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Marfa Mystery Lights in Marfa, Texas


Loreece

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About 15 years ago my husband and then 10 year old daughter and I drove out to Marfa to see the Marfa Lights. We had been camping in Ft.Davis state park about a 45 minute drive from Marfa. We had tried once before to see the Marfa Lights about 2 years earlier, but didn't see a thing that trip.

However on the second trip to see the lights, we saw them.

At the time we went, there was no visitors viewing area like there is now. We drove out in August 1992 around dusk to where all locals go to view the lights. We parked pretty close to the train tracks which were across the highway from the lights. At that time there was a fence you could stand at to watch for the lights in the field beyond the fence. Naturally we also had to watch for rattlesnakes at the time we were trying to watch for the lights.

Around 10:30 pm a car parked by our car and a man and his wife came and stood next to us to watch for the lights. They were from Marfa and had seen the lights many times. It had been lightly raining and I was worried we wouldn't see the lights. They told us it didn't matter if it rained or snowed, they had seen the lights in all types of weather. They also said there were many times the lights didn't appear at all.

Sometime around 11:00 someone saw a light bouncing off in the far distance. We all looked in the area where the light was seen and each of us at different times spotted lights appearing in different locations in what appeared to be just a few feet above the ground. Some of the lights were a white color and also yellow. The lights weren't really all that bright, it may have been the rain, but they looked kind of hazy. The lights would just appear for a few seconds and in the blink of an eye they would be gone. Almost like they could dart around in the area we were focused on. There was a tower with a red light in the distance where we saw the lights. The lights seemed to mainly be in the area way out in front of this tower.

We watched for quite a while, then left only because the soft rain was now becoming a downpour and we didn't have umbrellas with us.

It was an amazing experience. You could hear the trains going by, giving you chills being in the middle of nowhere listening to the sounds of the trains going down the track, watching for rattlers, hearing an occasional car going down the quiet highway. All of the "sound effects" going on while watching the lights, that was a real bonus in addition to seeing the lights! A once in a lifetime experience for me. I will never forget how exciting it was watching the lights and wondering what they were.

We went back to see the Marfa Lights this past summer. So much had changed. There is now a visitors viewing center, large parking lot(no more parking close to the train tracks), trails to walk down with the concrete benches and tables dotting the trail. Sitting areas for viewing. A lot of low lights placed all around the visitors center. The area which used to be grass at the fence where you watched for the lights now has gravel. Easier to see snakes at on the gravel instead of hiding in the grass....

We arrived just after dark and stayed until around midnight. Didn't see a thing this trip. Not one light. Felt sorry for the tourists we met from Germany and Belgium. They were only going to be in Marfa this one night and they were so excited waiting for the lights to appear. They just looked so bummed out....

I am really glad we got to see the lights 15 years ago and will probably keep going back to try and see them again since we are only about a 4 or 5 hour drive from Marfa.

Edited by Loreece
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  • Bebi

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interesting story ive not heard of the mafa lights before its intruiging enough to look up more stories about them, tho 1988 isnt 15 yrs ago (if thats what you meant) 1988 would be 19 yrs now (was born in 1989 and am 18) anyway good story very intruiging id like to see if anyone has photos or footage of them. Wonder what they where sound a bit like the mysterious northern lights

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  • 4 weeks later...
interesting story ive not heard of the mafa lights before its intruiging enough to look up more stories about them, tho 1988 isnt 15 yrs ago (if thats what you meant) 1988 would be 19 yrs now (was born in 1989 and am 18) anyway good story very intruiging id like to see if anyone has photos or footage of them. Wonder what they where sound a bit like the mysterious northern lights

lol she said 1992 ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa_lights Here's a Wiki link on the Marfa lights. I actually searched for "swamp lights" on wiki as the description put me in mind of them and this was the first link to appear lol

Edit: I've just read the Wiki article more closely, and found this

Significance of the Findings

Because there were no data above background levels in all light and thermal channels, the following hypotheses for the Marfa Lights can be positively ruled out: burning swamp gas, pezioelectric effects, phosphorescent minerals, car lights (direct), flashlights, ball lightning, and fault activity.

Looks like my swamp lights hypothesis has already been ruled out lol

Edit again: typos ^_^

Edited by Bebi
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  • 1 year later...

Hey everyone,

Enemy-Locus here from Houston Texas. I had about a $1000 to blow (thanks to Uncle Sam) so I took a roadtrip and racked on 1800 miles in 2 days in the rental/ I headed out for Fort Davis, Davis Mountains, Marfa and Alpine, Balmorhea. Just decided to so I just went this weekend. I mapped out all the road, distances and angles. I even combined them with the map I was provided by the locals that shows what each blinking light is out there. They show which are cell phone towers and which are microwave atennas, etc. Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see what the reaction was from other people that did not have the map I had. Sure enough, people started going crazy pointing figers and cameras snapping photos of the cell phone towers. :w00t:

Anyway, I stayed there for 3 hours in the dark. We gave up and started stargazing as it was so beautiful. Another thing that I noticed is that in some of the internet pictures of the Marfa Lights, people were not even in Marfa. I believe those pictures are from elsewhere. How do I know you ask? Well, Marfa Mystery Light Viewing Area is a designated viewing area there is the size of at least a decent sized rest area with red light lighting up the who place. If you view any pictures of Marfa lights,look for the viewing area for authenticity.

Like for example, on this link, the piture is of the Marfa Lights viewing area, but the picture of the Marfa Lights itself could not be the lights. the reason being is that, looking at the lights picture, there is not a dirt road like that. The lights show up in the desert, where there are no roads. You driving across the desert like that and cops will be the immediately.

Here's the picture: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...active%26sa%3DN

Here's the viewing area at night: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...active%26sa%3DN

Here's another picture of people seeing marfa LIghts but it is just a car: http://livingelpaso.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/marfa81.jpg

Here's a few of the viewing side of the area. You have to be in the back to see the lights. On the other side is Hwy 90. http://www.rvhotlinecanada.com/generic/art...images/sep2.jpg

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I've seen them twice now and one visit where nothing happened. The entire town has an eerie feel to it to me. There's an abandoned military base in Marfa that's super creepy as well. As far as I know the lights are random hit or miss but very interesting... Your in El Paso I take it Loreece? (only west texas I know of four-fve hours from marfa)

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