State

Spooks of Brown Mountain Here ue go again — an explanation of the balls of fire which seem to rise over the top of a hill. «./ IIOII BKiWN First newspaper account of the strange lights of Brown Mountain seeim to have been in 1013, in the Cluirloiir Observer. Since then thou¬ sand* of people have visited Ihe spot, have seen the light*, and have been mytlifird (>nc hotel, at lovcm, on Joocs RidfC миле eight miles away and recently destroyed by fire, became widely known as a spot from which the lights could be seen in comfort, and many of its guests came for that pur¬ pose. Boh. It., and I. equipped with cam¬ eras. fast film, telescopes, a Geiger counter, tailroad fuses for signaling, and full camp gear, set out to investi¬ gate the lights Starling at the old hotel site, our inquiries led us to the home of Joel C. McCurry nearby. Mr. Me- Curry, a Red Cross executive home from Korea, made us welcome, and we set up our cameras on one of his hillsides. Brown Mountain lay some eight miles away, across several ndgv* and hollow*. But even mile of its summit was visible. It was hardly dusk when McCurry pointed to the left end of the mountain. "There's the Brown Mountain light!" he exclaimed excitedly. An orange colored light, looking like a ball of lire, seemed to come straight up from Ik- trees on the distant moun¬ tain top It grew brighter and Ngger. flickered for three or four seconds, then went down again, disappearing at Ik trcctops. This was too fast for me. My Speed Graphic was on a tripod, focused on infinity, with the diaphragm wide open to 1:4.7. Hut there was so much day¬ light: I had not expected to see Ihe mystery light so soon. It was about K:30 p m. anti the date was July 7. "Don't worry ." McCurry said. "This is going to be a good night for them. They’ll he hack in a few minutes." lie was light. When the light ap¬ peared the second lime the sun was considerably lower. I opened the cam¬ era shutter, and left it open. The light appeared again, in a different location, and still again I shot eight negatives that night, while Bob. Jr., watched tk light display through a powerful tele¬ scope. Another niglu we went to a higher terrace on Mr. McCurry’» hill, and set up the Speed Graphic there. At times tk- light would apparently sweep in a broad arc to anotk-r loca¬ tion on the mountain top. Once the light began in a deep orange brightened, then began to change through the spectrum colors to blue. It faded out front tk blue. Ihe fourth night we ascended Brown Mountain, itself, on foot. The climb was gruelling As darkness began to come, we were still not at the point where most o( tk mystery lights were visible kforc. Tk compass didn't do anything except to point North, but at dusk the counter began to act up. We hiked the entire length of Ik mountain top, and failed to find a spot at which we could make our flares seen at the McCurry*. Trees were too thick. The counter again became normal and registered the background click* we expected to kar at that altitude. We found no trace of any mystery light*, no trace of any unusual mineral deposits: nothing at all to make this STOWING »0« Л MUl> Al«n <mmM 0M TfWer i -WW>e *» tar- Ctta-M Ш ТИ1 ST Alt N r» 10 the M<n mountain top seem any different from any other in that vicinity. Л* we re¬ traced our steps the Geiger counter kltuvcd normally, and we have not heard the crackle in it since that one time on the ascent ol Brown Mountain. We concluded tk- noise was the result of something temporarily out of order in tk counter il>elf. Many “explanations" hast been ad¬ vanced as to Ihe cause of tk lights. Some of I km arc: 1. Radioactivity. This is not the ease: any radioactivity known today could not produce such light* 2. Foxfire. This glowing light, often seen on pieces of decaying wood, sometimes seems bright wkn it it close to tk observer on a scry dark night. But its glow is far too dim to к seen eight miles away. 3 St. Elmo's fire. This type of light results from the discharge of electricity from a high point such us a ship's must. Any electrical man who sees the Brown Mountain lights know* immediately that they do not result from a brush discharge of electricity There rs no similarity. 4 C’kmieal reaction. Someone ad¬ vanced tk theory that tk lights could be caused by a reaction between hydrogen sulfide ami lead oxide. George Rogers Mansfield, ol the U. S. Geological Survey, who made an in¬ vestigation in 1922, declared this ' highly improbable." 5. Light from tk valley heyood Brown Mountain. This seem* to be tk correct solution, as our ph*>tographs indicate. When tk atmospheric condi¬ tions are right, the refraction in tk air anil moisture cause the apparent move¬ ment and the turning on and the going olf. This could also account for the change of color which i* often seen. Ihi. was Ik conclusion reached by Mr Mansfield, but tk mountain peo¬ ple did not believe him Hobart A. Whitman of Asheville made surveys proving that lights in the Catawba THE STATE A-«ll 23. I95S