Dashboards and Saddlebags the Destination Magazine™ Issue 009 December 2011 | Page 10

The Brown
Mountain Lights
A very different destination!
T

he Brown Mountain Lights
in Burke County are one
of the most famous of North
Carolina legends. They have
been reported a dozen times in
newspaper stories. They have
been investigated at least twice
by the U.S. Geological Survey.
And they have attracted the
attention of numerous scientists
and historians since the German
engineer, Gerard Will de Brahm,
recorded the mysterious lights in
the North Carolina mountains
in 1771.
“The mountains emit nitrous
vapors which are borne by the
wind and when laden winds meet
each other the niter inflames,
sulphurates and deteriorates,”
said de Brahm. De Brahm was
a scientific man and, of course,
had a scientific explanation. But
the early frontiersman believed
that the lights were the spirits of
Cherokee and Catawba warriors
slain in an ancient battle on the
mountainside.
=