Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: May 9, 2024
It was daytime when I looked southeast to Marfa in the distance. When planning this trip, I had considered camping overnight at the desolate Marfa Light Viewing Campground east of town. The Marfa Lights are mysterious lights seen at night that dance across the foothills of the distant Chinati Mountains. The lights have been recorded since at least 1883, and the lights have unsatisfactorily been explained as an atmospheric phenomenon which distorts and reflects the distant light of campfires or headlights. But some people say that it is unworldly as often the lights move vertically or in circles while changing colors. Yet police will tell you that it is just distant automobile lights. Others say its flying saucers & UFO’s while many refer to them as the ghost ball lights. I talked to a few locals about the mysterious lights.
A waiter named Aaron in nearby Fort Davis told me he has witnessed the lights twice and believes it is UFO’s and aliens. Sometimes he didn’t see any lights. He witnessed red, blue and amber points of light. The lights darted around and then came together and shot straight up.
A man in Carlsbad said he and friends have seen the lights on three different occasions. He is unsure what causes the lights but doesn’t feel it is aliens. He thinks it could be a divine being protecting water, which is residents most precious commodity. He doesn’t think it is automobile lights because the road is in a different direction. He said the dark sky is beautiful there on a clear night. June is the best month to see the lights.
Whatever the theory, adding to the mystique is the fact that “The Twilight Zone’s” creator Rod Serling, an advanced flight training officer, once trained here back in the 1950’s. That’s a nice sci-fi touch to this baffling and bizarre area.
