Thomas Divide lights, Cherokee, NC with video

[chiefjason]

I took the family up to the Smokies for vacation last week. We stayed in Smokemont campground. The first night we took the girls up to the Thomas Divide overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see if we could see any of the lights. The Thomas Divide lights are similar to the Brown Mtn lights if you are wondering. We got a great show, with a bonus Barred Owl visit. I got just over 8 minutes of video with the lights doing their thing. There seem to be 3 different lights in the video that come on and off. This area has been the most active area of the mountain the last two visits. If you are wondering, you are looking over the Raven Fork area of the Cherokee Reservation into the Smokies. For those that might want to skip around, or pay closer attention, here is the rundown of the lights.

The first 2 come on almost immediately and stay on till the 3:00 minute mark.
1:20 a second light appears to the left of the first lights
2:29 2nd light appears again
3:30 2nd light appears again
3:43 2nd light appears again
4:11 2nd light appears again
4:30 2nd light appears again
5:00 1st light is back but the camera looses focus
5:38 1st light appears again
5:42 2nd light appears again
5:46 1st light appears again
5:56 2nd light appears again
6:15 2nd light appears again
8:08 1st light appears again and gets very large and a red color. Probably the most impressive one we saw.

You'll probably enjoy the background yacking too. 8-)

Thomas Divide lights 2011 on Vimeo

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Bombsaway]

Interesting. I grew up in the southeast TN region (Polk County), not too far from Cherokee and the GSMNP and for some reason never heard of this phenomenon. A Google search yielded some information about it, and one account said that sometimes the lights go straight up into the air and come back down again.

[JoJoGunn]

Very similar in natue to the lights seen in Marfa, TX. Still no explaination on how or why they appear. Cool video.

[chiefjason]

Interesting. I grew up in the southeast TN region (Polk County), not too far from Cherokee and the GSMNP and for some reason never heard of this phenomenon. A Google search yielded some information about it, and one account said that sometimes the lights go straight up into the air and come back down again.

We have seen them all over the mountainside on previous trips, not just on the ridges. My wife actually saw one that was just beyond the trees of the overlook. Scared her a bit. We have not really seen them move, just come on and off.