The Brown Mountain Lights of North Carolina

[Church]

I'm very fascinated by this subject, which is very similar to other phenomena around the world, such as the Marfa Lights of Texas, and the Hessdalen Lights of Norway. So here is a quick compilation of information, including some photos and videos...

The Brown Mountain Lights are a series of ghost lights reported near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. The lights can be seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile posts 310 (Brown Mountain Light overlook) and 301 (Green Mountain overlook) and from the Brown Mountain Overlook on NC Highway 181 between Morganton, NC and Linville, NC. Additionally, good sightings of the Lights have been reported from the top of Table Rock, outside of Morganton, NC. One of the best vantage points, Wiseman's View, is about 4 miles from Linville Falls, NC. There is also a Brown Mountain Overlook on North Carolina Highway 181 that was recently improved with help from the city of Morganton for the purpose of attracting those who visit the area to see the lights. The best time of year to see them is reportedly September through early November.

One early account of the lights dates from September 24, 1913, as reported in the Charlotte Daily Observer. A fisherman claimed to have seen “mysterious lights seen just above the horizon every night,” red in color, with a pronounced circular shape. Soon after this account, a United States Geological Survey employee, D.B. Stewart, studied the area in question and determined the witnesses had mistaken train lights for something more mysterious.

Reports of odd lights continued, and a more formal US Geological Survey study began in 1922, which determined that witnesses had misidentified automobile or train lights, fires, or mundane stationary lights. However, according to a marker on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a massive flood struck the area soon after the completion of the USGS study; all electrical power was lost and trains were inoperative for a period of time thereafter. Several automotive bridges were also washed out. The Brown Mountain lights, however, continued to appear.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ss17HFKKU



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gftfwM9_J0g



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSJb3QuBlTg

For More Information:
An episode of Coast To Coast AM With George Noory
A well-written article on the subject for an online travel magazine
An online PDF file of a report by the U.S. Geological Survey

[jimmer]

excellent, depthy post, church.

are the brown mountain lights related to the long observed,
measured and documented hessdalen lights?

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSgPBOBSJrI

[boja]

Excellent introduction for anybody who is unaware of this phenomenon.

[Shadowself]

It's about an hours drive from my house. My mate and I packed a dinner and spent the evening there a few years ago. Didn't see anything that night, but there were several people there with cameras ready.

The area has a pretty amazing history attached to it which some say might contribute to the lights. It has a strong Native Indian history which some think are possible contributions as well.

I have to go to work or I'd stick around and share that. But perhaps you can google it?

[Shadowself]

Good Morning!

Continuing where I left off: The history I spoke of


Brown Mountain lies in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Parkway with an elevation of only 2,600 feet. The Brown Mountain Lights of Burke County, near Morganton NC, have intrigued residents and visitors for hundreds of years. The lights are mentioned in local Native American mythology, and by Geraud de Brahm, a German engineer and the first white man to explore the region, in 1771. The lights have been described in many ways from being a glowing ball of fire, to being a bursting skyrocket, or a pale almost white light. The fact that they never seem the same is as fantastic as the lights themselves. At times they seem to drift slowly, fading and brightening and at other times they seem to whirl like pinwheels, then dart rapidly away.

One of the legends explaining the Brown Mountain Lights was of a planter from the low country who traveled to the mountains to hunt, and became lost. One of his slaves came to look for him and was seen searching through the hills with a lantern, night after night. Now, according to the legend, the old slave is gone, but his spirit remains and the old lantern still casts it’s light.

Another such legend is of a woman who disappeared about 1850, the general suspicion was that her husband had killed her. Almost everyone in the community joined the search for her and one dark night while the search was on the strange lights appeared on Brown Mountain. Some of the searchers thought that this was the dead woman’s spirit come back to haunt her murderer and warn the searchers to stop looking for her body. The search ended without a trace of her body, but long years afterwards a pile of bones was found under a cliff and were identified as the skeleton of the missing woman.

The Cherokee Indians were familiar with these lights as far back as the year 1200. According to Indian legend, a great battle was fought that year between the Cherokee and Catawba Indians near Brown Mountain. The Cherokees believed that the lights were the spirits of Indian maidens who went on searching through the centuries for their husbands and sweethearts who had died in the battle. Early frontiersman believed that the lights were the spirits of Cherokee and Catawba warriors slain in an ancient battle on the mountainside. Some say the lights are just a troop of candle-bearing ghosts destined to walk back and forth across the mountain forever.

Rest of the article here:

http://www.westernncattractions.com/...untain-lights/

~

On that note they mention the Catawba Indians. I happen to live on the Catawba River.

