PHANTOM LIGHTS of BORREGO
The real name of this phenomenon should be: “The Burning Balls of Fire of Borego Mountain.” But even this is a misnomer, as the fireworks actually occur in the northeast end of the Vallecito Mountains. Charles Knowles, of El Cajon, California, told the most complete report of these strange fires.
In 1892 Knowles and two other men-father and son- left Julian on a prospecting trip. They went down the grade to Banner, then through the Sentenac and across the wash at the south end of Grapevine Canyon, finally ending at the western entrance to the Narrows, where they had planned to camp for the night. But they reached there earlier than they had expected, and so they went on through into Borego. Here they turned north and camped on the western side of the valley, in the foothills.
Knowles and the son turned in early and went to sleep; but the father, who was of a rather nervous disposition, claimed he could not sleep for another two hours, so he sat on the hillside overlooking Borego Valley. About an hour after they had gone to their blankets, the two were awakened by his shouts. They rushed over to him, thinking he might be hurt, but he only said:
“just sit down here and watch over in the hills to the southeast for awhile.”
About ten minutes later a ball of fire about the size of a bushel basket rose slowly into the air for perhaps a hundred feet, where it exploded, spouting out like an artesian well and cascading to the ground, as pretty as any fireworks ever seen.
“We watched there for half an hour,” Knowles said, “and saw two more of them rise into the air and burst, and then I went back to my blankets. It seemed as though I had just dozed off when I heard him shouting again. I got up, and saw the fires again, although they had moved a little farther to the south. It was not acting the same; for, instead of rising straight up and bursting, it started from the ground and made an arc, probably reaching a height of fifty feet or so and then landing on the ground again, a couple of hundred feet from where it started. Then it would reverse itself and go back to the starting point. It did this three times before the fire finally died out.”
Knowles insists that he would not tell this story and expect it to believed, if he did not know that he was perfectly sane and sober when it occurred and if he did not have witnesses to prove his statements. I believe Knowles reported the events as he saw it; for he was not a person who brags or exaggerates, and he is not subject to hallucinations.
These balls of fire have been reported by others also; and while the locality is not always the same, nor the manner of appearing identical, still the general nature of the occurrence substantiates the story of Charles Knowles.
>center>Some persons believe there is a large deposit of silver, gold, or possibly copper in the vicinity, and that large bodies of ore generate an acid while disintegrating the surrounding rock. As acid escapes, it collects into air pockets formed by heat rising from the ground. If conditions of heat and moisture are just right, the phenomenon may be observed.
Another and far more prosaic theory is that forty years ago the United States Immigration Service was far less efficient than it is today; and the fire balls on Borego Mountain may have been signals sent up by the “chink-runners” as flashed orders concerning the smuggling of Chinese across the Mexican border.
Still another idea is that, during bootlegging days after the Civil War, a group of men maintained a still on Oriflamme Mountain, which may have been the source of the lights. But that mountain is desolate, difficult of access, and very conspicuous; and the first story of the lights occurred many years earlier.
If the story were recent origin, many solutions might be offered; but the reports have come from many places and over a long period of years. In 1858 a Butterfield stage driver was the first to tell a story of mysterious lights, and a newspaper printed his description of the phenomenon. Soldiers crossing the desert during the Civil War had similar experiences, and prospectors have added theirs to the list.
Leaving the supernatural out of it, the opinion has been advanced that it is a vision due to tired eyes. After a day on the desert the eyes have had more light than would occur in many days of normal life. When the eyes are closed at night lights glow within them occasionally, and sharp flashes that seem real. Even with the eyes open, light areas develop in the distant darkness.
After a day on the desert, too, the eyes have become accustomed to great distances. Hills are miles away, and sand recedes in a yellow haze. In the evening, if a wanderer is seated so the light of his cooking fire reflects upon surrounding objects, he may possibly observe a distorted condition. The air is full of dust particles, and many minute insects are flying about. A dust atom on an eyelash catches the light, or an insect hovers before the eyes a fraction of an inch away. These tiny objects may appear to be a hundred yards distant; and the angle of vision would subtend a large object, bright and moving, in the distance. The following story illustrates this idea:
Old man Price and a man named Jones were hunting in Idaho. The place where they were was known as good antelope country, and they figured to get one before the day was over.
“We were walking along,” Jones said afterwards, “when all of a sudden Price pulled up his gun and fired. I didn’t see nothin’, but thought that maybe them antelope was too fast for me. Then Price took another shot, and in about two seconds he banged away again, muttering to himself: ‘Damn poor shot I’m getting’ to be!’
“What the hell you shootin’ at?’ I asked him.
“Why, them antelope! Can’t you see ‘em?’
“You’re plumb crazy!’ I told him. ‘There’s nothin’ there.’
“Instead of paying any attention to me, Price pushed me aside and banged away again at the hillside. Then I knew there was something wrong, so I grabbed him by the shirt collar and said:
“Wait a minute-let me look you over.’
“I looked at him close in the eye, thinking maybe he’d gone crazy, and then I saw what was ailing him. There was a louse crawling in his eyelashes. He thought it was an antelope!”
