Newswise — Cue the bats and spooky music. We are about to delve into one of Upper Michigan’s most alluring mysteries.
It draws a steady stream of pilgrims of the paranormal to the dot-in-the-road town of Paulding to catch a glimpse of what has become known as the Paulding Light, and they are rarely disappointed. The light (or lights; sometimes they come in groups) appears in a nearby valley. It was even featured this year on the SyFy television show “Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.”
The lights are definitely not faked, says Jeremy Bos, a PhD candidate student in electrical engineering at Michigan Technological University. But neither are they ghost lanterns of a railroad brakeman killed trying to stop an oncoming train, as one of the legends goes.
Bos organized the investigation of the Paulding Light mystery, working with students in the University’s student chapter of SPIE, a professional society devoted to the study of optics and photonics.
The first step was a road trip out to the site to view the light, which appeared as anticipated. On their next trip, they brought a telescope. Again the light appeared, and through the scope, the students saw . . .
CAUTION: If you really, really want to believe the Paulding Light is the ghost of a murdered railroad engineer, you might want to quit reading right about now.
. . . headlights. On a car. Traveling down a highway.
A non-scientist might simply conclude that the Paulding Light was no more mysterious than a 1998 pickup truck and call it a day. But the SPIE students wanted to do more. So they sought out the stretch of Highway US-45 where the light originates.
Next, the group applied the scientific method and conducted several experiments that verified their original findings.
But what about the impressive, multicolored lights that are sometimes reported?
“I think that the occasional spectacular lights happen when a cop pulls someone over,” says Bos.
He notes that the first Paulding Light sightings were reported shortly after that particular stretch of highway was rerouted. Visitors to a popular, local make-out spot started talking about the lights in the 1960s.
The students plan to present their work at an upcoming SPIE meeting. But no matter how airtight their explanations, Bos has discovered that some people prefer not to be confronted with the evidence.
“We’ve been told we haven’t seen the real Paulding Light. I’ve been out there 15 times, hours at a time, in the heat, the cold, and the rain. It’s always the same,” said Bos. “We were there Monday with a man who saw the headlights on our computer, and he refused to believe it."
Debunking the Paulding Light may not seem like the typical scholarly endeavor. However, the project has given the undergraduates a chance to try their hand at a variety of experimental and analytical techniques and report on their findings. Plus, it has provided a sobering insight into human nature.
“No matter what, some people will believe what they want to believe,” Bos sighs.
For more information about the students' investigation, go to http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2010/october/story32436.html .
Michigan Technological University (mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 130 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.
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