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Strange Lights
For this first article, I thought I might write about the many strange lights that have stalked people over the years. In talking about weird happenings, such as unexplained illuminations, it's interesting to note that you don't need to have a building such as a castle to have a ghost. Ghosts can turn up in the most unexpected places, even on the wide-open plains of Outback Australia.
Most of these lights are brilliant in their brightness, travel at an incredible speed and appear and disappear quite suddenly, without rhyme nor reason. Some lights are seen in the pasture-lands of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, others are to be found on mountain tracks and even out at sea.
- The Min-Min Light is probably Australia's most famous ghostly image. It is seen near Hamilton River in Queensland and looks like a large ball of greenish light, which glares like the bright headlight of a car, except that it travels much faster and is higher off the ground.
- The Yatton Light is also in Queensland and apparently looks like a hurricane lamp. It is said to bob up and down and sideways and travels as if someone is holding it whilst running and dodging. Perhaps escaping from something.
- Quinn's Light is almost as well known as the Min-Min Light. Its location is the Lachlan River in New South Wales. Quinn was a well-known judge at sheep dog trials and a most reliable man. The light is named after him because it was often seen on his property. Quinn's Light is luminous orange in colour and like others, glows extremely brightly. It is said to have the image of a very large bird, possibly the size of an eagle. Indeed, such lights as these are often explained away as being birds that have picked up some sort of luminous phosphorous from earth or rocks. But, this is no bird. Many people have tried to shoot it down to no avail, even though it follows a fairly simple course, down the valley, around the Quinn homestead and then up the valley again, before fading away.
Besides shooting at strange lights, people have tried to follow them, again with no success. In every case, the lights have simply vanished into nothing.
- Further on from the Lachlan, on the Hay Plain, is the mystery light of One Tree Plain. Some people are convinced that this is the ghost of an old stage-coach. Yet, as with other lights, though people have tried to chase the light, no one has caught up with it. Even the story of the stage-coach is questionable, as the light travels well above ground level and moves at a faster pace than is possible for any team of horses.
- The Blairmore Light is classic of the type. It is said to appear after someone has died. It seems to have a will of its own and either remains stationary or moves like a spectre through the bush, about a metre above the ground. Over the years, a number of people have tried to follow this light, but none has been able to describe where it goes, let alone how or why it suddenly appears and disappears. In fact, so the story goes, there is more than one sturdy bushman who goes quiet when asked what happened when he tried to follow the light. Perhaps that's because the light is known to play tricks with people. Unlike other lights, the Blairmore light emits only a slight glow, which appears about four feet off the ground. It tends to bob about and if pursued will disappear only to re-appear in another place. Spirit-like, it remains stationary until its pursuer has almost caught up with it, then suddenly, the person will be distracted. At that same moment, the light will vanish and then glow once again somewhere-else close by.
As I write this article, I am reminded of the light seen on the Nullarbor Plain and how that is assumed to be a UFO. Perhaps some of these lights could be described in the same way.
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