The following article recently appeared on a Wausau, Wisconsin TV website. This phenomenon has been studied and researched for over a century...some say it's simply an explainable anomaly while others point to other strange events that coincide with the lights. A few years ago an unexplained incident occurred that may have some connection to the Paulding Lights...you be the judge:
The Paulding Light: A Mystery That Haunts Michigan's UP
Just across the border from Vilas county, is a mystery that haunts Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Paulding Light.
It's a strange light, that scientists have been unable to explain for decades. But what causes this phenomenon?
Our search for answers starts in the small community of Watersmeet, a few miles south of Paulding.
Local historian Don Williams says the legend of the light dates back to a train crash in the late 1800's.
"The light you see is the light from the conductor, who is watching over the scene," says Williams. "Where there was a fatality."
Williams says no one knows who saw the light first, even though the folklore dates back to the turn of the century.
"But as far as anyone can be sure of, it would be in the middle 1950's," says Williams. "A couple high school girls here first saw the light."
"It's a ghost train," said Jeanette Zurawski. "Yes it is. See the light's getting brighter. It's coming."
But the Paulding Light has also drawn plenty of skeptics. The most popular theory is the light is actually from headlights on a road several miles away.
But Williams says that's impossible.
"The light's there when there aren't cars," says Williams. "It's simply not car headlights, it's not."
But if not that -- then what? There are plenty of questions, but few answers to this real-life mystery - The Paulding Light.
A lot of people have tried to solve the mystery of the Paulding Light, including some national TV shows. But the mystery continues. - MyFoxWausau
-----
NOTE: The 'Fact or Faked: The Paranormal Files' team investigated the 'Paulding Light' phenomenon near Watersmeet, Michigan. They concluded that there is no explanation for the light. I have posted some information below as well as an update to a reader's experience at the location...Lon
There are many popular explanations for the cause of the phenomenon. Theories range from radioactive gas, anomalies in the earth's magnetic field, glowing plasma, or swamp gas. Skeptics assert that the light is nothing more than headlights in the distance. Others believe that the paranormal has a hand in the lights origin. One popular paranormal tale describes the ghost of a brakeman killed in the nineteenth century as the cause. Alternative paranormal theories include UFO's and other ghosts.
Several amateur studies have been conducted, all of them concluding that the lights are indeed the result of the mid-1960s rerouting of US 45, giving the viewing spot a slightly angled view of sporadic traffic along the new highway. The colors then match headlights, tail lights, and the warning lights of the occasional emergency vehicle. Proponents of supernatural explanations discount these studies, claiming that the lights studied in these cases are not, in fact, the actual Lights of Paulding.
Another popular paranormal explanation is the ghost of a mailman, who was carrying out the mail about 60 years ago in the northwoods with a dogsled. Because the mail was running late public authorities were looking for the missing mailman and found him and his dogs dead on the spot where nowadays the Paulding Light is observed.
'Paulding Lights' Excursion Results in Another Discovery
MUFON witness report: My son and I wanted to investigate the Paulding Lights Mystery. So the morning of March 1, 2009, after I had gotten off work, we took an Northwest Airline flight from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Iron Mountain, Michigan. We landed about 4:30PM and I think we left Iron Mountain's airport, called Ford Airfield, about 5:30PM. We rented a car and drove to Paulding. It was about +2 above zero when we left the airport. We drove from Iron Mountain MI and Paulding MI via State Road 2 to Watersmeet then State Road 45 to Paulding. We made one stop for coffee (but I would have to go back and re-due the route to remember which gas station we stopped at). The sun was starting to set low and I told my son that he should do an intro to our video explaining what and where we were going to investigate. As he turned on the camera, the camera filmed something in the backseat of our car, however, we never had time to review the film until three months later. I have asked the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota to see if someone there might have an idea on what this might be. I also posted the video on YouTube to see if anyone else might of filmed or seen the same thing. YouTube post: Original video
Here are Your Following Points:
1. We were driving to Pauling Michigan from Iron Mountian Airport.
2. Reviewing the film we took looking for the Paulding Lights.
3. Dimensional Person.
4. We did not noticed anything while we where driving. Not until I reviewed the film 3 months later did we see the thing in the back seat.
5. Describe your feelings, reactions and actions, during and after sighting the object. Normal
6. How did you lose sight of the object? Only the camera saw it.
We were using a JVC compact camcorder model GR-AXM17U, it uses VHS-C tapes. I really would like someone to take a real good look at this film.
Sincerely,
SFC Luis J. Soria (ret) - MUFON CMS
I later received this follow up:
To 'Phantoms and Monsters': Thanks for posting our MUFON report. In our continuing exploration of The Paulding Lights and this new Spirit Anomaly/Alien type Being we filmed in the backseat of our car, I present to all for their studies, a digital remastered film of this Blue Alien.
Click for video
This film has been studied by The University of Minnesota, The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) offices in Minnesota and Texas, The Tesla Society, Jose Escamilia, Ed Grimsly and NASA. At this time, NO ONE knows what the blue object is.
If anyone has any comments please feel free to email me at ljsoria@yahoo.com
Soon we will travel back up to Paulding for an extended stay and try to see what we capture on film again. Any advice is highly welcomed.
Sincerely,
Luis J. Soria
NOTE: Was this glowing blue entity connected to the Paulding Lights? Or was this simply another strange anomaly that manifests in the general area? Is this another unexplained zone where different realities seem to intertwine? Lon
Haunted Highways: Spooky Stories, Strange Happenings, and Supernatural Sightings
Myths and Mysteries of Michigan: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained (Myths and Mysteries Series)
Michigan's Haunted Legends and Lore
'Phantoms and Monsters' has provided free email delivery for 6+ years. If this blog / newsletter is useful and enjoyable, please consider donating a few bucks as a 'voluntary subscription' in return for 52 weeks (1000+ yearly posts) of up-to-date paranormal & alternative news...including original articles and exclusive witness reports. Thanks for your support...Lon
Thanks for reading 'Phantoms and Monsters'
Paypal ID - lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com
********************
