by D.V. Pyle, Washington, Ind., July 16, 1997

In southern Indiana there is an area which some researchers of the paranormal claim is a focal point for paranormal activity, and as such the area known as Lucky Point has become a focal point of investigations by members of the Unexplained Phenomena Research Organization. The swampy wooded area is located in rural Knox County near the town of Monroe City. According to some, strange occurrences have happened there over the years. The Unexplained Phenomena Research Organization (U.P.R.O.) is a national group dedicated to investigating unexplained supernatural mysteries. The Indiana chapter of the group is headed by Jerry Sievers out of his home in Vincennes, Indiana. "We have had reports of things from U.F.O.'s, Sasquatch sightings, spook lights and ghosts in this area," Sievers commented. One prominent mystery involves two utility poles buried in concrete, which some witnesses have claimed to observe shaking. Sievers said the poles seem to make a rattling sound sometimes. Additionally the ground has been reported as shaking at a rate of 50-feet an hour.

"They are two sets of double polls buried in concrete with a road running between them," Sievers said. "People up at Lucky Point watching for U.F.O.s have reported hearing the poles rattle." REMC, the utility company responsible for maintaining the poles, has denied there is any problem with the poles. However, Sievers claims company representatives know about the polls, but have told him they cannot determine the reason for the rattling poles. Another problem which Sievers says accompanies the rattling is that such items as camcorders mysteriously stop working in the area of the poles. Sievers said it can take five visits to Lucky Point before one is able to hear the mysterious rattling noise. "Witnesses who have heard the noise and reported it to us have said it could not be the electricity. Sometimes the vibrations are so extreme that the insulators holding the wire will jar and rattle," Sievers said...

By Wayne Ruple

Alabama and Cleburne County have not been known for "hotbeds" of strange activity including UFO and Bigfoot sightings - despite the fact that National Forests seem to be a big factor in appearances of the latter. However, some quick Internet searches turn up some strange activity over the years right here in Cleburne County including several sightings of strange lights and one reported incident of large footprints in the Talladega National Forest. The "bigfoot" reports comes from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization at www.bfro.net Dated September, 1994 at Sweetwater Lake in the Talladega National Forest, the report states, "About seven years ago my wife and I were at a lake in the middle of the Talladega National Forest in Alabama. The lake was Sweet water Lake. We were fishing in a small boat at the end of a slew early in the morning, we were the only ones at the lake, I think it was on a Wednesday and we were all alone.

We heard something scream, it started out as a howl and turned into a long high pitched scream and it was so loud it echoed through the mountains. It made the hair stand up on the back of our necks. But that is not all. About a year before that my stepfather and I were hiking around the same lake, we liked to fish at a spillway way on the backside of the lake, and about 1/2 mile into the hike we crossed a fire brake about 20 feet wide, now keep in mind that we are a pretty good way back in the woods, we have crossed rocks thorns and briars and all kinds of rough ground. And right there across the dried mud in the fire brake is a set of foot prints dried into the mud. They were not huge, they were about the size of a full grown man but they did look human, I just couldn’t understand why a man would be this far back in the woods without shoes on. And over the years there is one thing I have thought about a bigfoot would have to grow up, so maybe it was a young Bigfoot...

©Lee Paul

It has been said that storytelling in Texas is really nothing more than one tall tale after another with each participant trying to out-best the other. While this may be true for the majority of the State, it is not true for the citizens of the tiny town of Marfa. They know their tall tale cannot be outdone. Their mysterious night orbs have been investigated by so many reputable authorities and written into so many scientific journals that they are guaranteed their own place in history.

Along the Rio Bravo del Norte, which Americans call the Rio Grande, near the Big Bend in the river, lies the crown jewels of the Southern Rockies. The majestic Chisos, or "Ghost Spirit" Mountains, are famous as the backdrop of the Big Bend National Park. To the northwest about one hundred miles, in another part of the mountain chain at the gateway of the Park, is the quiet little town of Marfa...home of the infamous "Marfa Lights," lights which have become the longest running, hardest to explain mystery in the history of the Lone Star State.

No one knows the exact sequence of events for the lights. That part of Texas has such a unique history that the lights could have been there since the beginning of Time, and probably were. But it is also just as possible that they winked into existence in the past couple of centuries or so. There is really no way of knowing, as Marfa lies on the high desert, or caprock escarpment, of the Trans-Pecos area of the Tex-Mex border, a situation which contributes to spectacular viewing of the night time sky all by itself. The Southern Rocky Mountains form the backbone of this area, and the tiny town is the second highest in the state---the highest is Fort Davis---with an elevation of 4,688 feet. Like all high deserts, Marfa’s air is crystal clear and incredibly clean. It is also unbearably hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter, a weather phenomena which helps build legends. Folks around Marfa claim that on moonless nights, the stars are so close that one can pluck them from the heavens and use them as torchlights.

Each cluster of peaks in this area bears its own name. Within the Big Bend National Park, there are the Chisos and Dead Horse Mountains, also called the Sierra Del Carmen. Outside the Park to the north, the range becomes the Christmas and Rosillos Mountains. To the west they are the Chinatis. They are all part of the same system, a system known as the Chihuahuan Desert, which teems with distinctive plant and animal wildlife unique only to itself. Yet for all its majesty, mystery, and haunting beauty, it is the most remote and sparsely populated region in Texas. More legends are associated with this country than anywhere else in the State...

"The Marfa Lights, mysterious and unexplained lights that have been reported in the area for over one hundred years, have been the subject of many theories. The first recorded sighting of the lights was by rancher Robert Ellison in 1883. Variously described as campfires, phosphorescent minerals, swamp gas, static electricity, St. Elmo's Fire, and "ghost lights," the lights reportedly change colors, move around, and change in intensity. Scholars have reported over seventy-five local folk tales dealing with the unknown phenomenon. - 1988" - Text of the "officiial" State of Texas road marker located near the viewing area