The Brown Mountain Lights

Brown mountain, in NC's Pisgah National Forest, has been one of the South's greatest mysteries for centuries. There is no argument on the existence of the lights; the debate begins when you start asking about their origin.

I took a ride out to the popular overlook on hwy 181 one fall afternoon with my wife Marii and my sister Carole. I don't believe any of us actually expected to see anything other than a mountain and a mess of trees, but it was something to do.

We parked my old F-150 with the tailgate facing Brown Mtn. right as the sun gave up the day. The night was just plain cold. Carole started playing with my video camera's night vision as Marii and I pretended to enjoy some mighty chilly pork-n-beans.

Much to our surprise we started to see a couple of lights over the summit. We all thought they were airplanes. Carole and I started filming and pretending (for the camera's sake) that the lights were THE Brown Mtn. Lights. The redneck comedy voice overs continued until one of the lights bobbled its way slowly down the face of the mountain as the other zigged and zagged about in the tree tops. We were actually filming the famous orbs of legend. (hillbilly's will catch on even if it takes us a bit longer).

The lights were gone as quick as they appeared and we were left wondering just how lucky we were to witness them. We didn't wonder this long for just as I was settling back down on the tailgate with my frozen Van de Camps a car pulled up. We watched as the man in the car set up a tri-pod for his very impressive camera. We exchanged hellos and he then informed us that he had spent many nights watching for the lights. "How many times have you seen them?" Carole asked.

"None, and you?" he replied. I started to feel a bit guilty as Carole told him we saw them about a minute before he arrived. Turns out the man was a photographer for a magazine and knew alot about the lights and what to look for. I showed him our clownish footage on our camera. He confirmed that we had captured on film (in our first 10 minutes) what he had been trying to catch for quite some time.

pics here are actual vidcaps of our trip to Brown Mtn

Cool BML Links
http://www.brownmountainlights.com/
http://www1.appstate.edu/dept/physics/caton/BML/BML.htm

Martian Snowflakes

A few months ago the Phoenix Lander on Mars confirmed the presence of water ice. Could the hard proof of the existence of extra-terrestrial life be at hand? Large methane deposits point to possibilty of organic materials on the surface of the red planet.

Sure, Mars is an alien world to us, but as we continue to unlock its secrets... we may discover that our neighbor has more in common with Earth than anyone ever imagined.


It's faint, it's eerie, but it's also familiar - snowfall on Mars!




NASA Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow

The Aurora UFO Incident

The Aurora UFO Incident is an alleged UFO crash that occurred on April 19, 1897 in Aurora, Texas. An unidentified flying machine was said to have hit Judge J.S. Proctor's windmill before coming down in the small town. What makes this event so important in UFO lore is the report that an occupant from the craft survived the crash and was cared for by a doctor before dying of its injuries. The survivor, described as "not of this world" by the townsfolk, was thought to have been buried in an unmarked grave at the Aurora cemetery. A plaque, pictured below, mentions the story of the crash and still stands today as an eerie reminder of the crash.

Some Aurora residents claim that this story was a hoax invented by local news correspondent S.E. Hayden to bring notoriety to the dying community that had been bypassed by the railroad. However, in 1995 an investigation by MUFON turned up a mysterious, rare metal. The MUFON team was not permitted to exhume a grave they found in the Aurora cemetery which they believed was the UFO pilot's resting place. This evidence, along with reports of another piece of metal with strange hieroglyphics and contaminated well water, makes the Aurora incident an important UFO case.

Detailed Account of Aurora UFO Incident

Original Newspaper Article by S.E. Hayden