The Marfa Lights — A Century of Ghost Lights in the Texas Desert

The Marfa lights are mysterious glowing orbs that have been reported in the desert outside Marfa, Texas since at least 1883, when rancher Robert Reed Ellison first reported seeing flickering lights while driving cattle near Paisano Pass. The lights, typically described as basketball-sized spheres of white, yellow, orange, or red light, appear sporadically at night in the Mitchell Flat area south of U.S. Route 90. They merge, split apart, hover, dart rapidly across the desert floor, and disappear without explanation. The Texas State Highway Department installed an official viewing area on U.S. Route 90 in 1988, and the Marfa Lights Festival has been held annually since 1986. Scientific investigations have produced mixed results. A 2004 study by physics students from the University of Texas at Dallas concluded that most sightings could be attributed to atmospheric refraction of automobile headlights on nearby Highway 67. However, this explanation does not account for sightings predating automobile traffic, and many longtime observers insist the 'genuine' Marfa lights behave differently from the headlight mirages. Proposed explanations include piezoelectric effects from tectonic stress, ignition of atmospheric gases, and ball lightning. The lights remain one of the best-known unexplained phenomena in the American Southwest.