William One Sac
05-02-2005, 08:00 PM
MORGANTON, N.C. -- Stories about mysterious lights that dance around a nearby mountain ridge have been told for centuries.
Cherokee Indians believed the glowing balls of light that rose from Brown Mountain into the night sky were the spirits of fallen warriors. Early Scotch settlers in what later became Burke and Caldwell counties thought the lights were the ghosts of lost hunters. Civil War soldiers told tales of fallen comrades or runaway slaves trying to find their way.
The Morganton Public Library contains files with reams of letters and newspaper clippings about brilliant lights and red flashes. No one knew what the lights were, only that they existed.
Joey Wakefield first saw the so-called Brown Mountain Lights as a teen with his grandfather, and he still can't figure them out. There was no sound, no sign of anyone on the mountain, he said.
"It was such a huge, spectacular sight that it captured my imagination," Wakefield said.
In the daylight, Brown Mountain is pretty unassuming. At 2,600 feet, it lies in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Scientists say the granite, quartz and magnetite ridge is 10 million years old.
But at night, the mountain assumes a different personality. Wakefield, who works at an area campground, often finds himself trying to explain the unexplainable to campers who ask about the lights.
"It's spooky. When you sit there, you laugh about it until they come out, and I actually locked the door that night I saw them," he said. "It's a white glow, and it comes up and it dances. It will start in the valley and come up, and it seems like you can reach out and touch it."
More down-to-earth types claim the Brown Mountain Lights are only reflected lights from nearby towns. Three government studies have been inconclusive, attributing the lights to marsh gases or passing trains.
Now, a team of paranormal researchers from Asheville has come up with a new theory -- Brown Mountain is a basically giant static electricity generator.
"What seems to be happening is, when there is a rainy spell, water runs through mountain -- we found big holes where you can look in and see water rushing through," said Joshua Warren, of LEMUR Paranormal Investigations. "As the water runs through the mountain, it builds up a charge on these layers of quartz and magnetite."
When the mountain cools at night and the minerals get closer together, the charge sparks.
LEMUR, which stands for the League of Energy Materialization and Unexplained phenomena Research, has examined UFOs, psychic phenomena and other assorted weirdness for 20 years. The group studied Brown Mountain for months before recreating the conditions in a basement laboratory.
"Because we found that process gives us the same readings we got at Brown Mountain, we think that, at this point, it's the most reliable and the best evidence for what causes the majority of the lights," Warren said.
North Carolina's state geologists called the theory interesting, but they remain unconvinced.
"The long history we have there certainly would cause one to research, and I commend the people willing to go out and spend their money looking at these things, but we need to look at them in a more realistic manner," said Timothy Clark, of the North Carolina Geological Survey.
The LEMUR team is standing behind its conclusions while still appreciating the mystery that has surrounded the lights for centuries.
"I think the fact these lights are a mystery is a testament to the fact something extraordinary is happening here," Warren said.
Cherokee Indians believed the glowing balls of light that rose from Brown Mountain into the night sky were the spirits of fallen warriors. Early Scotch settlers in what later became Burke and Caldwell counties thought the lights were the ghosts of lost hunters. Civil War soldiers told tales of fallen comrades or runaway slaves trying to find their way.
The Morganton Public Library contains files with reams of letters and newspaper clippings about brilliant lights and red flashes. No one knew what the lights were, only that they existed.
Joey Wakefield first saw the so-called Brown Mountain Lights as a teen with his grandfather, and he still can't figure them out. There was no sound, no sign of anyone on the mountain, he said.
"It was such a huge, spectacular sight that it captured my imagination," Wakefield said.
In the daylight, Brown Mountain is pretty unassuming. At 2,600 feet, it lies in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Scientists say the granite, quartz and magnetite ridge is 10 million years old.
But at night, the mountain assumes a different personality. Wakefield, who works at an area campground, often finds himself trying to explain the unexplainable to campers who ask about the lights.
"It's spooky. When you sit there, you laugh about it until they come out, and I actually locked the door that night I saw them," he said. "It's a white glow, and it comes up and it dances. It will start in the valley and come up, and it seems like you can reach out and touch it."
More down-to-earth types claim the Brown Mountain Lights are only reflected lights from nearby towns. Three government studies have been inconclusive, attributing the lights to marsh gases or passing trains.
Now, a team of paranormal researchers from Asheville has come up with a new theory -- Brown Mountain is a basically giant static electricity generator.
"What seems to be happening is, when there is a rainy spell, water runs through mountain -- we found big holes where you can look in and see water rushing through," said Joshua Warren, of LEMUR Paranormal Investigations. "As the water runs through the mountain, it builds up a charge on these layers of quartz and magnetite."
When the mountain cools at night and the minerals get closer together, the charge sparks.
LEMUR, which stands for the League of Energy Materialization and Unexplained phenomena Research, has examined UFOs, psychic phenomena and other assorted weirdness for 20 years. The group studied Brown Mountain for months before recreating the conditions in a basement laboratory.
"Because we found that process gives us the same readings we got at Brown Mountain, we think that, at this point, it's the most reliable and the best evidence for what causes the majority of the lights," Warren said.
North Carolina's state geologists called the theory interesting, but they remain unconvinced.
"The long history we have there certainly would cause one to research, and I commend the people willing to go out and spend their money looking at these things, but we need to look at them in a more realistic manner," said Timothy Clark, of the North Carolina Geological Survey.
The LEMUR team is standing behind its conclusions while still appreciating the mystery that has surrounded the lights for centuries.
"I think the fact these lights are a mystery is a testament to the fact something extraordinary is happening here," Warren said.