Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1927-02-03
Brown Mountain Light
Is Again "Solved"
Geologist Says 1t Is Train Headlights,
But Mountaineers Have Their
Own Explanation
rupert Gillett in Winston-Salem
JournaD

Blowing Rock, Jan. 29.-Ihe
Brown Mountain light is not TIE
Brown Mountain light.
l. 1t is the Adams Mountain light.
\ And so the argument goes merrily
on, despite tie scientific investiga-
tions OF several years ago which were
thought to have settled the matter
entirely. But it is not settled for
the mountaineers, some of whom still
kold to TIE belief that the pi.enome-
non so clearly visible over Brown
Mountain f. Blowing Rock is a
supernatural manifestation of weird
portent.
Perhaps their reluctance to accept
the scientific explanation is that the
scientists do not agree among them
selves as to the origin of the light.
The U. S. Geological survey, for ex-
ample, gives one origin as result
of it's investigation, and the National
Geographic society attributes the
light to wholly different cause.
One old mountaineer told the cor
respondent confidently that the light
is on Adams Mountain and that 1t
comes from the window of negro's
house, which is the only habitation in
the vicinity. When he was asked why
the light appeared to move erratl-
cally, the mountaineer replied that
1.-the pines swaying in front of the
Ahouse produced the optical illusion of
moving light.
The explanations of the Brown
Mountain light are as numerous as
the investigators, fora %no two have
ever agreed on the same cause. The
National Geographic society, for eX
ample, explains the light as similar
to the Andes light, which is an cleo
trical spark of great magnitude, like
a spark jumping from positive to
negative poles. Mountain peaks act
as the poles, but in the case of the
Andes light the spark is silent.
Other Investigators have attributed
the light to sources similar to st. ]
Elmo's fire, the light seen at the tops
of masts by sailors and so named be-
cause they believed that when the
light appears their patron saint, st.
Elmo. was protecting them against
storms. /
Phosphorous, phosphorescence,
o'-the-wisp, radium emanations,
chemical reaction between hydrogen
sulphide and lead oxide, the lights OF
whiskey stills on the mountain, and
mirages have been suggested as pos
sible causes of the light, but all have
been discarded for various reasons.
George Rogers Mansfield, investl-
gator for the U. S. Geological survey,
studied all of these possible causes
and rejected them one after another,
because in each case the conditions
were unfavorable; there were no
marshes to produce prosperous,
phosphorescence is too weak 70 be
seen so far, the sulphur and lead on
Brown Mountain are too far apart TO
react on each other, there are not
enough stills on the mountain to pro-
duce the light, St. Elmo's fire de-
nends upon a solid conductor, the
Andes light is different from the
Brown Mountain light, radium ore
does not produce such an effect, and
mirage is a phenomenon of the day
time.
The light is variously described
sometimes red, sometimes yellow,
sometimes blush, sometimes with
halo around it, and sometimes ike
the star of a skyrocket. 1t appears
between seven and eight o'clock OF
evenings, and again about ten o'clock.
OF late years it is said to have been
visible much more often than form
erly, but it is known to have been
seen for half century.
Mr. Mansfield, after careful IN
yestigation of all the suggested causes
and after observations covering sew
eral weeks, hit upon an explanation
that was as plausible as it was simple.
1t was this:
Brown Mountain is lower than
Blowing Rock, Lovens, Gingercake
Mountain and other points from
which the light can be seen. Beyond
Brown Mountain lies the Catawba
valley, with a number of towns, all
electrically lighted, highways along
which automobile headlights can be
seen at all hours of the night, espe-
cially before midnight, and railways
with powerful locomotive headlights.
The observer at Blowing Rock, for
example, looks over the top OF Brown
hich is low enough to al