Marfa Mystery Lights
Posted by: 
linkys
N 30° 16.501 W 103° 52.972
13R E 607449 N 3349788
The mysterious lights at Marfa were first reported in 1883. While scientists have studied the lights, none has an explanation.
Waymark Code: WM7HWR
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/29/2009
Views: 24
The Marfa Lights are named for their location near the small west Texas town of Marfa. The lights were first reported by an early settler, Robert Ellison, who drove a cattle herd into the Marfa area in 1883, and saw strange lights in the distance while camped just outside Paisano Pass.
The Marfa Lights, appearing to be some 1-10 feet in diameter, are spherical in shape and reddish-orange in color. They have also been observed to vary their size and move at different speeds. Observers also claim to have seen them divide to form separate balls of light, or to move up and down.
What is know is that they appear in many different ways to different people. Some swear they have seen them divide to form separate balls of light. Other times they are seen to be to dim, then suddenly brighten in intensity. Sometimes they will seem to turn off and on.
Scientists have made numerous attempts to solve the mystery, but without success. In 1947, Fritz Kahl, a local war veteran and pilot, chased the Lights in an airplane, but came up empty. In 1975, the "Marfa Ghost Light Hunt", as it was called, was also unsuccessful and the legend continues.
A commonly used explanation is the lights are nothing more than high-powered lights from area ranches or the reflected headlights from nearby cars and trucks, but that doesn't account for why the Lights have been reported prior to the arrival of electricity or modern vehicles to the area.
A Marfa lights viewing site is located nine miles east of Marfa on Highway 90. Ghost light watchers can stand in the viewing area and scan the south-western horizon, looking toward Chinati Peak.
Observers use a distant red tower light as a marker, watching for any light to the right of the marker. If they see one that appears and disappears, it is regarded as a Marfa ghost light. You will know them when you see them. There is no mistaking them, as we can personally testify.
