October 30, 2019 | The Clarion
The Scarion
Page 5
Brown Mountain lights
By Margaret Correll
Layout & Design
Many may have heard of this mysterious
phenomena, many may have not. For many
years, there have been sightings of unexplained
floating lights near Brown Mountain, North
Carolina, which is about 60-70 miles northeast
of Asheville. Pisgah National Forest is home to
Brown Mountain.
It is not certain when the sightings first
started, but the earliest came from Cherokee
and Catawba Native Americans, early European
settlers and later, Civil War soldiers. Though
sightings are rare there have been as many as
thousands of sightings of the lights.
The lights are said to be similar to stars, they
are small but with more brightness than anything
else in the sky. The are said to move, sometimes
slowly and sometimes very fast.
There are many places where the lights can be
viewed at night. Many easy-to-find overlooks
and viewing areas are located near Linville
Gorge in North Carolina. Wisemans View is a
particular spot with a great view of the gorge as
well as Brown Mountain.
The lights are a pretty famous sight, the
spectacle has been investigated by the United
States government three times as well as many
private groups. Appalachian State University
has been known to also study the lights. In 1999,
the Brown Mountain lights were featured in an
episode of “X-Files”.
With sightings being very rare, the best time
to look for the lights is in the fall, after a rain. It
is not known what causes these lights; a natural
occurrence, ghosts or something else but many
go looking, hoping to see them light up the sky.
For more information on the Brown Mountain
lights visit https://www.romanticasheville.com/
brown mountain_lights. htm
The mysterious lights appear over the peak of Brown Mountain.
Sleep paralysis paranormal
inactivity
By Lande Simpson
staff Writer
Here I am. Struggling to fall asleep. It is a
couple of minutes past midnight and I know if
I fall asleep my sleep paralysis demon would
come back to haunt me.
The night before, I swear this creature was
above me for an hour. I was restricted, I couldn’t
move, but my eyes were open wide. I felt its
disgusting, hot breath on my neck.
Staring down at me not saying a single word.
Its face had moss and skin decaying away
showing mainly bone and a face eerily smiling
at me the whole time, looking into my soul.
I was terrified. I had tears streaming down
my face and my worst nightmare came to life. I
wanted to scream for help but I did not because
I didn’t want to wake anyone and no one would
believe me. This was all made up in my head
and that’s what I had to keep telling myself But
how could I believe that when this creature is
sitting on top of my chest?
I felt its long, boney, wrinkly fingers and
jagged, uneven, cracked nails stroke my
face, seemingly to wipe away my tears of
fear. Its long, black, mangey and matted hair
swept across my face, letting its horrid stench
bombarded my sense of smell. I tried to turn
my head to see if there was any other creatures
around my room, but I couldn’t. I was trapped.
I was paralyzed.
It started talking to me in tongues. I couldn’t
respond which really made it mad. It kept trying
to communicate with me but its scream kept
getting louder and louder and more demonic the
more mad it got. Then, it finally left. I was able
to sleep. I prayed the next morning the horrific
thing would never come back to me.
Paranormal activity at Brevard College has
recently been reduced to a staggering zero
percent. Experts suggest that the new lamps on
campus are responsible for the disappearance
of our local spectres.
Intended for a safer campus at night, these
new lamps are shining with the strength of
the sun. The power of these lights have truly
shown their ability in keeping the campus
alight as well as shunning away the ghastly
and ghoulish.
While students feel safer, they also feel less
spooky, and this town relies on a high level
of spookiness for its famed Halloween spirit.
The disappearance of our ectoplasmic friends
See ‘Paranormal’ on page 6