So check this out: When the lights are seen people go missing....


The local folklore is full of stories of people who have gone missing after witnessing the lights.


The first encounter dates back to the Cherokee Indians around the year 1200. According to Indian legend, a great battle was fought between the Cherokee and Catawba Indians near Brown Mountain. The Cherokees believed that the lights were the spirits of Indian maidens who went on searching through the centuries for their loved ones who had died in battle.

One of the most famous legends of the Brown Mountain Lights was of a plantation owner who was hunting in the mountains and got lost. His slaves came to look for him and were seen searching through the hills with lanterns. They never returned.

From this link:

http://www.brownmountainabductions.com/

~

Well I'm a California Transplant. I moved here around five years ago for some peace and quiet. I get plenty of that and live in the open country. I'll share something that I saw driving home from work one evening in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I wrote this around two years ago I think?

Quoting a post I made then:

I've been working lot's of overtime hours the last couple of weeks due to the fact that the last week of December is free and clear time off.

Last night I got off work at 3AM and saw the strangest thing I've ever seen. Now I've seen some pretty strange things in my life but this one I believe tops it.

Conditions: Clear sky, no wind, 25 degrees Fahrenheit. I pull out of the parking lot at work which is in a rural farm area. No large towns within over a hundred mile radius. Basically the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. In fact the county I live in is the same one Steven Greer grew up in and had his "siting" and contact.

I would not call this a "UFO" that I saw early this morning. More like an "event" might describe it better.

I've seen plenty of falling stars in my life and this was not one.

What I saw was a light beam starting above the horizon and it beamed down. Now you would think with the speed of light and all it would be an instantaneous beam. But it was not. If I had to guess it was probably about 30 to 50 miles away from me. But for all I know it could have been ten miles away as it was dark out.

So I see this light start from a point above the horizon in the sky and it beams down in a bright blue color. It was fast but certainly not at the speed of light which would make it totally explainable except for it's point of origin.

So this light started from a point in the sky and I could see it beam down then it completely disappeared. The fact that I could see it travel indicates a time factor I can't explain in any other way then to say the beam of "light" slowed down. Even though it appeared to be fast.

Point of origin was just a point in the skyline. It did not come from "above" like a falling star would. It had this starting point. Now my first inclination was a portal or wormhole. But truthfully I have no idea.

The light did not come from below to that point but from that point going down.

That's the best way I can describe it. I've never seen anything like it except on the occasional Sci Fi movie. But this was no movie and I was stunned to say the least.

Guessing at it's distance from me there would be nothing in that area except small rural farms. Remember it was dark so it's hard for me to judge exactly...but it was a fairly large and wide beam. it was bright blue in color and quite a stunning sight! The thing that got me the most was that I could see it form downward and not instantaneous as a light beam would. It was fast but not fast enough that my eyes could see it form downward. Hope I'm explaining this in an understanding way, as it's rather hard to describe.

What it was I have no idea. It was not what I would call a UFO (unless the point of origin which I could not see was one)...???? Was there an "intelligence" behind it? It would certainly seem so but I cannot say for sure. I felt it was more of an "event" due to the fact that I could see the light beam form downward inferring a 'time factor" in it's forming.

So, just thought I'd share something I experienced on my way home last night in my perceptions of it's adjustment and sequence.

Whoa!!!!!!!!!!

Well then the next day I happened upon this:

http://www.examiner.com/article/hund...north-carolina

If you google: ufo spotted in hickory nc

there seem to be quite a few sitings. But so far I've not seen any.



What I saw was far in the other direction from the Hickory Airport mentioned in the report and link I provided. But remember I didn't actually see a UFO. All I happened to witness was an extremely unusual beam of light which started from a point in the skyline and traveled downward. It only lasted for a few seconds but in those few seconds it behaved like no light I've ever seen.

It wasn't until afterward I thought it might have been from a possible unseen ufo. I was more inclined to think it was from some type of wormhole which would explain the time factor in the appearance and behavior of the light.

Could it have come from some kind of cloaked UFO? Possibly, but if it did I would have no idea.

Interesting no?

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZiEbfewefU

[Church]

Shadowself thank you so much for adding all that wonderful information!

I also appreciate your inclusion of the personal story. One of my most amazing experiences involving what I call a UFO occurred over Looking Glass Rock in Brevard, which isn't that far from Brown Mountain. My wife and I saw what appeared to be a UFO pretending to be a star, but it was dancing around and throwing off spiraling light. I have continued to wonder if it's related to the same phenomena as the Brown Mountain lights.

