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Marfa Lights Explained

Posted by Zonk on from the another-crypto-critter-explained-away dept.

billsoxs writes "The Marfa lights are ghostly lights that have been observed for years around Marfa TX (near Big Bend). They have been the subject of curiosity , a source of tourism and scientifically studied a number of times. Now a group of physics students from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) have use small lasers and traffic sensors to show that these lights are most likely headlights from cars on a distant highway. The publication is in the Society of Physics Students website. The PDF of the article is here. (Unfortunately the related video is no longer available on the web but more stuff is here.)"

5 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Weird... by MSFanBoi2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I didn't know there were major highways with automobiles running around on them back when the lights first were seen...

  2. This has been an urban legend here in Texas... by Tuxedo+Jack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For a while now, and I'm rather glad it's been explained.

    Now if they'd move on to the Blue Light Cemetery, I'd be more interested.

    http://www.cemeteries-of-tx.com/Etx/Harris/cemeter y/bluelight.htm

    --

    Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
    1. Re:This has been an urban legend here in Texas... by Tuxedo+Jack · · Score: 4, Interesting

      For those of you who don't want to Google, let me explain. (Those of you who know Houston and its legends, you can skip this.)

      In Houston, there's a reservoir out on the west side. Back during the 1800s, this was a floodplain, and the settlers lived there. They had a cemetery in what is now Bear Creek Park, and over the years, the cemetery became lost to the trees and such. Nowadays, teenagers use it for god-knows-what, despite the park rangers and Harris County sheriff's office sending deputies over the whole park area.

      Legend says that there are blue lights there at night. It's commonly explained away as light glinting off the tombstones, but I've been there, and I can't say that the tombstones are what's giving off the light, seeing as how it was well away from the tombstones when I saw it.

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      Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
  3. Interesting, but ruining a source of revenue... by redwoodtree · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, it's like an episode of Scooby-Doo basically, everyone knows the lights are cars but the local area has used it as sort of fun way of attracting tourists and they even have a festival around the event. See http://www.qsl.net/w5www/marfa.html . So, it's kind of sad that these students went to this amount of trouble to explain away the lights.

    I think it's interesting that the local legend has it that the lights have been there before cars and that you hear a tuning fork sound in one ear. Obviously these little details have been added to add the little bit of doubt to keep the charade going and to draw some more money into town.

    It's a fun thing... let it go, as I'm sure the people down there will not be accepting of even a scientific study like this.

  4. Re:Finally! by mark-t · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Science only answers the "how".

    Religion has to answer the "why".

    If one subscribes to the premise that religions are superstition, then there is no "why" at all.

    In fact, to even begin to ask why, you have to suppose that there was some purpose for it in the first place, which automatically implies the existence of an intelligence or reasoning entity that designed the purpose.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'