Thousands travel to Burke County to see mysterious lights

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Each year thousands of people head to a particular part of Burke County hoping to see the mysterious lights after sunset.

Eyewitness News found people who not only have had close encounters, but returned with video evidence to prove the Brown Mountain Lights exist.

Nearly every person sees them differently.  Some describe the lights as hazy orbs, while others say they look like a glowing ball of fire.

"I think I counted about 35 trips before I saw the lights," said photographer Charles Braswell.

Braswell made dozens of trips to Burke County looking for the lights before he finally captured video shortly after sunset along Highway 181 north of Morganton.

They’re not just grainy images but perhaps one of the best photographs of the lights to date. He said he could see the light get brighter at times and move but never heard any noise while standing less than three miles away.

"My explanation would be some type of gas that's coming out of the ground.   Somehow igniting and illuminating like it does,” Braswell said.

Cherokee Indian legend offers another explanation, saying the lights are the spirits of Indian maidens, searching for their husbands who were killed in an ancient battle.

The phenomenon has turned into a tourism attraction for Burke County, with not only shirts for sale but a prominent billboard now sitting along Interstate 40.

"Who knows how long they've been around but I'm glad they are still here. I have no idea what the lights are. They could be gas or ball of lightning.   I don't think it is aliens or radiation or anything crazy like that,” said Ed Phillips, Burke County tourism director.

If you doubt the lights exist, you're not alone. CW Smith, retired from the U.S. Forest Service, wasn't a believer either, but that changed during the three decades he worked with the U.S. Forest Service in the Pisgah National Forest.

"Actually I didn't believe in the Brown Mountain Lights until I actually saw the lights myself,” Smith said. “No doubt -- still no doubt in my mind -- that the Brown Mountain Lights do exist. "

Smith is like everyone else. He can't say for sure what causes the lights but believes it has something to do with atmospheric conditions that create a glow at night.

"It is not a stationary light, and a person couldn't get to the places I saw it. They couldn't move that fast.   They're not fast moving lights but you know they are moving," Smith said.

For now, the Brown Mountain Lights remain a mystery, even to those fortunate enough to see them.

WSOC