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foreign

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the mystery in Marfa Texas by Charles

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Lear in Marfa Texas there is a

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phenomenon known as the morpholites that

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has been around for a long time and

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Still Remains a mystery it's been

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studied by members of the Society of

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physics students from the University of

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Dallas and a retired aerospace engineer

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James Spinell the students thought

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people were seeing car headlights on U.S

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67. Bonnell thought there was more to

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the lights than mere misidentification

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according to the Texas State Historical

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association website entry on the subject

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by Julia Cobble Smith the first

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historical record of a mystery light

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sighting dates back to 1883. according

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to Smith Robert Reed Ellison a young

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Cowhand saw a flickering light while

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driving cattle through an area known as

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Paisano pass and thought it might be

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coming from an Apache campfire other

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settlers told him they had seen lights

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on other occasions and when they

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investigated they found no signs of

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fires in the area this has been used as

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an argument against the car lights on

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us-67 explanation by Defenders of of the

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mysterious nature of the lights such as

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aerial slick who posted an article on

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the Deep South magazine website

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headlined Marfa lights the spirit of

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Texas on August 19 2022 a reporter who

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claims to have actually seen the lights

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himself as Michael Hall who wrote an

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article headlined the truth is out there

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posted in June 2006 on the Texas monthly

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website Hall describes the lights as

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yellowish lights that would glow fade

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disappear and reappear in different

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places sometimes changing colors

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splitting apart other Witnesses he

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refers to in his article describe them

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as sometimes moving upwards all reports

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that he has visited Marfa on several

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occasions and did so for the article as

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part of his research he contacted

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Ellison's granddaughter Rosemary Cox he

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wrote that she told him that Ellison had

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spoken to his family about seeing the

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lights but when looking through

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Ellison's 1937 Memoir provided by Cox he

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saw no mention of them Paul mentions

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another historical Source O W Williams

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cited by the state of Texas ow Williams

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was the grandfather of Clayton Williams

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who was a Texas businessman dealing in

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oil gas real estate and other Ventures

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who ran for governor in 1990. Williams

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told Hall that his grandfather had a

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Mexican guide who told him campfire

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stories told to other Mexicans by the

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Indians and these included one about the

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lights according to Williams his

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grandfather wrote some of the stories

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down but not the one about the lights

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Williams did however say that his

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grandfather told him about seeing them

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the earliest record Hall could find that

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was not purely anecdotal was an article

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in the February 9 1945 San Angelo times

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headlined Coast light appears in Marfa

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area this is more than a decade before

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the article by Paul Moran in the July

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1957 edition of Coronet magazine

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headlined The Mystery of the Texas coast

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light that is cited in many accounts

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including the Wikipedia media entry as

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the earliest written record a

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comprehensive website devoted to the

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lights is Martha light's Mysteries run

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by Robert and Judy Wagers who wrote a

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book published in 2012 titled Mysteries

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of the Marvel lights revealed included

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in the history section of the website is

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a summation of the San Angelo Times

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article according to the summation two

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Army Airmen flew towards the chinati

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mountains in an effort to locate the

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source of the lights but found they

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couldn't see them from the air as for

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the identity of the Airmen it is

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reported that Elton miles author of the

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1976 book Tales of the Big Bend found

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one of them identified as former maaf

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flight instructor Lieutenant Fritz call

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and included his account in the book I

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chased them in an airplane not once but

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several times and this was in 1943 in

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1944 there I was a World War II Aviator

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I was 21 years old and didn't have any

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sense flying airplanes in at night out

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in the Hills right down to the ground

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the paper produced by the students from

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Texas state is no longer available

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online there is however an article that

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was posted on November 4th 2002 on the

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website of the houstonian the quotes the

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team leader Derek Buster according to

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Buster the lights were a hoax he

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explained that the team analyzed the

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spectrums of the lights they saw through

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filters attached to a telescope and

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concluded that they were the same as

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that produced by a halogen bulb and that

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they were seeing corelites he went on to

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say that Marfa and the state of Texas

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had used the phenomenon to promote

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tourism in the area according to Hall

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the students were only in Marfa for

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three days Marfa has indeed used the

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lights to promote tourism there is the

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Marfa lights festival which will be

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celebrating its 34th year this September

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and there is a viewing area that was

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built in 2003 on U.S 90. according to

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Hall the Town used seven hundred and

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thirty thousand dollars from the federal

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government and the Texas Department of

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Transportation to expand a small

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pull-off area however contrary to

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Buster's cynical comment according to an

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article by electrophumi and Elliot Stein

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posted January 17 2018 on the BBC

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website headlined the mysterious ghost

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lights of Marfa Texas the person who

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first promoted the lights as a tourist

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attraction was Armando Vasquez 92 years

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old when the article was written who

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claimed to have seen the lights in 1971.

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he began taking people from the two

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hotels in Marfa out to a Dusty Bluff to

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see the lights according to him for

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years we didn't have anyone here except

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the people who wanted to see the lights

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I was afraid Marfa would turn out to be

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a ghost town but this was very good

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because it helped to keep our town alive

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according to the article Vasquez

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petitioned the Marfa Chamber of Commerce

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for years to promote the lights and it

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wasn't until 1986 that they put together

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the first annual Marfa lights festival a

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person who has studied the lights

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extensively is James Spinell a retired

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NASA aerospace engineer who wrote four

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books on the subject according to benell

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on his website he first became intrigued

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by the lights in November of 2000 he set

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up 10 automated video cameras and

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recorded every night for many years he

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describes his investigation this way

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data collection using automated cameras

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was supplemented with 288 nights of

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on-site observations using telescopes

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with single lens reflex cameras as well

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as many types of sensors his opinion is

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the same as that of others and Marfa

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referred to by Hall who wrote it took me

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10 years but I was finally let in on the

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little secret shared by locals in Old

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Timers there are two kinds of Marvel

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lights the real ones and well the phony

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ones the ones you see from the viewing

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Center Charles Lair is is the author of

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The Flying Saucer investigators

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[Music]