Marfa Lights

The Marfa Lights are without a doubt the most famous ghost lights around. They've been talked about for over 100 years, and every year thousands of people flock to Marfa to try to see the famed "mystery lights." They even have their own website! (See links below.)

The Marfa Lights appear in the desert around the Chianti Mountains in West Texas. They appear at dusk and move through the air in no particular pattern. The lights are most often described as yellow or white, but just about every color of the rainbow has been reported at one time or another. Like other ghost lights, they disappear when approached closely, making scientific observation difficult. The lights have been featured on Unsolved Mysteries, but the scientists on the show could not come up with an explanation. And although they elude scientists, the lights have been known to follow people or cars, or even in one case enter a car.

For those who don't believe the lights are car headlights, ignited gas, or the luminescent fur of jackrabbits (typical "scientific" explanations), there are several folktales surrounding the lights. An Apache legend contends that the lights are the spirit of one of their chiefs, or stars falling from the sky. Another story involves the phantoms of a family who got lost in the Texas wildnerness. Even the specters of Pancho Villa and Adolph Hitler have been blamed for the lights.

Whatever the lights are, hundreds of people who have witnessed them are convinced that they are not car headlights. Maybe it's best to leave this one a mystery and just enjoy the show.

Notes from readers:
An experience from July 2003

Links to other sites:
Marfa Mystery Lights Online The official Marfa Lights homepage
Not titled Another (short) personal experience
James Dean Mystery Ghost Lights A twist on the traditional tale
Science/Marfa Lights An article on the alt.folklore.urban website
The Marfa Lights A very short article
The Marfa Mystery Lights This article explains that the lights are really car headlights
Texas Monthly WWW Ranch More theories on the lights
Another article from Texas Monthly

The Ghostlight Page

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