The Brown Mountain Lights

For more than a century people have watched strange lights rise and drift over Brown Mountain in the Blue Ridge foothills, red and white orbs that float along the ridgeline and wink out. The Cherokee told of them long before the settlers came; the Geological Survey studied them twice and left more puzzled than it came. The overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway and NC-181 are the places to watch. Bring patience and a clear night.