A Visit to the Marfa Lights Viewing Area
This is a bit of an outlier in my ‘visits’ series. The Marfa
Lights are part of Ufology lore, though they may be a real natural phenomenon,
whether astronomical, meteorological or something else.
I first heard about them from a UFO enthusiast I met at
Lowell observatory when researching my book ‘The Roads from Mars Hill’. Then a
few weeks later I found myself in the area visiting the McDonald observatory.
So very late one night (maybe not the best time on reflection) I went to
take a look.
History
People have reported strange lights rising, coalescing and
shimmering above the desert in this part of west Texas since Native American
times. Theories are many – ranging from the pragmatic (headlights on Highway
67), to the fanciful (UFO landing lights) and with chemoluminscent
gas discharges and St Elmo’s Fire in between.
Given that the area is in the huge Permian Basin with all its
oilfields, the gas discharge explanation seems attractive to me, but what do I
know!? In any case, the Marfa Lights remain unexplained.
The plaque at the viewing area describes the history as well
as I can:
Somewhere between Fort Davis and Marfa.
Getting There
This is a remote part of a huge state. The rolling hill
country to the north and the surrounding desert has its own beauty, but you
might end up in the area for any of three reasons:
1)
Travelling
east on I-10 towards San Antonio
2)
Visiting
the McDonald observatory for a star party or viewing night, or nearby Fort
Davis historic Site.
3)
Heading
to Big Bend National Park
The viewing area lies between the small towns of Alpine and
Marfa. It’s about 80 miles south east of Van Horn, the closest junction on the
nearest interstate, I-10. Alpine is an attractive town with a historic centre.
It has more in the way of lodging and services than Marfa.
The viewing area is on the south side of Highway 90 between
Marfa and Alpine. It’s right by the road but has off-road parking.
What to see
The Viewing Area
The viewing area is a small structure in a vaguely Adobe
style, surrounded by low walls in local stone. It has a shelter and a partially
shaded viewing deck with some mounted binoculars and seats. It’s well done, the
kind of thing you might expect at a national park, perhaps at some Canyon viewpoint.
Except that here the only thing you’re viewing is an expanse of flat and featureless
desert scrub leading away to a few distant buttes.
Right by the viewing area, cars and trucks pass at speed. The
railroad is just beyond the tarmac and long container trains trundle past
hooting balefully. Otherwise, there really is nothing to see here – by day at
least.
It all makes for a slightly bizarre ambience during the day,
as if the structure was indeed teleported by aliens from somewhere altogether
more scenic. Or maybe it just fell off the back of a truck on route to Big Bend
National Park.
Something a bit surreal and disorientating about the viewing
area by day.
To the naked eye, it’s very dark.
Long exposure reveals oil field lights way out in the Permian
basin... I think.
The Lights
If the viewing area just seemed a bit odd by day, in the dark
and deserted small hours I found it pretty spooky; very spooky actually. I was
probably more afraid of humans than of ET. Or is that just later rationalisation?
I hung around for a while, looking for the lights with my
bino’s and taking long exposures to try to capture them, but without success. Then
I got out of there – a bit faster than necessary.
Whatever the reason, the Marfa Lights left quite the
impression, without even showing themselves. But then I do have a strong
imagination.
Summary
The Marfa
Lights viewing area is well worth an open-minded after-dark visit if you’re in
the area, but maybe don’t go alone after midnight.
