The Light of Wicked Felina?

We like to report on any phenomenon that boggles scientists. Out in the West Texas desert near the town of Marfa, odd lights across the Mitchell Flat and toward the Chinati Mountains have eluded explanation:

There are numerous theories on what causes the phenomenon. Moonlight on mica veins sparkling off the mountains. Swamp gas. Static electricity. Atmospheric conditions created by warm and cold layers of air bending light rays that only can be seen from afar.

Then there are the ghosts of the Conquistadores looking for gold, or the old Apache explanation of stars dropping to Earth.

"I have seen strange lights that moved oddly and were definitely not on the ground," said Bernie Zelazney, with the Big Bend Astronomical Society.

Some years ago he saw lights that were "bright bluish and red colors and would come together, then one would go away."

"It was unusual," he said.

Zelazney said one explanation he leans toward is called the piezoelectric effect, where voltage is created between moving solid surfaces – in this case, rock containing quartz that contracts and expands as the surface heats and cools.

Link.