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but, as in Dr. Corfey's observation,
it has been seen from Brown Mountain
as apparently over Adams Mountain or
some hills farther south. Monroe
Coffey and Theodore Crump, of the
U.S. Forest Service, have spent many
nights in and about Brown Mountain
and have built a fire-control station
on the summit of the mountain near
the cabin of the Brown Mountain club,
but at the time of the writer's visit
neither of them had ever seen the
Brown Mountain light.
NATURE AND APPEARANCE OF THE LIGHT
In his letter to Senator Simmons
already cited, Colonel Harris writes
as follows concerning the light:
"It is a pale white light, as one
seen through a ground glass globe,
and there is a faint, irregularly
shaped halo around it. It is confined
to a prescribed circle, appearing
three or fuur times in quick succes-
sion, then disappearing for 20 min-
utes or half an hour, when it repeats
within the same circle."
Prof. W. G. Perry, of the Georgia
School of Technology, in a letter
dated December l5, 1919, addressed to
Dr. C. G. Abbot, of the Smithsonian
Institution, describes the light as
seen from the Cold Spring locality as
follows:
"We occupied a position on a high
ridge. Across several intervening
ridges rose Brown Mountain, some 8
miles away. After sunset we began to
watch the Brown Mountain direction.
Suddenly there blazed in the sky,
apparently above the mountain, near
one end of it, a steadily glowing
ball of light. It appeared to be
about 10 above the upper line of the
mountain, blazed with a slightly
yellow light, lasted about half a
minute, and then abruptly disappeared.
It was not unlike the "star" from a
bursting sky rocket or Roman candle,
though brighter * * *.
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"We
were impressed with the follow-
ing facts: The region about Brown
Mountain and between our location and
the mountain is a wild, practically
uninhabited mountain region--a con- .
fusion of mountain peaks, ridges, and
valleys. Viewing the lights from a
fixed position our estimate of their
location was most inexact; the vary-
ing color (almost a white, yellowish,
reddish) may have been due to mist in
the atmosphere; the view of the lights
was a direct one and not a reflection;
there seemed to be no regularity in
their time of appearance; they came
suddenly into being, blazed steadily,
and as suddenly disappeared; they
appeared against the sky and not
against the side of the mountain.
"Others who have seen this phenom-
enon make very different reports of
their observation; and some who have
seen it several times report that
they have seen it in varying fashion;
sometimes the light appears station-
ary (as was uniformly the case when
I saw it) ; sometimes it appears to
move rapidl--upward, downward,
horizontally."
Rev. C. E. Gregory is reported to
have noted upon one occasion that the
light appeared like a ball of incan-
descent gas, in which a seething
motion could be observed.
PROPOSED EXPLANATIONS
Many explanations of the Brown
Mountain 1ights have been offered.
The principal ones that have come to
the notice of the writer are briefly
outlined below.
1. Will-o'-the-wisp: A light called
will-o'-the-wisp is sometimes
seen over marshy places and is
supposed to be due to the spon-
taneous combustion of marsh gas.
There are, hcwever, no marshy
places on or about Brown Moun-
tain, and the lights seen by the |