Page 43 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 23

that the lights were only a reflection of house- This alone has caused the Spooksville area to be
lights in the valley. called the “UFO” airport.
Not so, insisted county judge August Men- In appearance the ghost light resembles a
zel. In the New York Times he told of the night bright lantern. Often the light dims before the
when everyone in Silver Cliff and nearby spectators, then bounces back over the moun-
Westcliff shut off their lights. Even the street tains in a brilliant blaze of light. Hundreds of
lights were turned off, but the graveyard lights firsthand encounters with the mysterious ghost
still danced as brightly as ever. light are on record. These accounts demon-
If the ghostly gravemarkers cannot be strate actual experiences with the unknown,
attributed to the reflection of ordinary house sometimes frightening, but always interesting.
and municipal lights, just what can they be? During World War II (1939–45) the U.S.
Old-timers and younger theorists have come Corps of Engineers scoured the entire area,
up with many suggestions. Some believe that using the latest scientific equipment of the
the lights are reflections from the stars. Yet the time. For weeks they tested caves, mineral
lights are just as clear on a starless, moonless deposits, and highway routes, exhausting every
night. Others theorize that they are caused by possible explanation for the origin of the mys-
phosphorescing ore and glowing wood—but tery lights. They finally left, confounded.
the darker the night, the brighter the lights. It Perhaps the most famous spook lights in
was suggested that radioactive ores were caus- the United States are the eerie illuminations
ing the flickering lights. But Geiger counters that appear in the night sky just east of Marfa,
were then employed to cover the entire area, Texas, a small ranching community southeast
and no radioactivity was discovered. of El Paso. Settler Robert Ellison, who feared
Finally the seekers of a plausible explana- that he was seeing Apache campfires in the
tion confessed total bafflement. None of the distance, first spotted the strange lights in
theories would hold water, and the lights them- 1883. When he investigated the next day, he
selves could never be approached for a close could find no ashes where he had seen the
enough look. As soon as anyone came too near, lights. Local folklore soon attributed the ghost
the lights would disappear, only to pop up again lights to the spirits of slain warriors seeking
in another section of the cemetery. Photogra- peace, the ghosts of murdered settlers, the
phers were hired, but no one managed to cap- restless spectre of the Apache chief Alsate, or
ture the elusive blue lights on film. the quests of lost lovers yearning to be reunit-
At this point the old-timers simply smile ed. Some area residents have stories of being
and provide the fitting explanation for any guided home to safety by the mysterious lights,
classic ghost story. According to local legend, while others tell of being terrified by close
the cemetery, which is still in use, is the final encounters with the glowing orbs.
resting place for many miners who died while Theorists have ascribed the Marfa Lights
digging precious ores. The flickering lights of to natural phenomena, such as ball lightning,
the graveyard resemble the little lights worn electrostatic charges, or gas emissions. Certain
on the miners’ caps, and the ghostly lights scientists have blamed a combination of solar
belong to the restless souls of the miners, who activity and seismic activity that creates a
still search for the gold they never found. kind of underground lightning that on occa-
A far more notorious ghost light is located sion rises above ground level to be seen as the
in the tri-state area of Spooksville, in a corner of eerie lights.
Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. There are many more ghost lights haunt-
Spooksville’s ghostly light is advertised as a ing the nooks and crannies, mountain peaks
tourist attraction, and brings in countless num- and valleys, of the planet Earth. Experts have
bers of the curious. The mysterious light, known tried to explain the mystery of spook lights by
variously as “spook light” or “ghost light” to the using the existing structure of physics and
visitors and inhabitants of the region, was offi- known natural phenomena, such as ball light-
cially dubbed a UFO by the U.S. Air Force. ning, will o’ the wisps, and swamp gas, but so

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