is owned by the Brown Mountain Club
and the other is a Forest Service
station. Lights in these and the
fires of campers are the only lights
known to originate on Brown Mountain
and are the only lights that have
been seen on the mountain by observ-
ers on the mountain. There are also
some buildings on the southern spurs
of Brown and Adams Mountains. Seen
from favorable viewpoints these might
furnish lights that could be inter-
preted as manifestations of the Brown
Mountain light.

For some years there have been lum-
ber camps in Upper Creek west of
Brown Mountain. Some of the buildings
at these camps are on the sides.of
the valley or on Ripshin Ridge.
Viewed from favorable positions
lights in these buildings might be
ascribed to the Brown Mountain light.
Rare electrical discharges similar
to those reported from western Vir-
ginia may take place on Brown Moun-
tain or on other ridges on the Blue
Ridge front, but they could have
nothing in common with the ordinary
Brown Mountain light either in
appearance or in regularity of
occurrence.

The lights seen by Mr. Martin from
Adams Mountain can probably not be
satisfactorily explained after so
long a lapse of time. There is no
reason to attribute to them super-
natural or unusual origin, and they
cannot be explained as due to mirage,
which is Mr. Martin's idea. The sug-
gestion that they might have been
caused by moonshiners carrying lan-
terns has been rejected because of
the roughness of the east side of
Brown Mountain and because of the
distance that the lights seemed to
travel in 20 minutes. They might be
due to fireflies flying relatively
near Mr. Martin yet appearing unduly
large because his eyes were focused
on the distant hillside, the appear-
ance of going in and out of ravines

PLACES OF OBSERVATION

In the article published in the
Charlotte Daily Observer in September
1913, it was stated that the lights
were first observed from a place near
Lovenls Hotel, at Cold Spring, and as
late as November 1915, Mr. Scott, in
his newspaper article cited above,
states that "Mr. Loven's is the only
place from which has been seen the
mysterious light that rises over
Brown Mountain. " By the spring of
1916, however, the lights were being
observed from several places near
Lenoir. More recently they were seen
from Blowing Rock, which is visited
by many tourists, who find accornmoda-
tions at several flourishing hotels.
The lights furnish one of the many
attractions afforded by this remark-
ably well situated and delightful
little town. Among the other local-
ities from which the Brown Mountain
lights are said to have been seen
are the slopes of Gingercake Mountain,
about a mile and a half southwest of
Cold Spring, and the toll gate on the
Yonahlossee road, on the south slope
of Grandfather Mountain. It is also
reported that they have been seen
from Morganton and from other points
in the valley southeast of Brown
Mountain.

It is significant that, though many
persons have from time to time camped
on Brown Mountain and have spent
nights watching for the lights, yet,
so far as the writer has been able to
ascertain, no one has actually
observed the light on Brown Mountain
when he himself was on that mountain,