Mysterious light orbs have been sighted from all over the world for generations. Take the famous erratic dancing Min Min lights in the Australian outback. Or the Marfa Lights in the middle of nowhere in Texas, USA. Some people try to explain them scientifically, others like to keep things mysterious. Some also give them a supernatural meaning. But if orbs were something supernatural, what would be the cause?

Legend has it that mysterious, lights orbs sometimes dance in the distant evening sky of the Australian outback. In western Queensland, near the now abandoned settlement of Min Min in western Queensland. Local people call them Min-Min lights. On Australian Geographic, an author describes how the Min Min lights always turn up when it gets dark, and how they retreat as they get closer. That their circular ball shapes of light have faint edges which are white, although sometimes they have colours too. That they like to dance erratically from left to right and up and down. And that often, they can suddenly be split into more of them.

In Texas too

Similar reports are coming from Texas, where near the town of Marfa, people talk about Marfa Lights. Also called Marfa Ghost Lights, they are described also by media around the world. Take the Times of India, which similarly describes them as glowing orbs or distant lights in the night sky. How they always just seem to be just there, floating. In the same way as the Min Min lights, these light orbs in Texas are hovering, moving and changing colours.

“The lights are variably coloured – white, yellow, blue, or red,” reports another source online about the Marfa orbs. The report adds: “…They appear to hover or bob erratically across the desolate Chihuahuan desert landscape.”

The author continues to describe how the orbs have an unpredictable nature, which adds another layer to the intrigue. “They can appear on any night, in any weather condition, but sightings are limited to a few hundred or so per year,” the source further reports.

And so, around the special the Marfa Lights Viewing Area, a designated spot along a desolate stretch of highway, stargazers and mystery seekers are said to converge. On a clear night, they can be seen “with their eyes scanning the horizon to glimpse the elusive lights,” explains the same report.

Supernatural explanation

There are many stories and reports about these enigmatic orbs. For example, that they are a naturally occurring phenomenon, and people have been trying to explain them scientifically for centuries.

Another explanation is of a supernational nature. For example, that they have something to do with spirits of the ancestors of the local country.

In that light, it was a local ranger who told ABC News Australia: “As a kid growing up the old people used to tell me, the [Min Min lights] are old people’s spirits looking after the country.” He also explained that most people in his hometown would have seen them during their own childhood or heard stories about the Min Min lights.

On Reddit, there are also some supernatural references made by various people. “They were usually either playful or bad spirits that like to distract and lead people and children away into the bush,” writes one of them. “Though in one or two cases they also seemed to guard or protect places from people who shouldn’t be there,” it was added.

Similar reports can be found in the US about the possible supernatural meaning behind the Marfa lights. A local news director at Big Bend Radio in Alpine, Texas, for example, has told media how some of the theories revolve around departed spirits. “That’s kind of like the Mexican folklore version of it,” he told NBC DFW: “…that they’re actually witches that shapeshift.”

“This actually kind of ties into another kind of folklore legend, if you will,” he added. “Where people say that owls are shapeshifting witches, and that’s how they keep an eye on you,” he said, giving another layer of local supernatural mystery.

So there you have it: a supernatural perspective on the mystery of some orbs around the world. There are plenty of such explanations to be found in the Australian outback and middle of nowhere Texas. Make of it what you will.

“As a kid growing up the old people used to tell me, the [Min Min lights] are old people’s spirits looking after the country.”

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