Do Aliens Love Prada?
Let's go to Marfa, Texas
Hey Conspirators,
Today we’re taking a trip to Marfa, a small town in west Texas. It’s known for an iconic, overused-on-Instagram Prada store, blue-chip art, and most importantly: unexplained glowing orbs in the sky. Let’s beam right in.
Marfa, Marfa, Marfa!
If it’s a clear night in West Texas and you’re driving along Highway 90, just east of Marfa, you might see some strange, bright, orbs hover in the air and zip about. Then disappear. Then reappear. Then hover. Then disappear again. Then - okay okay, you get it.
Throughout history, these orbs have had many names: Ghost lights, mystery lights, Chineti Lights or, claimed by the very town itself, Marfa Lights.
These sightings aren’t rare. In fact, they’ve been seen by so many people, for so long, that the Texas Department of Transportation expanded an area off of Highway 90 and turned it into the Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Center. Marfa even has a yearly festival to celebrate them.
Lights, Camera, Acti-- wait did you say lights?
Let’s get something out of the way here: These aren’t “alleged” lights. They are real lights with documented sightings for 100+ years. It’s well-known that James Dean became enamored with the lights while on the set of Giant. Apparently, he bought a telescope and would go out each night just to catch glimpses.
The first known sighting came back in 1883 by a cowhand named Robert Reed Ellison. His assumption was that they were Apache campfires on a mountain. (I think Cormac McCarthy just got all hot and bothered.)
Forces at the Midland Army Airfield noticed the lights during World War II, and some of the pilots went searching for the source. They came up empty.
In 2017, I went out to the Marfa Lights Viewing Center myself to see them firsthand. They hover, they merge, they twinkle, they split in two. They flicker, float up into the air, and dart across the sky. Although mystical, to me they felt like they somehow belonged on Earth. I recommend the trip to everyone. It was an odd mixture of uncanny and cool, like if Stranger Things was real.
So what the heck are they? GIANT BUGS??
Right now we don’t know. We may never know. (We Nibblers prefer it that way - the mystery is more fun.) Here are some of the more ‘spicious explanations that have been thrown around:
UFOs (obviously)
Luminous remains of lost souls or spirits (apparently purgatory is in West Texas)
Dinosaur-era flying predators with glowing tails to attract prey (think fireflies but pterodactyl size. Yikes.)
And now for the boring folks’ explanations:
Atmospheric reflections of campfires
Car headlights (yeah, right. There were like 12 total cars on earth when these were first documented and you want me to believe 3 of them were in West Texas?)
Shifting, underground igneous rock plates that produce electromagnetic anomalies (this one may as well be moved to the fun section above, right?)
Planes/helicopters (come on, planes weren’t even around in the 1880s.)
Rain-glow making bat guano glow (and we thought UFOs were a stretch…)
Natural gases (pretty sure this what the Men In Black said to the people after they did the flashy thing)
Mirages/optical illusions (Not a chance. I saw these lights myself! You callin’ me a kook?)
Some ways to shed some more “light” on the topic for you:
Skip to the 5:50 minute mark of this video to see how they look from the viewing center. The BBC has a nice slideshow gallery about them. The “Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know” has a lot of fun podcasts on conspiracies, and they took a dive into Ghost Lights.
Any ghost lights sightings you want to share? Leave a comment! And don’t forget to sign up so next week’s Nibble on Ancient Nuclear Wars goes straight to your inbox!
As always, stay ‘spicious.
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