<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Untitled Document

to the south, a view through nearly a
quarter of a circle, but Brown Moun-
tain occupies only a small part of
this space. The moon was shining
brightly, but a heavy mist overhung
the valley and completely obscured
Brown Mountain. H. C. Martin, of
Lenoir, was present during part of
the time of observation and Robert
Ward, of Morganton, during the whole
time.

A steady group of lights was dimly
visible most of the evening on lines
17 and 18. These lights were reddish
and were accompanied by what appeared
to be smoke. These lights appeared to
originate on a ridge north of
Mulberry Creek. Their smoky appear-
ance suggests that they came from
brush fires.

At 8:35 a reddish light appeared on
line 19. It flared brightly twice and
then, as seen by the unaided eye,
apparently went out, but it contin-
ued for a time to show dimly in the
telescope. The line of sight cor-
rected for curvature and refraction
clears by a short distance the moun-
tain mass at the county line and
falls near a curve of the Carolina,
Clinchfield & Ohio Railway about a
mile southeast of Sprucepine. No
agent is on duty at Sprucepine at
night, and thus far the writer has
been unable to learn whether or not
there was a southbound train on the
track there at the time noted.
Mr. Martin said that the light on
line 19 looked very much like the
Brown Mountain light but that it was
too far to the right. When questioned
as to wherein the two differed. he
replied that in the first place the
light was not seen over Brown Moun-
tain and second, it did not trail off
laterally or obliquely as the Brown
Mountain light usually did.

At 9:05 a light flared on line 20.
The source of the light was deter-
mined to be in the streets of Lenoir.
There were no northbound trains that

night; so the light probably came
from an automobile headlight.
On the night of April 4, on account
of unfavorable conditions, only one
observation (No.21) was obtained.
This was ascribed to a locomotive
headlight.

With the exception of lights 17 and
18, ascribed to brush fires, the
lights seen from Blowing Rock were
practically indistinguishable in gen-
eral character and appearance from
those that were seen at Loven's and
at Gingercake Mountain and that were
said by Mr. Loven to be the Brown
Mountain light. A lady at Blowing
Rock declared that on a clear evening
"you could go out on the hill and see
lights popping out allover the val-
ley, all looking as much alike as so
many peas in a pod." Mr. Martin, on
the other hand, said that the Brown
Mountain light had distinctive fea-
tures and that the party had not seen
it on either evening. The principal
distinctive feature indicated appears
to be the lateral or oblique motion
above referred to.

OBSERVATIONS AT BROWN MOUNTAIN

On April 5 the writer ascended
Brown Mountain with a party organized
by F. H. May, of Lenoir. Theodore
Crump, of the Forest Service, kindly
placed at the disposal of the party
his station on the summit of the
mountain. Rain and fog interfered
with the observations, but watch was
kept from about 8 to 10:30 p.m. and
again from 12:15 to 12:45 a.m. No
lights were seen. On the following
day, April 6, several members left
the party, but Monroe Coffey, of the
Forest Service, joined it. That eve-
ning there was no rain, but fog pre-
vented any extended view from the
summit of the mountain. Somewhat be-
low the summit, however, the fog was
less dense, and it was possible to
have seen any lights that might arise

14
Next Page Table of Contents References BML Home