Marfa Lights, Mysterious Fire
Texas Ghost or Earth Lights Spooked Witnesses and Created Legends
The lights are visible on clear nights near Marfa. There was fear and superstition in the past. Now the lights are a major tourist draw, a mystery of science.
History and Legends
Robert Reed Ellison was the first to report these lights in 1883. He thought they were Apache campfires, but the old timers in the area told him many saw the lights and investigated them, finding no ashes or other evidence of fires. Joe and Dolly Humphreys sighted them in 1885. Cowboys, in 1919, saw them and investigated, but like the settlers, found no evidence of fires.
Mrs. W. T. Giddens said her father was lost during a blizzard. The lights appeared and talked to him, informing he was going in the wrong direction. They guided him to a cave. The largest ball of light stayed with him through the night. He arrived home the next morning.
One legend is that the lights represent a sheriff who wanted revenge for the person who murdered his wife. Another tells of a rancher who killed bandits who plundered his property and raped his wife. According to lore, the lights may be those of pioneers, settlers, soldiers and miners or signals to Conquistadores or other treasure seekers who hid hoards of gold.
Later legends say they are the headlights of a couple who were parking and vanished or Hitler’s men’s lanterns searching for POWs imprisoned at a nearby base during World War II. During World War I, people feared they guided invasions. People thought it was Pancho Villa and his men moving supplies by torch light.
Other legends are about AmerIndians. The lights are vengeful warriors trying to lure soldiers into a trap or a tribe searching for its lost chief. The lights are braves and princesses who died for love, seeking their lovers. Another is that they are an AmerIndian woman who traded her children for shelter and food during a famine and is seeking them. Yet another is that they represent a Chisos Apache warrior who was sealed in a cave to guard gold.
Theories:
The lights are white, orange, orangish-yellow and yellow. The bounce, flicker and are elusive. Science is able to prove that the lights exist, but not what they are or from where they come.
Some believe that it is ball lightning, phenomenon that looks like a glowing sphere of energy. This is unexplained by scientists who don’t know exactly what it is or what causes it, therefore it is, by some, an unsolved mystery in atmospheric physics.
It has been postulated the lights are swamp gasses AKA marsh gas, will-o’-the-wisp, jack-o-lantern, corpse candles, spook lights and ignis fatus. Swamp gas can be found where decaying organic matter and stagnant water meet. At night, the gas is in the form of purplish-blue flames. During the day, the flames are redder. They can be approached and will burn paper, turning it brown and coating it with glutinous moisture. While flammable, the gas is not phosphorescent nor is it methane. Marsh gas is a mystery of chemistry.
Other theories are that they are benevolent spirits or alien space craft.
The most reasonable explanation is that they are similar to a mirage, caused by atmospheric conditions when cold and warm air layers bend light, creating visible phenomenon.
The Texas highway department built a parking area on U. S. Highway 90 nine miles east of Marfa for those who want to see the lights.
Sources:
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen, Atlas of the Mysterious in North America, (Facts on File, Inc., 1995)
Norman, Michael & Beth Scott, Haunted America (Tor, 1994)
