Brown Mountain Lights: Fire Erupts In The Linville Gorge

Mysterious Universe

The Linville Gorge of Western North Carolina has long been believed to be home to a peculiar brand of “spook light” as the locals call it, known throughout the region as the “Brown Mountain Light.” This famous ghostly illumination is said to appear along the ridges of the Linville Gorge, with a few claims taking the legend at least as far back as the early 1900s, when members of a regional fishing club based out of Morganton, North Carolina, reported seeing the strange illuminations. 

While the legends of strange lights seen around the area have persisted now for decades (with a few unverified claims of native legends that date the phenomenon back to pre-settler periods in the region), for the last week a very different kind of illumination has been seen rising off the mountains lining the gorge, in one of the worst wild fires to occur in the region since 2007, when a forest fire burned close to 6000 acres. But aside from affecting things like tourism, how does an occurrence like this affect the legends of “ghost lights” seen in the region?

The fire burning in the region at present was believed to have started on November 11, 2013, possibly stemming from a smoldering campfire near the Table Rock picnic area. A photograph depicting one of the campers has led to reports being issued for a person sought for questioning about camping that occurred in the area over Labor Day weekend, and as of now, the fire, though being contained thanks in part to favorable weather conditions, has been estimated to have caused damage to approximately 2,579 acres.

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