The book begins by tracing the development of the Texas region west of the Pecos River from the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, through the years of the Army explorations, and on to the building of the southern transcontinental railroad which passed through the Marfa plain (1882–1883). With settlement came lights of all types (from matches and campfires to locomotives) AND reports of unidentifiable, “mysterious” lights.
Unraveling the “mystery” of these lights required examining what makes light discernable to the human eye, and what the light has to do to get from wherever it originated all the way to your eye. The book examines the questions of how lights can suddenly appear and disappear (without being switched off and on), how they appear to change color, how multiple lights merge and divide, how lights appear to move upward, and even to chase cars. Eyewitness descriptions of such phenomena are examined in detail in developing the explanations. It REALLY is possible for such observations to have occurred!
What are the Marfa lights? Well, folks claim the majority of the sightings are of headlights. Not too surprising since headlights are so prevalent. But if they’re headlights, why don’t people recognize them? That’s the enigma. And what about the earliest reported sighting in 1883? That couldn’t have been headlights. There is definitely more to this story than headlights. And, therein lies the mystery of the Marfa lights!