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| 'Ghost lights' have been spotted all over the world for generations, but few have been explained by actual science. |
Ghost Lights
Are 'Ghost Lights'
Apparitions of the Dead — or Even Aliens?
Diana Brown
Sightings of mysterious lights off in the
distance — sometimes weaving or bobbing, sometimes traveling at high speeds or
hovering in the air — have been reported all over the world for generations.
Are these so-called "ghost lights,"
"spook lights" or "corpse candles" supernatural or is there
a more obvious explanation?
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know hosts Matt
Frederick, Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown take a hard look at the stories and
theories surrounding these "will o' the wisps" to find out exactly
what they are in the latest episode of the podcast: What Exactly Are "Ghost Lights"?
Although sightings of these ghost lights don't
seem to be rare (chances are there's a local version of this legend where you
live) nobody can seem to agree on how they look like or how they behave.
Some say they appear like balls of light
hovering high in the air, occasionally splitting into multiple lights; others
say they seem to "dance" or perhaps "bob" back and forth,
almost like a dangling lantern someone is carrying.
Sometimes people report seeing the lights travel
at high speeds, while others see them hang motionless — that is until a person
tries to get close, then the lights retreat.
One such sighting is near the small town of
Quapaw, Oklahoma.
It's where people report seeing the Joplin
Spook Light, which appears to speed down the road, then hover over
trees before disappearing.
These lights have been seen nightly there for
more than 100 years.
Similar lights are seen in Marfa, Texas. Known
as the Marfa Lights, they materialize on the horizon in
the shadows of the Chinati Mountains, sometimes traveling at high speeds before
dissolving.
They're so consistent (and popular) that there's
even an official viewing spot for the lights on the
Marfa Airfield.
There are also the famous Gurdon Light in Arkansas, the Brown
Mountain Lights in North Carolina, the Paulding Light in Michigan
— the list goes on.
The question is, what are they?
Of course, some think they're ghosts — or
even UFOs — but is there a more down-to-earth
reason these lights are appearing?
Some theories posit that people are merely
mistaking bioluminescent insects' lights for something mysterious, but that
seems unlikely.
Others say it's methane gas catching fire and
"floating" due to the gaseous fumes rising, but that also seems
far-fetched.
A lot of very specific circumstances would have
to come together for that scenario to work out.
Some have also argued that the tectonic plates
beneath Earth's surface shifting around cause rocks to heat up.
And if they're the right kind of rocks — if they
have a lot of quartz in them, for example — they can send
up sparks, creating electrical lights that could be mistaken
for a ghostly apparition.
It's actually called the piezoelectric effect.
But that's another explanation that requires some incredibly specific
circumstances to occur.
So, what are these lights? There is one widely
accepted explanation — and it has to do with cars.
But not everyone believes this theory.
You'll have to listen to the entire podcast to hear Matt,
Ben and Noel explain it. Then make your own judgment and decide whether this
theory flies in your neck of the woods.
Diana
Brown is a freelance writer for
HowStuffWorks and writes mostly for about our podcast Stuff They Don't Want You
to Know. She has a B.A. in theater and a minor in creative writing from Georgia
State University, and is a writer, performer, and producer of comedy and
theater at the nonprofit Twinhead Theatre in Atlanta, where she's executive
director. Diana also organizes the annual Atlanta Fringe Festival, where indie,
underground and original theater companies showcase their work. She likes
reading, cheese and dogs.
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