[The One]

I love this topic we had Matty Beckerman on here who was the Director of ALIEN ABDUCTION - I've seen THE BROWN MOUNTAIN LIGHTS

Go here http://jandeane81.com/threads/2893-I...sk-me-anything

[Church]

Of course that happened while I was on hiatus from the forums...

I missed out on that one. I wish Matty would come back now. Matty, please come back, I want to talk to you!

[Shadowself]

Just thought I'd add, there have been (if I counted correctly) 43 sightings reported in NC this year alone. I imagine there are many more that go unreported as they just don't want to sound crazy....

http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/ndxlnc.html

This area is ripe for it.

[Ciauzar]

I'm not surprised that the area is very ripe for UFO sightnings, I grew up in Morganton, NC and lived there almost all my life until I moved to California to be with my fiancée. I've seen my share of sightings over the years in NC. Get this, I've never been to Brown Mountain(I know, I know, crazy). I'm part Cherokee indian, or that's what my mother told me.

Lately, I've been wanting to go back and visit NC again.. and this post shows up, amazing synchronicity. Maybe, I can stop by Brown Mountain for a day or 2 That'll help relieve my homesickness.

[Shadowself]

I'm not surprised that the area is very ripe for UFO sightnings, I grew up in Morganton, NC and lived there almost all my life until I moved to California to be with my fiancée. I've seen my share of sightings over the years in NC. Get this, I've never been to Brown Mountain(I know, I know, crazy). I'm part Cherokee indian, or that's what my mother told me.

Lately, I've been wanting to go back and visit NC again.. and this post shows up, amazing synchronicity. Maybe, I can stop by Brown Mountain for a day or 2 That'll help relieve my homesickness.

You grew up not far from where I live now. Different yet bordering county.

I took some photos when I was there on my cell phone which I recovered after I posted here. On the recovery it gave me the coordinates where the lookout is. So here is one of five photos I took....Notice the idiotic graffiti....Oh well. You can google earth the coordinates for the lookout when you come back to visit.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.942000+-81.841667&z=11

Location: 35° 56.52′ 0″ N 81° 50.5′ 0″ W
Altitude: 870.0m
Taken: 2013:03:30 17:19:51

[blufire]

I grew up not far from Brown Mountain (as the crow flies) and I have seen the lights of Brown Mountain . . . . . . as well as many other ‘lights’ here in this part of Appalachia.

I once told the story of one particular encounter here on TOT but it was lost the first time TOT went down. The particular encounter I recounted involved an iridescent blue sphere around the size of a basketball that glowed brilliantly from deep blue to white and back. Hence my avatar name of foxfire and blufire (on other forums)

I hesitate to speak of these encounters I had as child at this time largely because what I experienced and was ‘told’ and now remember is so different than what is being blasted throughout the forum world and alternative media.

Especially what is being put forth concerning the ‘blue spheres’. My experience was first hand and throughout my childhood and is beginning again.

Ciauzar you mentioned you feel the need to return and visit the area . . . . . I lived 25+ years in the Kansas City area and the call to return home to the mountains became so overwhelming that in 2011 I moved lock stock and barrel back home where I had these encounters so long ago . . . . . . Maybe you too are being 'called' for a reason?

[Shadowself]

Wow...This is just weird.

I too got a calling to move here. I didn't know a soul here. I just wanted to move here. It was not until after I moved here that I found out that Mr. Greer was raised and experienced his encounter in the same county I moved in. Or that the Brown Mountain lights were here either....I'd never heard of them until I got here.

I left a perfectly good career making 6 figures a year and two properties which I solely owned there to come to this place. Closed out all my personal affairs in CA and moved here.

Freaky....I'm off to work now....as believe me I'm not making 6 figures anymore...out here in the middle of absolutely nowhere!

[blufire]

Hi Shadowself . . . . I can certainly relate to what you are saying. I too left a financial world of 6 figures and sold an 80 acre organic farm I established and have never even thought twice about it.

I now live very simply and self-sufficient and self-reliant. I am going back to how I was raised and what my great grandmother taught me about living in these incredible mountains.

Everything one needs to live a fully thriving life is right here.

Most of all these mountains whisper ancient secrets . . . . . . if you listen.

[bsbray]

Most of all these mountains whisper ancient secrets . . . . . . if you listen.

That is absolutely true... And the Native Americans who have long since stopped roaming so many of these mountains can still be felt too.

The stories these mountains tell me are of lots and lots of Earth changes over an inhuman amount of time. These mountains have weathered all of these changes and been weathered by them, from some ancient period when they are said to have been higher than the Rockies, through the time of the dinosaurs and everything since.