ignis fatuus - A wide variety of spectral lights,
whose alleged purpose is either to herald death or
to play tricks on travelers at night. "Ignis fatuus"
literally means "the foolish fire" and is so named
because anyone who follows such a light is foolish.
(The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guiley)

Spook Lights

You may have heard them called amber gamblers, the lights that appear in the night at places such as Marfa, Texas; near Joplin, Missouri; and at Brown Mountain, North Carolina. These eerie lights are variously called "spooklights", "ghost lights", and "earthlights". The lights are highly localized, reappearing over and over again in basically the same locations.

There are many areas in this country where people see these odd lights close to the ground at night. There are legends about such lights. Some spooklights are seen near railroad tracks and and are said to be the ghostly lanterns of railroad workers who were killed there. Some of the lights are said to be the spirits of long-dead Indians who once inhabited the area in which they are seen.

Many researchers theorize that the spook lights are caused by the same mechanism that generates earthquake lights. The theory goes that there are seismic (or tectonic) stresses in the locations where the lights appear that are not strong enough to cause an actual earthquake, but are enough to trigger the formation of the lights. The most often named mechanism for generating the lights by tectonic stress is the "piezo-electric effect". This well-known effect is the generation of an electric charge by quartz when the mineral is put under pressure.

The graphic above shows, marked by a number showing their location on the map, many of the well-known spooklight sites in the U.S. Also marked are locations that have a highly localized frequency of luminous anomaly reports such as Sedona, Arizona; the Uinta Basin in Utah; the San Luis Valley in Colorado; the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington; and Pine Bush, New York. Let's compare these locations to the areas of high seismic activity shown on this map based on U.S. Geological Survey Data and see how the Tectonic Stress Theory scores. Click on the link for more information about that spooklight.

1. Marfa, Texas - This is definitely a "hit." Most of Texas is low in seismological activity, but the Marfa spooklights are in or near a high activity location.
2. Yakima Indian Reservation, Washington - Another "hit". This is a high activity area, both seismically and in reported luminosities.
3. Uinta Basin, Utah - Yet another hit. The Uinta Basin lies on the edge of a high activity area.
4. The three-state spooklight near Joplin, Missouri - This one must be called a "miss". The "Hornet Light", as it is called, is in a low activity area. The New Madrid fault lies to the east, but it would appear to be too far away to be directly responsible for the Missouri - Oklahoma - Kansas spooklight.
5. Brown Mountain, North Carolina - This spook light is near Morgantown, North Carolina, and it lies in an area of high activity. Note that this spooklight is not far from the Charlotte area epicenter of a recent earthquake.
6. Sedona, Arizona - A hit. Sedona is on the edge of an area of high activity in Arizona.
7. Pine Bush, New York - Pine Bush is a miss. It is in a low activity area.
8. Webster County, Missouri - Webster County is a little closer to the New Madrid fault than Joplin, but not much. It is possible that an as yet undiscovered fault runs through these two locations.
9. San Luis Valley, Colorado - This is the famous "Mysterious Valley" in southern Colorado. While it lies fairly close to a high activity area in Colorado, the Valley itself is in a low activity area.
10. Silver Cliff, Colorado - This area is just northeast of the San Luis Valley, and it also lies in a low activity area. Again, it is possible that an as yet undiscovered fault runs through these two areas.
11. Newcastle, Wyoming - Another miss. Newcastle is near "Devil's Tower", which was made famous by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This is a low seismic activity area.
12. Lake Wanaque, New Jersey - Another miss that is in a low seismic activity area.
13. Paulding, Michigan -The Paulding light is in a very low seismic activity area.
14. Saratoga, Texas - The Saratoga light or "Big Thicket" light is in a very low activity area.
15. Maco, North Carolina - The Maco Station light is in a low seismic activity area.
16. Gurdon, Arkansas - The Gurdon light is in a low seismic activity area.
17. Surrency, Georgia - The Surrency light is in a low seismic activity area.