.[3] Most lights are attributable to atmospherically distorted versions of headlights on the nearby Route 67.[3] One group of university students observed that when they parked a car on the route and flashed its headlights, this was visible at the viewing area and appeared to be a Marfa light.[4] Scientists have observed the lights over the period 2000 to 2008,[5][3] and speculated that rare reports of erratically behaving lights could be caused by natural methane reserves through a mechanism similar to that of will-o'-the-wisps; and piezoelectric charge created by the igneous rock under Mitchell Flat.[6]

  1. ^ a b Fiumi, Elettra; Stein, Eliot (17 January 2018). "The mysterious 'Ghost Lights' of Marfa, Texas". BBC. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  2. ^ Feldman, Claudia (19 December 2010). "What's going on in Marfa?". Houston Chronicle.
  3. ^ a b c Rogers, Kaleigh (2017-05-09). "Scientists Can't Fully Explain These Strange Floating Lights in Texas". Vice. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Stephan, Karl D.; Ghimire, Sagar; Stapleton, William A.; Bunnell, James (1 August 2009). "Spectroscopy applied to observations of terrestrial light sources of uncertain origin". American Journal of Physics. 77 (8).
  6. ^ Lallanilla, Marc (19 June 2023). "What Are the Marfa Lights?". LiveScience.