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App State Researchers Capture Image Of Unexplained Light At Brown Mountain

One of the unsolved mysteries of North Carolina is the Brown Mountain Lights. They are unexplained flickers that appear on and around the mountain near Morganton. And those lights have inspired a lot of theories, including aliens being responsible. The lights were even the subject of an X-Files episode.

After a century of sightings, there have been suggestions recently that maybe the lights had finally flickered out. Researchers in the physics and astronomy department at nearby Appalachian Statehavebeen monitoring the mountain via camera for about three years. And it wasn't until this past month that they finally captured something on more than one camera that can't be explained: a ball of light hovering in the sky above Brown Mountain.  

Daniel Caton is one of those researchers and he joined Morning Edition host Marshall Terry.

The unexplained ball of light hovering above Brown Mountain stands apart from the lights of Lenoir.
Daniel Caton and Lee Hawkins / Appalachian State University
/
Appalachian State University
The unexplained ball of light hovering above Brown Mountain stands apart from the lights of Lenoir.

Copyright 2016 WFAE

Marshall came to WFAE after graduating from Appalachian State University, where he worked at the campus radio station and earned a degree in communication. Outside of radio, he loves listening to music and going to see bands - preferably in small, dingy clubs.