The Min Min Lights
The account
Balls of light appear in the outback, follow travelers for kilometers and vanish when anyone gets close.
What investigators found
A 2003 hypothesis points to a mirage: layers of air refract distant lights, such as headlights, from beyond the horizon.
The story
In outback Queensland, near the small town of Boulia, travelers have reported for more than a century seeing balls of light floating over the plains. They seem to follow cars and riders, keep their distance and disappear when someone tries to approach. Aboriginal stories from the region also speak of these lights, and the phenomenon has become a local tourist attraction.
Many link the Min Min lights to UFOs or spirits. In 2003, neuroscientist Jack Pettigrew proposed a physical explanation: on cold nights, layers of air at different temperatures act like a lens and can carry to the observer the image of lights that lie beyond the horizon, such as headlights or campfires. Other theories cite gases and luminous insects. None explains every report.