(Original headline: Brown Mountain Lights There's still no clear explanation for this visual phenomenon )
LINVILLE FALLS — The Brown Mountain Lights have been visible — on rare occasions, that's true — around these parts for hundreds of years.
They have yet to be explained.
The lights are one of North Carolina's most famous legends, with stories about them included in virtually every book pertaining to tales of ghosts in the Tar Heel state.
Heck, the lights were even featured in an episode of "The X-Files."
(By the way, Mulder and Scully couldn't figure 'em out, either.)
Workers with the U.S. Geological Survey have investigated the lights at least twice with no conclusive evidence as to what they are.
They have been reported at least as far back as 1771 when Gerard Will de Brahm, a German engineer, wrote about them.
Some say the Indians spoke of the lights long before English settlers inhabited the area.
In frontier times, pioneers believed the lights to be the spirits of Cherokee and Catawba Indians slain in ancient battles in the region.
In more modern times, it's been suggested that the lights are those of E.T.'s spaceship looking for a place to land on the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway.
One explanation makes about as much sense as another.
The lights have been reported as being any number of colors — blue, white, green and red.
They seem to bounce across Brown Mountain, a low-lying range located primarily in Burke and Avery counties.
One of the best spots for viewing the Brown Mountain Lights is from Wiseman's View, a popular tourist site that overlooks Linville Gorge, which is part of the Pisgah National Forest.
Locals say the lights first appear to be about twice the size of a star as they come over Brown Mountain. While visitors are far more likely to see nothing at all, locals say there are nights when the lights come thick and fast, so numerous it's impossible to count them.
On a good night, the lights seem to bounce up and down, lacking neither rhyme nor reason. Scientists have studied the possibilities that the lights are anything from the lights of a locomotive to swamp gas.
None of the theories make much sense.
Locals say the lights have been viewed year-round, but say they're seen most often in September or October, often following a good rain. They've been spotted at all hours between sundown and sunset, but are most often visible between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Camping along the ridge leading to Wiseman's View is free, so the curious don't need to waste a lot of money exploring the lights.
It's a good night's entertainment.
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To get to Wiseman's View, from Marion, take U.S. 221 north until it intersects with N.C. 183 in the Linville Falls community. Turn right on N.C. 183 and continue one mile to Kistler Memorial Highway. Bear right. It's 4 miles to Wiseman's View and the road is gravel and rough.
