Status: Explained — in 1922 a U.S. Geological Survey scientist concluded they were trains, car headlights and brush fires.
About the pin: Pinned near Brown Mountain; the lights are seen from viewpoints miles away.
Credit: Thomson200 / Wikimedia Commons · Licence: CC0 (public-domain dedication) · Source
The Brown Mountain lights are purported ghost lights near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. The earliest published references to strange lights there are from around 1910, about the time electric lighting was becoming widespread in the area.
In 1922, USGS scientist George R. Mansfield used a map and an alidade telescope to show that the lights people were seeing were trains, car headlights and brush fires, which ended widespread public concern.
With the original sightings explained, storytellers have kept inventing older histories for the lights, and the nature of the claimed encounters seems to change over the years to suit changing expectations. The lights remain a popular roadside attraction and a good example of how a legend outlives its explanation.
Sources: Wikipedia: Brown Mountain lights · NCpedia: Brown Mountain Lights
📍 See this case on the map. Were you there, or can you explain it? Add a verification note below — notes are read by a person before they appear.
Leave a Reply