The Northern Lights are a popular bucket list activity for many, but nature is putting on another light show in a small Texas border town that once caught the attention of Hollywood heartthrob James Dean.
Marfa, a desert town located between Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas, has become a niche tourist attraction for those who want to see mysterious, unexplained orbs in the sky.
Mysterious orbs randomly light up the sky above Mitchell Flat, an abandoned space outside a small town.
The first sighting of the Marfa Lights was believed to have occurred in 1883, when a cowhand named Robert Reed Ellison saw the flashing lights while driving cattle, according to the Texas State Historical Association in the area.
He believed the orbs were from a nearby campfire, and the lights have remained a mystery ever since.
Although no one has cracked the code as to what caused the lights, many have floated theories as to where they came from.
Some believe the lights are created from a chemical reaction between natural gas leaks and the sun and air.
The northern lights are caused by a similar phenomenon, and they occur when particles from the sun’s surface collide with the earth.
The mysterious Marfa Lights, also known as the ghost lights, are seen in the small desert town of Marfa, Texas
Hollywood actor James Dean reportedly became obsessed with lights while he was filming the movie Giant Marfa
These particles usually do not reach the Earth’s magnetic field, except at the planet’s poles.
The striking light patterns of the aurora borealis are caused by lines of force in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Some experts speculate that a similar process causes the mysterious orbs in Texas, but no one has tested the theory.
Other conspiracy theorists are convinced that the Orbs are from extraterrestrial activity, while some think they are simply the result of headlights from passing cars on Highway 67.
Physics students from the University of Texas had tested the car theory in the early 2000s and observed that when a car passed by, lights appeared near Mitchell Flat.
However, their conclusion does not explain previous observations from the 1800s and early 1900s, before the highway was built.
Many eyewitness accounts often describe in detail shocking encounters with the mysterious orbs.
Belle Pena Lancaster, a Marfa resident, recalled a cinematic story during an interview with the History Channel when she was an eighth grader.
Several theories have floated that the lights are from car headlights, a chemical reaction in the air, or alien activity (pictured: people gathered to watch the lights)
Some believe that two-dimensional orbs are from extraterrestrial activity or have a life of their own.
Lancaster recalled one night as she was walking home from a basketball tournament when her teammates noticed the lights.
The bus pulled over so the team could take a closer look, and the orbs seem to have a life of their own.
She described in detail three different colored two-dimensional orbs that lit up the entire bus. As the orbs seemed to approach the team, the girls became overcome with emotion and began to cry.
Lancaster recalled that her coach then instructed the bus driver to quickly leave the area.
William Thornsburg, author of Marfa Lights and Marfa Army Airfield, told the History Channel that the lights are “intelligent.”
He speculated that Lights “contacted” officers training at the Marfa Army Airfield during World War II.
The area was chosen as a training site for Army Air Corps pilots, who Thornsburg believes frequently encounter lights.
James Dean (right) reportedly built a telescope to observe the lights while filming in the small desert town
Some have theorized that the lights are the result of a chemical reaction similar to the one that causes the Northern Lights (pictured in northern Norway)
“Every time these bombers took off, lights would come out of the ground and either fly with the plane or fly into the plane,” he said.
A year later, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor settled in Marfa to film the Academy Award-winning film Giant.
Dan was reportedly obsessed with lights and even built a telescope in his room during filming.
Nearly 70 years after the film’s release, the Marfa Lights remain one of the earth’s most puzzling and fascinating natural mysteries.
