 The Brown Mountain Lights are a mysterious phenomenon eluding scientific explanation. L.E.M.U.R. | Special to The Appalachian From Boone, Brown Mountain, located in Burke County’s Linville Gorge, requires a 20-minute car ride. The mountain’s “lights” have been seen in numerous places throughout the gorge.
According to senior political science major Casey C. Pickell, the lights are best seen from Wiseman’s View of the Linville Gorge Recreation Area.
The spot is off N.C. Highway 181, designated by the U.S. Forestry Service with a sign that provides visitors with a brief history.
Many attest to the fact that the lights typically appear 10-15 feet above ground, hover, shoot at skyline and rise approximately 100 feet above tree line. According to Pickell, the lights, at times, appear “as bright as fireworks.”
To see them, certain environmental conditions must be present; some believe the lights are best seen after rain showers. Season and temperature may play a role, as well.
“The best time to go see it is late September, October, early November, [on] a clear night after a rain, when the temperatures are between 40 and 50 degrees” Pickell said. “I mean, it can happen at any time, but that’s when it’s most prominent.”
According to Pickell’s studies, the first record of the occurrence dates back to 1200 BC, when Cherokee Indians believed the lights appeared as a result of a battle with nearby Catawba Indians. The lights were then connected to spirits of maidens, searching for their husband warriors slain in battle.
Later, among others, the story of a woman, supposedly killed by her husband and buried atop the mountain, also circulated. The lights were believed to be warnings to locals to find the woman’s murderer.
Scientific explanations date back to 1771. However, none have been confirmed.
Though they were once believed to be railroad lights and/or lights from nearby towns, the theory was discarded; the lights appeared long before the railroads and towns existed.
More recently, though the theory never was proven, the lights were thought to be caused by atmospheric gases. Even today, many debate their cause of existence.
The League of Energy Materialization and Unexplained phenomena Research team (L.E.M.U.R.), a group of Asheville-based paranormal scientists, research and explore many phenomena.
In 2004, through the use of scanners and meters, the team suggested another explanation: that the granite rock, with its layers of quartz, iron and rubies, lying beneath the mountain, may be the cause.
The team believes fault movement under the ridge is liable to apply pressure on the quartz crystals, producing electricity and causing the lights to appear.
According to brownmountainlights.com, the theory may explain how a certain substance could become charged and excite and/or ignite. The substance, however, remains unknown.
Physics and astronomy professor Daniel B. Caton has studied the lights for 15 years. He claims to be “the world’s leading expert of the lights – that has never seen them.”
His title, however, is only partially correct; though he has seen the lights, he has not seen the firework display that many have described.
“I think, when I finally see the lights as described like fireworks, I will either say ‘Oh, I know what’s going on,’ or, ‘I have no idea what is going on,’” he said. “I look forward to the moment.”
Because of Caton’s background in science and interest in the lights, he has his own theory about their occurrence.
“The close-up sightings suggest that they are a manifestation of the equally odd phenomenon called ‘ball lightning,’” he said.
Ball lighting, another controversial topic, refers to reports of luminous objects that last longer than the split-second length of lightening bolt flashes.
“I think the explanation lies there,” Caton said. “Why the Linville Gorge seems to be a natural laboratory for producing ball lighting is the really interesting mystery.”
Story: BEN HOSTETTER, Intern Lifestyles Reporter
Photo: Special to The Appalachian
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/hide comments
