Case file · High strangeness
Paulding Light
A light seen almost nightly in a valley near Paulding, Michigan, since teenagers reported it to the sheriff in 1966, and explained in 2010 as car lights on US 45.
1966 CE · 46.35, -89.18 · status: explained
The account
Local legend says it is the lantern of a railroad brakeman killed trying to stop a train, or the ghost of a mail courier. In 2010 Michigan Tech students saw headlights and tail lights through a telescope and recreated the effect by driving a stretch of the highway.
The sceptical view
The Michigan Tech experiment matched the light to distant traffic.
The researched reading
A famous ghost light that a student telescope revealed to be headlights on a distant highway.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something in the surroundings | 78% | In 2010 Michigan Tech students observed through a telescope that the light was headlights on US 45 several miles away, and recreated it by driving that stretch. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 10% | Refraction over the valley distorts the headlights into flickering lights. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 5% | Legends of a ghost lantern prime visitors. |
| A cultural story | 4% | The railroad-brakeman ghost story grew around the light. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | There is no sign of staging. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 1% | It is explained. |
Official position: No official verdict; a university study traced the light to distant traffic.
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