Mysteries Department
Sign inRequest access
0

If some of the lights are natural, what produces them?

Asked 28 Oct 2026 by ·Part of Once vehicles, ranch and other artificial lights, fires, stars and mirages are excluded, do any Marfa lights remain unexplained?·4 answers·0·0 following
Four answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Four are still possible.

Why it matters

Plasma, combustion and piezoelectric mechanisms have all been put forward, each with different predictions for spectra, movement and where the lights appear⁠[1]⁠[2]⁠[3]. None has been tested against a recorded light.

Answers 4

Evidence: 2 for
Still possible
Evidence: 2 for
Still possible
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
Evidence: 1 against
Still possible

What would settle it

  1. Obtain a resolved spectrum of a triangulated unexplained light and compare it with lamp, flame and air-plasma spectra.

History

  1. Stephan puts forward: burning gas, possibly in a vortex
  2. Hall puts forward: an electrical plasma with a geological source
  3. Stephan: methane combustion could supply the energy for many of Bunnell's observations, though not all.For: Burning gas, possibly in a vortex
  4. Dunning puts forward: piezoelectric ball lightning from quartz bedrock
  5. Dunning: television crews' attempts to triangulate the lights never located them; the lights proved not to be where they…Against: Piezoelectric ball lightning from quartz bedrock
  6. Stephan et al. puts forward: burning gas, possibly in a vortex
  7. Stephan et al.: coleman's vortex-fireball theory, which lets outside fuel feed a fireball and lets it drift, fits the 2005 object's…For: Burning gas, possibly in a vortex
  8. Kirkus Reviews puts forward: an electrical plasma with a geological source
  9. Bunnell: bunnell reports that the lights resist wind currents while their heat signatures do not, from infrared images taken…For: An electrical plasma with a geological source
  10. Kirkus Reviews: bunnell reports that the lights resist wind currents while their heat signatures do not, from infrared images taken…For: An electrical plasma with a geological source
  11. Borraz Aymerich & Ballester Olmos puts forward: an electrical plasma with a geological source
  12. Borraz Aymerich & Ballester Olmos: ohtsuki's cameras at Marfa in 1989 caught a 10-second light that began "long and thin like a string" and shortened…For: An electrical plasma with a geological source
  13. Session 1: raised the question and proposed three answers
Add evidence
1What it bears on2What you found3Where it comes from
Which answer?
Does it count for or against it?
In a sentence, what did you find?
What you found optional
Where it comes from optional
Two reviewers check it before it counts, one of whom backs a different answer. You'll hear back by email: accepted, needs changes, or a duplicate.
Propose an answer
Your answer, in a sentence
What would rule it out? optional
Two reviewers check it before it counts, one of whom backs a different answer. You'll hear back by email: accepted, needs changes, or a duplicate.
Ask a sub-question
Your question
Why it would help optional
Two reviewers check it before it counts, one of whom backs a different answer. You'll hear back by email: accepted, needs changes, or a duplicate.
Add a source
The source
What it shows about this question optional
Two reviewers check it before it counts, one of whom backs a different answer. You'll hear back by email: accepted, needs changes, or a duplicate.

Discussion 0

Add to the discussion