The Baptist headlight., 1894-07-11
PHANTASMs OF THE DESERT.
Mysterious MIrages Seen on q Journey oy
Rail to the Coast.

Mysterious Mlrages Seen on q Journey oy
Rail to the Coast.
TIE strange mlrages of the desert
| in the neighborhood Of EarstoW,
Colo, are causing unusual interest,"
and not little superstition, especl-
allv among those not familiar with
| the freaks Of light. heat and optics
on the burning sand plains. For q
/ great distance every way from Bar
4 stow the ground is baked under a
| torrid sun, and the Strangest phe-
nomena have resulted. Wonderful
stories are told of the sights seen
| from the trains. In addition TO the
! lakes bUrdered by green trees, grass
and flowers, which, under the spell OF
| the phenomena, appear to dot THESE
/ plains, the passengers are seeing
/ queer figures of men and women In
| boats, and sometimes floating in the
/ air.
II don't know what to make OF
/ the queer condition Of things" said
John Forsyth, a brakeman on the
Atlantic and Pacific, to a cores
pondent Of the New York Sun. II
am not superstitious, out the sights
| have beheld in the last two weeks
have made me wonder very much as
to what the mirages really are. Last
Thursday morning our train pulled
| out of BarStoW for The Needles. The
night had cooled the parched plains,
but in few hours, when the sun
had climbed high, it grew not again.
About fifty miles east Of BarStOW we
saw sight that we shall all remem-
ber to the latest day A great sheet
of water loomed up on the PLAIN IA
few miles away from us. 1t looked
like long, struggling lake in the
sand plain, and several passengers
threw up their windows and began
! to say that the air was already cooler,
and that it would soon be very pleas
ant. | told them that it was moth
! ing but the mirage. They cOuldn't
believe it, and thought when the
load curved toward the great lake
| that we would soon be running along
it's borders.
"They waited, of course, aud what
happened TO them has happened to
passengers day in and day out for
weeks before. They never got any
nearer But at length a strange
thing happened. We ran for an hour,
and then beautiful palm trees skirt
ed the lake which here and there
pushed into the sand, forming beau
tiful bays Finally we approached a
Sngularly pretty bay, on which there
appeared to be men and women sail
| ing in a fantastic way. The figures
grew palmer, and it was to be seen
that they were TO all appearances
human beings Some were in white
and others in much the ordinary
garb Of the plains. Suddenly some
queer patches grew in the teery air
above the lake They assumed shape
and then it was seen that they bore
the bodies Of men, but they looked
uncannY and ghOstlike. Strange an
tics were cut, but no sound could be
heard. They moved about as though
borne on wind that now and anon
changed its course but no wind was
| blowing. There were seven or eight
figures In the air and more than a
dozen on the lake. Like flash the
figures in the air and on the water
and the green trees disappeared, and
the lake itself was gone. Everybody
gave a cry Of relief. They had been
bound as if by spell. Several
thought it was an actual lake, but
the figures in the boats were too un-
canny to be real, and then there were
those that had been in the sky! That
was too much, apparently, for any
body to believe them genuine. Yet
some had an idea that through some
strange hocus- pocus Of nature they
I might have been men. These strange
| figures Of men and women have been
seen by others than those on our
| train. The railroad men have talked
about seeing them hitherto Near
/ The Needles about a month ago
| there was little lake. on which
/ were three of them | would like to
see some or the scientists take hold
I Of the matter and make some inSes-