Research session · Marfa lights

Session 2: Pictures of the Marfa lights, from the 1957 Coronet strip to visitors' photographs today

Searched for early and current pictures of the lights, kept the freely licensed ones on the site, recorded the rest as link-only artifacts, and added a section on how the lights have been pictured.

Session 228 Oct 2026Media0

What it concluded

The lights have been pictured since 1957, photographed with recorded settings since 1986 and recorded by instruments from 2003; every free picture found dates from 2009 or later and shows the viewing area or a light low on the horizon.

What it left open

Search the Portal to Texas History and the Big Bend Sentinel for photographs of the lights from 1945 to 1990, by hand.
Check the Copyright Office's 1985 renewal records for Coronet's July 1957 contributions; if none, the 1957 picture can be kept and shown.
Find the photograph reproduced in Elton Miles's Tales of the Big Bend (1976) and its rights.
Ask James Crocker, James Bunnell and Texas State University whether they would licence a picture freely.

Sources consulted 4

Quantitative intensity and location measurements of an intense long-duration luminous object near Marfa, Texas

SRC

Remarkable Photograph Of The Marfa Light (Science Frontiers No. 51)

SRC

The Marfa Lights: Examining the Photographic Evidence (2003–2007) (FOTOCAT Report #8)

SRC

The Mystery of the Texas Ghost Light

SRC

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Session 2: Pictures of the Marfa lights, from the 1957 Coronet strip to visitors' photographs today [Research session SES0DCP0VQDVFWQ]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/SES0DCP0VQDVFWQ

@misc{mysteriesdept_ses0dcp0vqdvfwq,
  title     = {Session 2: Pictures of the Marfa lights, from the 1957 Coronet strip to visitors' photographs today},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Research session, catalog key SES0DCP0VQDVFWQ},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/SES0DCP0VQDVFWQ}
}