Marfa Lights Viewing Area and Visitor Center in Marfa, Texas
"The Marfa Mystery Lights are visible on many clear nights between Marfa and Paisano Pass as one looks towards the Chinati Mountains. The lights may appear in various colors as they move about, split apart, melt together, disappear and reappear.
"Robert Reed Ellison, a young cowboy, reported sighting the lights in 1883. He spotted them while tending a herd of cattle and wondered if they were Apache Indian campfires.
"Apache Indians believed these lights to be stars dropping to the earth.
"Many viewers have theories ranging from scientific to science fiction as they describe their ideas of aliens in UFO's, ranch house lights, St. Elmo's fire, or headlights from vehicles on US 67, the Presidio highway. Some believe the lights are an electrostatic discharge, swamp gases, moonlight shining on veins of mica, of ghosts of Conquistadors searching for gold.
"An explanation as to why the lights cannot be located is an unusual phenomenon similar to a miracle, where atmospheric conditions produced by the interaction of cold and warm layers of air bend the light so that it can be seen from afar but not up close.
"The mystery of these lights still remain unsolved."
[Text from an informational plaque]
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An attractive roadside rest stop but I couldn't stick around until nightfall to see if weird lights would appear.
Marfa Lights Viewing Area and Visitor Center in Marfa, Texas
"The Marfa Mystery Lights are visible on many clear nights between Marfa and Paisano Pass as one looks towards the Chinati Mountains. The lights may appear in various colors as they move about, split apart, melt together, disappear and reappear.
"Robert Reed Ellison, a young cowboy, reported sighting the lights in 1883. He spotted them while tending a herd of cattle and wondered if they were Apache Indian campfires.
"Apache Indians believed these lights to be stars dropping to the earth.
"Many viewers have theories ranging from scientific to science fiction as they describe their ideas of aliens in UFO's, ranch house lights, St. Elmo's fire, or headlights from vehicles on US 67, the Presidio highway. Some believe the lights are an electrostatic discharge, swamp gases, moonlight shining on veins of mica, of ghosts of Conquistadors searching for gold.
"An explanation as to why the lights cannot be located is an unusual phenomenon similar to a miracle, where atmospheric conditions produced by the interaction of cold and warm layers of air bend the light so that it can be seen from afar but not up close.
"The mystery of these lights still remain unsolved."
[Text from an informational plaque]
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An attractive roadside rest stop but I couldn't stick around until nightfall to see if weird lights would appear.