The Lights of Marfa and Paulding: Is Seeing Believing?

by Kevin Candela

So what are we talking about when it comes to light phenomena?

They seem to be exclusively nocturnal, at least to the extent that no one’s come forth yet saying, “Hey, I used full spectrum goggles on the Marfa/Paulding Light(s) and it/they show up in daylight too!” They appear at a distance, and for some reason we don’t see or hear about many attempts to zoom in on them with, say, a drone (if not in fact on foot or by vehicle) so as to get a better look. Curious, really—you’d think someone would have given that a shot by now.

Makes you wonder if everyone actually wants those mysteries solved.

Surely someone besides yours truly has thought about spotting the Paulding Light from a distance and sending a camera-laden drone off to check it out up close and personal while keeping the feed going for that hundred million hit YouTube video-to-come. Likewise the Marfa Lights seem to be something that a daring and intrepid truth seeker could track down in a devoted night of hiking.

But admittedly I have neither been to Marfa nor gotten a good chance yet to take a look at the landscape and potential investigative obstacles like, say, barbed-wire fencing.

Of course the real obstacles to solving either mystery might well be economical; that is, if solid science can explain Marfa, Paulding or Oklahoma’s Joplin Spooklight, will those places lose tourist bucks and would that be a good reason NOT to hurt the local economies even if you somehow figured out the truth of the matter?

Let’s say we determine by drone, camera and sensing apparatuses (MS Word doesn’t like apparati, apparently) that what is happening in Paulding has to do with the ore in the surrounding hills causing a distortion that produces visible light. Could we tell anyone? Yes, of course. Would doing so harm the locals and their economy? That’s the important question, and it’s not so easily answered.

I made a deliberate and quite enjoyable “scenic trip” to Roswell last year because I had to drive to Tucson anyway. Why Roswell? If you have to ask, you probably got to this blog by accident. Anyway, that’s the thing: There’s no ship there now, no phenomenon (ever), yet the city draws plenty of tourists. Does Marfa? And if so, would it still draw people if it were proven that the lights seen on the horizon at night are some kind of natural reflection, refraction or magnetic anomaly? So let’s say we take a team down there, prove that the lights are scientifically explicable and let the world know. Would this impact Marfa’s economy? Probably best to talk to the civic leaders before going public, because if the local motels and restaurants depend on the mystery being—well, mysterious—there will be repercussions. This could well make the politics of investigation as important (or even more critical, in fact) than the investigation itself.

Now me, I’m all for the truth coming out. Without truth there can be no perspective, and even if the universe is a subjective mind-based hologram we need to know what’s what the best we can if we are to proceed with any sense of foundation and balance. Fancy words for I’m a Mulder.

BUT we all have to be Scullys and Skinners too when it comes to this stuff. Imagine solving a town’s mystery and having them bring lawsuits against you for whatever their lawyers might manage to come up with…not a happy proposition. So if you’re going to take a light phenomenon investigation seriously, and it involves a local municipality, my suggestion is that you don’t try to be rogues working outside the law because it might come back to—uh—haunt you.

Much more on visual perception and the rest of the senses, including the ones numbered past five, to come in future installments.