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Overview and Evidence[]
The Brown Mountain Lights are a series of bright lights of uncertain origin that have been reported on numerous occasions near Brown Mountain, a mountain ridge in western North Carolina. First noted by North Carolina residents in 1912, the first sightings were no doubt largely sparked by the increasing use of electrical lighting in the region and the English release of Master of the World, a Jules Verne novel in which a mad scientist conducts experiments in North Carolina that result in numerous strange lights in the sky, the year prior in 1911. Since then, however, sightings of the lights have only continued to this day.
The lights themselves are generally described as resembling stars in the night sky. They don't appear to have a routine 'schedule' of appearances that can be reliably followed, as it is possible to watch the mountain ridge for hours at a time without seeing anything. On occasion they are said to move about as though sentient, but reports like this are rare.[1]
The origins of the lights, particularly in the modern day, have been disputed for decades. Those with a more paranormal mindset sometimes attribute them to everything from ghosts, particularly those of Native Americans or early European settlers to the area, to alien spacecrafts while skeptics have explained them as being the headlights of cars or trains passing along the ridge. Other explanations have included swamp gas and ball lightning.[2]
Popular Culture[]
Film[]
- The 2014 science fiction film Alien Abduction is loosely based on the story of the lights, specifically on the interpretation that they are caused by extraterrestrial activity.
Television[]
- An episode of The X-Files features a group of hikers going missing in the Brown Mountain area. Mulder states that he believes the lights are caused by alien activity.
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